7.5/10. I have to admit, I started out kind of hating this one. The idea that a shark like Barney would be fooled by the whole "the stripper really likes me!" routine strains credulity, and it was frankly kind of unpleasant to watch him being strung along like that. At the same time, Robin going all Robinson Crusoe with the dull goings on of the East Meadow, Long Island community that Lily and Marshall had immersed themselves in was the kind of broad comedy that lacked the zing that was present in the earlier seasons of the show. And Ted talking to an imaginary version of Robin while he figures out what to do with her old room (whilst making weak meat-smoking jokes to boot) left a lot to be desired. And then, the episode completely turned things around, somewhat miraculously. Once Barney realized he was duped, it turned into a surprisingly sympathetic storyline. As Barney himself pointed out, for once he was really trying, and even if he deserved to be hoodwinked by all the times he'd done it to other women, here he was making an effort in the Ted-like belief that it was destiny that he and Quinn ran into one another again, and found himself whacked on the nose with a newspaper by the universe. That's understandably dispiriting, and the idea that Barney was going to give up on growth or putting in real effort to woo the women he actually liked because of this bad experience was a sad one. But the universe threw him a bone, and he and Quinn running into one another at the coffee shop is just the bit of kismet he needed. The pair's conversation is frankly what was missing between both the Barney/Robin and Barney/Nora arcs. There's real chemistry between NPH and the actress who plays Quinn, and their playful if mildly pointed back and forth has the patter of two real people who have some affection for one another, if both some reservations. I have to admit, like Kevin, I don't think I really thought much of Quinn on my first watch of the series, but coming back I like her as a match for Barney, and the fact that their beginning was Barney experiencing a small taste of what he did to so many women, and that being a springboard for him to grow and become someone better. The confluence of the other two stories, Ted giving up his apartment so that Marshall and Lily can move back into it, is one of those things that makes no sense if you really stop and think about it. (After all, Marshall and Lily like *just* moved into that house, and where is Ted going to live, if only for the next week or so when he's looking for an apartment, etc. etc. etc.) But you have to strap on your willing suspension of disbelief goggles and appreciate it for the symbolic gesture it's meant to be. I like the idea that, as in the prior episode, Ted is figuring out a way to move on with his life a bit as well, and that the "new life' needed in the apartment will be Marshall and Lily's child. Again, at a logistics level, it feels like a piece-moving ploy by the show to get Marshall and Lily back into the main apartment (which, as I recall, Lily didn't want to move into because it smelled like "dude"), and it's kind of strained on that front, but at a more thematic level, it works that Ted is starting a new chapter in his life and that Marshall and Lily want a place that feels more like home nearer to their friends to raise their family in. Overall, a very rocky start, but a lot of good work on the back end (not to mention some great "Ted's bad at carpentry" jokes) to pull this one into above average territory.