Little Minnesota

Last updated
"Little Minnesota"
How I Met Your Mother episode
Episode no.Season 4
Episode 11
Directed by Pamela Fryman
Written by Chuck Tatham
Production code4ALH12
Original air dateDecember 15, 2008 (2008-12-15)
Guest appearance
Episode chronology
← Previous
"The Fight"		Next →
"Benefits"
How I Met Your Mother season 4
List of episodes

"Little Minnesota" is the 11th episode in the fourth season of the television series How I Met Your Mother and 75th overall. It originally aired on December 15, 2008 on CBS.

Contents

Plot

Robin enters MacLaren's wearing an unseasonal T-shirt and explains to Ted that the cold weather does not affect her because she is from Canada. Marshall agrees and compares New York City in winter to a spring day in Minnesota, except for all the taxis, skyscrapers and non-white people. When Robin expresses homesickness, Marshall takes her to the Walleye Saloon, a Minnesota-themed bar that he goes to when he misses his family. Unfortunately she likes it so much that she ends up pretending to be from Bemidji, Minnesota to befriend the bar patrons, much to Marshall's frustration. His frustration grows when she claims his story about the 1999 NFC Championship Game as her own and boils over after she beats his high score on the Fisherman's Quest video game, at which point he unmasks Robin as a Canadian. Before storming out, Robin goes on a tirade on how great Canada is on a personal level, bringing up the great things Canada introduced that Americans take for granted, and admits she wishes she was there right now. Marshall apologizes to Robin and reassures her that despite her lack of job or boyfriend, she still belongs in New York with her friends. To help ease her Christmas homesickness he takes her to a Canadian-themed bar, the Hoser Hut, capped off with a crowd-pleasing karaoke rendition of Robin's teenage hit "Let's Go to the Mall", much to her embarrassment.

Meanwhile, Ted reveals that his sister Heather (Erin Cahill) has arrived in New York and is planning to move there. According to Ted, Heather is irresponsible, citing examples such as the time she sold his possessions to buy tickets and travel to a Nine Inch Nails concert in Spain, and he doubts that she will ever actually move there. Additionally, Ted has prevented Barney from meeting Heather each time she has visited, fearing that Barney would try to hook up with her. However, his attempt to prevent their meeting again is immediately foiled when Barney is found waiting for the group at the apartment after Lily, being unable to keep secrets, accidentally tipped him off that Ted was planning to bring Heather there. Barney is hurt that Ted tried to keep him away from Heather and explains that he never intended to act on all the inappropriate jokes he made. Ted explains that he does not trust Heather or Barney, though he eventually relents and invites Barney to dinner with them on Sunday.

Over dinner, Heather and Ted discuss her decision to move to New York to work in finance and she asks him to co-sign the lease of an apartment she found. However, his lack of faith in her proves an obstacle. Frustrated with Ted's insensitivity, Heather and Barney stage a fake sexual encounter after their interview at Goliath National Bank and ensure that Lily walks in on them, knowing that she will not be able to keep it a secret from Ted. Heather and Barney persist in taunting Ted until he confronts them at MacLaren's, claiming that Heather has never taken responsibility for herself. Barney explains the plan to the surprised Ted and Lily, at the same time revealing that he kissed Ted's mother. Heather storms out to find a hotel, denouncing Ted for refusing to accept that she has grown up. Eventually Ted makes up with Heather and co-signs her lease, telling her he wants to get to know the new her.

Critical response

Donna Bowman of The A.V. Club rated the episode with a grade B−. [1]

Michelle Zoromski of IGN gave the episode 9.8 out of 10, saying Barney steals the show once again. [2]

Related Research Articles

"The Goat" is the 17th episode in the third season of the television series How I Met Your Mother and 61st overall. It originally aired on April 28, 2008.

"Spoiler Alert" is the eighth episode in the third season of the television series How I Met Your Mother and 52nd overall. It originally aired on November 12, 2007.

"Woooo!" is the eighth episode in the fourth season of the television series How I Met Your Mother and 72nd overall. It originally aired on November 17, 2008.

"The Fight" is the tenth episode in the fourth season of the television series How I Met Your Mother, and the 74th episode overall. It originally aired on December 8, 2008.

"Three Days of Snow" is the 13th episode in the fourth season of the television series How I Met Your Mother and 77th overall. It originally aired on January 19, 2009.

"Sorry, Bro" is the 16th episode in the fourth season of the television series How I Met Your Mother and 80th overall. It originally aired on March 9, 2009.

"The Front Porch" is the 17th episode in the fourth season of the television series How I Met Your Mother and 81st overall. It originally aired on March 16, 2009.

"Definitions" is the first episode of the fifth season of the How I Met Your Mother TV series and 89th episode overall. It originally aired on September 21, 2009.

"Double Date" is the second episode of the fifth season of the sitcom How I Met Your Mother, and the 90th episode overall. It originally aired on September 28, 2009.

"Robin 101" is the third episode of the fifth season of the How I Met Your Mother TV series and 91st overall. It originally aired on October 5, 2009.

"Duel Citizenship" is the fifth episode of the fifth season of the CBS situation comedy How I Met Your Mother and 93rd overall. It originally aired on October 19, 2009.

"The Rough Patch" is the seventh episode of the fifth season of the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother and 95th episode overall. It originally aired on November 9, 2009.

"The Playbook" is the eighth episode of the fifth season of the CBS situation comedy How I Met Your Mother and 96th episode overall. It originally aired November 16, 2009. A book based on the episode was published in 2010.

"Girls Versus Suits" is the 12th episode of the fifth season of the CBS situation comedy How I Met Your Mother and the show's 100th episode overall. It originally aired on January 11, 2010.

"The Window" is the tenth episode of the fifth season of the CBS situation comedy How I Met Your Mother and 98th episode overall. It aired on Monday, December 7, 2009.

"Jenkins" is the 13th episode of the fifth season of the CBS situation comedy How I Met Your Mother and 101st episode overall. It originally aired on January 18, 2010. The episode hit a season high with 10.52 million viewers and high overall ratings.

"Rabbit or Duck" is the 15th episode of the fifth season of the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother and 103rd episode overall. It originally aired on February 8, 2010. In a nod to CBS hosting that year's Super Bowl, the episode features NFL commentators Jim Nantz and Phil Simms in guest appearances as themselves.

"Hooked" is the 16th episode of the fifth season of the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother and 104th episode overall. It originally aired on March 1, 2010.

"Of Course" is the 17th episode of the fifth season of the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother and 105th episode overall. It originally aired on March 8, 2010.

"Tailgate" is the 13th episode of the seventh season of the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, and the 149th episode overall. It aired on January 2, 2012.

References

  1. ↑ Bowman, Donna (December 15, 2008). "How I Met Your Mother: Little Minnesota". AVClub.com. Retrieved March 12, 2010.
  2. ↑ Zoromski, Michelle (December 16, 2008). "How I Met Your Mother: "Little Minnesota" Review: An awesome Christmas gift". IGN.com. Retrieved March 22, 2010.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.