'How I Met Your Mother' recap: Episode 13 – 'Tailgate'

The episode begins with Ted narrating to his kids that on New Year’s Day, their “Uncle Marshall took a trip to Minnesota to see someone he truly missed.” We see Marshall visiting his father’s grave. Marshall tells his dad that the best way he could think of to honor his memory is to “get blasted tailgating at the Viking-Bears game.” Then, Ted narrated that tailgating at the Viking-Bears game was a tradition for Marshall and his father.

Shoot to a flashback of Marshall and his father in 1986 as Marshall’s dad explains to him how the government covered up the alien crash landing in Roswell, New Mexico by chopping up the aliens and selling them to the public as Spam aka sliced processed alien meat. Young Marshall marvels that his dad seems to know everything.
Shoot back to the cemetery. Marshall begins to tell his dad about what happened New Year’s Eve.

Shoot to Marshall telling Lily that she has to tell her dad that she’s pregnant. She says she doesn’t want to because he’s “never been there for me and this is just another opportunity for him to let me down.” Marshall pleads with Lily to call and tell him. She tells him that her dad is at a board game convention in Chicago but she calls him anyway.

Shoot to Lily’s dad at the board game convention. She tells him she’s calling with “big news. I’m pregnant.” Lily’s dad replies, “That’s great” then hangs up.
Shoot to Lily who doesn’t look surprised.

Shoot to Marshall narrating to his dad that Barney and Ted’s New Year’s didn’t start off so great either.

Shoot to Barney and Ted trying to get into McClaren’s but a bouncer tells them to get the end of the line and that they have to pay a $50 cover charge to get in. Ted tells the bouncer that he and Barney are regulars at the bar so that he would let them maybe sneak past the line but the bouncer still doesn’t care.

Shoot to Robin and Kevin watching a New Year’s Eve special that Robin tells Kevin she was happy to not have to produce. Kevin asks her how she avoided having to produce it and she tells him her boss, Sandy, picked someone else who was willing to sleep with him for the job. Kevin then asks her if she’s mad that she’s not doing on-camera work anymore. Meanwhile, on the TV, the girl Sandy chose over Robin to do the new year’s eve broadcast slaps him and runs off camera. Back to Robin who weakly denies to Kevin that she misses being in front of the camera. Kevin then tells her it should be her new year’s resolution to get back in front of the camera. Then, the phone rings. Its Sandy, he needs Robin to fill in at Times Square immediately because, Tina, the girl who just slapped him, quit.

Shoot to the cemetery as Marshall’s brother, Marcus, interrupts Marshall’s alone time at their dad’s grave. He asks him to leave but he won’t. They fight and call each other disgusting childish names. Then, Marcus says he’s going to stay and pretend that Marshall isn’t there. Then, Marshall, ignoring Marcus, tells his dad that he and Lily were beginning to unpack the baby’s room in the house that Lily’s parents had given them.

Shoot to Lily and Marshall unpacking. Lily finds a book of Marshall about the mystical things in life and asks what it’s doing in the baby’s things. Marshall tells Lily that he plans to teach the baby all about the all the mystical things like "Bigfoot, aliens who kidnap people from their bedrooms at night…” Lily isn’t sure she wants their child to believe in theories that have no proof. Marshall tells Lily that “it isn’t about proof. It’s about faith.”

Shoot to Robin at Times Square as Sandy is making a fool of himself on camera about Tina. Then, he precedes to go to the bathroom, on camera. Robin isn’t fazed.

Shoot to Barney and Ted finally getting into McClaren’s but now the bouncer is asking for $100 each from them. They protest since he said earlier the cover charge was $50. The bouncer explains the cover went up because the bar is so crowded, which means people get rowdy and break stuff so the upped cover charge is protection. Then, he gives them party hats but say they cost $15. Barney gets mad and yells at the other patrons that McClaren’s is “a rip-off.” Ted then screams that they’d be better off going to his apartment for beers. Then, Barney remembers an idea they had several years earlier.

Shoot to flashback of Ted and Barney saying they should buy and open their own bar. Barney suggests they name the bar “Puzzles.”

Shoot back to McClaren’s as Ted goes on to say at their bar, no one would be overcharged. Barney adds, “A bar where we get chicks drunk then bang them.” Ted and Barney agree to open Puzzles.

Shoot back to Robin at Times Square where Sandy is nowhere to be found. One of technicians checks to see if Sandy is still wearing his microphone. He is but he’s trying to hail a cab to Tina’s apartment except he’s really at a falafel stand sitting in the hummus. Robin tells the technician to run the “montage of people who died this year and add Sandy because when I find him I’m going to kill him.”

Shoot back to the cemetery as Marshall is contusing to tell his dad about what’s been going on with him and the gang. Marcus yells at him for ‘hogging dad” and says he has stuff he wants to tell him to. Marshall asks him what he could have to tell him since he still lives at home with their mom and has no job. Marcus then shuts up as Marshall continues…

Shoot to Lily trying to hang a mobile for the baby but she drops it when Marshall starts reading from the “Enigmas of the Mystical” book.

Shoot back to the cemetery where Marshall’s other brother shows up. He gets mad that Marcus and Marshall are ruining his private moment with their father. Marcus and Marshall accuse him of the same. But, they all hug when the sports announcer announces that the Vikings have scored a touchdown. Marshall then gets back to talking to his dad.

Shoot back to Ted and Barney who have turned Ted’s apartment into Puzzles the bar. Barney wants to use Ted’s bedroom as the VIP room for anonymous sex with patrons. Ted tells him he can’t. Kevin then comes over to them and tells them he has an idea for the bar. Ted and Barney brush him off but tell him that he can be the bar’s star bartender. Ted then plays on the piano a theme song he and Barney wrote for the bar, “Puzzles is a place where people go to feel like they belong. Gonna take advantage of dumb drunk girls, no bro we won’t, that would be wrong. A place where wit and wisdom bloom. A place to bang chicks in Ted’s room.” Ted interjects, ‘Not gonna happen.” Barney replies, “We’ll talk about it.” They continue singing, “At Puzzles, we all fit together.” Kevin then adds, “And I’m the bartender.” Ted and Barney give him a weird look.

Shoot back to the cemetery. A man approaches Marshall asking about the television and that they are burying his aunt in another part of the cemetery. Marshall tells him he will keep the noise level down but the man says he meant he just wanted to find out the score in the Vikings-Bears game. Marshall tells him that he’s trying to have a private moment with his dad. The man replies that he used to go to Vikings games with his now deceased aunt. Marshall lets the man stay. Marshall then continues talking to his dad…

Shoot to Robin knocking on Tina’s apartment door. She opens it and Robin asks if Sandy is there. He is and Tina tells Robin that they are back together because he told her that he “loves me and that I’m the only girl for him.” Then, Sandy makes the mistake of proposing a three-some.

Shoot back to Times Square as Sandy tells Robin that he doesn’t understand what went wrong. She explains to him that offering a three-some probably wasn’t the best idea. Sandy wants to get drunk and mingle but Robin tells him he has to get back on air. He then looks on his cell and tells Robin that the Internet is buzzing about a new apartment bar called Puzzles. Robin asks why its called Puzzles.

Shoot to Barney trying to coerce girls into the VIP room aka Ted’s bedroom. Meanwhile, Ted is holding a book club meeting with other patrons about James Joyce’s novel Ulysses. We hear someone breaking a glass and Kevin appears telling Ted that people are getting drunk and rowdy and to cover the damage they have to raise the drink prices even though it goes against Puzzles mission statement. Ted agrees but tells Kevin not to raise the drink price too much so no one will notice. Ted ups the charge a little and the patrons get unruly by breaking things and we also see girls punching Barney. So, they hire a bouncer, the same one from McClaren’s. He gets mad when none of the patrons wear the hats he brought and says so. The patrons are so scared of him they immediately put on the hats.

Shoot to Lily trying to hang a picture in the baby’s room but she drops and breaks it when Marshall sneaks up on her to read another excerpt from the “Enigmas” book. She gets fed up and leaves the room, closing the door behind her as Marshall continues to read.

Shoot back to Times Square as Robin is trying to make Sandy look presentable to be on camera. While doing so, she unloads on him that she hasn’t had the best few months. “I’ve made mistakes. I’ve felt alone. I’ve had to let go of dreams I didn’t even know I had. So, here’s the deal. You’re going to get back on air and count us down into a better year because I just can’t do 2011 anymore. You with me?” She turns around and Sandy is gone.

Shoot back to Puzzles, which is now empty. Doug, the bouncer is mad because no one seemed to like the hats he brought. Ted asks Kevin if all the patrons have left. Kevin goes to check the bathroom and finds Sandy in the bathtub. Robin then calls Kevin to tell him that she lost Sandy. He’s about to tell her that he’s with Sandy when Robin asks him if she should go on air in Sandy’s place. Kevin doesn’t tell Robin that he’s with Sandy and tells her to go on air. Robin doesn’t know if she can but Kevin encourages her to do it, leaves Sandy in the bathtub, shuts the light and shuts the bathroom door telling Robin that Sandy could be anywhere.

Shoot to Lily sitting alone. Marshall apologizes and says he just wants their baby to “believe the world is magical…like my dad taught me.” Lily replies that her dad taught her nothing because he was never around. She then grabs the “Enigmas” book from Marshall and starts to read. She then tells him that she’s glad he’s a believer but that she’s “never going to be believe in the mystical unless I see it with my own eyes” and that her father never taught her to believe in anything but herself. Marshall tells Lily that he believes in her. They hug.

Shoot to Ted, Barney, Doug and Kevin watching Robin live at Times Square ringing in 2012 on TV. Kevin says how proud he is of her. Robin goes on about how she never expected to be on air but “that’s the miracle of new year’s. It’s a fresh start.”
As she counts down to 2012, Ted narrates that that night was “a turning point in Robin’s career.”

We see a flash of the opening of television show where Robin and Sandy and co-hosting but Ted narrates that he’ll get to that later.

Shoot back the cemetery as a crowd has gathered at Marshall’s dad’s grave. Marshall then tells his dad that he got so wrapped in trying to convince Lily about the mystical things in the universe because “with you gone, I feel the mystical a little less. Sometimes I feel you a little less. “ Then, one of the people gathered calls Marshall, Marvin, his dad’s name, to ask him to pass him burger with a pickle. He said it was because he reminded him so much of Marvin. Ted then narrates that Marshall then thought back to all those tailgates with his dad.

Shoot to a flashback of a young Marshall tailgating with his dad.

Shoot back to the cemetery as Ted narrates that Marshall realized that “private moments are overrated.” Marshall turns to the guy, hands him a burger with a pickle and says, “The more the merrier.” He then gives each of his brothers a beer and they toast the new year.

Shoot to Lily opening the door of her new East Meadow, New York home on January 1, 2012 to find her dad standing there with an oversized teddy bear. She tells him she thought he was at a board game convention in Chicago. He says he was.

Shoot back to when Lily called her father to tell him that she was pregnant. After he hung up, he stood up and screamed, “MY DAUGHTER’S HAVING A BABY!” Then, he ran out of the convention.

Shoot back to Lily asking her dad if he drove all night to get there. He jokes that he and the bear split the drive. He congratulates Lily and gives her the bear. She starts to cry, wishes him a happy new year and they hug.