How I Met Your Mother S02E12 – First Time in New York

How I Met Your Mother S02E12 – First Time in New York

Robin tries to talk her younger sister, who is visiting NYC, not to lose her virginity. The gang all recount tales of their own first times.

Robin realizes that she's in love with Ted, but she can't bring herself to say it, instead blurting out "falafel". While recounting the story to Lily, Robin admits that she's never said "I love you" to a man before as none of her past relationships have progressed that far.

Robin's sister, Katie is coming to visit New York for the first time, and Ted suggests that he and Robin take her to the Empire State Building. When Katie arrives, Robin is surprised to see that she is with her boyfriend Kyle who is in town visiting his cousin. Kyle acts very immature and goes around pointing out how hot he thinks other women are. Katie tells Robin she's planning on having sex with Kyle and Robin recruits everyone else to help her convince Katie not to.

The gang takes Katie to the Empire State Building, which they use as a thinly-veiled metaphor for waiting for sex. Katie gets annoyed and accuses Robin of being a hypocrite. She says that she read Robin's diary and knows Robin lost her virginity when she was 16. Besides, she's been with Kyle for two months and they've already done everything else. Frustrated, Katie stalks off to smoke.

Everyone reflects on the first time they had sex. Barney tells them a story that turns out to be the plot of Dirty Dancing. Lily and Marshall did it in college; they wanted to wait and make it special, but did it in his dorm room with Ted in the top bunk. In the middle of sex, Robin's boyfriend admitted that he was gay. Robin says that they only "barely" had sex, and when Lily says it doesn't count, Marshall realizes that she went halfway with her high school boyfriend, Scooter. Lily doesn't understand why Marshall is mad at her, because she didn't really have sex with Scooter. She compares it to being in the Empire State building; they're in the lobby right now, and nobody buys tickets to get to the lobby. It doesn't count if you don't get to the top.

Katie comes back and says she doesn't want to see the Empire State Building anymore and she's going to see Kyle. Robin says that Katie only has one chance to lose her virginity and that she should do it with someone special, not Kyle. Katie points out that Robin has done it with "a hundred" guys and she couldn't have been in love with them all. Robin insists that she had some kind of feeling for all of them, and Katie puts her on the spot by asking her if she loves Ted. Ted pulls Robin aside and tells her that it's no big deal. Robin says that she just doesn't want to do it too soon. Ted asks, "Like I did?" Robin calls him an "I love you slut" and he calls her an "I love you prude". Ted then takes his "I love you" back.

Future Ted tries to convince his kids that when Katie slept with Kyle, she got pregnant with quintuplets, moved into a trailer park, and died an alcoholic. But in reality, Katie doesn't sleep with Kyle. Robin says that Katie admits it was because Ted told Katie about his first time, in which he told the girl, Molly, he loved her when he didn't and he never saw her again. He told her that all 17 year old boys just want sex and will say anything to get it, even the nice ones. Katie tells Kyle she wants to wait and he dumps her. Robin tells Ted that the story doesn't sound like him, and he admits that it happened the other way around (the girl didn't mean it when she said she loved him). Robin then tells Ted that she loves him and they kiss.

At the end of the episode, the group takes Katie back to the Empire State Building, and Marshall says that the last trip didn't count because they didn't get out of the lobby. Lily points out that, by that logic, he is the only one she's had sex with. Later that day, after Katie has left, they go to the bar and egg Barney to tell them the real story of his first time. He tries unsuccessfully to describe sex scenes from various movies (namely Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Risky Business, and WarGames) before admitting that he was 23 and it was with his mother's 45 year old friend Rhonda. Realizing how much this embarrasses Barney, the group decides to pretend they never heard the real story.