How I Met Your Mother S01E16 – Cupcake

How I Met Your Mother S01E16 – Cupcake

Ted and Victoria must decide the future of their relationship when she is offered a fellowship in Germany. Barney takes Marshall to buy a new suit. Robin and Victoria accompany Lily to try on wedding dresses.


Victoria has been offered a fellowship at a culinary institute in Germany, putting her relationship with Ted at a crossroads. Both are unsure, but said early on that long distance relationships never work; according to Ted, it's a lie teenagers use to get laid the summer before college, while Marshall and Lily both say that they are all talk and no sex (both adding "Kill me now" at the end of their statements). While Ted is off with Marshall and Barney, and Victoria is off with Robin and Lily, they make their decisions; Ted thinks she should go, while Victoria thinks she should stay. However, at dinner that night, they both change their minds after Victoria hands Ted a cupcake. They argue a bit and decide to break up. However, Marshall convinces Ted to spend one more awesome day with Victoria, using the analogy of "If you knew your leg was going to be chopped off the next day, would you lie on the couch and cry about it?" The two decide to spend the day together enjoying New York doing all the things they'd wanted to during the relationship, and Future Ted tells his kids that's exactly what they did (but its revealed that they didn't, and actually spent the whole day in bed).

Meanwhile, Marshall needs a new suit for an interview for an internship position at the Natural Resources Defense Council. Barney tells him that he will take Marshall to his tailor, and outfits Marshall with a very nice suit. At the same time, Lily is shopping for a wedding dress, but cannot find anything she likes. Victoria goes and gets one of the nice dresses from the front window, and Lily loves the dress. Although Lily does not intend to buy it, she accidentally sits down in the free cake provided by the bridal shop, and then rips it. Marshall gets the bill for the suit from Barney, and finds out that he must pay $4000 for it, but initially refuses an offer to come work for Barney's company. He turns to Lily and says he'll do whatever it takes, at which point Lily breaks down and reveals that she ruined the dress, and Marshall, seeing no other way to pay for $12,000 of clothes in a timely manner, decides to go work for Barney's company.

In helping Ted and Victoria make their decisions, Marshall and Lily tell two versions of the same story. At one point, Lily took an art class over in Paris one summer. According to Marshall, Lily had met this strange man named Gabriel, and thought he was moving in on Lily. Marshall went over to France, and told Gabriel to stay away from Lily. According to Lily, Gabriel was a homely girl who was self-conscious about her mustache, and she and Lily were good friends, but suddenly she stopped talking to Lily about halfway through the summer, leaving Lily friendless. Neither of them know the other's story.

At the airport, Ted and Victoria decide to give long distance a try, both saying that it will work... however Future Ted tells his kids that it didn't, and that long-distance relationships hardly ever work... but that story is for later.