The fifth season of the American television comedy series How I Met Your Mother premiered on September 21, 2009, and concluded on May 24, 2010. It consists of 24 episodes, each running approximately 22 minutes in length. CBS broadcast the fifth season on Monday nights at 8:00 pm in the United States.
When the gang finds out that Barney and Robin are hesitant to define their relationship, Lily forces them to confront their biggest fear... becoming boyfriend/girlfriend. Meanwhile, Ted is anxious about teaching his first lecture.
Ted discovers he had been fixed up with the same woman, seven years earlier. The rest of the gang goes to the Lusty Leopard strip club and see a dancer who looks like Lily.
When Robin fears that Barney is cheating on her, she soon discovers that he is spending his evenings with Ted learning everything there is to know on how to date her. Marshall gives away a prized possession.
Marshall and Lily desperately try to have a double date with Barney and Robin. A girl falls asleep at Ted's apartment after meeting him at the bar, making him the "Sexless Innkeeper".
Ted proposes a road trip with Marshall to their favorite pizza parlor in Chicago to reminisce their bachelor days, but Lily comes on the trip, spoiling the 'bro' time. Barney is seeking American citizenship for Robin, but her Canadian traits still remain.
Barney, thinking he and Robin are the perfect couple, gives relationship advice to Marshall, which turns out to be a big mistake. Ted and Robin have some noisy neighbours.
Ted and Marshall decide to break Barney and Robin up for good after they hit a rough patch in their relationship. When their plan fails, they turn to Lily and she enlists some things to break them up, including Alan Thicke.
The gang celebrates Thanksgiving this year with Lily's estranged father (Chris Elliott) whom she hadn't spoken to in three years. Ted and Robin are given the chance to use Marshall's fourth Slap Bet slap on Barney.
Maggie (JoAnna Garcia), a girl next door that Ted has wanted to date for years, has suddenly broken up with her latest boyfriend, giving him and other guys a chance to score with her.
Ted meets Cindy (Rachel Bilson), a student (PhD candidate) who is close to his own age and who happens to be roommates with his future wife. Barney, meanwhile, tries to pick up a hot bartender (Stacy Keibler) who hates guys in suits by wearing casual clothes leading to a musical number performed by the entire cast.
Ted abdicates responsibility for finding a Valentine's Day date, and allows Lily and Marshall to "arrange" a date for him; Robin foolishly consents to attend a Valentine's day party given by her deeply inappropriate co-worker, Don Frank. Barney has a 'magic' phone but can't stop answering it.
When a beautiful young woman "hooks" Ted (keeping Ted in reserve as backup while she pursues her own dream boyfriend), the gang discusses their own experiences both as the one who "hooks" and the one on the hook. Guest starring Carrie Underwood as "Tiffany".
Robin is looking to get back at Barney for being insensitive to her after they broke up, hiring self-help author Anita (Jennifer Lopez) to help her out.
It is Lily's 32nd birthday, that Marshall has carefully planned. Ted has to ruin it all by bringing a stranger to the intimate celebration, an incident that causes Lily to drag out the photo albums and review the endless parade of short-timers in Ted's romantic life. Robin tries to catch Barney in a bad position to take a photograph.
Both Ted and Barney jeopardize Robin's new relationship by professing their love for her. Meanwhile, after spending a weekend sleeping in twin beds, Marshall and Lily decide to get twin beds at home.
Crashing a snobby high-society party allows Ted to show off how pretentiously intellectual he can be. Barney, Marshall, and Lily visit a Robots Vs Wrestlers event. Marshall and Lily make a secret pact to start trying to have a baby if they ever finally see Barney's doppelgänger.
Ted takes a date, Royce (Judy Greer), to see a new hit movie, The Wedding Bride. However, he recognizes its plot as similar to his relationship with Stella, especially since her fiance, Tony, wrote the screenplay.
Lily and Marshall make some hard choices upon seeing Barney's doppelganger. Robin finally gets an offer for her dream job but someone else would end up with it.
Reception
Reviews for season 5 of How I Met Your Mother were mixed.
Cindy McLennan of Television Without Pity gave the season a negative review, and at the end of the season wrote: "I'm okay with any given season not being primarily focused on mother-meeting, but this season, the characters seemed to regress -- particularly Barney and Ted. Usually, when a season ends, I have to deal with a week or two weeks' worth of letdown. Right now, all I'm feeling is relief."[26]
On the other hand, Amanda Sloane Murray from IGN gave the season a lukewarm review saying "So maybe this season didn't have the funniest jokes or the freshest material to work with. On the whole, it's not one that's going to stand out in our minds as one of the best seasons in the How I Met Your Mother canon; most of us are eager to forget Robin and Barney ever happened, Robin's co-anchor Don was switched up from funny guy to boring straight man and eventually discarded; nobody made significant strides in their career or their love life. Yet at the end of the day, a few loose ends suggest tantalizing possibilities for next season: Ted is now in possession of a house, while Marshall and Lily have decided to get pregnant. Our group is back together, unfettered by relationships inside or outside the inner circle, and we're happy to have it that way."[27]
