Mary the Paralegal

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“Mary the Paralegal”
How I Met Your Mother episode
Ted introducing Mary.
Episode no.	Season 1 Episode 19
Written by	Chris Harris II
Directed by	Pamela Fryman
Production no.	1ALH18
Original airdate	April 24, 2006
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List of How I Met Your Mother episodes

"Mary the Paralegal" is the 19^th episode in the first season of the television series How I Met Your Mother. It originally aired on April 24, 2006.

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

A story that Robin did on her news channel was nominated for a Local Area Media Award (or as Lily calls it, a LAMA), and Robin has invited everyone to come to the awards banquet. Since she notified everyone three months in advance, Ted told her he would be bringing Victoria. Now, right before the awards banquet, Ted ended his relationship with Victoria and ruined his chances with Robin at the same time, and is wondering if he should still bring a date. Barney suggests the idea of getting Ted a prostitute as a date, which Ted immediately dismisses. However, Barney shows up a bit later with a stunning blonde-haired woman named Mary for Ted, and Ted again refuses until he sees Robin's date for the banquet: Sandy Rivers, or the guy who reads the newspaper on the news show every morning. Ted then agrees, and Mary is his date for the evening.

At the banquet, Ted finds himself more and more attracted to Mary, who claims to be a paralegal at a law firm downtown. Ted tries to talk to Robin to restore their friendship, but fails. Robin wins the award, and thanks all of her friends for coming and supporting her, except Ted. Meanwhile, Barney has given Ted a room key to the hotel, and Ted is beginning to think about whether he and Mary should actually go up to the room. Marshall tries to stop him, but without success. Ted and Mary head up to the room, while Robin and Sandy Rivers get a cab. Shortly afterward, Robin returns, reiterating that she doesn't date co-workers, and she brought Sandy only to make Ted jealous, and Marshall tells her that Ted brought Mary to make Robin jealous. Marshall then (in an oddly telepathic manner) tells Lily that Mary is a prostitute, and Lily, who is asleep, wakes up and asks that. After a minute, Barney reveals that Mary is not really a prostitute, but actually a paralegal that lives in his building. However, Ted does not know this, and Mary eventually slaps him and leaves when Ted insists that she's a prostitute. In the end, Ted gets the last laugh by never checking out of the hotel room Barney put on his credit card, running up a hefty bill.

[edit] Cultural References

During dinner at the awards ceremony, Mary makes a joke about Sandy Rivers' hair being put on like Darth Vader's helmet, which references the Star Wars series.
One of the cutouts Ted and Marshall use on the TV during Sandy's segment, "Yosemite Sandy," is a reference to the Looney Tunes character Yosemite Sam
Ted and Robin each insult each other's dates; Ted refers to Sandy as "Edward R. Moron," a reference to Edward R. Murrow, while Robin calls Mary "Paralegally Blonde" in reference to the movie Legally Blonde.
When Barney says "I said GOOD DAY!" to Ted before returning with Mary, it is a possible reference to That '70s Show, in particular Fez, but more likely to Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.
At one point, Ted remarks that he feels like Richard Gere, which refers to Pretty Woman, in which Gere dates a prostitute.
Mary tells them she works at a law firm called "Douglas, O'Halloran, and Stamp," referring to the three people (Sarah Douglas, Jack O'Halloran, and Terence Stamp) who played the Kryptonian villans in Superman and Superman II.
Sandy's segment, "In Today's Paper," is a parody of a segment done by Pat Kiernan on NY1 called "In The Papers."