Season 3 Premiere Summary for How I Met Your Mother

In case you missed the third season premiere of How I Met Your Mother I will highlight for you what happened to the main characters.

Robin went to Argentina to take a vacation and she came back with her new boy friend Gael. Barney tried to get Ted to go out with him. He enticed him with sweaty marathon runners, and gymnasts from Montreal. But it wasn't until Ted met Gael that he was ready to allow Barney to be his wingman. Ted, Marshall and Barney couldn't pronounce Gael's name. They tried "Gail" and "Girl" and "Kyle."

Then Robin had to break it down for them: "Guy-L" Lilly was so intrigued by Gael she invited him and Robin to dinner with her and Marshall. While they had a double date at their apartment, Barney and Ted went out looking for a girl hotter than Robin. Their goal was for Ted to win the break up since Robin had an early lead after bringing Gael back to New York. She was a bad girl named Amy played by singer/actress Mandy Moore. Ted found her without Barney's help. This irritated Barney. Amy stole some liquor and then she found a friend for Barney. They went to Amy's house to relax in the hot tub. Barney was trying to keep Ted from making a stupid decision. He was so focused on being Ted's wingman that he was ignoring his date who promised Barney she would do whatever he wanted her to do, until they got busted by the true owner's son. It was then Ted got an image in his head of Gael and Robin doing it on a windsurfing board. It was after this daydream that he decided to go get a tattoo.

Completely drunk at this point Ted discovers that the tattoo artist is Amy's ex-boy friend Steve. Meanwhile back at the apartment, Marshall reminds Lilly that as Ted's best friends they have to hate Gael. But they cannot resist his charms because he is a message therapist and he can sing and play the guitar. The next morning Ted woke up and was relieved to find no tattoos on either bicep. Then Marshall and Lilly saw Ted's butterfly tattoo on his lower back. They called Barney over to the apartment so he could see Ted's new "tramp stamp." After Barney broke it to Ted that he had butterfly wings, Ted went to Robin's apartment to confront that he was still recovering from the break up.

This is where Robin admitted that she cried for 3 days after flying to Argentina and as a result she found Gael to cheer her up. Ted felt inferior to Gael because of all his talents. Then Robin pointed out that Ted was bigger than Gael. It was after this comment that Ted felt a lot better. He celebrated with Barney and Marshall at the bar while Ted's future wife walks by the bar outside carrying a yellow umbrella. The episode ends with Marshall calling Barney and telling him to go to a website slapcountdown.com. The website has a countdown to when Marshall will cash in his slaps on Barney.