One of the weaker episodes of How I Met Your Mother. This one is focused solely on Barney, there is hardly a supporting story line of any significance, let alone plot development.
The gang decides to join a gym, where Barney encounters Rhonda, the elderly woman he lost his virginity to. This was mentioned before in S02E12 ("First Time in New York"), and via flashbacks this story is now connected to the rather embarrassing period in Barney's life when he was dumped by his long-term girlfriend Shannon (see S01E15, "Game Night"). So we learn more about Barney's back story, which is nice. It doesn't fully add up, though. Now we learn he became awesome by sleeping with Rhonda, so when exactly did he cut his hair and put on a suit, which was his game-changing moment according to the story we were presented in S01E15?
Back to the plot of this episode: Upon learning that he really wasn't all that great at making love the first time, Barney's confidence is shaken and must subsequently be restored by sleeping with Rhonda again - and this time being good at it. In between, there's a scene with several supermodel cameos that didn't really do much for me. Their acting isn't convincing, and, seriously, what's funny about someone possibly having a stroke? Apart from that, there's not much going on. For the other characters, it's just situation comedy in the setting of a gym.
One of the highlights of the episode is certainly Wayne Brady resuming his role as Barney's (then still in-the-closet) gay black brother in the flashbacks.
The gang decides to join a gym, where Barney encounters Rhonda, the elderly woman he lost his virginity to. This was mentioned before in S02E12 ("First Time in New York"), and via flashbacks this story is now connected to the rather embarrassing period in Barney's life when he was dumped by his long-term girlfriend Shannon (see S01E15, "Game Night"). So we learn more about Barney's back story, which is nice. It doesn't fully add up, though. Now we learn he became awesome by sleeping with Rhonda, so when exactly did he cut his hair and put on a suit, which was his game-changing moment according to the story we were presented in S01E15?
Back to the plot of this episode: Upon learning that he really wasn't all that great at making love the first time, Barney's confidence is shaken and must subsequently be restored by sleeping with Rhonda again - and this time being good at it. In between, there's a scene with several supermodel cameos that didn't really do much for me. Their acting isn't convincing, and, seriously, what's funny about someone possibly having a stroke? Apart from that, there's not much going on. For the other characters, it's just situation comedy in the setting of a gym.
One of the highlights of the episode is certainly Wayne Brady resuming his role as Barney's (then still in-the-closet) gay black brother in the flashbacks.