The Bracket

{{Infobox television episode | series = How I Met Your Mother | image = | caption = | season = 3 | episode = 14 | airdate = {{Start date|2008|03|31}} | writer = Joe Kelly | director = Pamela Fryman | guests = *Chris Tallman as Mark *Maïté Schwartz as Holly *April Bowlby as Meg *Dawn Olivieri as Anna *Ken Barnett as Colton Dunn *Brendan Patrick Connor as Janitor *Yvonne DeLaRosa as Charna *Katy Savoy as Karen *Kathy Uyen as Julia *Hallie Lambert as Kate *Tess Alexandra Parker (Mysterious Woman)<ref name="pressrelease">{{cite web | url = http://www.thefutoncritic.com/listings/20081113cbs08/ | title = Episode Title: (#314) "The Bracket" - Press Release }}</ref> | production = 3ALH13 | prev = Ten Sessions | next = The Chain of Screaming | episode_list = List of How I Met Your Mother episodes | season_article = How I Met Your Mother season 3 }} "'''The Bracket'''" is the 14th episode in the third season of the television series ''How I Met Your Mother'' and 58th overall. It originally aired on March 31, 2008.

==Plot== Barney attempts to track down and identify a woman who is stalking him in order to warn women he picks up from having sex with him. He narrows down a list of 64 women most likely to want revenge, then has the gang help him eliminate possibilities tournament style. Lily, the only person who has seen the stalker, forces him to confront his "final four,” none of whom is the stalker, although the woman from "Ted Mosby, Architect" started tedmosbyisajerk.com under the impression that Barney's identity is Ted's. Lily is irked by Barney’s refusal to apologize to the women he has hurt but Barney reasons that they were consenting adults, he showed them a good time, and remembered each and every one — even going so far as to scrapbook each experience.

Eventually, they concoct a plan where Robin will pretend to be a girl that Barney wants to hook up with, while Lily stays by the jukebox at MacLaren's, and the rest of the guys hang out at the booth. When Barney pretends to go to the bathroom, he notices a woman approaching Robin. Barney finally apologizes to the woman when he thinks that she is the avenger but he does not recall having slept with her. This turns out to be a friend of Robin's, but Lily nonetheless is proud of Barney for finally giving out a sincere apology. The woman warning Barney’s potential conquests is not revealed, but Future Ted reassures that she will be revealed another time.

At the end of the episode, Barney writes of the experience in his oft-mentioned blog in a scene similar to the computerized diary scenes of ''Doogie Howser, M.D.'', in which Neil Patrick Harris (Barney) stars. After glancing over at another conquest he snagged through deception, he concludes that the lesson to all this is that he is "awesome.”

== Production == The episode was originally named "The Final Four".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://have-you-met-ted.com/2008/upcoming-the-final-four/|title=Upcoming: The Final Four|accessdate=May 18, 2014}}</ref> Many blogs and reviews refer to it by that name.<ref name="IGN">{{cite news|url=http://uk.ign.com/articles/2008/04/02/how-i-met-your-mother-the-final-four-review|title=How I Met Your Mother: The Final Four Review|work=ign.com|last=Zoromski|first=Michelle|date=April 2, 2008|accessdate=May 18, 2014}}</ref><ref name="Television Without Pity">{{cite news|url=http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/show/how-i-met-your-mother/the-final-four-2/|title=The Final Four|work=televisionwithoutpity.com|last=G|first=Omar|accessdate=May 18, 2014}}</ref>

The tie-in website http://www.tedmosbyisajerk.com was initially bought to prevent it being exploited by cybersquatters,{{citation needed|date=May 2014}} then a simple website was added. Associate producer Carl MacLaren had the idea to do a song for the website, which sprawled into a much longer 20-minute work. The song syncs up slightly with the episode a la the alleged ''The Dark Side of the Moon''/''Wizard of Oz'' sync, which can be seen on the season 3 DVD. The vocals were performed by Charlene Amoia (Wendy the Waitress).<ref name="sepinwall">{{cite web | author = Alan Sepinwall | title = What's Alan Watching? blog, posting an e-mail from Carter Bays. | url = https://sepinwall.blogspot.com/2008/04/himym-tedmosbyisajerkcom-is-legendary.html | accessdate = 2010-04-08 }}</ref>

== Critical response == {{expand section|date=December 2015}} Donna Bowman of ''The A.V. Club'' gave the episode a B rating.<ref name="The A.V. Club">{{cite news|url=http://www.avclub.com/articles/the-bracket,12898/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090211160648/http://www.avclub.com/articles/the-bracket%2C12898/|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 11, 2009|title=How I Met Your Mother: "The Bracket"|work=The A.V. Club|last=Bowman|first=Donna|date=March 31, 2008|access-date=May 18, 2014}}</ref>

IGN gave the episode a rating of 7.6 out of 10.<ref name="IGN" />

Omar G of Television Without Pity rated the episode A+. It was the only episode of the season rated A+, and described as "one of the best episodes of the show".<ref name="Television Without Pity" />

== References == {{Reflist}}

== External links == * {{IMDb episode|1206872|The Bracket}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bracket}} Category:How I Met Your Mother season 3 episodes Category:2008 American television episodes