The Ashtray

"The Ashtray"
How I Met Your Mother episode
Episode no.	Season 8 Episode 17
Directed by	Pamela Fryman
Written by	Carter Bays & Craig Thomas
Original air date	February 18, 2013 (2013-02-18)
Guest appearance(s)
Kyle MacLachlan (George "The Captain" Van Smoot) Laura Bell Bundy (Becky) Becky Baeling (Shelly)
Season 8 episodes
September 2012 – May 2013 "Farhampton" "The Pre-Nup" "Nannies" "Who Wants to Be a Godparent?" "The Autumn of Break-Ups" "Splitsville" "The Stamp Tramp" "Twelve Horny Women" "Lobster Crawl" "The Over-Correction" "The Final Page – Part 1" "The Final Page – Part 2" "Band or DJ?" "Ring Up!" "P.S. I Love You" "Bad Crazy" "The Ashtray" "Weekend at Barney's" "The Fortress" "The Time Travelers" "Romeward Bound" "The Bro Mitzvah" "Something Old" "Something New"

Kyle MacLachlan (George "The Captain" Van Smoot)
Laura Bell Bundy (Becky)
Becky Baeling (Shelly)

"The Ashtray" is the 17th episode of the eighth season of the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, and the 177th episode overall.

When Zoey's ex-husband, The Captain, unexpectedly calls Ted, the gang reminisces about what happened when they last saw him a year and a half earlier. Ted tells Barney and Marshall that he, Robin, and Lily had attended a gallery opening a year and a half ago, after Ted and Zoey had broken up and he was dating Becky. The Captain and his art consultant showed up at the gallery; Ted recalled the Captain looked tense but had invited them all to view a painting at his apartment. After he threatened Ted with a harpoon gun, Ted claims that the Captain mentioned he had moved on. However, Ted screamed upon seeing that the Captain had a picture of Becky.

When Ted calls the Captain, he asks for Robin's number. Robin tells the guys her part of the story. Ted had been high (on a 'Sandwich' he shared with Becky) and the Captain was hitting on her, making her feel uncomfortable. At the Captain's apartment, she walked into his bedroom and saw the Captain lying on the bed in a seductive manner. According to Robin, she turned him down, telling him to pull himself together and call her in a year and a half. On the advice of the guys, she calls the Captain and tells him she's engaged. The Captain reveals that he is actually looking for Lily and had gotten her mixed up with Robin.

Lily tells the gang that Robin had been severely drunk at the gallery opening (the result of a long meeting at work followed by several shots at the bar) and as a result, was flirting with the Captain. Lily complimented an elephant painting, making the art consultant very uncomfortable. When the Captain showed Lily the masterpiece he had acquired in the bedroom, Lily felt that the elephant painting would look better in the room. He dismissed her opinion because she was a kindergarten teacher; Lily took those words to heart, and in retaliation, stole his ashtray.

Marshall and Lily argue (having asked the others to leave after telling Lily's side of the story), causing Lily to admit that she isn't returning the ashtray because a "kindergarten teacher" is all she is. After months of keeping it from him, she finally admits her regrets about not using her art degree and instead becoming a mother. Though Marshall reassures her that she will be able to pursue her art career again some day, Lily worries that there is a certain point where this stops being true.

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Wikipedia