The "How I Met Your Mother" gang changed when Lily and Marshall moved to Long Island for good. Lily gave each of them a key and they lived only a 46-minute train ride away, but things would never be the same. They would have to cope with their new circumstances. That meant some things had to change.
Barney
Barney appointed himself "new group leader." That led to a night at the strip club with Lily's Russian doppelganger. "Instead of bossing us around, she shows us her boobs." Barney decided to call her "Better Lily," and when her big, bad boyfriend showed up, he became "New Marshall." Kevin, Robin, Ted, Barney, Better Lily and New Marshall were the new " How I Met Your Mother " gang.
Barney also redid the "How I Met Your Mother" opening video. His first version added lyrics about Barney being the new leader of the gang, and eliminated Lily and Marshall's pictures in the photo montage. The second version had Cyrillic-style titles, Russian-style music and pictures of the new gang, including Better Lily and New Marshall.
Robin and Kevin
Kevin is Robin's official boyfriend. That meant he got to be a part of the gang, but it didn't mean he could take over Marshall and Lily's spot in their booth at MacLaren's. Being a couple sometimes meant playing a game of "early relationship chicken," where neither one of them would say "no" to anything so they would seem "...interesting, adventurous and open-minded." That can't-say-no attitude forced them into new group leader Barney's strip club outing, a lap dance, a poker game with thugs and conversations with bizarre phrases like "Mack Daddy" and "Straight pimpin'."
Ted
Ted missed Lily and Marshall and felt cut out of their lives. It was as bad "...as when they canceled 'Party of Five' for the second time." Ted kept calling Marshall, but couldn't get an answer. He had no other options, so he went along with Barney's plans. Ted went to the strip club and had a lap dance. He even won a bundle of money at the underground poker game in a mostly empty insane asylum, but he still missed Marshall and Lily.
Marshall and Lily
Marshall and Lily weren't doing much better. He couldn't get a cell signal in Long Island. It had been two weeks since Lily's dad, Mickey, came to visit, and he hadn't left yet. When an electrical problem plunged them into darkness, Mickey taunted Marshall while he tried to find his way through the dark. (Lites Out became Mickey's only successful board game.) Marshall missed his New York home and their booth at MacLaren's
By the next morning even Barney realized they needed Marshall and Lily, so they made the 46-minute trip to Long Island. After their crazy night with Barney, Kevin finally decided to say "no," and he stayed home. The rest of them ate pancakes together in a booth in Lily and Marshall's kitchen. They decided their booth would be wherever they were together.
Source:
"How I Met Your Mother": Season 7, Episode 14: "46 Minutes."
