Trama

As Ted, Marshall, and Barney get together for their triennial viewing of the original Star Wars trilogy, Ted begins to question if he will ever end up where he wants to be - especially now that Barney and Quinn are getting serious.

Quinn has moved in with Barney, but not all is all right with the living arrangement as Barney doesn't yet feel like he can be himself around Quinn in all its good and bad, which is manifested in part by his evening ritual just outside his apartment building. He decides to take refuge at Ted's new apartment. As Marshall is also there, Ted suggests that they make the evening their boys only triennial viewing of the Guerre stellari (1977) trilogy, this triennial event which began in 2000 when Ted and Marshall were still at Wesleyan. Although the trilogy is the centerpiece of the get together, it has historically been more about where their life is at that the present time, predicting what their lives will be like in three years time at their next viewing, and reflecting on why their prediction from three years ago went so awry. In most respects, the 2003, 2006 and 2009 events were remarkably similar, but many current issues make the 2012 event a bit different.—Huggo

Ted, Marshall and Barney embark on another "trilogy time," where they get together every three years to watch the "Star Wars" trilogy and envision what their lives will be like in another three years. Meanwhile Barney and Quinn move in together.—CBS Publicity

An unknown man obsesses over "the blond man in the suit" who comes outside at 8:00pm every night and smiles. The man is revealed to be Barney, who is trying to fart without Quinn around because they now live together. However, they have been fighting; although Quinn has thrown out most of her things in order to appease Barney's irrational fear of change, Barney won't even let her keep her coffee mugs.

Lily says that this is because Barney does not believe that this relationship is going to last, and hence doesn't want to change anything in his own life. Barney retorts that it is his apartment, and he needs to assort his dominance as a man. Barney finds all his friends are unsympathetic, though Ted and Marshall suggest it would be a good time to sit down for another "trilogy time", in which they watch the original Star Wars trilogy and predict what their lives will be like in another three years.

The tradition started in 2000 when Ted and Marshall chose to watch the entire trilogy instead of studying for their economics final after Marshall stated that if one didn't watch the trilogy through every three years, "the dark side wins".

Ted and Marshall begin to predict their futures three years at a time. Ted consistently imagines himself as a successful architect who has designed multiple skyscrapers and married to a woman named Rhiannon who resembles Robin. Rhiannon is in a band and is from England. Marshall imagines himself with a mustache, married to Lily, and as a successful lawyer with a family of five children. Barney hopes to live his life the same way as he currently is, introducing the gang to a new girl he is sleeping with only to kick her out so that they will never see her again.

Every 3 years the dream is not fulfilled, but the dream continues to remain the same in more and more grand settings. By 2009, Ted had been engaged and left at the altar. He started his own architectural firm, but it wasn't very successful. Meanwhile, Lily had left Marshall in 2006, but came back by 2009. Robin and Barney were secretly dating.

In 2012, Ted is 34 years old and realizes after reflecting on the trilogy times of 2000, 2003, 2006, and 2009 that his friends are all moving on without him, and that there must be something wrong with him. He predicts a bleak future of himself living alone (he is bald and lives in a squalid apartment that has not been cleaned for weeks) while Marshall and Lily are happy with a large family and Robin has married someone else, with the only constant being Barney will always be looking for a new girl. However, Barney refutes Ted, stating that for the first time he wants to be with someone he knows three years later. He returns to his apartment, apologizes to Quinn, and christens his commitment to her by breaking some of his coffee mugs. He says that although they haven't yet talked of their future, he wants her to know that he is hers "for as long as you'll have me." When both of them wind up farting in front of each other, Quinn happily says that they are at last a real couple.

Meanwhile, Marshall comforts Ted, saying that "2015 will be different". In a flash forward to 2015, Marshall and Barney set up for another trilogy time. Though Barney complains that Ted is breaking their tradition by bringing a girl, he and Marshall make an exception because Ted really loves the girl, who is revealed to be his infant daughter.