The Ashtray

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

Plot

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.