‘How I Met Your Mother’ Season 9 Spoilers: What Happened In Episode 7, ‘No Questions Asked’? [RECAP]

Only 42 and a half hours remain until Barney and Robin’s wedding in season 9 of “How I Met Your Mother.” Episode 7, “No Questions Asked,” finds the gang getting into trouble at 11:30 p.m. on the Friday before the nuptials.

When “How I Met Your Mother” fans left off, Daphne had texted Lily telling her that Marshall accepted a judge position in New York without consulting her. The latest episode picked up with Marshall trying to fix the situation before it was too late.

Like the photo that Marshall’s mom sent during the season 9 premiere, Marshall’s initial plan is to get rid of the evidence before Lily sees it. Unfortunately he gets a scare when Lily calls him immediately … but about being stuck in a room with a ghost.

Turns out that Marshall (without Lily’s consent) had requested that they be placed in room 13 at the Farhampton Inn. According to a TV special, the ghost of hook-handed serial killer Captain Dearduff haunts the room at the Inn. Legend has it that in 1843, Dearduff the Hooker froze to death in the room after getting his hook caught in the wall while the window was open … but it’s also a possibility that he was just a “popular male prostitute that died of syphilis.”

Since Marshall is still on the road with Daphne he enlists the help of Ted … and Barney … and Robin.

Ted goes in first after Marshall invokes the “no questions asked” rule to delete the last text message on Lily’s phone. So, how did Ted owe Marshall a “no questions asked”? By getting stuck in a mailbox and having Marshall come and drill him out. (It’s later revealed that Ted got stuck in the mailbox after trying to get a psychotic letter he wrote to a girl he had just met at the pharmacy an hour before … and had got her address by eavesdropping on her conversation with the pharmacist.)

Even though Lily’s door is unlocked, Ted decides to climb the drainpipe to sneak in and grab the phone. However he does it in such a loud manner that he wakes Lily who believes he’s the ghost of Captain Dearduff.

Since Ted failed, Barney tries his attempt at stealing the phone and deleting the text. And like Ted, Barney also had to call in a “no questions asked” with Marshall … and it involved him swallowing real versions of all the Lucky Charms items.

And even though Lily’s door is unlocked, Barney decides to go through the air ducts to break into the room … where he proceeds to wake her up again.

With both Ted and Barney failing to grab the phone and erase the incriminating message, Robin takes a stab at it. It turns out that she owed Marshall a “no questions asked” when he rescued her (aka Night Falcon) from dart throwing ninjas.

Robin takes a different approach at getting into the room (even though the door was unlocked) by sending expensive room service to Lily. When Lily goes to complain to the front desk the three of them comb the room for the phone … and realize that Lily must have it on her.

Ted heads down after her while Barney and Robin hatch a plan together: Robin will cause a distraction by breaking a vase, allowing Barney to send in a trained dove (named Courtney Dove) to grab Lily’s phone. The dove will drop the phone into Robin’s hands, and she will then delete the message and place the phone back where Lily left it.

But Ted already took care of the situation before the bride and groom-to-be could get their plan in action. Turns out getting rid of the message was as simple as Ted calling in a “no questions asked” with Lily. It’s revealed that Lily owed Ted one after he showed up at her classroom with two-dozen cupcakes and a box cutter. At Ted’s request Lily throws the phone on the floor and smashes it.

However Marshall isn’t happy when Ted tells him that he took care of the message fiasco. “She’s the love of my life, I never want to keep anything from her,” Marshall realizes.

Gathering courage, Marshall explains to Lily that he accepted the judge position in New York without consulting her.

“I don’t believe in ghosts and I don’t think anyone died in our room,” Lily tells Marshall. “But someone’s going to.”

What did you think of episode 7 of “How I Met Your Mother”? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section.