- Ted agrees to go on a date without researching her on the Internet beforehand; Barney urges Marshall and Lily to find out and reveal the gender of their child; and Kevin tries but fails to avoid passing judgment on the group.
- With the Internet and smartphones pervading his and his friends' lives, doing an online search of people just met, especially dates and potential dates, is the norm for Ted. Although it was originally Barney and Robin who did this searching for him, the background searches have saved him a lot of grief in the past in uncovering skeletons which are automatic deal-breakers for a relationship. Ted decides to go back to the 20th century after he makes a date with Janet McIntyre, a woman he has just met. They made a pact not to Internet-research each other to allow that first date to be one of true exploration. But Ted making this agreement doesn't stop Robin and Barney from Internet-searching on his behalf. When they find some juicy information about Janet while Ted is already on his date with her, they text Ted on his smartphone and Ted must decide if he'll look at what Robin, Barney, and even Lily believe is "for the love of God!" information. Meanwhile, with the ultrasound completed, Dr. Sonya has written down the gender of Lily and Marshall's unborn baby and placed the information in a sealed envelope, but they say they don't want to know. However, Barney will do whatever it takes to discover the envelope's contents. Kevin, who is still dating Robin, tries to keep his professional thoughts of Barney, Marshall, Lily, Ted, and even Robin to himself.—Huggo
- When Ted decides to date a woman named Janet MacIntyre (Amber Stevens West) without researching her, Barney and Robin attempt to intervene by researching Janet for him, which he insists that they do not. Ted explains to Kevin that Robin and Barney have researched many of the women he dated in the past and ruined the relationships by revealing unappealing background information on them. Before his date with Janet, he makes a deal with her that they will not research each other on the Internet, which she agrees to.
In the meantime, Marshall and Lily recruit Barney, Robin, and Kevin to help paint the room for their baby. Though they have obtained the information on the sex of their baby, they choose not to open the envelope containing the information so that the baby's sex will be a surprise when it is born. Marshall and Lily don't want to impose gender stereotypes on their baby. While Robin says that having gender stereotypes is good. In her case, most 14-year-old girls get a cake and a dress on their birthday, but she got thrown out of a helicopter into the middle of a jungle with nothing but a hunting knife and a pack of wolves to fight and survive against. Barney disagrees with their decision and tries to convince them to open the envelope, arguing that there are advantages to knowing what the child's sex will be. If the gender is known, the parents get better gifts at the baby shower.
When everyone begins arguing about whether "mystery" is better, Kevin calls them out on their behavior. He admits that while he did not want to analyze them, he has noticed that everyone in their group is unreasonably close and have been meddling too much in each other's lives. He calls them codependent and controlling each other's lives. Symptoms of separation anxiety, they also text each other the shape of their bowel movements. The only things Kevin did not see is physical violence. He calls the group dysfunctional for meddling in Ted's love life, and Lily's pregnancy. While Kevin's assessment appears to be true, it causes a rift between him and Robin, which he attempts to make up for by offering to paint the rest of the room by himself.
During the painting session, Barney and Robin have insisted on continuing their research on Janet for Ted. Through their research, they learn a number of startling things about Janet which they attempt to share with Ted by texting him on his phone. Marshall eventually allows Barney to learn the sex of the baby if he does not tell him and Lily, but Barney eventually convinces them to look, only to rip the card in half and refuse to give the half with the information back to Lily and Marshall. Barney agrees to give it to them if they look at what he and Robin have learned about Janet. When Marshall gets the card, he and Lily are unable to firmly decide if they want to know, and Marshall ends up throwing the card out the window for the sake of "mystery."
Meanwhile, Ted is having trouble conversing with Janet without the use of the Internet during their date. Slowly, the conversation picks up and Ted and Janet are really hitting it off. Despite initial attempts to resist everyone's insistence that he should look her up on the Internet, he gives in and learns that she is extremely accomplished, highly altruistic, and very wealthy. Ted becomes nervous and Janet leaves him, recognizing that his sudden change in behavior means that he has learned about all her achievements, and he has become intimidated, as has happened with all her previous dating encounters. After he rejoins his friends, Ted tells them that he regrets giving in and that he would rather have "mystery" over "history" for his future dates. When Ted puts his foot up on a stool, Marshall notices that the card he threw out the window had stuck to Ted's shoe; he and Lily learn that their baby will be a boy.
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