How I Met Your Mother’ Season 8 gives a seal of approval to its seventh episode of the (potentially) final season “The Stamp Tramp,” as Barney enlists Robin to help him decide on a new strip club, Marshall sticks up for a down and out Brad ('True Blood's Joe Manganiello) to his boss, and Ted searches college tapes for evidence of his former cool.

Last week’s ‘How I Met Your Mother’ episode “Splitsville” saw Robin having difficulty breaking up with Nick, while Ted and Marshall obsessed over their after-work basketball teams and Lily grew increasingly horny, so what did tonight’s episode bring?  Are we any closer to learning how the last year for Ted, Robin, Barney, Marshall and Lily plays out?

Read on for your in-depth recap of everything you need to know about ‘How I Met Your Mother’ season 8 episode 7, “The Stamp Tramp!”

With Quinn having returned to the Lusty Leopard, Barney laments having to choose a new strip club for himself, particularly with all the attention it gets him from rival club owners looking to recruit him.  Meanwhile, Marshall explains how he ran into his law school buddy Brad outside his office, looking far more haggard than he’d remembered, and offered him a chance to apply for a job at Honeywell and Cootes.  The gang disapproves, believing that Marshall offers his seal of approval for everything, and when Ted interjects Lily accuses him of being a "piggyback stamper."

The next day, Robin advises Barney how to milk even more gifts from the strip clubs looking to recruit him, becoming his erstwhile agent in the process, while Ted attempts to take credit for being the first one to like Dishwalla’s “Counting Blue Cars” in college, though Lily claims to have introduced him to it.  Meanwhile, Brad sits down to an interview with Marshall and Honeywell, but quickly turns the mood sour by citing his psychic and his numerologist as credible sources in an important case.

Ted pours over his old college video diaries to find examples of his being the first to like something, while Robin gets into her role as Barney’s strip club agent, and Marshall’s meeting with Brad continues to spiral out of control.  Taking Marshall outside for a brief discussion, Honeywell agrees to another few minutes of the interview, taking Marshall’s fervent seal of approval on faith.  Once inside however, Brad, quickly refutes the short man’s notions of being  6’1”, even if they share a history with Holy Cross basketball in common.

Robin announces to Barney that she has officially chosen senior strip club “Golden Oldies” as his new venue, but Barney quickly sees how Robin’s been corrupted by the amount of gifts they’d given, her, and takes her off the search.  Back at the meeting, Honeywell gives up on Brad, and takes Marshall off the big Gruber Pharmaceutical case for having poor judgement.  With Ted still watching the old tapes for signs of originality, he and Lily concoct a plan to help Marshall by gaining his trust in small matters, and slowly making his way back up the ladder.

Later, Lily advises Ted to give up searching through the tapes, when they stumble upon an entry of Marshall returning home from his third date with Lily.  Marshall waffles about Lily being the one, but the past Ted assure him that their age shouldn’t prevent Lily from being his soulmate.  Moved, the present Lily sees that Ted gave her the ultimate seal of approval after all.

Robin apologizes to Barney for getting carried away, offering to buy his next lapdance, as Barney commandeers the floor at MacLaren’s to announce his big decision.  Going with “Mouth Beach,” Barney and Robin drink the night away, sharing a drunken kiss on the way home, before Robin breaks it off, and leaves in a huff.

The next day, Marshall sees a put-together Brad as opposing legal counsel for Gruber Pharmaceuticals, admitting he played Marshall to gain access to Honeywell & Cootes’ files on the case.  Incensed, Honeywell threatens Marshall to win the case or lose his job, but as always…we’ll get to that.

Perhaps not the most pivotal 'How I met Your Mother' episode, the return appearance of Joe Manganiello's Brad provided a welcome throwback to the earlier seasons as the pieces inevitably shifted toward putting Robin and Barney back together.  We're still relieved that Victoria and Nick aren't in the picture anymore, but so far it seems like 'How I Met Your Mother' continues spinning its wheels while we wait for news of an additional season.

Do you give your ‘How I Met Your Mother’ seal of approval to “The Stamp Tramp?”  Do you think it made for a solid entry into the (potentially) final season? Join us next week for an all-new episode recap of ‘How I Met Your Mother’ “Twelve Horny Women” on CBS!

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