Your report is the crap that crap craps!

How I Met Your Mother – The Chain of Screaming
After being verbally berated by his boss, Marshall questions whether the decision to work for a big corporate law firm was his best career move.

Ted is dating Stella (what?) and buys a new car. Even though he lives in New York. Stella’s not actually in the episode, they just talk about her. Robin and Barney fight about whether you can “call shotgun for eternity.” These two totally need to date. Or at the very least, do it. A shell-shocked Marshall shows up needing beer because he’s been screamed at by one of the senior partners of the firm. Furious that he’s stuck in a job he hates instead of saving the environment, Marshall has burst into tears in front of his boss.

Each of Marshall's friends suggests a course of action, "acting out" their solution as Marshall. This was quite funny, except Ted's was kind of lame. Robin suggests threatening said boss with a gun, then gets harassed about being Canadian (“Gun violence might solve all the problems in Canada”). Ted suggests an eloquent speech to sway the boss. Barney tells a story about a guy at work who got tired of being yelled at; told his boss to kiss his ass; then died poor, destitute, and alone. The lesson is, “When your boss screams at you, don’t scream back.” Lily suggests that Marshall be positive and respectful to enact change.

The next night, Ted finds Marshall on the street with a box full of his possessions. We flash back to the previous night and see that after all the advice-giving, Marshall went to a diner to work on a report. Barney shows up and tells Marshall to scream at someone to make himself feel better. Marshall tries to scream at the waiter, but the waiter screams right back at him. So Barney tells Marshall to scream at him, and during the tirade Marshall realizes that he may someday turn into Barney if he stays in corporate America. We flash forward into the boss’s office, and learn that Marshall finally got so furious about the fact that he hates his job that he quit.

Marshall is terrified to tell Lily he has thrown away their future (wow Marshall is uber-dramatic), but of course she’s a fantastic wife and tells him not to worry about anything. In the end, Ted sells his car and gives Marshall the money.

Overall a good ep ... but tell me, am I crazy? Why does everyone in blogworld seem to think that Stella is the mother? I mean, I have to assume Ted's children know their own mother's name. The show has always painted Ted's kids as exasperated that they're being forced to listen to this rambling story. Wouldn't the kids be like "great story dad, thanks!" as soon as they heard their mom's name? I guess maybe the writers could do some kind of switcheroo to make this work, but I do not see how Stella could be the mother. Anyone care to convince me?