If Shania Was Mine

Marshall starts off the episode suspiciously calm—probably because he claims this is a musical episode. (Spoiler: it’s not.) But it does open with a short rant about Grey’s Anatomy, so some things are still on-brand. Gunter has taken to calling Marshall Cowboy, and he’s now convinced he needs spurs. They didn’t attend the muddy local rock festival headlined by Kid Rock, but that doesn’t stop Marshall from comparing it to Woodstock. Gunter even knew someone who went to the original Woodstock, which somehow leads to musings on what life would be like if it were a musical. Gunter says she’d just walk right out. Marshall has also apparently banned her from dancing due to her well-documented clumsiness. They’re both angling to emcee the Tennessee Valley Fair (don’t worry, there’s absolutely no way that’s happening). Gunter gets a dig in by reminding Marshall of how young she is. Marshall starts ranting about how people his age were supposed to discover music before MP3s, which leads into his memories of working a 4th of July festival and not recognizing half the musical acts. Somehow we get to Billy Ray Cyrus. And then Bill Belichick and his girlfriend. And of course, Marshall reveals his favorite country song—and confesses that he and his college roommates used to love watching (not listening to) Shania Twain videos. Welcome to the most musical non-musical episode yet.