‘How I Met Your Mother’ Breakdown: ‘The Broken Code’

How I Met Your Mother The Broken Code

(SPOILERS AHEAD, so proceed with caution, you Mother lovers!)

Season Nine, Episode Four: “The Broken Code”

Written by: Matt Kuhn, Directed by: Pamela Fryman

This episode shows that they’ve fully settled into their ninth season and this prolonged wedding saga. They also found a better way to incorporate Marshall into the Farhampton escapades. Maybe this long weekend won’t be as painful as we suspected.

Quick Breakdown

We pick up right where we left off. “I saw you and Robin at the carousel,” Barney states angrily. Surprised, Ted drops the scotch. He quickly explains the circumstance of the hand holding, claiming it was to comfort her. Barney appears to accept this justification. Ted starts crying. Not because he feels emotional over this confrontation but because he broke that $600 bottle of scotch. Barney cries, too, after hearing this. This little crying shtick felt uncharacteristic of Ted.

Back at the Inn’s bar, Lily thanks Linus for another drink before introducing everyone to Marshpillow 2.0. (1.0 being the overlarge pillow she used as a Marshall stand-in when he was out of town.) This one includes an iPad for a head, and now the entire gang is back together – until Marshall’s iPad freezes mid-sentence.

Robin starts complaining about how Lily had enough time to create this Marshpillow but not enough time to plan a proper bachelorette party for her. We cut to the two of them in appropriate bachelorette party garb in an empty MacLaren’s. Lily claims she forgot to send out the e-vites (Who sends out e-vites? Was she being ironic?), although Robin’s nemesis friend Patrice arrives (whom Lily amusingly claims she definitely did not invite).

Robin compares Lily’s failures to Ted’s over-achievements as Barney’s Best Man. Suddenly Barney says he forgot the 200 place cards that Ted hand-wrote in calligraphy. Ted eagerly runs off to write them again. Having any knowledge of how weddings are planned, it should be obvious that this is not an actual issue (Any mishaps in wedding preparations would be a much bigger deal). Instead, we can assume that Barney is actually mad at Ted for holding his fiancée’s hand.

The following montage of Ted jumping through hoops to please Barney further proves this assumption. Ted even volunteers to move into the basement to take care of the doves. But when he discovers that Barney is having the bachelor poker party without him, he realizes that Barney is actually mad. Karate Kid’s Billy Zabka has replaced Ted as the best man. (And even Tim Gunn, Barney’s tailor, has shown up to the bachelor party, although he’s never played poker.)

Meanwhile, Lily explains that the reason Robin’s party was a bust was because she has no women friends. She just hates women. Lily fears for her while she’ll be in Rome, and forces Robin to befriend a random woman at the bar. She awkwardly hugs a crying girl who subsequently berates her for doing so. The girl was merely crying because one of her favorite hockey teams lost. Turns out, Robin can get along with other girls – as long as they’re bro-girls like she is.

Of course, Lily instantly gets jealous and scares off the girl. In the following heartwarming moment, Robin confesses that she likes Lily because she’s psycho. How wonderful that they patched up their little spat. Although it was interesting to realize how few gal pals Robin actually has (which is to say, just Lily).

Back in his room, Barney claims that Ted broke the Bro Code, pulling out a Bro Code book to prove his point. Ted challenges him, and the only way to get a final ruling is to consult nonpartisan Marshall. Bringing him in via iPad is a great way to show how they can stay connected through current technology (They never would have done this in season one) and also gives us the three guys hanging out again. Friendships are what this show truly hinges on.

In his roundabout way, Marshall rules that the hand-holding was only a violation of the Code if holding hands as friends is itself weird. So they recreate the park scene on the beach – it even begins to rain (although I suspect that has more to do with that impending storm they mentioned two episodes ago).

Holding hands as friends is weird, it turns out. Except what made it especially weird is that Ted confesses to still having feelings for Robin. Barney is appalled but makes Ted swear on the Bro Code that he won’t pursue these feelings. He’s now promised both Barney and Lily not to let his deep-seeded feelings for Robin interfere with the wedding. It can only be a matter of time until he breaks these promises.

With their friendship repaired, Ted is promoted back to Best Man. All seems right, until a jealous Zabka leans across the table with a threatening look at Ted. “I’m coming for you, Mosby.”

Rating

B+

I didn’t guffaw much, but the stories were amusing and the emphasis on the friendships at stake felt more convincing than any threats to Barney and Robin’s relationship have felt. Friendships are what this show is built on, and it was great to see them address that again. Plus the continued reemergence of past HIMYM characters is always a pleasure.

Now for some random thoughts and my favorite moments of the night…

“It’s after 5, put on some heels.” –Robin complaining about a woman at the bar wearing sneakers.

“Be yourself, say something nice.” –Lily encouraging Robin to make new friends. “Which one? I can’t do both.” –Robin’s reply.

I’ve never felt as connected to Robin as I did in this episode. Amazing how seeing a “new” side of her can continue to connect you to a character even in the ninth season.

Patrice is at Farhampton Inn! I love how much Robin hates her.

Wasn’t it great not having to deal with Daphne this week?

That tag ending with the guys tanning felt both out of place (The show rarely has tag endings) and like a big stretch to make a second shout-out to Weekend at Bernie’s (which they had mentioned earlier).

Related Content

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recent Posts

New to Glide

Keep up-to-date with Glide

Twitter