How I Met Your Mother “Bad News” Review S06E13
“I’m not ready for this…’”
Okay. If anyone said that they knew Marshall’s dad was going to wind up dead at the end of the episode, they are lying. For a show to kill off someone so integral to the main cast was done often enough, but HIMYM really hit it on the nail. The episode’s last bit was unexpectedly emotional. I guess that happens when we stick to the characters for so long to know what they think. And who expected this goofball comedy to throw us a curveball like this? Jason Segel really knows how to make it hit home with his performance in this one.
But enough about the ending. Let’s discuss the episode.
The part with Marshall trying to work it in the bathroom of his apartment with his parents providing him with inappropriate imagery was a nice touch and I was glad that they did their usual rapid fire criss-crossing dialogue sequence without dragging it for too long. It was hilarious for that quick burst and effective while it lasted. All this was a good set up to build up the awesome but sometimes creepy relationship that the Eriksen family have, only to shatter it in the end. If you noticed, there was also a nice touch with the subtle numerical countdown in the background too, leading towards the monumental bad news that Lily has to break to Marshall.
Barney's doppelga...wait. That's not right....
When John Stagel, the fertility doctor first showed up, I was expecting Barney to once again pull off the impossible with an elaborately planned prank to get laid but it never came, save for a small payoff towards the end. I mean,I like Barney the way he is, but is it just me or was it nice to see an actual Barney doppelganger be un-Barney-like and chew off Barney for pretending to be him? Coupled with the bit at the end, the writers sure know how to make things fresh with their characters.
Robin’s storyline could have easily gone down the route of being the clipshow episode, with us revisiting old episodes, but they sidestepped this landmine of a trope by cleverly showing only limited clips and throwing some other new ones into the wrench. I’m glad they chose to do it this way though for reasons of creativity. And the image of the balding Sandy Rivers up to his shenanigans with a bear and stripper-types girls is always a plus.
The only downside and complaint I could say about this episode is the fact that it rarely features our main character Ted, who seems to have been relegated to the sidelines. I know that this is nit-picking because this is a show about the reminiscing hysterical adventures Ted has with his friends so featuring his friends is not that big a deviation but it would be nice if he was actually more involved with the other storylines. Like in the last episode, he has been more of a bystander and his only contribution was the advice that Robin did not heed (well, sort of). But then again, because this is such a smart and high calibre episode, I tend to nit-pick. And even though there wasn’t any over-the-top ridiculousness and really laugh-out-loud lines often associated with Barney and his crazy antics, this was still a very good episode.
Episode Verdict
9.0 /10
