10 Best Episodes of How I Met Your Mother

The best how I Met Your Mother episodes show why the sitcom was so beloved and critically successful during the 2005-2014 period. Throughout its 9 seasons and 208 episodes, how I Met Your Mother redefined the template for what to expect from sitcoms focusing on the dating exploits of a group of friends in their 20s. Starring Josh Radnor, Jason Segel, Cobie Smulders, Neil Patrick Harris and Alyson Hannigan, HIMYM managed to balance being absolutely hilarious and extremely emotional when necessary.

Few comedies before or since have been as relatable or well-written as the best episodes of HIMYM to test. The sitcom continues to be an example of how absurd and ridiculous stories can go hand in hand with grounded narrative arcs that almost all viewers can empathize with, all held together by the incredible core performances. HIMYM cast. There are dozens of stand-out episodes in the series, but the best episodes of how I Met Your Mother are examples of the many strengths that have ensured it is remembered as one of the highest quality comedies of recent decades.

10

tick tick

Season 7, Episode 10

how I Met Your Mother “Tick Tick Tick” from season 7 is one of the best episodes of the series, both from a comedy standpoint and how well it deals with complex emotions. This is the episode of HIMYM this shows Robin and Barney waking up together after cheating on their respective partners. At the time, Robin was with Kal Penn’s Kevin, while Barney is still in a relationship with Nazanin Boniadi’s Nora.

Barney and Robin decide to break up with Nora and Kevin while on a cruise. “Tick Tick Tick” comes to an emotional end when Robin is unable to let go of Kevin, leaving Barney heartbroken. There’s also a great side story involving Ted, Lily and Marshall where they go to a concert. Ted and Marshall get high (although, as Ted tells the story to his children in the future, he refers to marijuana as “sandwiches”). They end up going on an epic adventure to find the bathroom, which they think will take hours, but hilariously, it only took about 20 minutes.

9

Confrontation

HIMYM Season 2, Episode 20

Many of the best how I Met Your Mother The episodes focus on Barney Stinson, which isn’t surprising given that Neil Patrick Harris’ character is a fan favorite. It is a running joke in the early seasons of the series that Barney believes his long-lost father is The price is fair host Bob Barker. Season 2’s “Showdown” sees this long-running joke come to a head when, finally, Barney is selected as a contestant on the show.

Of course, he only signed up for the chance to come face to face with the man who might be his father, although the many scenes in which he and the gang learn to play The price is fair so well that Barney is guaranteed to win are hilarious – though not as funny as the moment when Barney finally meets Bob Barker. What’s more, there’s an equally funny Lily and Marshall plotline where they try to live separately before marriage to prove they’re not codependent. This fails spectacularly and has some of the funniest (and sweetest) Lily and Marshall moments in the entire show.

8

Swarley

HIMYM Season 2, Episode 7

Season 2 contains several of the best how I Met Your Mother episodes, and it was this strong start that likely ensured the show gained a devoted fanbase incredibly quickly. One of the highlights of both HIMYM season 2 and the overall show is episode 7, “Swarley.” This takes place during the brief period when Marshall and Lily were off work, although that’s not why it’s among the best episodes of HIMYM (although the emotional aspects of Lily and Marshall navigating their feelings after Marshall gets a date with a local barista are strong examples of how the hit comedy handles dramatic narratives).

The main reason “Swarley” is among the best HIMYM episodes is a subplot involving Barney that, to this day, is one of Stinson’s most hilarious stories. Barney is tormented by teasing throughout the episode after a barista mistakes his name for “Swarley.” It’s completely ridiculous, but Seeing the ever-tender Barney Stinson driven to near insanity by the rest of the gang, calling him Swarley throughout the episode, is priceless, and “Swarley” remains one of the best examples of both how I Met Your Mother hilarious writing and Neil Patrick Harris’ excellent performance in the sitcom.

7

Blitz Action

HIMYM Season 6, Episode 10

There have been some great Thanksgiving specials in how I Met Your Mother 9 seasons, although the funniest is undoubtedly “Blitzgiving” from season 6. It came to be considered one of the best HIMYM episodes mainly because of the concept it presents to viewers and then makes the center of the comedy – that of the “Blitz”. In short, Lily, Marshall and Ted have a college friend (Jorge Garcia’s Steve) who they call The Blitz. The joke is that The Blitz carries a curse that ensures he will always miss epic moments due to bad luck or bad timing.

To his horror, Ted realizes he has inherited Steve’s curse in “Blitzgiving.” Ted keeps missing all kinds of unforgettable moments, but eventually manages to pass the Blitz curse back to its original owner. Like many of the best episodes of How I Met Your Mother, there are many emotional and also funny momentsand in “Blitzgiving” this all centers on Ted understanding why his girlfriend Zoey (Jennifer Morrison) is so upset because her stepdaughter wanted to spend Thanksgiving without her.

6

The manual

HIMYM Season 5, Episode 8

Season 5’s “The Playbook” could easily have been one of the how I Met Your Mother episodes that have aged poorly, as they focus on the many ridiculous ways Barney Stinson lies to women to trick them into his bed. However, the emotional arc that underpins the story of “The Playbook,” as well as the fact that the rest of the gang rightfully views Barney’s antics as incredibly problematic, ensure that he is considered one of the series’ best. In short, “The Playbook” is the episode that forces Barney to finally accept that his approach to romance is despicable and unacceptable.

However, there are also many hilarious moments. Barney’s last piece in his infamous Playbook, “The Scuba-Diver”, is absurd and ridiculous, leading to a laugh-out-loud moment that sees him attempt to seduce a woman in a bar while wearing a full set of scuba gear. There’s also a heartfelt resolution when Lily manages to get Barney to realize that he’s only going back to his old ways because he’s still in love with Robin. It’s an episode with a lot of character growth for Barney, and the perfect blend of his character from previous seasons with the more mature Stinson he became at the end of HIMYM.

5

How your mother met me

HIMYM Season 9, Episode 16

how I Met Your Mother Season 9 was quite controversial among the show’s fanbase. However, that doesn’t stop it from containing one of the best episodes of HIMYM – “How Your Mother Met Me”, the 16th episode of the final chapter of the story. As the title suggests, “How Your Mother Met Me” focuses on Chrsin Miloti’s Tracy, the titular mother in How I Met Your Mother. Finally, the show’s central mystery is revealed, explaining to viewers exactly how the mother of Ted’s children met and fell in love with him.

Like almost all stories involving Tracy, it is incredibly moving, especially when it explores moments in Tracy’s life, such as the death of her previous boyfriend. There are also lots of easter eggs and references to previous episodes of HIMYM which reveal all the times Ted and Tracy almost met over the years, cementing the fact that they were more or less destined to be together. “How Your Mother Met Me” is perhaps the highlight of season 9, and shows that even though the end of how I Met Your Mother may not have satisfied all fans, the series didn’t lose its touch during the final episodes.

4

The naked man

HIMYM Season 4, Episode 9

An important reason how I Met Your Mother What became so popular was how it combined observations about the minefield of dating with some absurd concepts — and few episodes blended those two themes better than Season 4’s “The Naked Man.” The arcs of characters like Ted were pretty standard for the show, in this case showing how he tried to leave ex-fiancée Stella (Sarah Chalke) by dating Vicky (Courtney Ford), it’s one of Robin’s dating revelations that made “The Naked Man ” such an unforgettable episode of HIMYM.

Essentially, Robin reveals that she went out with a man she ended up sleeping with because of a ridiculous move he made – taking off all his clothes while she went to the bathroom only to come back and find him naked. Barney and Ted are surprised that this worked and so they track down the man in question, Mitch (Adam Paul). They don’t believe him when he explains how his movement, which gives the episode its name, has a high success rate. It’s completely ridiculous, and it’s this ridiculousness that ensures that “The Naked Man” is the perfect example of how I Met Your Mother at its absurd best.

3

Bad news

HIMYM Season 6, Episode 13

Many of the best how I Met Your Mother the episodes are highly regarded by viewers for being funny. However, this is not the case with Season 6’s “Bad News.” This episode is one of the best episodes of HIMYM for one reason only – “Bad News” is the episode where Marshall’s father dies. It’s beyond moving, with the moment when Marshall receives the news from Lily that his father has passed away being one of the most delicately handled depictions of grief and loss, not just in How I Met Your Mother, but in any modern sitcom.

The level of thought and planning that went into “Bad News” is astonishing. There is a countdown with numbers appearing in the background that, on second viewing, leads to the moment when Marshall finally learns the terrible news. Of course, there’s also some hilarity, in this case with the gang trying to figure out whether Barney’s doppelganger is real or simply Barney pretending to be a different person.

2

The pineapple incident

HIMYM Season 1, Episode 10

The unique configuration of how I Met Your Mother is that each episode is a remembrance of Ted’s events as he explains his and his friends’ exploits to his children in the future. This allows the sitcom to play with perspective using unreliable narration and other narrative tools, often to hilarious effect. Of all the episodes of HIMYM, few have used this creative freedom as well as season one’s “The Pineapple Incident.” Episode 10 of the first season of the series is still considered by many to be one of the best how I Met Your Mother episodes of everyone, and it’s easy to see why.

The episode begins with Ted waking up in bed with a woman he doesn’t recognize and, what’s even more confusing (especially to Marshall, for some reason), a pineapple on his nightstand. The rest of the episode involves Ted, Lily, and Marshall trying to figure out exactly what happened the night before, with many conflicting and hilarious accounts about exactly what Ted did. To make things even funnier, the pineapple mystery was never solved.

1

Slap bet

HIMYM Season 2, Episode 9

If Season 6’s “Bad News” represents the peak of HIMYM When it comes to emotionally gripping dramatic stories, Season 2’s “Slap Bet” is the absolute high point of sitcom comedic writing. The Season 2 installment is still considered the best how I Met Your Mother episode by many, and it’s hard to argue otherwise given that it introduced not one but two of the show’s best jokes – the titular Slap Bet and Robin’s former life as Canadian teen pop star Robin Sparkles.

The comedic timing surrounding the Robin Sparkles arc is absolutely hilarious and impeccably written. Throughout the entire episode, both the gang and viewers are led to believe that Robin’s dark secret is some kind of adult video (a theory put forward primarily by Barney). When the final reveal arrives and the music video for Robin Sparkles’ hit “Let’s Go To The Mall” arrives, it kicks off one of the most hilarious pieces of character development in HIMYM.

However, this isn’t as funny as the slap bet itself, which returns repeatedly later on. how I Met Your Mother episodes. Jason Segel and Neil Patrick Harris deliver their best HIMYM performances, and nothing the show has done before or since has been as funny as Marshall’s intensity and Barney’s fear whenever the former raised his hand to the latter. “Slap Bet” is perhaps the episode that defines all the peculiarity and appropriate handling of recurring jokes that made how I Met Your Mother as good in all nine seasons, and it remains the best and most essential episode of the series out of all 208 episodes.