"The Broken Code" is the fourth episode of the ninth season of the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...

How I Met Your Mother ''How I Met Your Mother'' (often abbreviated as ''HIMYM'') is an American sitcom, created by Craig Thomas and Carter Bays for CBS. The series, which aired from September 19, 2005 to March 31, 2014, follows the main character, Ted Mosby, and his ...

'', and the 188th episode overall.

Plot

51 hours before the wedding,

Barney Barney may refer to: People and fictional characters * Barney (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Barney (surname), a list of people Film and television * the title character of ''Barney & Friends'', an American live actio ...

confronts

Ted TED may refer to: Economics and finance * TED spread between U.S. Treasuries and Eurodollar Education * ''Türk Eğitim Derneği'', the Turkish Education Association ** TED Ankara College Foundation Schools, Turkey ** Transvaal Education Depa ...

over his meeting with

Robin Robin may refer to: Animals * Australasian robins, red-breasted songbirds of the family Petroicidae * Many members of the subfamily Saxicolinae (Old World chats), including: **European robin (''Erithacus rubecula'') **Bush-robin **Forest rob ...

and holding her hand. Ted explains he was comforting Robin as a friend.

Lily ''Lilium'' () is a genus of Herbaceous plant, herbaceous flowering plants growing from bulbs, all with large prominent flowers. They are the true lilies. Lilies are a group of flowering plants which are important in culture and literature in mu ...

has improved her Marshpillow to incorporate a video screen with

Marshall Marshall may refer to: Places Australia * Marshall, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria Canada * Marshall, Saskatchewan * The Marshall, a mountain in British Columbia Liberia * Marshall, Liberia Marshall Islands * Marshall Islands, an i ...

communicating through video chat while he is en route to Farhampton. Robin wishes Lily had put more time in planning her

bachelorette party A bachelorette party (United States and Canada) or hen night ( UK, Ireland and Australia) is a party held for a woman (the bride or bride-to-be) who will soon be married. While Beth Montemurro concludes that the bachelorette party is modelled af ...

where only Patrice showed up. Lily was too busy planning the move to

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, but later reveals that Robin does not have any

girlfriend A girlfriend is a female friend, acquaintance or partner, usually a female companion with whom one is platonically, romantically, or sexually involved. In a romantic context, this normally signifies a committed relationship where the indi ...

s. Robin admits she has trouble connecting with other women, and Lily decides Robin needs to have at least one other female friend while she is away in Rome. Lily has Robin try to befriend women at the hotel bar, and eventually hits it off with someone who shares her love for

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

. Lily is jealous and drives her away, and two decide they'll be fine as long as they have each other. Ted plans a

poker Poker is a family of comparing card games in which players wager over which hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, however in some places the rules may vary. While the earliest known form of the game w ...

game for Barney and handwriting the table cards for the reception in

calligraphy Calligraphy (from el, link=y, καλλιγραφία) is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a pen, ink brush, or other writing instrument. Contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as "t ...

, Barney informs Ted he accidentally forgot the cards, which Ted agrees to remake. Barney asks Ted to move from his current room to the basement to make room for a relative, and to house the cages for

dove Columbidae () is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with short necks and short slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. They primarily ...

s to be used at the wedding. When delivering the cards to Barney, Ted realizes Barney is mad at him for holding hands with Robin. Barney has chosen

Billy Zabka William Michael Zabka (; born October 20, 1965) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Johnny Lawrence in ''The Karate Kid'' (1984), ''The Karate Kid Part II'' (1986) and the TV series ''Cobra Kai'' (2018–present). In 2004, h ...

to be the

best man A groomsman or usher is one of the male attendants to the groom in a wedding ceremony and performs the first speech at the wedding. Usually, the groom selects close friends and relatives to serve as groomsmen, and it is considered an honor to be ...

, who has already started the poker game. Barney claims Ted's actions go against the

Bro Code In popular culture, the Bro Code is a friendship etiquette to be followed among men or, more specifically, among members of the Bro (subculture), bro subculture. The term was invented and popularized by Barney Stinson, a character from the televisi ...

, which Ted disagrees. Unable to decide who is correct, the two ask Marshall via video chat to weigh in. Marshall asks the two to recreate the events, with Ted asked to hold Barney's hand and offer comfort, and see if it feels weird or not. Ted admits he still sometimes has feelings for Robin, but promises Barney he won't do anything to get between them and that he will try to let those feelings go. Barney forgives Ted and during a poker game, Barney reinstates him as the best man.

Critical reception

Donna Bowman of ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...

'' gave the episode a B− rating. She stated that the episode leaves "nothing fancy or inspired" and gave the writers some challenges in

flexibility Stiffness is the extent to which an object resists deformation in response to an applied force. The complementary concept is flexibility or pliability: the more flexible an object is, the less stiff it is. Calculations The stiffness, k, of a bo ...

with the character pairings. ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...

''s Sandra Gonzalez said Ted and Barney's scenes may be closure for Ted, as far as his feelings for Robin are concerned. Bill Kuchman of Popculturology gave the episode poor marks, saying that the idea of Barney using the Bro Code against Ted shows that "HIMYM has forgotten a key moment in its history," ignoring the events of 'The Goat'. Max Nicholson of

IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...

gave the episode a 7.0/10 rating saying it "made some interesting headway with Ted and Barney, but quickly wore thin with Lily and Robin."

Alan Sepinwall Alan Sepinwall (born October 19, 1973) is an American television reviewer and writer. He spent 14 years as a columnist with ''The Star-Ledger'' in Newark until leaving the newspaper in 2010 to work for the entertainment news website HitFix. He th ...

HitFix HitFix, or HitFix.com, was an entertainment news website that launched in December 2008 specializing in breaking entertainment news, insider information, and reviews and critiques of film, music, and television. In mid-2010 HitFix crossed the 1,00 ...

said the episode showed the original cast in their usual ways, noting Milioti's absence.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Broken Code How I Met Your Mother (season 9) episodes 2013 American television episodes