Bad News
Comments6- For the countdown, see Bad News countdown.
| “Bad News” | ||
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| First aired: January 3, 2011 | ||
| Director: Pamela Fryman | ||
| Writer: Jennifer Hendriks | ||
| Barney's Blog | ||
Worried they aren't pregnant yet, Marshall and Lily see a specialist. An old colleague causes trouble for Robin at her new job.
Contents |
Recap
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Future Ted tells his kids that Marshall and Lily are anxious and worried about their chances of having a baby. After several months of trying to conceive, their doctor refers them to a fertility expert. As they tell Ted the news at MacLaren's, Barney arrives and announces to Ted and Marshall's dismay that he needs a partner for a laser tag tournament.
Lily goes to her appointment with the fertility expert, Dr. John Stangel (Neil Patrick Harris) only to discover that he looks exactly like Barney, save for a beard and dark brown hair, raising her immediate concern that he is in fact, Barney in disguise. When Lily confronts Barney, Marshall vouches for Barney, saying that they spent the whole day together. To convince her that Stangel and Barney are not the same person, Marshall attends Lily's appointment and also immediately assumes Stangel is Barney. Barney shows up, acknowledges the similarity, and leaves. Lily still thinks Dr. Stangel is Barney in disguise upon hearing him say "Scoot up." After getting Barney and the doctor in the room together throughout the procedure, Lily is convinced that they are in fact two different people.
When Lily's tests reveal that she is extremely fertile, Marshall is about to call his father with the good news, but stops when he considers that his sperm may be the problem. He admits only talking about good news with his father and decides to get his sperm tested before calling him again. When Marshall is unable to produce a sperm sample at the doctor's office, he returns home to produce the sample, only to find that his parents have dropped by for a surprise visit. He eventually reveals to his parents his concerns about possible infertility, to which they reassure him that they love him regardless of whether he and Lily will give them grandchildren and suggest other options, such as adoption and sperm donors.
Meanwhile, Robin's new job at World Wide News has started badly, beginning with the revelation that the network's lead anchor is her old Metro News 1 colleague Sandy Rivers. He promptly tells the entire office that they had sex and continues to harass her in front of her new co-workers with increasingly embarrassing stories from Robin's past. The group tells Robin to play along with the mockery, insisting that it will only get worse if she resists it. However, after an especially humiliating day, Ted decides to help Robin by confronting Sandy at his apartment. Ted learns that Sandy is bald and wears a toupee; he snaps a picture, and tells Robin to use it to put him to shame. At work, Robin starts pitching a story when she's interrupted by Sandy again. Instead of showing the office the picture of him, she pulls out her old Robin Sparkles denim jacket, embracing the mockery and moving on (with Future Ted telling his kids that while Robin never shook off the nickname of 'Sparkles', she would go on to do great things while working for World Wide News).
Having spent the entire day anticipating bad news, Marshall receives good news about his fertility from Stangel (after a failed impersonation by Barney attempting to trick Marshall into becoming his laser tag partner). While at MacLaren's, he tries to call his father about his good news but he does not pick up the phone. Marshall is shocked to learn from Lily that his father died of a heart attack. He is left holding Lily and saying, "I'm not ready for this."
ContinuityEdit
- Marshall's dad's death was first foreshadowed in The Fight.
- The Sensory Deprivator 5000 from Monday Night Football returned to allow Barney to stay in the room during Lily's pelvic exam.
- The fifth doppelganger of The Five Doppelgangers is finally revealed, after three false Barney doppelgangers.
- Marshall previously calls his dad about getting engaged (Pilot), passing the bar (Spoiler Alert), and getting a Viking lamp (Last Cigarette Ever).
- Sandy Rivers was Robin's co-host back at Metro News 1 in Season 1.
- Images of Robin from various previous episodes were shown for her co-workers: Falling in manure and saying inappropriate things on air (Return of the Shirt), Robin Sparkles clips (Slap Bet, Sandcastles in the Sand, and Glitter), her time as a Japanese correspondent (Shelter Island), vomiting on air (Right Place, Right Time), her bad makeup (Columns), and her Neat & Discreet commercial (Canning Randy).
- The second clip from Return of the Shirt changed Metro News 1 to Metro News 23 to fit with the countdown.
- A clip of Sandy suggesting he have had sex with Robin (Nothing Good Happens After 2 A.M.) was shown.
- Ted brings up a hot dog vendor who didn't really look like Barney bringing about a discussion of Marshall and Lily's deal with the Universe. They made the deal in Robots Versus Wrestlers, and spotted the hot dog vendor doppelganger in Doppelgangers.
GalleryEdit
- For a listing of all images on the wiki tagged as being from this episode, see Category:Bad News images..
Memorable QuotesEdit
| Barney: | I'd give my first born to not be able to have children. |
| Lily: | So you weren't wearing a fake beard and examining girl parts all day? |
| Barney: | Not today I wasn't! |
| Robin: | I can't believe it's my first day and already I'm 'the girl who slept with the host of the show'! |
| Ted: | Already? Were you planning on eventually sleeping with the host? |
| Robin: | Well, now that I know it's Sandy, I'm not! |
| Lily: | How did you do it? |
| Barney: | Oh god you found one of the cameras. I swear that's the only one. Wait which one did you find? |
| Lily: | We're doing it a lot. |
| Marshall: | And everywhere. The kitchen, the bathroom, the living room, outside in your waiting - the kitchen. |
| Marshall's Dad: | We love you no matter what. So why don't you get back in that bathroom, pretend you're in high school and "blow dry your hair." |
Barney: Gyno-mite!
Notes and TriviaEdit
Goofs and ErrorsEdit
- Lily has Barney wear the Sensory Deprivator 5000, so he can stay in the room, but not see her getting examined. However, because of the way Ted designed the Sensory Deprivator 5000, it is still possible to see while wearing it (but not very well). However, this can't be considered a goof considering Barney was purposely facing a wall and not at all looking in the direction of Lily.
Allusions and Outside ReferencesEdit
- The episode features the numbers 50 to 1 being either shown on the screen, with the number 5 being shown by a high five. This is very reminiscent of the 1988 Peter Greenaway film Drowning by Numbers.
- Barney applies for the "47th Semi-Annual Crossing the Streams Laser Tag Tournament". "Crossing the Streams" is a reference to Ghostbusters.
MusicEdit
- Let's Go to the Mall - Robin Sparkles featured during the montage of embarrassing clips of Robin
Other NotesEdit
- The cast were not given the script for the final scene until the day of shooting, in order to keep the ending a secret. To keep them from knowing the actual ending, the original script they received before filming had Lily telling Marshall she was pregnant.[1]
- Although Jason Segel was aware of the overall premise of the final scene, he decided he didn't want to know what Alyson Hannigan's exact lines were.[2]
- Only one take of the final scene was filmed.[3]
GuestsEdit
- Bill Fagerbakke - Marvin Eriksen Sr.
- Suzie Plakson - Judy Eriksen
- Alexis Denisof - Sandy Rivers
- Neil Patrick Harris - Dr. John Stangel
- Artemis Pebdani - Anna
- Paul Schackman - Dr. Mitchell Friedman
- Matt Dwyer - Syd
- Jay Brian Winnick - Ronald
- Americus Abesamis - Chaz
- Bill Suplee - Marty
PodcastEdit
Added by PCoolFeaturing an interview with Carter Bays and Jennifer Hendriks.
ReceptionEdit
This episode premiered to 10.15 million viewers.[4]
Donna Bowman at the A.V. Club gave the episode a C.[5] She felt "'Bad News' goes horribly wrong with its little numbers game. It’s the wrong time to deploy such a gimmick. It detracts from the funny stuff and cuts off the serious stuff at the knees."
DeAnn Walker at Television Without Pity gave the episode an A.[6] She was not a fan of the countdown, wondering "why [they included it]? Just so they could prove they can? Honestly, if they wanted to do it, I think they could have done it better. Those double numbers and big obvious ones left a lot to be desired. The rest of the episode, on the other hand, did not. Great emotional buildup, suspense, red herrings, and then payoff."
Robert Canning at IGN gave the episode a 9.5 out of 10.[7] He felt that "[The countdown] was a smart addition to the episode. Even though it was distracting at first, it all made sense by the end of the episode ... "Bad News" was a very smart and funny episode that also kicked you in the gut at the end."
ReferencesEdit
- ↑ http://au.tv.ign.com/articles/114/1144195p1.html
- ↑ http://au.tv.ign.com/articles/114/1144195p1.html
- ↑ http://au.tv.ign.com/articles/114/1144195p1.html
- ↑ http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2011/01/04/monday-finals-two-and-a-half-men-adjusted-up/77264
- ↑ http://www.avclub.com/articles/bad-news,49511/
- ↑ http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/show/how_i_met_your_mother/bad_news_1_1.php
- ↑ http://au.tv.ign.com/articles/114/1142502p1.html
External LinksEdit
- Bad News at the English Wikipedia
- Bad News at CBS Press Express
- Bad News at the Internet Movie Database
- Bad News at TV.com
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