The episode starts with Barney sitting in despair on the sidewalk in front of his apartment building and Future Ted tells his kids that this is the story of the night Barney's life completely fell apart. The scene then flashes to the events of six hours earlier.
As Barney and Robin are preparing for dinner with his mom, Robin tells him that she is pretty nervous and is worried that she won't think Robin is good enough to marry her son. Barney asks Robin not to worry and tells her that he will be there for her right after he drops off their catering deposit. Robin asks him to be careful as he is carrying five thousand dollars, but Barney tells her that he'll be fine. However, just as Barney steps out of his apartment building he is kidnapped - by Ted and Marshall for his surprise bachelor party.
Barney is impressed by their plan to "kidnap" him for the bachelor party and tells them that he was secretly worried that they wouldn't be able to pull off his bachelor party, but Marshall says that that wasn't a secret. Three weeks earlier, Barney told the gang at MacLaren's that their bachelor party for him would be ordinary. Robin says that she can help, but Barney says that fiancées cannot plan bachelor parties and Ted and Marshall are on their own.
Back in the present, Barney calls Robin to tell her he won't be able to make it to their dinner with his mom. Robin says that she can't handle it alone and Barney says that he will call her to cancel the dinner. However, when Barney calls his mom, she is already at the restaurant and he tells her that Robin can't stand the idea of dinner with her by herself, giving the night an uncomfortable start. He asks Ted and Marshall what they have planned and Ted asks him if he remembers the penthouse on the top of the Taj Mahal in Atlantic City. Barney gets excited at this, but it turns out that they can almost see that from their hotel room, which is just outside Atlantic City, which disappoints Barney. When Barney asks them why they are outside AC, Marshall tells him that they thought it was best, because of Barney's gambling addiction. Ted tells him that they have everything planned from the time he the listed of things he wanted for his bachelor party when he was engaged to Quinn. They will watch An Inconvenient Truth, to "Fear for our lives" on Barney's list and hired a balloon contortionist (a clown), for "Entertainment" on the list.
At that moment, Barney gets a call from Robin. She is furious at him that he told his mom that she is a virgin, but Barney says that he wanted his mom to like her and panicked. When Barney hangs up the phone, there is a knock on the door, and it turns out to be Lily. Marshall tells Barney that Lily is here to deliver another one of his requests, a "Karate Kid Appearance." When Ralph Macchio enters, Barney yells at him and says that the Karate Kid was William Zabka. Barney laments that this night has been catastrophic and asks them if they even got a stripper. They tell him that they did who arrives at that very moment. However, when Barney opens the door, he is surprised to see that they stripper they got is Quinn. She is shocked that Barney is engaged again less than a year after their break-up, while she is broke and had to go back to stripping. As revenge, she tells him that she will strip for everyone except Barney. As Barney is in the bathroom, while the strip show is going on, he gets another call from Robin, who tells him that her night has been hell. Loretta started teaching her about sex, and when Robin told her that she is not a virgin, Loretta opened up to her and started telling her about her sexual encounters. She asks him to come back and Barney tells her that he'll be there soon. Barney then gets out of the bathroom and tells the others that he wants to go back home as the night has been disappointing.
On their way back, Ralph Macchio taunts Barney that his bachelor party was great and Barney is a loser for getting so close to AC, and not even gambling. Barney then turns the car around towards AC. At the casino, Barney loses the five thousand dollars that Robin gave him for the catering deposit. Barney says that they have to leave, but Ralph Macchio taunts him further. Barney then says that they aren't leaving and gets some credit from the Chinese mobster present at the casino. However, he also loses that money and they decide to head back home. Half way there, Lily realizes that Marshall isn't in the car and Barney tells him that he offered him as collateral to the Chinese mobster for the money, and he is going to go back for Marshall as soon as he gets the money. Ted says that Barney is a bozo for doing that to Marshall and that a bachelor party is about having a good time with your friends, but Barney only cares about having a good time. He then angrily gets out of the car. As Barney runs after him to make up, he is stopped by Robin. As she is telling him that she had the worst night of her life, Quinn gets out of the car. Thinking the worst, Robin pounces at Quinn, and when Barney breaks it up between them, Robin tells Barney that it's over between them and throws her engagement ring at him.
As Barney sits in despair at the sidewalk, Robin calls Ted and tells him that they are right on schedule. Just then Quinn happily tells Robin that Barney is miserable. Future Ted then tells his kids that they had planned everything. Three weeks earlier, they had no idea what to do for Barney's bachelor party. Marshall wonders how they are supposed to make something memorable for Barney, who makes every night the best night of his life. At the point, Robin suggests that they give him the worst night of his life. They arranged everything with Quinn, Ralph Macchio, Loretta and the casino owner to make Barney think that his life is ruined.
For the finale, they pretend that the mobsters chopped Marshall's hand off in front of Barney and the mobsters then drag Barney upstairs to his apartment. As he enters the apartment, everyone yells out "Surprise!" Barney is confused, but they come clean and Robin tells him that they decided to give him everything on his list without him even realizing. Barney tells them that this was awesome and is even more surprised when Robin tells him that she planned it all. Barney tells them that they didn't get everything on the list, as they left out the "real" Karate Kid. At that moment, the clown takes off his costume, revealing that he is William Zabka. Barney is ecstatic at this, and hugs him.
When Robin explains the idea for Barney's bachelor party, the music used for The Playbook is used.
Quinn's love for manipulating people was previously seen in The Broath.
The flashbacks where Barney explained his requirements for his Bro Mitzvah, with Quinn being present with the group, take place around 10 months prior to the events of the episode, indicating a date between June and July 2012. As stated in The Pre-Nup, the Summer of 2012 (taking place between June and August 2012) was "The Summer of Love" where everybody was happy in their respective relationships (Barney and Quinn, Ted and Victoria, Robin and Nick, and Lily and Marshall with their newborn Marvin), making these flashbacks concurrent with the time period.
This is the second time in the series to have an episode that includes a bachelor party, the first being Bachelor Party.
Ralph Macchio's pun "nothing happened? This means hand stuff" was previously used by Barney in The Ashtray.
Marshall mentions he's always beaten Ted at skee ball. In Jenkins he's shown to be a champion at that game.
Shut it Ralph Macchio! Why don't you have a party with Luke Skywalker, and Harry Potter, and War Horse, and all the other movie bad guys and stop ruining mine!
Notes and Trivia[]
Goofs and Errors[]
In The Stamp Tramp Barney says Quinn came back to stripping at the Lusty Leopard, but in this episode Quinn says if Robin wants her to "pretend" stripping again meaning she quit stripping.
It's possible Quinn went back to stripping and then later quit.
Allusions and Outside References[]
Barney asks Ralph Macchio to party with Luke Skywalker, Harry Potter, and War Horse.
Coincidentally, John Williams composed music for all three movies. (Star Wars, Harry Potter, and War Horse)
Lily mentions Ralph Macchio's photo spread in Tiger Beat.
Every time Barney shows his disgust for Ralph Macchio, Billy Zabka (disguised as a clown) points and laughs silently at Macchio, alluding to the rivalry their characters had in The Karate Kid.
Marshall and Ted mention the possibility of a "Marshall Unchained" and "Ted Unchained" which is a reference to the movie Django Unchained.
The title is a play on Bar Mitzvah, the Jewish celebration of becoming a man.
This is the first time ever we see Barney breaking a girl fight; we saw his reaction to girl fights previously in
Intervention: When Ted stops Lily and Robin fighting, Barney got so angry that he punched and broke the wall of the apartment.
The Broken Code: When Marshall explains the many times Ted behaved as The Bro Code imposes, in particular "A Bro will, in a timely manner, alert his bro to the existence of a girl fight", and Barney rushes to see the girl fight.
Jenkins: When Lily is fighting with Jenkins and Barney asks Marshall to move aside from the camera because he is taking a video.
Barney's Checklist for his Bachelor Party[]
Barney's checklist had the following things, and they were completed in the following ways in his "Worst Night Ever".
Booze - They all drink throughout the night
Barney's checklist
Cigars - Smoked in the car after the kidnapping.
Strippers - Quinn's appearance.
Fearing For Our Lives - Barney's kidnapping by Ted and Marshall, Marshall's hand been 'chopped off' and Barney being forcefully taken to his apartment by mobsters.
Mind-Blowing Entertainment - The Balloon Contortionist Clown.
Karate Kid Appearance - Appearance of Ralph Macchio, who Barney hates (and eventually William Zabka).
Alone Time for me during Strip Show - Barney sitting alone in the bathroom, not watching anything, during the strip show.
Tell Crazy Sex Stories - Loretta's inappropriate sex stories she told to Robin, under the illusion she was a virgin, and Lily's story about discovering her sexuality through Ralph Macchio's "Tiger Beat" photo spread.
Spontaneous Decision We Regret - Barney deciding to ignore his friends' advice and gamble his $5,000 catering deposit and Marshall (as collateral for $80,000 gambling credit) in Atlantic City.
Spend Way to Much $$$ - Gambling and Losing $85,000.
Lose a Bro at some point - Gambling Marshall for $80,000 gambling credit.
At least one real moment between Bros (Broment!) - His conversation with Ted which ends with Ted storming out of the car and seemingly ending their friendship.
Ooh! Ooh! See a Girlfight! Right? - The girlfight between Robin and Quinn after Robin thought Barney had cheated on her.
If Bride hears what happened? Furious! - Robin seeing Barney leaving the car with Quinn and ends their engagement.
Donna Bowman of The AV Club gave the episode a B+. She says, “The Bro Mitzvah is a perfectly fine episode of HIMYM. Better than many, without a doubt. But there is a whiff of calculation about it that keep it, in its conception at least, from becoming legendary. This is a business problem getting an ingenious solution, rather than an intuitive leap of artistry”. [2]
Max Nicholson of IGN gave the episode a 7.8 out of 10. While he praised the idea of Barney's bachelor party, he added, "while "The Bro Mitzvah" was structurally clever, there were still a few weak links in the storyline, most notably Robin's dinner with Loretta. Not only did were these scenes hammy and trite, but that whole dinner probably never even happened (considering Loretta was also in on the scheme). So why subject us to those lame breadstick/napkin ring metaphors? Also weak was Lily's sexual pining for Ralph Macchio, a joke that grew tired before it even started". He also says, "Macchio's appearance was a definite highlight, as was the extra bonus reveal of William "Sweeps the Leg" Zabka as the silent balloon contortionist clown." He concluded by saying, "Overall, this week's HIMYM was surprisingly pleasant. Not hilarious or through-and-through funny, but markedly smart". [3]
Angel Cohn of Television Without Pity gave the episode a B-. He says that, “this is by far best outing it's had since the last Robin Sparkles episode, strictly grading on a HIMYM curve. Still, a lot of the positivity had to do with Robin being deviously awesome (something the writers forget to do 90 percent of the time), the entire cast being together sans stupid B-plots and the brilliant casting of Ralph Macchio to play a foil to Neil Patrick Harris”. [4]
The St. Petersburg Comic Review gave this episode 9 out of 10 stars. "...Billy Zabka, where you been all these years?"
