“Who Wants to Be a Godparent?”
←	HIMYM episode 8x04 (164)	→
First aired: October 15, 2012
Director: Pamela Fryman
Writer: Matt Kuhn
Barney's Blog
Images (8)

When Lily and Marshall can’t decide on godparents for Marvin, they put the gang to the test to see who would make the best one.

Contents 1 Recap 2 Continuity 3 Gallery 4 Memorable Quotes 5 Notes and Trivia 5.1 Goofs and Errors 5.2 Allusions and Outside References 5.3 Music 5.4 Other Notes 6 Guests 7 Podcast 8 Reception 9 References 10 External Links 11 Comments

RecapEdit

After hiring Mickey as Marvin's nanny, Lily and Marshall go to the bar to celebrate their first day together in five months with the gang. They ask the others what's going on in their lives. Robin, Ted, and Barney however find themselves conflicted – Lily and Marshall have implemented an “eight-or-higher” rule, since Marvin's birth: meaning the three childless pals cannot come to them with problems that are not a level eight or higher. For Ted, this means he can’t bring up the fact that Victoria’s father wants Ted to pay for the wedding he helped Victoria leave. For Robin, this means she can’t talk about how unstylish Nick’s moped is. And Barney can’t tell the gang about the chick he banged the night before. (who in Barney's mind, was at best a six, six-and-a-half.) The three decide to keep these issues to themselves

After a short drink, Marshall and Lily leave (much to the dismay of the others) to spend some time alone together on the street. However, a close brush with a taxicab forces them to consider preparing a last will and testament, designating a guardian for Marvin in case either or both of them die (which saddens Lily at the mere mention of the word). The two argue over possibly designating Marshall's mother Judy, or Lily's parents as the guardian. They finally decide that Marshall's brother Marcus would be a suitable choice, since he is a great dad. However, when Marshall calls Marcus to tell him about their decision, they are shocked to learn that Marcus has left his wife and kids to become a bartender at a beach-side bar. Ted, Barney, and Robin then all volunteer to be Marvin's guardian and throughout the rest of the week, keep coming over to the apartment and compete to win over Marshall and Lily’s affection, Ted and Robin by purchasing larger and larger stuffed teddy bears, Barney by singing crude “bro”-versions of children’s tunes in various costumes.

Still struggling to choose who to pick as guardian out of the three, Lily and Marshall hold an impromptu game show called "Who Wants to Be a Godparent?". in order to make their decision. The object of the game is to tell Marshall and Lily how they would handle various hypothetical situations with Marvin. Points are given for the best answer and the one with the most points gets to be Marvin's guardian. Ted, Barney, and Robin continue to make trite answers to various questions until after playing several rounds of the game, a disagreement begins between the three competitors, causing Lily and Marshall to get angry with them for not appreciating how hard it is to be a parent. Offended, Barney responds by saying that neither Lily or Marshall knows what it means to be a friend anymore. Ted and Robin continue by stating that Marshall and Lily rarely spend time with the group and are apathetic to what is going on with their lives unless it's an "Eight or Higher". The couple tell them they don't have time to listen to their dating problems and the only important thing in their life is Marvin. The other three then walk out of the apartment.

After the others leave, Marshall and Lily realize that they don't know what is going on in their friends' lives and haven't been good friends lately. They come to the bar to talk to Robin,Ted and Barney and tell them that they are revoking the "Eight or Higher" rule, as they want to know what is going on in their lives. All of them then spend the night together hanging out and "close down" MacLaren's for the first time in months.

They next morning, Robin and Ted step up to take care of Marvin when he wakes up early in the morning so that Marshall and Lily can go back to sleep. Marshall and Lily then decide to name all three of their friends as Marvin's legal guardians.

ContinuityEdit

• Marshall and Lily imposed the "Eight or Higher" rule in The Magician's Code - Part Two.
• The suit Marshall wore is the same one from the 'Story of the Cursed Pants', in The Magician's Code - Part One.
• Marshall's love of games, first seen in Game Night, is focused on again.
• Robin Scherbatsky Sr. sending Robin to a boy's school follows his want of a male child, which was first briefly touched on in Zip, Zip, Zip, and further detailed in Happily Ever After and then Mystery vs. History.
  • Another reference to Mystery vs. History is Robin knowing how to hunt and make lunch in the wild.
• On the game wheel is "Tooth Fairy, Santa, Bigfoot", an issue Marshall and Lily discussed in Cleaning House (Tooth Fairy/Easter Bunny) and Tailgate (Bigfoot).
• Barney's "Booty Call Phone" seems to be a less active version of his phone in Rabbit or Duck.
• Marshall's mother has an issue with Lily. It's been referred to The Stinsons and again in Last Words.
• When Marshall and Lily have fights, Marshall eats as a result of him being angry. (Dowisetrepla)
• Barney says that if Marvin had to be in Ted's care, the poor kid would still be a virgin at the age of 13. Barney once falsely claimed he lost his virginity at the age of 12 in First Time In New York, despite it truthfully being at 23.
• When Lily and Marshall say "death is all around us", they say it just like Marshall did in Disaster Averted.
• When Ted raps with Marvin about 'birds and bees' he goes into beat boxing which sounds terrible. This was the first pointed out in The Perfect Cocktail, when Lily says "It only sounds good to you."

GalleryEdit

For a listing of all images on the wiki tagged as being from this episode, see Category:Who Wants to Be a Godparent? images.

Memorable QuotesEdit

Barney:	The boobs on the bus go up and down, up and down, up and down. The boobs on the bus go up and down
Barney:	(Marshal closes the door. About three seconds later, he opens it again.) All through the town.

---

Barney:

I know this hurts little buddy, but you'll love again someday, because time will heal a broken heart, but not that bitch's window.

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Robin:

Alright, kid. Here's the deal with the deal: Your Mom and Dad are done, ski bellyflopped off a subway platform. Mom; busted open like a Piñata. What was left of your Dad hung around for a few days. Anyway, plugs pulled, organs donated, long story short, I'm your new mummy now.

—Robin explaining to Marvin, Lily and Marshall's demise.

---

Robin:	You know where you're headed, chief? The British Columbia Military School for Boys. Of course, you're actually a boy, so at least you won't have to shave all your hair off and burn your girly clothing in an old oil drum while your father stands there and laughs at you through the flames.
Marshall:	I think Robin wins this round... Because we love her and she's in a safe space. Right guys?

—Robin disciplining Marvin with tough love.

---

Barney:

It will be legen-no I'm not waiting for it, and neither should Marvin, so maybe you two should just die right now-dary!

---

Notes and TriviaEdit

Goofs and ErrorsEdit

• Marshall winks at everyone to let Robin win after the Discipline round, however, in Legendaddy, one of Marshall's gaps is being unable to wink.
  • Although, it shouldn't be ruled out as character development, such as Barney's driving Arrivederci, Fiero-As Fast As She Can, or Robin with sentimental items like memory albums Intervention-Farhampton. But Marshall has actually showed to be a good winker in many episodes before the sixth season.
• In False Positive, Barney says that he frequently sleeps with 6s, but in this episode he said it was kind of uncommon.

Allusions and Outside ReferencesEdit

• Barney trying to convince that he should be Marvin's godparent to Marshal sang the popular kids songs "The Wheels on the Bus" , "Old MacDonald Had a Farm", "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" with his own lyrics.
• Marshall breaks the fourth wall by saying," Right after a word with our sponsors.", which then Ted replies, "Why is he talking to the wall?" and then the show goes to commercial break.
• Ted again brings up the 2010 departure of LeBron James from the Cleveland Cavaliers.

MusicEdit

• Ms New Booty - Bubba Sparxxx

Other NotesEdit

• The episode was originally entitled "The Bro Code for Parents", despite the book not actually being mentioned in the episode. ^[1]

GuestsEdit

• Ashley Williams - Victoria
• Michael Trucco - Nick Podarutti
• Ned Rolsma - Marcus Eriksen
• August Maturo - 6-year old Marvin
• Jakob Sarkissian - 12/14-year-old Marvin
• Nicole Limo - Christie

PodcastEdit

Featuring an interview with Matt Kuhn.

ReceptionEdit

The episode received 7.93 million viewers.^[2]
Donna Bowman of The AV Club gave the episode a C⁺. She called the episode "Passable, but not what we should be expecting from a show that’s set itself much higher standards of creativity." ^[3]
Max Nicholson of IGN gave the episode 4.3 out of 10, saying that "If a TV show had multiple sharks to jump, HIMYM's "Who Wants to Be a Godparent?" would have been one of them."^[4]
Ethan Alter of Television Without Pity gave the episode a D^-. He describes the game show sequence as "a lengthy, cringe-inducing montage of Ted, Barney, and Robin acting like maroons". ^[5]

ReferencesEdit

External LinksEdit

• Who Wants to Be a Godparent? at the English Wikipedia
• Who Wants to Be a Godparent? at the Internet Movie Database
• Who Wants to Be a Godparent? at TV.com

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