How I Met Your Mother: The Broath

What Happened, Yo!:

-After flying under the radar for a couple weeks, Barney summons Ted to his apartment, where he tells Ted he really likes Quinn and wants to introduce everyone to her, but worrying that they'll judge her, he makes Ted take a "broath" that he won't tell the gang what Quinn does for a living. Ted soon quickly tells the gang everything, including how she initially swindled Barney and the gang becomes concerned. After meeting Quinn, they become more concerned as Quinn seems rather controlling, Lily finds evidence that Barney is planning to take her on a lavish trip to Hawaii, and Barney and Quinn announce that they're going to move in together. The gang decides they need to break the pair up, so they hold an intervention (Or Quinntervention). Barney is upset that Ted broke the broath and won't listen to them. Quinn shows up, and after Barney explains everything, she gets mad at him for not telling his friends about who she is and what she does and breaks up with him. The gang feels bad and goes to apologize to Barney, who makes them all take a broath and swear never to meddle in his relationships again. After he makes Ted and Marshall kiss though, Quinn appears and the two reveal that the whole thing has been a ruse they've been pulling to teach the gang a lesson. This makes the gang realize that Quinn is perfect for Barney, so no one objects when they reveal they actually are going to be moving in together. Later, Barney asks Quinn what it would hypothetically take to get her to stop stripping and she replies that she'd probably have to get married.

-Meanwhile, as part of the ruse, Quinn tells Ted and Robin that she will be subletting her apartment, causing the two of them to start clashing to attempt to get the apartment, as Robin is living with Patrice, who she can't stand, and Ted is living in University Housing. They both try to get Quinn to give one of them the apartment. Later, Ted asks Robin why she couldn't just back off when things haven't been going so well for him, but Robin points out that things haven't been going well for her either and that she's pretty sure she's getting fired at the end of the week. Robin wants things to go back to normal, but Ted doesn't think he can do that. Later, when Quinn tells them that the apartment actually is up for grabs they both decline on it. Robin learns that she's not being fired at all, but instead has been promoted to Sandy Rivers Co-Anchor and it comes with a massive raise, which she uses to buy a fancy new apartment. This leaves Ted free to have Quinn's. Ted and Robin agree to go back to normal, but it's still awkward and Future Ted reveals that it was a while before he saw Robin again.

-Also meanwhile, Lily points out to Marshall that he can't tell sex stories about "some girl he was once with", because she's the only girl he's ever been with. Marshall starts passive-aggressively telling more sex stories so Lily starts fighting back. Things get awkward though when Marshall tells a story about getting to second base during a school production of Peter Pan and Lily realizes that that was a different girl. She gets upset, but Marshall later reveals that he exaggerated the details of his story and only wanted to have one cool sex story that wasn't about Lily. Lily understands and they make up.

I Like This: The Broath was a fine episode of How I Met Your Mother with plenty to like about it. I enjoy a good con episode, and it was presented well here, actually fooling me into thinking that Barney and Quinn had broken up before the big reveal. Quinn once again proves to be an interesting character and a good match for Barney, and it's always nice to see the gang throw an intervention. (Or, rather, a Quinntervention. That joke never got old for me at least.). I also enjoyed that the episode addressed Ted and Robin's current living situations and that the show is still taking the fallout from No Pressure quite seriously. And Ted being annoyed by three familiar-looking college students named Ned, Martin, and Millie was probably the best joke of the night, though the photo of a tall, teenage, Marshall falling out of his Peter Pan flying harness and preparing to land on one of the girls on-stage was pretty great. There was also some good gags this week, like Barney apparently having a monk guy.

But...: I'm not sure presenting Quinn as a bad person for most of the episode was a good move. Even though it was all a trick,  it still doesn't help us view Quinn as someone we'd like to see Barney end up with, especially since the ending sets up that this is a very real possibility. Accelerating their relationship to having them move in together on her third episode on the show is fine and probably necessary, but I hope the writers don't forget Quinn should be a sympathetic character, if they want the fans to care about her and her storyline. Also, Robin's worrying about being fired was a failed attempt to add some drama to that story, as it was already revealed that she'd be getting promoted at some point.

The Bottom Line: The Broath was a fairly solid episode of HIMYM, which moves the seasons story along further once more. Let's just hope that they remember to make Quinn likeable at some point.

Grade: 75% (Good)

Memorable Moments

-The runner about Lily being attracted to Robin still continues to be funny, as Lily first tells a story about Marshall not wanting to consider a three-way with her best friend, and later gets into it when Barney makes her and Robin kiss.

-Lily: "Marshall, you can’t tell sex stories about this chick because everyone knows it’s me. I’m the only woman you’ve ever been with". Marshall: "It’s not fair. The guys are always telling their stories, and I can top every one of them. Baby, you’re like 20 slutty chicks all rolled into one". Lily: "Sweet talk is not going to change my mind."

-Barney: "Fine, I'll fill her in and I am so angry, I am not even going to make a joke about filling her in, which I did three times last night. Self five!"

-The second Broath: "I, one of Barney’s best friends, promise never to interfere with his personal life again unless its an issue of health, national security, or he’s about to get up on a fatty."

-Ted: "And then we agreed to go back to normal. I'm starting to wonder if we can ever really just be friends. Anyway, that's the story of me and Robin, 2005 to the present. What do you think?" Martin: "I think your stories are wayy to long." Ned: "I feel bad for his future kids, dude." Ted: "Hey, my kids are going to love my stories. They're going- they're going to love my stories."