While 'How I Met Your Mother' is a beloved and popular show, it's also a show that even its biggest fans get furious about.
The obvious being that the creators of the show are sadists who want to torture us by never telling us who the mother is. Whatever. I'm starting to get over this. I swear.
But we overlook that because there are so many other things about this show we love, like...
--The Bro Code
--The Intervention banner (cue Marshall clearing his throat and me saying "Quintervention")
--Barney's fake history flashbacks
--The classic HIMYM storytelling structure
--Slaps and high-fives (it wasn't part of the slap bet, but still awesome)
--"Legen-wait-for-it-DARY!"
--The occasional, but powerful emotional moments (in this case, Barney getting emotional and then getting slapped before the fake break-up and when Robin told Ted she missed his friendship)
--The tease of a future story, which is sometimes a good thing (Ted telling his future kids that him and Robin wouldn't see each other for a long time. Looking forward to seeing how/why that plays out.)
--Jokes repeating throughout the episode (adding Quinn as a prefix and the Marshall/Lily storyline. The latter I thought got annoying.)
...And what do you know? "The Broath" featured all of those in my favorite 22 minutes of the season.
NOTABLE QUOTABLES:
MARSHALL: "Lily, you snooped through her stuff?"
LILY: "No, it's like the first thing you see when you jimmy-open her desk drawer with the letter opener her grandfather left her according to her diary."
LILY: "Don't say that whore's name in front of our baby."
BARNEY: "Are you aware that breaking a broath can have deadly, even fatal repercussions. Have you studied history, Ted?"
TED: "Extensively. But I'm a little shaky on fake history, so..."
BARNEY: "And then he banged like 100 chicks and invented a salad. True story."
BARNEY: "And now to seal this sacred vow, the two ladies will kiss."
RANDOM COLLEGE DUDES: "I think you're stories are way too long. I feel bad for his future kids."
RANDOM OBSERVATIONS:
--I wonder how much money Ted's two kids make to just sit on the couch and look annoyed. What a gig.
--I'm disappointed that Barney didn't say "Brobe Up!" when he asked Ted to put the "brobe" on.
--Where did he get three extra brobes on such short notice?
--There have been suggestions here and there for a long time that Lily wanted to kiss Robin. We now have evidence that this was precisely the case.
--If the bride isn't Quinn at Barney's wedding at the end of the season, I'm going to be insanely furious. I don't know what I'm going to do, but the repercussions will be deadly, even fatal.
THE SCORE: 92 out of 100
One thing people tend to hate about this show is all the deception and misdirection. For example, the episode earlier this season when Robin was talking to her future kids that we find out at the end didn't really exist.
But this episode was so good, that the misdirection in it (the break-up that turned out to be fake) was actually a positive that made the episode even better.
