How I Met Your Mother - Recap: Brothers Before Others

"The Broken Code" centers on Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) revealing that he saw Ted and Robin in Central Park when he helped her to dig up her missing locket. The storyline starts out fairly comically, with Ted and Barney arguing over whether it's a violation of The Bro Code to hold hands with your best friend's fiance, an argument decided by Marshall (Jason Segel) via Marsh-Pillow -- a tablet mounted on a pillow body. This is all pretty funny stuff, particularly Barney's history lesson on the origins of The Bro Code, dating back to Broses and Christopher Brolumbus. In addition, Segel does such a great job making his presence felt in each scene even when just playing his role on a screen. Ted and Barney are forced to hold hands to measure the "weirdness" of two platonic friends holding hands, and this scene gradually starts to mirror Ted and Robin's confrontation in Central Park, as it begins to rain profusely as the men sit out on the beach. It's here where the story takes a bit more of a serious turn. Barney rationalizes that he isn't mad at Ted so much as he's mad at himself for failing to be there for Robin when she needed him to help look for her locket. However, when Barney expresses relief that Ted doesn't have feelings for Robin anymore, Ted is unable to affirm Barney's assumption. In essence, he can't deny that there's something still there, on his end.

In his desperation to save his friendship with Barney, Ted swears on The Bro Code that he'll never do anything to jeopardize Barney's relationship with Robin, or compromise the friendship they all share. It's actually a fairly touching scene, as Ted calls Barney his "brother" and basically pleads with his best friend to allow him to remain Best Man. Even though we know how this will end, the conflict is still engrossing by virtue of the stakes involved: it may not be a life or death scenario, but when the friendship of the group is in serious jeopardy after nine seasons of highs, lows, loyalty and loss, that's a big deal. It also helps that the performances of Harris and Radnor carry the weight of the conflict. Because it's a big deal to them, it's a big deal to us. And so when it's revealed that Barney has chosen to forgive Ted and affirm him as his Best Man, there's a genuine sense of relief there. No, the show wasn't going to have Ted and Barney's friendship dissolve in the final season, but the question of Ted's feelings for Robin needed to be addressed for us to get to our endpoint for the series. And there may still be more story there left to explore before the season is out.

Another story left to explore is the changing friendship between Robin and Lily (Alyson Hannigan). Robin is disappointed with the pathetic bachelorette party Lily threw for her, comparing Lily's underwhelming job as Maid of Honor to Ted's selfless work as Barney's Best Man (he writes out cards in calligraphy, and gives Barney's Nana foot massages!). Robin believes that nobody came to her party because Lily forgot to send out the e-vite. However, as Lily reveals, nobody came to the bachelorette party because Robin doesn't actually have any female friends. And so Lily sets out to help Robin make some, attempting to change all of Robin's terrible, alienating habits, such as passively bragging about her metabolism and referring to women from work by descriptive titles instead of actually learning their names. However, when Robin hits things off with a fellow hockey fan at the hotel bar, Lily gets jealous, imagining a scenario where she's replaced by this new woman. And so Lily goes psychotic and lashes out at the woman, telling her to stay away from Robin -- an outburst Robin witnesses. Yet Robin isn't actually mad about it. She tells Lily that she's the only girl friend she needs, because Lily is crazy. It's a poignant little moment that is still effective despite the storyline being less consistently funny than the Ted/Barney/Marshall story (although Lily has a great nightmare sequence in which she imagines Robin and the new woman deciding to pursue a platonic sexual relationship that is one of the sillier cutaway gags).

"The Broken Code" is a fairly solid episode with an engaging story and relatively consistent laughs throughout. Tim Gunn even has a cameo at the end as one of the players in a poker game with Ted, Barney and Marsh-Pillow, among others. His role is brief, but he gets a great bit where he uses outdated poker lingo that basically confuses everyone else at the table. I genuinely like the increasing randomness of this season, which has employed far more obtuse gags than in seasons past, it feels like. While the episode didn't feature The Mother at all, I remain confident about the direction of this season, which remains squarely focused on character far more than aimless subplots and needless distractions. It feels like everything here has a purpose, and that's the best thing I can say about this season so far.