HIMYM Review: The Broken Code

How I Met Your Mother 

"The Broken Code" Review

Last week's episode of HIMYM ended on a bit of a cliff-hanger with Barney telling Ted that he saw the events unfolding at the carousel. There has been great curiosity during the period between the episodes, questioning whether Barney would ultimately be cold hearted about it, much like his small confrontation with Ted in last season's Romeward Bound, or simply brush it off, they are bro's after all. What we ended up with was little bit of both.

The main plot started off rather simply with Barney accepting that Ted's moment with Robin was nothing to be worried about. It was a little surprising at first to think that the situation would be resolved so quickly but it clearly wasn't going to be as simple as that. Eventually Barney's constant best man requests to Ted were proof that he was not happy about the situation. Of course Ted being his polite self rushed to aid his best friend without any hesitation. 

The requests thankfully weren't overtly ridiculous and it was funny to hear Ted go on in adoration of himself with his calligraphy skills, especially with his note on his travelling quills. It made him sound stupendously pretentious. Although Ted eventually realised that Barney was still upset, it was a little bit too long for him to cotton on to this fact. Ted is smarter than that.

As for the remainder of the plot, it amounted to Barney trying to prove that Teds actions was a felony within the laws of the Bro Code. It was a low blow for Barney to take on Ted, especially considering that Robin was originally Ted's partner who eventually forgave Barney for sleeping with her after their split. Barney should have given the same amount of respect. 

The overall situation was somewhat resolved, but there still remains to be a bit of hesitancy about Teds possible future actions.        

As for Lily and Robin, their side story seemed to be a bit of filler. After the realisation that Robin has no other female friends, Lily goes on a hunt for a new girlfriend to somewhat fill her place once she's in Rome (if that trip ever happens). 

Although we know this to be true that Robin has a lack of female friends, it didn't really justify the need to bring back her annoyingly shrill persona, particularly with Patrice. It honestly does not bode well with her overall character. 

This side plot felt useless in some sense because Lily instantly rejects what she is trying to do to help Robin in the first place. Her psychotic behaviour towards this potential new friend of Robins was not effective in any way, purely because the exchange lasted a minute at most. 

Thoughts have come to mind that this event is in preparation for Robin to meet and befriend the mother whilst Lily accepts this transition but whether or not this will be the case is yet to be seen.   

Finally Marshall had a bit more priority in this episode. He became more involved with the goings on at Farhampton with the help of Marshpillow Version 2.0; simply an iPad attached to the head, using video calling to be involved with the shenanigans. 

He was offered a few good little jokes based on the delay of the video calls and there were some great references to Weekend at Bernie's whilst Marshall tried to aid and assist with Ted and Barney's problem. 

It was nice to see Marshall once more involved with his friends rather than on his own little trip with Daphne to Farhampton. 

Overall The Broken Code felt a little similar to last weeks episode in that it attempted to be equally as serious towards the end, in this case for Ted and Barney. But unfortunately this time it did not have any profound effect, except for some expectations of the inevitable. 

There were a few nice guest star returns, but Tim Gunn's jokes were very much hit and miss and Billy Zabka did not have much presence until a few words muttered to Ted at the end, although I must say I'm a little intrigued to see what The Karate Kid star's role will be with Ted in later episodes.  

6.8/10    

Sidenote: Only four episodes in, is anyone else feeling that the hotel location is getting a bit stale??