Running for nine seasons between 2005 and 2014, How I Met Your Mother was a beloved hit sitcom which provided laughs aplenty to its millions of fans and remains a cherished series many years after it concluded. Jam-packed with lovable characters and great running jokes while utilizing a pleasant and familiar narrative structure, the comedy television show consisted of a whopping 208 episodes, with many seasons having their own standout highlights that have lived long in the memory of fans.
Set in New York City, it follows Ted Mosby's (Josh Radnor) recollections of how he met his children's mother, following him as he navigates life and love as an aspiring architect alongside his four best friends Marshall (Jason Segel), Lily (Alyson Hannigan), Robin (Cobie Smulders), and Barney (Neil Patrick Harris). From pineapples to slap bets, and to the eventual revelation of the mother, the 10 best HIMYM episodes, according to IMDb's ratings, feature many of the series' golden moments.
How I Met Your Mother
- Release Date
- 2005 - 2013
- Network
- CBS
- Showrunner
- Craig Thomas
Cast
-
Ted Mosby -
Barney Stinson -
Marshall Eriksen -
Lily Aldrin
WHERE TO WATCH
- Directors
- Michael J. Shea
- Story By
- Carter Bays; Craig Thomas; Rob Greenberg
- Seasons
- 9
25 "Ten Sessions" (Season 3, Episode 13)
IMDb Rating: 8.7/10
An episode defined by a certain liveliness concerning Ted’s usual hopeless romantic antics and an injection of energy from the guest star appearance of Britney Spears, “Ten Sessions” proved to be a ratings sensation for the sitcom. The Season 3 episode sees Ted relentlessly pursuing his dermatologist, Stella (Sarah Chalke), to no avail. As he tries to impress her by showing his nice side to her receptionist, Ted finds himself being chased when Abby (Spears) takes a liking to him.
Granted, Ted’s ceaseless pestering of Stella may be handled a bit too casually by modern standards, but the episode is rife with a frenetic and fun-filled fervor that defines the series at its best. Spears proves to be a delightful treat as Stella’s lovestruck receptionist, and the episode as a whole has endured as a lovably hilarious gem of the show.
24 "Something Blue" (Season 2, Episode 22)
IMDb Rating: 8.7/10
The Season 2 finale meshed the hilarious with the mature, bold, and poignant in impressive fashion. Marshall and Lily’s wedding is in full swing, though the happy couple are having a tough time getting something to eat. Where the episode truly places its focus, though, is on Ted and Robin’s relationship, with the two forced to divulge to a relentless Barney that, after their anniversary date two weeks prior, they made the decision to break up on amicable terms.
Viewers knew the romance had to end at some point, but the way the episode handled the split—with the two characters striving to keep it secret until after Lily and Marshall’s wedding—was supremely rewarding. Ending on a “Legen—wait for it…” as Ted confides to Barney he will need a wingman, “Something Blue” is a delicately balanced and conclusive yet hopeful ending to the show’s second season.
23 "Something Borrowed" (Season 2, Episode 21)
IMDb Rating: 8.7
The immediate predecessor to “Something Blue”, “Something Borrowed” serves as the build-up to Lily and Marshall’s heavenly wedding. The only thing is, things might not be quite as perfect as they had hoped. With problems arising at a frenetic rate, Lily and Marshall each become a worried mess, until Ted comes up with a solution that could make the whole day perfect. All the while, Barney finds a way to get whatever he wants using the words “it’s for the bride.”
The episode is a sweet and vibrant dose of panic and fun that revels in humanizing the chaos and calamity of wedding day nightmares. The simple message it reaches concerning the friendship between the series’ five lead characters is a delightful bit of feel-good charm, while Barney’s usual antics provide plenty of laughs. As a result, “Something Borrowed” is a savvy and suitable entry as Season 2’s penultimate episode.
22 "World’s Greatest Couple" (Season 2, Episode 5)
IMDb Rating: 8.7/10
In the wake of Marshall and Lily’s temporary split, two new though unanticipated couples arise with hysterical results. Desperate for a place to stay, Lily begs Barney to let her crash at his. When he finally relents, the two form a mutually beneficial bond as Lily pretends to be Barney’s wife to scare away lingering dates. Meanwhile, Marshall begins to realize just how couple-oriented his life has become and finds the new void in his life being filled by Brad (Joe Manganiello), an old friend from law school who is also recently single.
The episode thrives on its novelty pairings (and a HIMYM cameo no one saw coming). Manganiello offers hilarity aplenty in his cameo role opposite Segal, while the episode offers ample proof that Lily and Barney might just be the funniest duo in the series in isolation. With some relationship commentary thrown in alongside asides to Barney’s underlying vulnerabilities, “World’s Greatest Couple” is a highlight of How I Met Your Mother’s penchant for well-rounded sitcom entertainment.
21 "Ted Mosby, Architect" (Season 2, Episode 4)
IMDb Rating: 8.7/10
“Ted Mosby, Architect” follows the events after Ted and Robin have their first big fight as a couple, an argument partially centered on Ted’s career as an architect. Barney convinces Ted that architecture is not only not boring, but a vocation women find to be attractive, seeing Ted trying to use it in a pick-up line with some success. Finding out about Ted’s fortuitous flirtations, Robin and Lily track the movements of “Ted Mosby the Architect” through a night of hard partying.
A brilliant bait-and-switch episode, all the teasing of Ted’s possible cheating leads to yet another duplicitous ploy hatched by Barney in pursuit of sex. Ending with Ted and Robin resolving their confrontation, with Robin accepting that she should take some interest in Ted’s career, “Ted Mosby, Architect” is a fun-filled and intriguing HIMYM episode that sees Barney in typically hilarious form while also coming to a meaningful conclusion on the issue of Ted and Robin’s fight.
20 "Mary the Paralegal" (Season 1, Episode 19)
IMDb Rating: 8.7/10
When Robin takes her new co-anchor Sandy Rivers (Alexis Denisof) as a date to an awards night, Barney sets Ted up Mary (Erinn Bartlett)—who he says is a prostitute—in a bid to help Ted make Robin jealous. While dubious about the date, Ted finds himself hitting it off with Mary, but his misguided assumptions and his ill-placed faith in Barney’s honesty soon jeopardize any chance he may have with her.
The episode milks its premise of all the double entendres it can, but beneath its awkward and hilarious situational set-up, it flaunts a surprisingly considered core of how judgmental attitudes can be unbecoming. Interestingly, many fans view Mary as being among the best dates Ted ever had, and rue the missed opportunity that came from his somewhat pig-headed nature throughout “Mary the Paralegal”, though it does mark a particularly hysterical if not juvenile trick from Barney Stinson.
19 "Come On" (Season 1, Episode 22)
IMDb Rating: 8.7/10
Following 22 episodes of Ted’s efforts to meet someone and find true love, Season 1 comes to an end with him unable to escape the fact that he still yearns for Robin despite their mutual agreement to just be friends. This point is hammered home in the season finale “Come On”, which sees Ted make one final, desperate effort to win Robin’s love while Marshall and Lily’s engagement hits an unexpected hitch that could prove to be relationship-ending.
The episode is the embodiment of How I Met Your Mother’s highest romantic stakes laid bare. The hopelessly in love Ted decides it is worthwhile risking his friendship with Robin in the unlikely pursuit of her love, while Marshall and Lily are forced to look at what they want as individuals and how that may look in the context of their relationship and their future. With a healthy dose of Barney’s blunt comedy sprinkled throughout, “Come On” is an emotional yet entertaining highlight of the series.
18 "The End of the Aisle" (Season 9, Episode 22)
IMDb Rating: 8.8/10
Given the series finale “Last Forever” unfolds over the course of two episodes, “The End of the Aisle” can effectively be viewed as the penultimate episode of How I Met Your Mother. For many, it would have been the perfect point for the series to finish. The episode sees both Barney and Robin suffering panic attacks just minutes before they are due to get married. As they process their heightened feelings, Marshall and Lily decide to revisit their own wedding vows.
While there is comedy and sweetness aplenty, “The End of the Aisle” was so cherished for how it capped off Ted’s ongoing love for Robin and represented a long-awaited realization for him to move on with his life and find his true love. Still finding room to incorporate some mature meditations on the complexity of love, the episode is as well-rounded as any entry of the series, and probably should have been the point at which the show came to an end.
17 "Ducky Tie" (Season 7, Episode 3)
IMDb Rating: 8.8/10
“Ducky Tie” sees How I Met Your Mother and, more pointedly, the ever-perverted Barney Stinson, operating at their degenerate best. With Lily’s body changing through the stages of pregnancy, Barney develops an interest in seeing her breasts. Driven to the point of outrage, Marshall makes a bet that Barney can’t execute the techniques of Shinjitsu cooking. If Barney is successful, he will be allowed to feel up Lily, but if he fails, then he will have to wear an ugly tie adorned in rubber ducks for a year.
The episode is one of the more apparent examples of How I Met Your Mother perhaps not aging so well over time, but it does at least have the grace to see Barney wind up the loser in the end. Ted’s story in the episode focuses on he and Victoria's (Ashley Williams) reunion, where he is hit with a hard truth as he learns about her new beau.
16 "Showdown" (Season 2, Episode 20)
IMDb Rating: 8.8.10
As How I Met Your Mother neared the end of Season 2, its rising tensions began to focus on Lily and Marshall’s wedding. “Showdown” sees the couple agreeing to live separately in the last two weeks before their big day to prove to their friends that they are not entirely co-dependent. Ted and Lily face pressing issues concerning their plans for the wedding day, while Barney readies himself to appear on The Price is Right, believing that host Bob Barker is his biological father.
With the two co-existing plots being given ample time to shine, the Season 2 episode undoubtedly thrives off the back of Neil Patrick Harris' hilarious exuberance as Barney. He is at his brilliant best as Barney nervously and excitedly confronts Barker about his parentage, with the build-up to the moment both awkwardly hilarious and surprisingly poignant.
15 "Tick Tick Tick" (Season 7, Episode 10)
IMDb Rating: 8.9/10
An episode focused on maturation and the sometimes-frenetic passing of time, “Tick Tick Tick” highlights How I Met Your Mother at its contemplative comedy best. When Barney and Robin wake up together, realizing they have both cheated on their partners, they agree to break up with their respective spouses while on a cruise ship. Meanwhile, Ted goes to a concert with Marshall and Lily and realizes that his friendship with them will change drastically when they become parents.
While Barney and Ted both typify the series at its childish and immature best, the episode forces both characters to grow significantly, albeit not necessarily rewarding them for their efforts. The sad final scene, particularly, with Barney cleaning up the rose petals from the bed after Robin didn’t break up with Kevin (Kal Penn), is powerfully poignant and makes for one of the most emotional HIMYM moments.
14 "Bad News" (Season 6, Episode 13)
IMDb Rating: 8.9/10
“Bad News” is one of How I Met Your Mother’s most emotionally overwhelming and balanced episodes. To allay fears of her possible inability to conceive, Lily goes to a fertility specialist but is shocked by the doctor’s uncanny resemblance to Barney. While the news that Lily and Marshall eventually do get the procedure done is good, the episode ends on a heartbreaking note as an elated Marshall is told of his father’s heart attack by an inconsolable Lily.
The gimmick of numbers appearing in the episode gradually counting down hints at the pending good news, so to conclude the episode with such a revelation was a bold move. Thankfully, it worked a charm, courtesy of Alyson Hannigan’s and Jason Segal’s performances and a deft juggling of tone as Barney’s doppelganger gag was nicely balanced against Lily and Marshall’s angst and eventual unexpected heartbreak.
13 "Slapsgiving" (Season 3, Episode 9)
IMDb Rating: 8.9/10
The teased romance between Robin and Ted is the focal point of How I Met Your Mother, even as Future Ted stresses that Robin is not the mother of his children. Season 3’s “Slapsgiving” proves to be an episode of significant importance in the context of their relationship, with the two former lovers discovering they struggle to communicate when alone together and, after having sex to break the awkward atmosphere, decide it’d be best if they were no longer friends.
All this is framed around the group celebrating their first Thanksgiving together with Marshall and Lily as a married couple, while Barney dreads receiving another slap from Marshall. Ending with an uplifting message on friendship and human connection, with Rob and Ted realizing they can still be good friends, “Slapsgiving” epitomizes the series at its fun and positively insightful best.
12 "How I Met Everyone Else" (Season 3, Episode 5)
IMDb Rating: 8.9/10
The crux of How I Met Your Mother is not only the romantic intrigue, but the prevalent tale of friendship between Ted and his group. The Season 3 episode “How I Met Everyone Else” is understandably a fan favorite as it explores the origin of these bonds. With Ted introducing his new girlfriend – a neurotic woman he met online – to his friends, his group begin reminiscing on how they all met.
Operating with a stern focus on Ted’s friendship with Marshall and Lily that stems from their college days, “How I Met Everyone Else” is rewarding for its reflective qualities that contain an intriguing Rashomon effect, with Ted disagreeing with his friends on several elements of how they met. Also containing Barney with his famous hot-to-crazy scale, the Season 3 episode is a gem of the series’ mixture of charming friendship antics and hilarious comedy.
11 "Swarley" (Season 2, Episode 7)
IMDb Rating: 8.9/10
“Swarley” unfolds in the aftermath of Lily and Marshall briefly deciding to break off their relationship. Marshall secures a date with a girl who works at a coffee shop, but Barney and Ted warn him that she has “crazy eyes” and advise him to proceed with caution. Lily learns of Marshall’s new romance and confides her anxieties over it to Robin. All the while, Barney is haunted by the nickname “Swarley” after the barista mistakenly refers to him as such, leading to mockery from his friends.
There is a certain absurdity to “Swarley”, one that, at times, perhaps proves the sitcom hasn't aged so well, but still one that makes it one of the zaniest episodes of the series. Its ridiculousness is well-balanced against the pivotal step it takes in the context of Marshall and Lily’s relationship. Ending with a good-intentioned nod to Cheers that takes one last swipe at the episode’s ongoing ‘Swarley’ gag, it marks an enjoyable highlight of the show’s penchant for offbeat and outrageous comedy and makes it one of the best How I Met Your Mother episodes.
10 "Blitzgiving" (Season 6, Episode 10)
IMDb Rating: 9.0/10
The show would become famous for HIMYM's best Thanksgiving specials, with the Season 6 episode "Blitzgiving" a hilarious hallmark of holiday fun. With Ted responsible for preparing the food, he decides to turn in early on the eve of Thanksgiving and, in the process, gets the curse of "The Blitz," a moniker reserved for someone who misses out on legendary moments through sheer bad luck and poor timing.
As circumstance plagues Ted's plans to host Thanksgiving, the group finds themselves going to Zoey's (Jennifer Morrison) apartment for the holiday, something which further disgruntles Ted even as Barney becomes the Blitz through his decision to travel separately from the gang. The episode is loaded with the series' trademark comedy and plenty of holiday cheer, but also serves as a major chapter in Ted and Zoey's tumultuous relationship with the two ex-lovers finally putting their differences aside and agreeing to be just friends.
9 "Girls vs. Suits" (Season 5, Episode 12)
IMDb Rating: 9.0/10
Throughout the tenure of How I Met Your Mother, there were a great many episodes dedicated to the scene-stealing character Barney Stinson, who became a fan favorite with his womanizing ways, his questionable moral code, and his complete self-absorption. One of his best episodes was "Girls vs. Suits," following Barney as he gives up his beloved suits in an attempt to woo MacLaren's new bartender, only to find himself facing withdrawal in the process.
One thing that many viewers loved about the episode was its unexpected and surprisingly well-executed musical number in which Barney expresses his undying love for fine clothing. All the while, in the background of the episode, Ted gets ever closer to meeting the future mother of his children as he starts dating her roommate, Cindy (Rachel Bilson), teasing the happy ending fans had been waiting for without revealing too much information too soon.
8 "Spoiler Alert" (Season 3, Episode 8)
IMDb Rating: 9.0/10
It was often the case that How I Met Your Mother was operating at its best when it was mixing observational comedy while touching on important home truths about people and relationships. The season three episode "Spoiler Alert" did that to perfection, as Ted introduces his new girlfriend, Cathy (Lindsay Price), to his friends only for them to say that she talks too much, ruining the illusion of her perfection for Ted, leading the group to start noticing each other's worst flaws.
The HIMYM episode's simple lesson is that nobody is perfect, and it intelligently addresses that basic fact by playing on the offense taken by the characters when they are alerted to what it is they do that is deemed to be annoying. Meanwhile, Marshall is growing worried about his Law School exam results but can't access them online because he has forgotten his password. While Barney tries to coax him into doing something illegal, Marshall soon learns the answer was embedded in his perceived flaw all along.
7 "Game Night" (Season 1, Episode 15)
IMDb Rating: 9.0/10
A playful episode arc that became one of the series' most revealing episodes, "Game Night" succeeded in being both a fun character-driven episode and a reflective look at how Barney Stinson became the man audiences know and love. Starting out as a night of harmless fun, the gang soon gets their hands on a videotape that Barney sent to an old girlfriend many years ago and, against his wishes, watches it, thus exposing the man Barney was before he became a corporate type.
While Stinson insists on everyone else sharing embarrassing stories from their pasts too, it is undeniably the exposition into Barney's background that makes the episode such a hit. It's a little cringe-worthy at times, and the discussion around Barney's misogynistic ways may be outdated today, but it did reveal the charismatic character at his lowest point and, given it didn't completely sympathize with him, made for a cathartic viewing experience.
6 "The Naked Man" (Season 4, Episode 9)
IMDb Rating: 9.1/10
By the midway mark of season four, Ted is trying to move on from his separation from his ex-fiance Stella (Sarah Chalke) and starts dating Vicky (Courtney Ford), a woman he sees in his work elevator frequently. All the while, the gang becomes obsessed with a new, desperate date move dubbed "The Naked Man" - a somewhat problematic ploy in which one shocks their date with nudity which leads to sex - when it is used successfully on Robin, leading others to try their hand at the move with differing results.
The episode served as a joyful return to comedic form for the series after it had spent some time delicately wrestling with the emotional fallout of Ted being left at the altar by Stella. The now-problematic Naked Man, aka Mitch (Adam Paul), later shows up in the final season connected to The Mother in another uncomfortable and humorous, naked altercation.
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