The top 20 “How I Met Your Mother” episodes

11. Season 4, Episode 14: The Possimpible

Barney Stinson! That guy’s awesome!

Summary:

Robin finds an old forgotten letter in the mail from Immigration, telling her that she’ll be deported back to Canada if she doesn’t find a job in the next seven days. Robin scrambles to find work, but botches her audition for an anchor position at News 10 (due to her lack of a signoff catchphrase) and even fails to get a job as a lottery girl.

As Robin goes over her resume, the rest of the group get their own out. It turns out that Lily, Marshall and Ted have all kept things on their resumes that they did many years ago and should probably be taken off. Barney shows everyone his video resume, which features a visual onslaught on high-octane action and explosions, coupled with meaningless, often made-up words (like “Possimpible”). The group can’t believe how outlandish the resume is, but Barney claims its extremely effective.

In a last ditch effort to find work, Robin asks for Barney’s help in making her own video resume, one that mimics his. Together they film a number of ridiculous scenes, including Robin breaking bricks with her head.
At the list minute, as Robin spends her final ours in the U.S. with Ted, Lily and Marshall, Barney arrives to announce that he finished Robin’s video resume and passed it along to a number of different news stations. Channel 12 loved the resume and wants to hire Robin, so she won’t be deported afterall.

Why it Made the List:

One of the major reasons that “The Possimpible” made the list is Barney’s video resume. That short video is just comedy gold and undoubtedly made fans of the show literally laugh out loud. Don’t we all wish we were ballsy enough to submit Barney’s video resume instead of our own?

Another enjoyable aspect of “The Possimpible” was that Barney was the hero for once. So often Barney is pushed aside as someone that can’t be taken seriously or depended on, and here he steps up and saves the day. Plus, his dedication to keeping Robin in the U.S. goes to show how important she is to him.

12. Season 5, Episode 2: Double Date

Lily’s doppleganger at the Lusty Leopard

Summary:

Ted goes on a blind date with a girl named Jen, and soon they both realize that they went on a blind date together seven years ago. They also recall that it was a horrible date. Together, Jen and Ted try to remember what went wrong and do a better job on their current date.

Meanwhile, Barney tricks Marshall into visiting a strip club called The Lusty Leopard. While there, Barney and Marshall discover that one of the strippers, Jasmine, looks exactly like Lily – her doppleganger. It is then revealed that the group has seen two other dopplegangers for the group: Marshall’s doppleganger, a Hispani lawyer dubbed “Mustache Marshall” and a butch woman deemed “Lesbian Robin”.

Why it Made the List:

“Double Date” brought us another forgettable Ted date with another forgettable girl, but it also gave us the classic “Doppleganger” joke, which runs through multiple episodes. Seeing Marshall, Robin, and Lily’s alternates is always amusing, and since this episode aired, many fans have probably been on the lookout for dopplegangers of their own friends. It’s also a nice touch how Barney’s doppleganger ends up playing a big part in a future episode.

13. Season 5, Episode 12: Girls Versus Suits

The HIMYM cast puts on one hell of a musical number!

Summary:

Ted’s latest girl happens to be one of his students, Cindy (played by Rachel Bilson), which complicates their ability to date. School policies prevent teachers from dating students, and Ted could lose his job if he persists. He goes to Cindy’s apartment, and Future Ted (narrating) tells us that Cindy was actually roommates with his kids’ mother. What follows is a tantalizingly-close encounter with their mother, who is never actually revealed.

Meanwhile, Barney has set his sights on a new bartender at MacLaren’s (played by Stacey Keibler). The only problem is, she can’t stand men in suits. Sacrificing his tradition of wearing suits, Barney suits-down in order to get with the bartender. But Barney starts having suit withdrawal. When Marshall appears wearing a suit, Barney rubs his face all over it, causing Marshall to slap him (a carryover from the Slap Bet).

Later Barney is seen secretly changing into his suit in a bathroom stall. While in the stall, he accidentally tears the suit. In a panic, Barney rushes the torn suit to his tailor, who just so happens to be Tim Gunn. After working on Barney’s damaged suit in the back, he comes out to with bad news: the suit couldn’t be saved, but it’s buttons will serve as transplants that can save other suits. Barney cremates the suit and keeps the ashes in an urn.

Barney takes the hot bartender home and she discovers his suits. She makes him choose between her or the suits, which prompts Barney to burst into song. The musical number “Nothing Suits Me Like a Suit” follows, with help from the rest of the cast. After the song concludes, Barney lies about getting rid of the suits and takes the hot bartender to bed.

Why it Made the List:

Though the Ted storyline was one of the most frustrating close encounters with “the mother” to date, Barney’s tale more than makes up for it. From the moment Barney un-suited to the last note of “Nothing Suits Me Like a Suit,” it was one hilarious suit joke after another. Not to mention that the Tim Gunn guest appearance was genius and utterly perfect. And the big musical number all about suits, with Ted, Lily, Marshall and Robin all donning suits to lend a hand, was fantastic – it could have put this episode in the Top 20 all by itself. But an excellent episode built around “Nothing Suits Me Like a Suit” only assured its place here.

14. Season 5, Episode 14: Perfect Week

What better way to tell this story than with a little help from Jim Nantz?

Summary:

One night, Barney “calls his shot” by pointing to a woman in the barn and telling everybody that she’d be the one he’d be taking home. After a success with her, Barney challenges himself to a “Perfect Week”, defined by sleeping with seven women, one each night, without being rejected once.

Narrator Ted explains that Barney likes to deal with stress by imagining that he is being interviewed by sportscaster Jim Nantz (he’s stressed about possibly being fired). Nantz helps Barney relive his Perfect Week attempt, play-by-play style.

As the end of the week nears, Barney must overcome a number of obstacles, including being blamed for a big merger falling through at work and Lily jinxing him twice and Marshall once. In the end, the rest of the gang pitches in and helps Barney complete his Perfect Week.

After Barney finishes his imaginary interview with Jim Nantz, he heads into an office where his boss tells him that he won’t be getting fired.

Why it Made the List:

“Perfect Week” was a great parody of one of those epic sports tales, replacing sports with Barney’s sexual exploits. Jim Nantz’s presence really was the perfect touch that completed the joke. It was great seeing each obstacle pop up, especially the jinxing bit (a great sports parallel). Plus, watching the group come together to help Barney reach his goal (and realizing they needed it just as much as Barney did) was really fun.

15. Season 6, Episode 10: Blitzgiving

Jorge Garcia guest stars as Steve “The Blitz” Henry

Summary:

After preparing his first Thanksgiving meal for the group, Ted heads to MacLaren’s. He’s about to leave early, ahead of the rest of the group, but they warn him that if he does he’ll receive the curse of The Blitz. Narrator Ted explains that an old college friend, Steve Henry (played by Jorge Garcia), had the curse of The Blitz, which meant that whenever he’d leave a room before other people, he would end up missing out on something amazing happening.

Ted ignores the group’s warning and leaves MacLaren’s anyway. When he wakes up the next morning, he finds his apartment in shambles and Zoey sleeping in the tub. The group tells him that he missed out on an amazing time last night and that he now has the curse of The Blitz.

Ted passes The Blitz to Barney, when he takes a separate cab to Zoey’s for Thanksgiving dinner (Ted’s oven door is broken off). Barney misses a number of amazing things while under the curse, but eventually manages to pass it off to Steve Henry again at the end of the episode.

Why it Made the List:

With another Thanksgiving comes another memorable HIMYM episode! “Blitzgiving” was a refreshing departure from the previous two Slapsgivings (a third would have been too much), giving us an equally funny holiday story. Watching The Blitz be passed between Ted and Barney is amusing, and the things that they miss while Blitzed are excellent (getting caught in the parade, having a coin land on its edge after being flipped, “The Gentleman”). It was also a nice touch to see Ted and Zoey make amends.