How I Met Your Mother was one of the best sitcoms ever. One that made us laugh a lot, cry on some special episodes, and want to hang out with Ted (Josh Radnor), Robin (Cobie Smulders), Marshall (Jason Segel), Lily (Alyson Hannigan), and Barney (Neil Patrick Harris). We saw their lives for 208 episodes. There are many great ones; we could probably do a top-50 of the best ones, all having something great to offer, but we’ve decided to name the best 10. As old Ted would say: Kids, let me tell you the story of the best How I Met Your Mother best episodes, ranked:
10 Perfect Week - S5 E14
Barney’s character and his lothario ways are one of the things that have aged worse since the show ended. Having said that, this episode might have a crass premise, but is very funny. As the whole gang is having an awful week, Barney is about to pull off a perfect week (seven girls in seven days). Neil Patrick Harris mastered playing a scumbag with charm, and this episode is the perfect example of it. There are many baseball metaphors to talk about Barney's streak, including cameos from sportscaster Jim Nance, and baseball player Nick Swisher that make the whole thing even funnier.
9 Swarley - S2 E8
HIMYM introduced many ideas about dating over the years. Women having crazy eyes is one of the more absurd ones. Although, it makes for a fun episode with Morena Baccarin's character. This episode is also the one where Marshall and Lily get back together, after Marshall tries to date other women (with crazy eyes), and realizes that he loves the craziest woman of all, his one true love: Lily. There’s also a joke about Friends, and hanging out in a bar, showing some of the similarities and differences between both shows, and the name Swarley, a fun running gag for the whole episode, which creates many humiliating names for Barney.
8 The Pineapple Incident - S1 E10
Ted wakes up after a black-out drunk night, finding a girl in his bed and a pineapple on his nightstand. With the help of his friends, he must discover what happened. This episode was the one that made many people aware of the show and that we should watch it. It uses non-linear storytelling brilliantly; it has a lot of great jokes, great drunk acting by Josh Radnor, and ends on a sour note, as the consequences of his blackout are all too real. We never get to know why there was a pineapple there; one of the few mysteries never revealed in the nine seasons, in what was the show's most-watched episode ever, other than the series finale.
7 Pilot - S1 E1
Not many shows start as fully formed, with their personality and confidence as the pilot of HIMYM. It’s one of the best ever, with inventive narration (old Ted with Bob Saget’s voice), a twist at the end of the episode (aunt Robin and not the mother), and comically showing who are the five leads of the show and their dynamics. It also already has some running gags that the show will use forever, such as “Suit up!” “Have you met, Ted?”, and “Legen - wait for it - dary”.
6 Legendaddy - S6 E19
The latter seasons found Barney trying to meet and reconcile with his lost father, “Uncle Jerry” (John Lithgow). This is the episode where they finally hang out, and Barney tells the gang how fun and crazy his dad is. The truth is, Jerry is just a lame suburban dad. The final scene on Jerry’s porch, where Barney shouts out that if he was going to be just a suburban father, why it couldn’t be his, still makes us drop some tears in an incredible performance by Neil Patrick Harris.
5 Last Words - S6 E14
Another episode about dads, and another one where HIMYM showed it could do heart and emotions with the best of them, giving us an episode with humor channeled towards an emotional conclusion. Marshall’s father just died, and the whole gang travels to Minnesota to support his friend at the funeral. Jason Segel gives one of his best performances ever in the show, being devastated at the idea he'll never see again the man who made him who he is, and also making some jokes with his family about Crocodile Dundee 3.
4 Game Night - S1 E15
Marshall wins at every game, so the gang decides that he should invent his own: Marshgammon. While playing this new game, Barney gets the group to tell some of their most embarrassing stories, finally telling his own origin story, and how he went from a lovey, long-haired hippie to the suited-up, ladies man we’ve known all this time. Everything about old Barney is hilarious, as is his Darth Vader-homage transformation into today's Barney. The embarrassing stories also make Ted tell Victoria about Robin, a piece of information that will be a rift between them forever.
3 How I Met Everyone Else - S3 E5
The use of flashbacks was always one of the greatest comedic gifts the show ever had, and this episode is the perfect example. Ted has a new girlfriend, Blahblah (he doesn’t remember his real name all these years later), and the gang explains to her about how they all met Ted. This episode also is the start of “eating sandwiches” as a euphemism for smoking weed (incredible acting by Jason Segel putting out a literal sandwich in an ashtray), and the hilarious Robin’s 16 no’s when Blahblah thinks Barney and her are dating.
2 How Your Mother Met Me - S9 E16
The greatest thing the show did in its last season was create a mother that was as good as everything Ted had said about her over the years. Cristin Milioti was a great addition to the cast; she had chemistry with everyone involved and was able to create a fully realized character that was perfect for Ted. This is Milioti’s episode through and through, as we discover her whole life and how she ended at Robin and Barney’s wedding, where she would meet Ted. The episode has many jokes, almost meet-ups with Ted, and many running gags. It also shows heartbreak, as the mother lost her boyfriend (and she thought, the love of her life) on his 21st birthday. The whole episode can be seen as her journey trying to get over it and opening her heart to new Ted-sized possibilities. Her sad, tender ukulele rendition of "Le vie en Rose" is still chill-inducing.
1 Slap Bet - S2 E9
This is the best episode of the show in its best season. "Slap Bet" tells the story of why Robin doesn’t like malls, and the whole gang wants to know the reason. Marshall and Barney make a slap bet about the reason being Robin did porn; the real reason is far greater and more surprising than we could’ve thought. The slap bets would continue throughout the whole show, as would Robin Sparkle’s (and even after). Since then, we can’t go to a mall without smiling. This episode was a fun way to explain the universal idea about getting to really know your other half, while showing the dynamics of the whole group, and how embarrassing your friends can be done with love, and the occasional slap.