Murtaugh (How I Met Your Mother)

"Murtaugh" is the 19th episode in the fourth season of the television series How I Met Your Mother and 83rd overall. It originally aired on March 30, 2009.

Plot

The episode begins with Barney recalling the events of the previous night to the rest of the gang, in which he was banned from laser tag by the game's owner for being too rough. He then reveals plans to break into the laser tag arena and throw toilet paper everywhere. Ted brushes it off, informing Barney that he is too old for laser tag. Ted then reveals "The Murtaugh List", a reference to the Roger Murtaugh character from the Lethal Weapon series, whose signature phrase is "I'm too old for this shit". Throughout the episode the narrator Ted replaces the word "shit" with "stuff" as he retells the story to his children. Ted's use of the list is to keep a record of the things he believes he has become too old to do anymore. Barney accepts Ted's revealing of the list as a challenge, and makes a bet with him that he can perform every item on the list within the following 24 hours. If he cannot, he will spend three hours listening to Ted talk about architecture, an idea so horrible even the thought of it causes him to twitch involuntarily.

Meanwhile, Marshall has taken on the role of coaching Lily's kindergarten's basketball team. He is extremely aggressive in training the children, doing such things as forcing them to run and throwing basketballs at them when they do not conform to his standards. A flashback shows his father relentlessly training Marshall, yelling at him aggressively. Lily is shocked by this, as her usual training tactics involve playing a guitar and allowing the children to do whatever they like.

Barney continues to try to perform every action on the Murtaugh List, contracting an ear infection and back injuries in the process, from self-ear-piercing and sleeping on a futon, respectively. During a conversation with Robin, Ted reveals that he would prefer being older to being younger. Upon hearing this, Robin and Barney make Ted his own list of things he would do when he was older. Another bet is made between him and Barney to see who can complete their respective lists first, thus introducing the "gentleman's agreement".

Lily grows tired of Marshall's hyper-competitive coaching and tells him off, forcing him to go easier on the children. During the game, they lose without scoring a single point, but Marshall realizes the value in playing for fun and makes up with Lily.

After being drugged at a rave, Barney is finally forced to accept the reality that he is growing older and gives Ted the victory. Having re-watched the complete Lethal Weapon series, Ted realizes that Murtaugh still did the things he claimed he was too old for, and decides that he has more to live for than waiting to grow older. He agrees to accompany Barney in covering the laser tag arena with toilet paper, despite winning the bet. Ted, Robin, and Barney are discovered by the laser tag arena owner, who pretends to be accepting of the situation before going to call the police. As he does so, he says how ridiculous it is of a grown man with pink hair to TP the arena, and that he's "too old for this- ", but Future Ted interrupts by saying, "Stuff. He said stuff."

Continuity

• Marshall and Lily have a telepathic or "psychic conversation" because they know each other so well they can communicate without speaking.^[1] The reason for this is because Alyson Hannigan had laryngitis and could not talk.^[2]
• Barney's love of laser tag is first shown in the series' Pilot episode. A board with the all-time Laser Tag high scores is seen hanging in the owner's office wall in this episode; all scores are credited to Stinson.
• In a flashback to Marshall's youth, his dad was shown to mock his large head. In convincing Lily not to have kids, Robin makes the same crack about Marshall in Not A Father's Day.

Cultural references

• The title is a reference to Roger Murtaugh, Danny Glover's character in the Lethal Weapon film series, who is constantly pondering retirement. The laser tag owner speaks to Ted and tells him he is "too old for this shit" before Future Ted claims the word is "'Stuff.' He said 'stuff,'" which is a running joke from the film series.
• Lily's pep talk to Marshall to not be strict on the kids is a reference to the scene of Jessep being interrogated by Kaffee, Wienberg and Galloway in A Few Good Men.
• Lily throwing a chair at Marshall is a reference to Bob Knight, the former Indiana University Basketball Coach.
• When Barney sets off to start the Murtaugh List, he says "Let's do this!" and yells a cheer of his own name, similar to "Leeroy Jenkins!" - a reference to a popular video from World of Warcraft.
• During the kindergarten basketball game, Ted mentions that Marshall's subsequent retelling of the events became more ridiculous each time. At first, the opposing team consisted of grown men, but Marshall's retelling grew to include a werewolf player. The flashback then includes several shots of the wolfman slam dunking the basketball, as an homage to Teen Wolf.^[3][4][5]
• After Barney and Robin return from the rave, Ted says he found some Russian beer in the basement. The beer is Švyturys Ekstra Draught, a Lithuanian beer.^[6]
• The laser tag manager gives Barney one last chance but warns him he will be playing Duck Hunt if he does not behave. Duck Hunt is a video game from Nintendo that uses a light gun.^[7]

Critical response

The AV Club rated the episode giving it a B grade.^[4]

Michelle Zoromski of IGN gave the episode 9 out of 10.^[3]

Cindy McLennan of Television Without Pity rated the episode with a grade A-.^[7]

References

External links

• Murtaugh at the Internet Movie Database
• Murtaugh at TV.com
• The Murtaugh list