Bagpipes (How I Met Your Mother)

"Bagpipes"
How I Met Your Mother episode
Episode no.	Season 5 Episode 6
Directed by	Pamela Fryman
Written by	Robia Rashid
Production code	5ALH06
Original air date	November 2, 2009
Guest actors
Sam Stephanski (Phil)

"Bagpipes" is the sixth episode of the fifth season of the CBS situation comedy How I Met Your Mother and 94th overall. It originally aired on November 2, 2009.

Plot

Future Ted mentions the time new upstairs neighbors moved in, and proceeded to have loud sex on a regular basis, which he euphemistically describes as "playing the bagpipes" to his children. (Past Ted even says, "Shut the bagpipes-up!".) At MacLaren's, Barney worries about Lily and Marshall divorcing after witnessing Marshall clean a dish at Lily's request. He explains that he would never give in to a demand he didn't care about (playing out several sexy scenarios with an imaginary Lily), and that he and Robin never fight. In fact, both of them pathologically avoid fighting if a conflict comes up; Barney simply leaves, while Robin gets naked. After Marshall shows up, Barney consoles him on "how he's holding up", and Ted explains that he thinks that they are splitting up. Barney then claims that he is the "King of Relationships", and Marshall claims that he can be a good boyfriend "in his sleep". Barney then convinces Marshall that he shouldn't have to wash dishes if he doesn't mind it, by using a hypothetical situation if Barney was married to Lily. In the re-enactment, Barney treats Lily like a classic 1950's housewife, and then imagines Lily giving him a lap dance. Ted then tries to tell Marshall that Barney is completely wrong, but Marshall is thwarted by his suggestions, and even though he didn't mind before, he "hates" washing the dishes. Robin then shows up, confirming that she and Barney never fight, except for a fight pertaining to "who's more awesome". They leave for a skiing trip, and Marshall, heeding Barney's advice, decides to tell Lily he won't wash his dishes immediately. Ted warns Marshall it is a bad idea and they make a "slap bet".

She promptly kicks him out after Marshall's incoherent argument escalates into several separate issues. Ted slaps Marshall then gladly lets him stay at his apartment. While Lily and Marshall fight, Ted observes that Barney and Robin are acting suspiciously romantic, as if they were the perfect couple. Marshall then explains what happened that night when Lily kicked him out: trying to copy Barney's example, but explains them all wrong to Lily, and makes it look like that Marshall is complaining that he makes more money than she does. Then, they start fighting about everything else they disagreed on, while Lily and Marshall multiply into multiple fights. Marshall claims that it's hard to talk to Lily because she's all "eyes and boobs". Barney then gives him more advice to continue his shenanigans, and Marshall is again convinced. Ted thinks that he should just wash the dishes, but Marshall is pumped up with manhood, and storms off. Robin shows up, and she and Barney call each other disgusting nicknames, which Ted knows that Robin hates (when he tried to call her "Robsie-Wobsie", "Sherbs", and even calling himself "T-Moz").

After another night of listening to his upstairs neighbors "bagpipe," Ted goes to their door to confront them, only to find they are very old. Since Ted didn't have the heart to tell them to stop, he just had some hard candy, smiled at a few racist comments, and left. It then occurs to him then how to find out what's going on with Robin and Barney. He confronts them at the bar with a secret weapon: Phil, Barney's downstairs neighbor. Phil's presence makes them admit that they fight often. It all began after being stuck together on a ski lift during a disagreement, preventing Barney from leaving or Robin from taking her clothes off. Marshall and Lily continue to fight, and Marshall complains that Lily has stopped feeding him. By showing his frustration, he tells him that Lily made "panCAKE, and bacon STRIP".

Robin and Barney explain they had perpetrated the charade because they felt bad about being a bad couple, which they confess to Lily and Marshall. As Ted basks in his glory of being right, Lily has made dinner for herself, but it's Marshall's favorite. As Robin and Barney describe their violent and frequent fights, Lily and Marshall start to appreciate how calm their own relationship is, and forgive each other immediately. Robin and Barney are perplexed by the mutual surrender, claiming that someone always has to "win" an argument, but Marshall and Lily assure them it is not a competition. When Barney and Robin leave, Lily and Marshall celebrate being the better couple. A scene is then shown of the floor below Marshall and Lily's apartment, where an old couple's chandelier is shaking violently, and bagpipes are heard.

Critical response

Noel Murray of The A.V. Club rated the episode with a grade B.^[1]

Brian Zoromski of IGN gave the episode 9.2 out of 10.^[2]

References

↑ Noel Murray (2010-01-18). "How I Met Your Mother: Bagpipes". The AV Club. The Onion. Archived from the original on 17 February 2010. Retrieved 2010-01-30.
↑ Brian Zoromski (2009-11-03). "How I Met Your Mother: Bagpipes Review. An episode on couples fights proves much funnier than couples nights.". IGN (News Corporation). Retrieved 2010-01-31.

External links

"Bagpipes" at the Internet Movie Database
"Bagpipes" at TV.com

How I Met Your Mother

Creators	Carter Bays Craig Thomas

Episodes	Season 1 Season 2 Season 3 Season 4 Season 5 Season 6 Season 7 Season 8 Season 9

Characters	Ted Mosby Marshall Eriksen Lily Aldrin Barney Stinson Robin Scherbatsky The Mother (Tracy McConnell)

Related articles	Awards and nominations The Bro Code "Nothing Suits Me Like a Suit"

How I Met Your Mother episodes

Season 1	"Pilot" "Purple Giraffe" "Sweet Taste of Liberty" "Return of the Shirt" "Okay Awesome" "Slutty Pumpkin" "Matchmaker" "The Duel" "Belly Full of Turkey" "The Pineapple Incident" "The Limo" "The Wedding" "Drumroll, Please" "Zip, Zip, Zip" "Game Night" "Cupcake" "Life Among the Gorillas" "Nothing Good Happens After 2 A.M." "Mary the Paralegal" "Best Prom Ever" "Milk" "Come On"

Season 2	"Where Were We?" "The Scorpion and the Toad" "Brunch" "Ted Mosby: Architect" "World's Greatest Couple" "Aldrin Justice" "Swarley" "Atlantic City" "Slap Bet" "Single Stamina" "How Lily Stole Christmas" "First Time in New York" "Columns" "Monday Night Football" "Lucky Penny" "Stuff" "Arrivederci, Fiero" "Moving Day" "Bachelor Party" "Showdown" "Something Borrowed" "Something Blue"

Season 3	"Wait for It" "We're Not from Here" "Third Wheel" "Little Boys" "How I Met Everyone Else" "I'm Not That Guy" "Dowisetrepla" "Spoiler Alert" "Slapsgiving" "The Yips" "The Platinum Rule" "No Tomorrow" "Ten Sessions" "The Bracket" "The Chain of Screaming" "Sandcastles in the Sand" "The Goat" "Rebound Bro" "Everything Must Go" "Miracles"

Season 4	"Do I Know You?" "The Best Burger in New York" "I Heart NJ" "Intervention" "Shelter Island" "Happily Ever After" "Not a Father's Day" "Woooo!" "The Naked Man" "The Fight" "Little Minnesota" "Benefits" "Three Days of Snow" "The Possimpible" "The Stinsons" "Sorry, Bro" "The Front Porch" "Old King Clancy" "Murtaugh" "Mosbius Designs" "The Three Days Rule" "Right Place, Right Time" "As Fast as She Can" "The Leap"

Season 5	"Definitions" "Double Date" "Robin 101" "The Sexless Innkeeper" "Duel Citizenship" "Bagpipes" "The Rough Patch" "The Playbook" "Slapsgiving 2: Revenge of the Slap" "The Window" "Last Cigarette Ever" "Girls Versus Suits" "Jenkins" "Perfect Week" "Rabbit or Duck" "Hooked" "Of Course" "Say Cheese" "Zoo or False" "Home Wreckers" "Twin Beds" "Robots Versus Wrestlers" "The Wedding Bride" "Doppelgangers"

Season 6	"Big Days" "Cleaning House" "Unfinished" "Subway Wars" "Architect of Destruction" "Baby Talk" "Canning Randy" "Natural History" "Glitter" "Blitzgiving" "The Mermaid Theory" "False Positive" "Bad News" "Last Words" "Oh Honey" "Desperation Day" "Garbage Island" "A Change of Heart" "Legendaddy" "The Exploding Meatball Sub" "Hopeless" "The Perfect Cocktail" "Landmarks" "Challenge Accepted"

Season 7	"The Best Man" "The Naked Truth" "Ducky Tie" "The Stinson Missile Crisis" "Field Trip" "Mystery vs. History" "Noretta" "The Slutty Pumpkin Returns" "Disaster Averted" "Tick, Tick, Tick..." "The Rebound Girl" "Symphony of Illumination" "Tailgate" "46 Minutes" "The Burning Beekeeper" "The Drunk Train" "No Pressure" "Karma" "The Broath" "Trilogy Time" "Now We're Even" "Good Crazy" "The Magician's Code"

Season 8	"Farhampton" "The Pre-Nup" "Nannies" "Who Wants to Be a Godparent?" "The Autumn of Break-Ups" "Splitsville" "The Stamp Tramp" "Twelve Horny Women" "Lobster Crawl" "The Over-Correction" "The Final Page" "Band or DJ?" "Ring Up!" "P.S. I Love You" "Bad Crazy" "The Ashtray" "Weekend at Barney's" "The Fortress" "The Time Travelers" "Romeward Bound" "The Bro Mitzvah" "Something Old" "Something New"

Season 9	"The Locket" "Coming Back" "Last Time in New York" "The Broken Code" "The Poker Game" "Knight Vision" "No Questions Asked" "The Lighthouse" "Platonish" "Mom and Dad" "Bedtime Stories" "The Rehearsal Dinner" "Bass Player Wanted" "Slapsgiving 3: Slappointment in Slapmarra" "Unpause" "How Your Mother Met Me" "Sunrise" "Rally" "Vesuvius" "Daisy" "Gary Blauman" "The End of the Aisle" "Last Forever"

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Thursday, October 23, 2014. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.