How I Met Your Mother season 9 episode 4, ‘The Broken Code’ reestablishes the strong friendships that have been made over the past nine seasons. Read ‘The Broken Code’ recap below!

Picking up from last week, we see Ted running out to have a whiskey with Barney, but then Barney drops the bombshell that he saw Robin and Ted together at the carousel from the week before (or, in our universe, at the end of last season) briefly holding hands. Barney looks so crestfallen when he sees Ted and Robin together. But is Barney accepting Ted’s apology just a bit too tie-it-up-with-a-bow-neat storyline? At the time, it’d appear so, but over the course of ‘The Broken Code,’ with Barney “sheepishly” requesting more and more ridiculous acts from his best man, it becomes evident that this is payback, Barnacle-style.

Barney was under the impression Ted no longer has feelings for Robin, and thus holding hands in the park was no big deal, alas, that’s dramatic irony for you. We all know how deeply in love, at least, infatuated, Ted is for Robin, and his guiltily face basically reconfirms it to Barney. Barney’s line “you still have feelings for Robin?! Then turn them off!” nearly perfectly encapsulates the little-kid-like qualities Barney still possesses. That, and the fact he still plays laser tag with 12 year olds. But we can’t blame him for wanting to throw a fit who wants their best friend to still be in love with their fiancee? Oh, the complex thread of relationships How I Met Your Mother has weaved over the years.

There was a subtle reversal of gender identities this week, Ted and Barney hold hands on a beach and Robin and Lily take a page out of the bro code handbook to make more female friends.

We flashback to see how Lily threw Robin a sad bachelorette party – only Lily, Robin and Patrice in attendance – and it was apparently not up to Robin’s standards. Robin has never been a girly-girl, something that stems from her childhood with a hardcore father and hockey-loving upbringing. But, it’s no wonder Robin is hated by women, evidenced by Lily’s curling fist, she can eat whole cakes and lose weight because of it! That just defies science, folks.

As Robin and Lily scout out potential female friends in the Farhamton Inn equivalent of MacLaren’s, Robin points out various insignificant reasons why these women don’t make the friendship cut. a bad haircut on one woman, disparaging the daughter of another. In the end, Robin does end up bonding with another woman over their mutual despise of the Boston Bruins and it turns out Lily can be the off-putting friend for once, she tells the other woman to back off Robin, but Robin is heart-warmed at the threat – Lily proved she’s Robin’s one and only psycho. So all’s well that ends well.

It’s also important to note here in ‘The Broken Code’ recap that the Mother was once again absent this week. Were we the only ones who thought she’d be the one to show up and befriend Robin?
Elsewhere in the hotel: it’s Barney’s poker game bachelor party. The men in attendance: Tim Gunn, reprising his role as Barney’s personal tailor – wearing an awful clashing plaid suit, Ranjit, and a man who briefly dethroned Ted as the best man.

However, after swearing on the bro code handbook, on the beach in the middle of a rain storm, that Ted would no longer try to feel anything for Robin, Barney reinstated him as his best man. We don’t think this is the last we’ll be hearing about this love-triangle.

MVP of the week: Marshall. Honestly, I thought Barney had this title in the bag with that awesome ‘self-five,’ but then given Marshall’s (and Jason Segel’s) limited range of motion – an iPad – and the fact he was still able to land some jokes and a solid “lawyered!,” he wins this round. He was given a lot to do this week, from deciding if Ted holding Robin’s hand was in violation of the bro code (yes), and a weird moment as exes and friends (no), to the scene on the beach with Barney and Ted.

We would love to be a fly on the writers room for this last season. Do they sit down each week and decide to tackle a different hellish aspect of a wedding weekend? Next week’s episode promises more poker play, but this time with Robin and Barney’s mother in attendance (without a shirt on.)

‘The Broken Code’ on the whole, was about reestablishing the friendships and strong connections these characters have with each other, as well as detailing the issues the relationships have dealt with. Ted calls Barney his brother, Robin and Lily learn they just work best together, with no extraneous female friends, and but alas, poor Marshall plays fifth-wheel. Bets are now being taken for when we will see Marshall physically with the gang at the Farhamton Inn.

What did you think of ‘The Broken Code’?

Missed an episode and haven’t had time to catch up? You can check out all our ‘HIMYM’ season 9 episode recaps here.