Subway Wars

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"Subway Wars"
How I Met Your Mother episode
Subway Wars.jpg
The gang running off to find Woody Allen
Episode no.Season 6
Episode 4
Directed by Pamela Fryman
Written byChris Harris
Production code6ALH04
Original air dateOctober 11, 2010 (2010-10-11)
Guest appearances
Episode chronology
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How I Met Your Mother season 6
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"Subway Wars" is the fourth episode of the sixth season of the American sitcom How I Met Your Mother , and the 116th episode overall. The episode was written by Chris Harris and directed by Pamela Fryman.

Contents

The episode was met with positive reviews from critics and was nominated for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series at the 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards. It originally aired on CBS on October 11, 2010, to an audience of 8.48 million viewers.

Plot

Marshall learns that Woody Allen has been spotted at a restaurant downtown. While Robin is interested in seeing him, the rest of the gang are not as they have seen him plenty of times. They tease Robin about not being a "real" New Yorker, as she is from Canada, she tries to impress them by saying she has seen Maury Povich, but the gang is again unimpressed, as they have all seen him many times as well.

The group debate on the fastest way to get to the restaurant, and quickly decide to race each other there: Ted rides the bus, Lily takes the subway, Robin opts to hail a cab, Marshall decides to run there on foot, and Barney fakes a heart attack to take an ambulance to a hospital right next to the restaurant. His plan backfires, however, when the ambulance takes him to a hospital uptown, and he is forced to contact Ranjit for a ride. Meanwhile, Lily misinterprets the subway conductor's announcement that the subway is undergoing maintenance, and soon after exiting the train, it departs. Marshall is at first enthusiastic and confident that he can outrun everyone, though he soon begins to lose energy while on foot.

Robin hails a cab, stealing it from a woman carrying bags who then angrily leaps on top of the windshield. Robin and the cab driver are freaked out, so Robin abandons the ride and rides along with Barney in Ranjit's car. During the ride, Robin angrily reveals to Barney that she had tried to talk to him about how low she was feeling recently due to her break-up with Don and feeling shunned and forgotten due to her overly-enthusiastic new co-anchor, yet Barney ignored her and tried to use her as a decoy while he eyed up a woman at the bar. Barney apologises to Robin, but she is not interested and leaves the car.

Robin takes the subway, where she sees a poster up for her news show, with her co-anchor's face taking up much more space then hers. Enraged, she rips it down, only to see an older poster behind it with one of her and Don and breaks down crying. Lily spots her and comforts her, though she quickly abandons her and calls Ranjit in favor of the race. Lily has Ranjit pick up Marshall on the way, and the two discuss their concerns: Lily had been feeling dejected after having been unable to conceive a baby with Marshall for two months, and Marshall was feeling the same, believing it to be his fault. They then agree there is really no rush to become parents, and promptly decide to head to Coney Island to have fun.

Ted, Barney, and Robin race for the finish; however, Barney trips, taking Ted down with him and allowing Robin to win the race. Future Ted reveals he knew that Barney had intentionally tripped as he had spotted Robin crying earlier. Robin enjoys a meal with Max while Ted thanks Barney for letting Robin win.

Production

"Subway Wars" was written by Chris Harris and directed by Pamela Fryman. [1] In an interview with Vulture co-creator Craig Thomas revealed that he and Carter Bays were interested in shooting the episode on location in New York City. However the episode, like the majority of the series, was shot on a sound stage in Los Angeles. Despite this the episode makes various references to the New York City setting. [2] [3] In the same interview Thomas described the premise of the episode as being a mix of Cannonball Run / Amazing Race". [3]

The episode features the song "Marshal vs The Machines". [4] An alternate version of the song appeared in the ninth season. [5] [6] The song was later released on the compilation album How I Met Your Music (2012); [7] the album was made available on streaming in 2019. [8]

Casting

"Subway Wars" features series regulars Josh Radnor as Ted Mosby, Jason Segel as Marshall Eriksen, Neil Patrick Harris as Barney Stinson, Alyson Hannigan as Lily Aldrin, and Cobie Smulders as Robin Scherbatsky. [1] Marshall Manesh returns in a recurring role as Ranji. [9] The episode featured the running gag of Maury Povich appearing as himself in seemingly random locations. [10] [2] Povich's inclusion was met with mixed reception. [2] [11]

Broadcast

"Subway Wars" originally aired on October 11, 2010, on CBS. [12] During its American broadcast the episode was viewed live by an estimated 8.48 million viewers; [13] the episode finished sixth of the night overall, just below House M.D. and above Two and a Half Men. "Subway Wars" was down 150 thousand viewers from the previous episode. [14] and had around 430 thousand more than the following episode. [15]

In Australia it was aired by Seven on February 10, 2011 to an audience of 874 thousand viewers and was the 11th highest viewed program of the night. It was released alongside "Unfinished" which it beat in ratings by around 160 thousand viewers. [16] [17]

Critical reception

"Subway Wars" was met with positive reviews from critics who praised the episode's premise, [11] [18] comedy, [11] [19] and overall plot. [2]

Donna Bowman of The A.V. Club gave the episode a B+ rating. Bowman praised the chaotic nature of the episode's plot. She additionally praised the episodes humor and the various running gags, though she criticized the inclusion of Maury Povich. [11] Robert Canning of IGN gave the episode a rating of 9 out of 10. [4] DeAnn Welker of Television Without Pity gave the episode a B+ score. [19]

For her work on the episode Pamela Fryman was nominated for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series at the 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards. [20] Though she lost to Michael Spiller for the for Modern Family episode "'Halloween". [21]

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References

  1. 1 2 "How I Met Your Mother". The Futon Critic . October 11, 2010. Retrieved September 28, 2024.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Bahr, Lindsey (October 12, 2010). "'How I Met Your Mother': Desperately Seeking Woody Allen". The Atlantic . Retrieved September 29, 2024.
  3. 1 2 Adalian, Josef (July 28, 2010). "How I Met Your Mother's Co-Creator Reveals Plots for Next Season". Vulture . Archived from the original on March 25, 2023. Retrieved September 29, 2024.
  4. 1 2 Robert, Canning (October 12, 2010). "How I Met Your Mother: "Subway Wars" Review". IGN . News Corporation. Archived from the original on December 14, 2010. Retrieved December 3, 2010.
  5. ↑ Whitney, Alyse (March 10, 2014). "How I Met Your Mother's 10 Most Legendary Recurring Gags". PopSugar . Archived from the original on March 4, 2024. Retrieved September 28, 2024.
  6. ↑ "How I Met Your Music: Deluxe (Original Television Soundtrack),". Spotify . September 23, 2014. Retrieved September 27, 2024.
  7. ↑ "How I Met Your Music (Original Songs from the Hit Series "How I Met Your Mother")". Spotify . September 24, 2012. Archived from the original on November 8, 2020. Retrieved September 27, 2024.
  8. ↑ Martin, Charles (January 17, 2019). "Toutes les chansons de How I met your Mother sont désormais disponibles sur les plateformes de streaming". Première (in French). Archived from the original on March 23, 2023. Retrieved September 28, 2024.
  9. ↑ Robert, Canning (October 12, 2010). "How I Met Your Mother: "Subway Wars" Review". IGN . News Corporation. Archived from the original on December 14, 2010. Retrieved December 3, 2010.
  10. ↑ Barshad, Amos (October 12, 2010). "How I Met Your Mother Recap: New York Is Killing Me - TV". Vulture . Archived from the original on April 21, 2024. Retrieved September 28, 2024.
  11. 1 2 3 4 Donna, Bowman (October 11, 2010). "How I Met Your Mother "Subway Wars"". The A.V. Club . The Onion . Retrieved September 26, 2024.
  12. ↑ Burns, Matt (October 12, 2010). "Tonight's How I Met Your Mother Was A Big Fat Microsoft Ad And I Loved It". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on September 6, 2024. Retrieved September 27, 2024.
  13. ↑ Gorman, Bill (October 12, 2010). "Monday Finals: Castle, Dancing Adjusted Down; How I Met Your Mother, Two And A Half Men, 90210 Adjusted Up". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on October 14, 2010. Retrieved October 12, 2010.
  14. ↑ Seidman, Robert (October 5, 2010). "Monday Finals: Castle, Lie to Me, 90210 Adjusted Down; House, How I Met Your Mother, Mike & Molly, Adjusted Up". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on October 7, 2010. Retrieved October 5, 2010.
  15. ↑ Seidman, Robert (October 19, 2010). "Monday Finals: Castle, Lie to Me Adjusted Down; How I Met Your Mother, DWTS, Two and a Half Men, Mike & Molly Adjusted Up". TV by the Numbers . Archived from the original on October 21, 2010. Retrieved October 19, 2010.
  16. ↑ Knox, David (February 13, 2011). "Seven wins first week of 2011 ratings year". TV Tonight. Archived from the original on February 16, 2011. Retrieved September 27, 2024.
  17. ↑ Knox, David (February 7, 2011). "Week 7". TV Tonight. Archived from the original on February 10, 2011. Retrieved February 11, 2011.
  18. ↑ Robert, Canning (October 12, 2010). "How I Met Your Mother: "Subway Wars" Review". IGN . News Corporation. Archived from the original on December 14, 2010. Retrieved December 3, 2010.
  19. 1 2 DeAnn, Welker (October 13, 2010). "How I Met Your Mother: Marshall Versus the Machines". Television Without Pity . NBC Universal. Archived from the original on May 29, 2011. Retrieved December 3, 2010.
  20. ↑ "2011 Primetime Emmy Nominations" (PDF). Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 19, 2011. Retrieved September 26, 2024.
  21. ↑ "Emmy Awards 2011". CBS News . September 18, 2011. Archived from the original on December 6, 2020. Retrieved September 27, 2024.
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