Legendaddy: Difference between revisions

"Legendaddy" is the ninteenth episode of the sixth season of the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother and the 131st episode overall. It aired on March 21, 2011.

Plot

The episode begins with the gang going to Ted's house. When Ted explains his plans for the house, Barney attempts to persuade Ted to add erotic and sensual objects. It is then revealed that the trip is an intervention. Barney believes it is for Ted, but it is actually for him.

A few days before this, the gang is attempting to watch TV in Barney's apartment, but his TV is broken. Barney calls a repairman and tells everyone that he is unaware of how to use tools. When someone knocks on the door, Barney believes it to be the repairman. The man admits to Barney that he is Jerome (John Lithgow), his father, and that he received Barney's letter. Barney and his father go to MacLaren's Pub, and Barney later goes to Ted and Robin's apartment and tells the gang that his father is a tour manager who loves Scotch, suits and loose women as much as he does. The gang is happy for Barney, but worries that his father might hurt him again. Barney brushes this off, saying that his father is a "Legendaddy." The next day, at MacLaren's, the gang (excluding Barney) sees Jerome and he tells them that Barney is refusing his calls and won't talk to him. Jerome reveals what really happened that night. He and Barney had almost nothing in common. Jerome is actually a driving instructor who has a normal suburban life. Jerry attempted to impress Barney by bragging about his tame personal life and trying to hit on a girl, but neither seems to affect Barney. Barney told Jerome that he was happy to meet him and that he will see him again.

The gang reveals that Barney's intervention is about seeing his father. Barney reluctantly agrees to go have dinner with him at his house close by. There, Barney meets Cheryl and JJ, Jerome's wife and son. Barney attempts to make JJ look boring in comparison to himself, but stops when he learns that JJ stands for Jerome Jr. Upset, Barney leaves the dining room and goes to the garage to steal the basketball hoop attached to it. When Jerry asks Barney why he is doing this, he tells Jerry that it is unfair for JJ to get a normal life and a basketball hoop; Barney feels he deserves it more. He adds that Jerry is nothing more than "a lame, suburban dad" whom JJ got to have growing up while Barney didn't. Jerome tells Barney that he is sorry for abandoning him. When Barney continues to try removing the basketball hoop, Jerome gets a toolbox and teaches Barney how to use a screwdriver. Barney leaves with the basketball hoop and tells Ted that he should have it for his future kids, choking up as he says, "a kid needs a hoop."

Meanwhile, the gang begins to note all of the things that each of them never bothered to learn, noticing it when Barney mentions he doesn't know how to use a screwdriver. Robin points out Ted's odd pronunciation of the word "chameleon." Ted points out that Robin is unaware that the North Pole is a real place (and later than she doesn't know that reindeer are real or that Jack Kennedy and John F. Kennedy are the same person). Ted also points out Lily's bad throwing skills. Marshall is the only one whom the gang does not mention, and he eventually asks the gang to pick on him. He reveals that he is aware that the gang has been careful around him ever since his father died, and says that he just wants to feel normal again. The group does resume picking on Marshall, mocking his inability to wink or swallow pills, adding too much water to his oatmeal and always missing one belt loop.

Continuity

• Ted bought the house for his future family in "Home Wreckers".
• Ted's inability to pronounce words correctly is first referenced in "Intervention" and "Spoiler Alert".
• The episode completes Barney's search for his real father, which began with the season two episode "Showdown". In "Oh Honey", Barney confesses to Honey that he wrote his father a letter, but hadn't gotten a response. In this episode's opening scene, Jerry is seen holding the same letter. Jerry also explains his disappearance, which Barney first notes in "Natural History".
• Marshall is driving his father’s station wagon that he and Ted used to return to New York in "Desperation Day".

Barney's blog

Barney discusses how a father and son can become wingmen, revealing a list of plays that they can do.^[1]

Music

"I Will Come for You" - Jack Dolgen.

Cultural references

• While breaking up with her boyfriend, Robin makes sarcastic references to The Chronicles of Narnia, the board game Candyland and Harry Potter by mentioning running through Narnia, travelling through Candyland and becoming the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts.
• One of Marshall's attempts to get Ted and Barney to disagree with him is by calling The Phantom Menace "the best of the Star Wars films."
• One of the bands Barney lies about his father managing is Bon Jovi. He also claims Jerry accompanied the Rolling Stones during their West Germany tour in 1983. The Rolling Stones actually, in real life, toured West Germany and the rest of Europe in 1982.
• Barney asks his dad whether he slept with Stevie Nicks.
• Barney is given a picture of him, his father and ZZ Top. Barney says he remembers sitting on the lead guitarist's lap and telling him what he wanted for Christmas.

Production

Co-executive producer Craig Thomas said the issue about the identity of Barney's real father was already a plot point in the initial conceptualization of the series. John Lithgow was the first choice to play Jerome Whittaker and the producers gave him a collection of specific episodes detailing Barney's father issues (including "Showdown") to help him get acquainted with the role. Thomas said Lithgow will still appear in future episodes, as the role would complicate Barney's connection with Nora. ^[2]

Reception

Donna Bowman of the AV Club gave the episode a B. ^[3]

Zach Oat of Television Without Pity graded the episode at B+ ^[4]

A number of reviews also praised Harris' emotional scene with Lithgow. ^{[5] [6] [7]}

References

External links

• "Legendaddy" at IMDb