The Best of Season 7: Top 5 Episodes of 'How I Met Your Mother'

In anticipation (or commiserating reflection) that How I Met Your Mother’s seventh season is coming to a close, we thought now would be a good time to relive the season’s best. This season has had some great individual moments, from the introduction of Beercules and the Bro-Oath (or Broath), to the tease of Barney’s impending wedding, to the promise of Marshall and Lily’s first child.

However, this focus is not on the individual moments, but on entire episodes, that took us on the wild ride we’ve come to expect from How I Met Your Mother. So, without further ado, here are the top five episodes of the season:

7.15 The Burning Beekeeper

This episode makes this list for the immense ingenuity – and talent – that went into writing and acting this episode. Marshall and Lily are hosting their housewarming party, which manages to fall apart in one five minute span. The episode takes us room by room in five minute increments to show us exactly how events in each room managed to ruin the party – which range from the ridiculous (Barney causing a ruckus by blaming Ted for eating the vegan spring rolls) to the real-life problems (Marshall confronting his boss for overworking him). The events in one room are tied to events in another room, making for a seamless transition – led by the man in the burning beekeeper uniform.

7.20 Trilogy Time

“Trilogy Time” was such a great episode. Not only did we get to look back on a lot of past events (major props for the continuity on that one, writers – that couldn’t have been the easiest task), but we also got so much over-arching plot development. Ted, Marshall, and Barney have a pact to sit down and re-watch the Star Wars trilogy once every three years (so that the dark side doesn’t win). This is also a time when they reflect on the last three years of their lives and make predictions on where they will be three years down the road. Ted gets maudlin, Marshall don’s a fake mustache, and Barney realizes he really wants his relationship with Quinn to work. However, the biggest news comes at the end, when we get a real glimpse into their futures three years from now – and learn that Ted has a baby girl!

7.12 Symphony of Illumination

Robin Scherbatsky serves as this episode’s narrator, making this one of the few episodes that doesn’t open with Future Ted talking to his kids, whether in person or through voice-over. It opens with Robin telling her kids how she met their father. We are led to believe that it is Barney Stinson, which sounds like a really awesome idea (to many viewers, anyway – not so much to Robin and Barney), until we find out that not only is Robin not pregnant, but she can’t even have children! This episode makes the list for sheer shock value – I don’t know about all of you, but I was definitely taken by surprise with that turn of events . It also really showcased Cobie Smulders’ acting skills, and you could really feel her pain as we were eventually realized that her narration to her kids – was really just her talking to imaginary children.

7.07 Noretta

“Noretta” is the epitome of a “something for everyone” episode. We have the awkward situation of two exes living together – Robin and Ted – making both them and the current boyfriend/girlfriend – in this case Kevin – uncomfortable. In addition, “Noretta” addresses many common worries women have about pregnancy, which becomes a reality when Marshall accidentally confesses to Lily that he doesn’t find her as attractive now that she’s pregnant. Finally, Barney’s brother James (Wayne Brady) pays us a visit to present the storyline about that old adage: we marry our parents. As a result, the gang begin to see traits about their parents in their significant others – leading to hilarious consequences, which mainly revolve around the characters’ developing “performance issues”.  

7.10 Tick, Tick, Tick