The Bro Mitzvah

"The Bro Mitzvah"
How I Met Your Mother episode
Episode no.	Season 8 Episode 22
Original air date	April 29, 2013 (2013-04-29)
Guest appearance(s)
Becki Newton (Quinn) Frances Conroy (Loretta Stinson) Ralph Macchio (himself) William Zabka (Clown/himself) Calvin Jung (Chinese Mobster)
Season 8 episodes

"The Bro Mitzvah" is the 22nd episode of the eighth season of the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, and the 182nd episode overall.

Plot

The episode opens with Barney sitting in despair on the sidewalk, as Future Ted tells the story of the night his life fell apart. Six hours earlier, Robin asked Barney to deliver a $5,000 deposit to the wedding caterer and join her in a dinner with his mother Loretta. Ted and Marshall "abduct" Barney for a surprise bachelor party.

Barney calls Robin to tell her he won't be making it to dinner and Loretta is already there so it's too late to cancel much to Robin's dismay. Reaching a cheap hotel in Atlantic City, Ted and Marshall explain that they remember what Barney requested for his bachelor party (which he has dubbed the 'Bro Mitzvah') from when he was engaged to Quinn. However, they manage to get everything wrong and end up bringing a DVD of An Inconvenient Truth (for Barney's requirement of 'Fear for our Lives') and a clown who does balloon animals (for 'Mind-blowing Entertainment'). They also invite Ralph Macchio for when Barney stated he wanted to meet the hero of The Karate Kid, only to be reminded that he considers Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) as the hero of the film. Lily starts flirting with Macchio and Barney refuses to get along with him despite expressing the same behavior. Barney is stunned to learn that the stripper hired is actually Quinn, who claims to have been despondent after they broke up and is furious that Barney is engaged again. She agrees to put on a show for everyone but Barney, who is forced to sit in the hotel bathroom taking angry calls from Robin (who is having a terrible time with Loretta). Afterwards, he decides to call it a night and join Robin but on the ride back (with Ted, Marshall, Lily, Quinn, Ralph and the clown) he is reminded of the many casinos in the city and turns back where he quickly gambles away the $5,000. In an attempt to recoup his losses, he gambles away Marshall as collateral for $80,000. Heading home, he admits to everyone what he did and Ted angrily ends his friendship with him. He runs into a furious Robin who, upon seeing Quinn and realizing she was the stripper, breaks up with him.

As a devastated Barney collapses onto the sidewalk (as per the opening scene), Robin gets out-of-sight and calls Ted to tell him everything is on schedule, revealing the entire evening to be a hoax. Three weeks earlier, the gang brainstormed for ideas but when Marshall notes they'll never be able to give a guy like Barney the best night of his life, Robin (whom Barney dismissed as incapable of organizing bachelor parties, being his fiancée) proposes giving him the worst. Having arranged everything with Quinn, Loretta, Ralph and the casino bosses, the entire evening has been a perfect set-up to make Barney think his life was ruined.

Back on the sidewalk, the casino mobsters arrive and seemingly cut off Marshall's hand before dragging Barney inside. When he reaches his apartment, he finds everyone waiting for him. When they come clean about the plan, Barney is amazed at its complexity. The plan appears to satisfy all his requests for a "Bro Mitzvah," except for including the hero of The Karate Kid. However, Barney gets the biggest surprise when the clown reveals he is actually William Zabka, wearing a Cobra Kai uniform underneath his clown costume. Barney hugs his hero in happiness.

Critical reception

Entertainment Weekly's Sandra Gonzalez gave the episode a positive review, and wrote that it "was one of (her) favorite just-for-fun surprises they’ve delivered in years".^[1]

Donna Bowman of The A.V. Club gave the episode a B+ stating that while this is one of the show's better entries, what stopped it from being truly great was that the evening felt like a ruse right from the beginning.^[2]

Angel Cohn of Television Without Pity gave the episode a B−, praising the episode for giving Robin the chance to show her deviousness, the performance by Ralph Macchio and having the entire cast involved in the main plot.^[3]

Max Nicholson of IGN scored the episode 7.8, stating that while he enjoyed the majority of the episode (in particular, the final twist regarding the clown's identity), it suffered from the Robin/Loretta dinner scenes (stating that they felt hammy and were unnecessary, especially considering they never really happened) and the flirting between Lily and Ralph.^[4]

References

↑ Gonzalez, Sandra (April 29, 2013). "'How I Met Your Mother' recap, 'Bro Mitzvah': The REAL Karate Kid". ew.com. Retrieved July 22, 2014.
↑ Bowman, Donna (April 29, 2013). "How I Met Your Mother: "The Bro Mitzvah"". avclub.com. Retrieved July 22, 2014.
↑ Cohn, Angel. "How I Met Your Mother TV Show - The Next Karate Kid". televisionwithoutpity.com. Retrieved July 22, 2014.
↑ Nicholson, Max (April 29, 2013). "How I Met Your Mother: "The Bro Mitzvah" Review". ign.com. Retrieved July 22, 2014.

External links

"The Bro Mitzvah" at the Internet Movie Database

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"

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