False Positive (How I Met Your Mother)
 | This article's lead section may be too short to adequately summarize the key points. (December 2015) |
| "False Positive" | |
|---|---|
| How I Met Your Mother episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 6 Episode 12 |
| Directed by | Pamela Fryman |
| Written by | Craig Gerard & Matthew Zinman |
| Production code | 6ALH12 |
| Original air date | December 13, 2010 |
| Guest appearances | |
| Chris Romano (Punchy) Alex Trebek (himself) Ben Vereen (Sam Gibbs) Melissa Molinaro (Noelle) | |
"False Positive" is the 12th episode of the sixth season of the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, and the 124th episode overall. It aired on December 13, 2010. It features guest star Alex Trebek.
Plot
 | This article's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed. (December 2015) |
Ted is outside a movie theater showing It's a Wonderful Life, waiting for the rest of the gang and carrying a gingerbread house as their Christmas-themed movie snack. Future Ted backtracks to two days before, when Marshall and Lily eagerly await the results of her latest pregnancy test. The test is positive and they tell Ted, Barney, and Robin the news, but the doctor later says it's a false alarm and Future Ted tells the story of what happened while the gang thought Lily was pregnant.
Prior to the test, Ted and Punchy begin talking about Punchy's wedding. After hanging up, Ted argues with Robin about his ability to be an effective best man, especially in the event that Punchy gets cold feet. Robin reveals that she auditioned as a "currency rotation specialist" (coin-flip bimbo) in the game show Million Dollar Heads or Tails, hosted by Alex Trebek. Ted rebukes her for bailing on her New Year's Resolution to be working for the Worldwide News Network by the end of the year. Robin admits that she applied for the Network, but only an associate researcher position is available. When Marshall and Lily break the news of the pregnancy, Robin becomes aware of how her own life is stalling, and resolves to take the research position, but when they reveal the false positive, she changes her mind once more, deciding that she is content to be a "coin-flip bimbo".
Barney, meanwhile, has received an end-of-year bonus, which he intends to spend on luxuries for himself, including a suit with diamond pinstripes. When he hears about the pregnancy, he realizes how unfulfilled his selfishness has left him, and decides to spend the money helping others. After buying the patrons of MacLaren's designer clothes, toys and condoms, and taking them to a strip club, Barney goes to see Sam Gibbs, his brother's father and a minister, to make a donation to his church. He is in the process of writing a check for $10,000 when he gets the news about the false positive, and adds a decimal point to turn it into $100, returning to his selfish ways and, indeed, buying his diamond-striped suit.
Immediately after they discover the pregnancy test's results, Marshall and Lily begin to panic about how unprepared they are to raise a child, and scramble to complete pre-delivery remodeling of their apartment in one night. They announce the news of the pregnancy to the gang, and pretend to share their excitement, but are still terrified inside. After an argument about playing music for the child, the couple see the doctor, who tells them Lily is not pregnant.
Marshall and Lily meet up with the rest of the gang outside the theater and admit that they are relieved about the false positive. Since they are not ready for kids yet, Marshall says they're considering getting a dog for now. When Robin and Barney agree with Marshall, Ted explodes in anger, smashes the gingerbread house and angrily orders everybody to reconsider their decisions, forcing Marshall and Lily to go straight back home to try to conceive, ordering Robin to take the research job, and yelling to the "criminals of New York" about Barney's suit, effectively making him a walking target for theft. When Punchy calls him, suffering the predicted cold feet, Ted angrily orders him to get married, solving that problem as well. After everybody leaves, he decides to watch It's a Wonderful Life all by himself. In the end, Marshall and Lily continue trying to conceive, Barney makes his intended cash donation to the ministry and also donates suits for jobless people to wear to interviews, and Robin begins her first day at Worldwide News. Back at the apartment, Robin thanks Ted for his fit of rage and he accepts her offer to be the best man if she ever gets married to anyone other than him.
In the ending scene, Barney tries a Christmas message-style play on a girl called Noelle (Melissa Molinaro) at the bar, who turns him down.
Critical response
![[icon]](/enwiki/wiki/File:Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg){kind=small} | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (December 2015) |
Donna Bowman of The A.V. Club gave the episode a A− rating.[1]
Robert Canning of IGN gave the episode a rating of 9.5 out of 10.[2]
DeAnn Welker of Television Without Pity graded the episode at A.[3]
References
- ^ Donna Bowman (2010-12-13). "How I Met Your Mother "False Positive"". The A.V. Club. The Onion. Retrieved 2010-12-14.
- ^ Robert Canning (2010-12-14). "How I Met Your Mother: "False Positive" Review". IGN. News Corporation. Retrieved 2010-12-14.
- ^ DeAnn Welker (2010-12-15). "How I Met Your Mother: It's A Christmas Miracle". Television Without Pity. NBC Universal. Archived from the original on 2010-12-16.
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