Murtaugh (30 Mar. 2009)

Barney tries to do all the items on Ted's "I'm to old for this stuff" list, while Marshall's over-competitive side comes out when he coaches Lily's Kindergarten basketball team.

Director:

Pamela Fryman

Writers:

Carter Bays (creator), Craig Thomas (creator),

Stars:

Josh Radnor, Jason Segel, Cobie Smulders

Cast

Episode credited cast:
Josh Radnor	...	Ted Mosby
Jason Segel	...	Marshall Eriksen
Cobie Smulders	...	Robin Scherbatsky
Neil Patrick Harris	...	Barney Stinson
Alyson Hannigan	...	Lily Aldrin
Robert Wisdom	...	McCraken
Bill Fagerbakke	...	Marvin Eriksen Sr.
Andrew Astor	...	Addison
Brian Patrick Collins	...	Teen Wolf
Kaela Elmido	...	Girl
Justin Lawrence	...	Ryan
Charlie Stewart	...	Kenny
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Desiree Brajevich	...	Rave Girl

Storyline

After Barney is banned for life from the local laser tag club for his rough play, Ted adds it to what he calls his "Murtaugh" list, named after the Danny Glover character in Lethal Weapon, he who said "I'm too old for this $#*!". Barney ends up seeing Ted's Murtaugh list as a challenge and bets Ted that he can do everything on the list in twenty-four hours. Conversely, Ted tells Robin that he is looking forward to growing old. So Robin and Barney come up with an alternate list of "old folks" things for Ted to do, Ted who double bets Barney that he can complete the items on that list before Barney finishes the Murtaugh list. Meanwhile, after Lily asks him, Marshall agrees to coach Lily's kindergarten class' basketball team. Lily sees it as potential dad training for Marshall. But Lily may change her mind when she sees that Marshall is a dictatorial taskmaster as a coach, as opposed to the touchy-feely coach she wanted.

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Plot Keywords:

basketball | flashback | wager

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Genres:

Comedy | Romance

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

30 March 2009 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

20th Century Fox Television, Bays Thomas Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

30 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

At the end of the scene where Barney accepts the challenge of doing everything on the Murtaugh list, he says "OK chumps, lets do this." He then storms to the bathroom while shouting his own name in a very specific manner. This is a spoof of Leeroy Jenkins, a World of Warcraft player character. In a player made in-game movie that quickly became very famous within the World of Warcraft community, Leeroy Jenkins is in a team that's in the middle of going through a battle plan for their upcoming whelps fight in Upper Blackrock Spire. Before the leader is finished explaining the plan, Leeroy suddenly interrupts and says "OK chumps, lets do this.". He then proceeds to start the fight by charging head first through a doorway, while shouting his name in the same specific way that Barney shouts his when storming to the bathroom. Leeroy's charge ruins his team's well thought out plan for the battle, killing himself and the rest of his team in the ensuing battle.

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Quotes

Marshall Eriksen: How is that not travelling Kenny? You're killing me! You're absolutely killing me!

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Connections

Features Lethal Weapon (1987)

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Soundtracks

"Hey Beautiful"
Written by The Solids
Performed by The Solids

User Reviews

Sunset of Age

This is an outstanding episode. The fact that, at the time of writing, it has a rating of "only" 8.5 instead of the 9/10 it's worth, is probably because to fully appreciate how fine a piece of craftsmanship it is, one needs not only to know all the movies parodied here, but also be aware of their cultural significance. And there's more.

Like some people may see only the surface layer of Inception and treat it only as an inventive action movie, but not see it twice within a week to get to the deep level and get the full experience, some people may see only the surface layer of this episode and treat it only as a funny piece of TV. However, there are themes of aging and the competitiveness of today's world versus the "PC" way of giving awards not only for winning but *just* participating. Themes subtly woven into the comedy, things that the viewer will be *thinking about* after the episode.

Plus, there is a meta level just like in Inception, only to a lesser extent. The meta level here is the running joke of the episode, the fact that you *can't* quote Murtaugh's catchphrase word-for-word on national TV, and boy, do the writers and actors have fun with it! And it's such infectious fun. Plus, as an ace in the hole, there is the substitute player (you'll know when he appears) - that one was the icing on the cake. The episode did not *need* it, but it is all the more great because of it.