The Chain of Screaming 

Marshall cries in front of his boss after he chews him out, and everybody gives Marshall their own unique advice on how to confront his boss about the situation.

Director:

Pamela Fryman

Writers:

Carter Bays (created by), Craig Thomas (created by)

Stars:

Josh Radnor, Jason Segel, Cobie Smulders

Cast

Episode cast overview:
Josh Radnor	...	Ted Mosby
Jason Segel	...	Marshall Eriksen
Cobie Smulders	...	Robin Scherbatsky
Neil Patrick Harris	...	Barney Stinson
Alyson Hannigan	...	Lily Aldrin
Bob Odenkirk	...	Arthur Hobbs
Bryan Callen	...	Bilson
Taran Killam	...	Blauman
Jordan Black	...	Ferguson
Avner Garbi	...	Waiter
Lyndsy Fonseca	...	Daughter
David Henrie	...	Son
Evelyn Dubuc	...	Megan
Charles Poynter	...	Dylan
Kira Saks	...	Erica

Storyline

Marshall's immediate superior, nicknamed Artillery Arthur, is so named because he often, out of nowhere, will launch into a screaming tirade on an unsuspecting person. He's only one of the reasons that Marshall hates his job. Having never been screamed at like Arthur has just done to him (in this case for not finishing a report by the deadline), Marshall reacts surprisingly. He asks for advice from his friends on how to handle his feelings associated with being screamed at. Barney thinks the only way for the universe to work is for Marshall to complete the chain of screaming: scream at someone else, they who in turn will scream at another person, and so on until someone eventually screams at the original screamer. Marshall instead decides to take Lily's advice and reason with Arthur. Marshall's reasoning doesn't come out quite the way he planned. Meanwhile, Ted buys a new car that he doesn't want anyone to get dirty or to move from its prime parking spot.

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Plot Keywords:

canadian abroad | character calls shotgun | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Romance

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Certificate:

TV-PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

14 April 2008 (USA)

Filming Locations:

20th Century Fox Studios - 10201 Pico Blvd., Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bays Thomas Productions, 20th Century Fox Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

22 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

4:3

Did You Know?

Trivia

In season 3 episode 15, Barney mentions at one point that Gary Blauman had died. However, Gary Blauman actually reappears in season 9 of the show.

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Goofs

At the beginning of the episode we hear Barney's voice saying, "Ted, this is New York City..." but we actually see Lily's mouth moving (Barney is not initially in the shot and the J-Cut replaces Lily's dialogue so that Lily's mouth moves but she says nothing).

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Quotes

Barney Stinson: Shotgun for eternity!
Robin Scherbatsky: You can't call shotgun for eternity.
Barney Stinson: I just called it.
Robin Scherbatsky: You can't just call things!
Barney Stinson: I call that I can call things!

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Connections

References Die Hard (1988)

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Soundtracks

Hey Beautiful
(uncredited)
Written by The Solids
Performed by The Solids

User Reviews

A Drop In Quality

After so many great episodes, it was inevitable that there would be a drop in quality somewhere and this was it.

Plot In A Paragraph: Marshall cries after being shouted at by his boss, so the other four all tell him how he should deal with it. Robin suggests he go in with a gun, Ted Suggests he gives a speech about how he will not tolerate being abused, Lily suggests using the same approach she takes with her kids at school and Barney suggests he just send the abuse further down the chain of screaming (or the circle of screaming, or the pyramid of screaming) and simply scream at someone beneath him.

Whilst this episodes has it's moments, there was not many laugh out loud moments to enjoy for me.