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"Subway Wars" is the fourth episode of the sixth season of the American
sitcom A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...
''
How I Met Your Mother ''How I Met Your Mother'' (often abbreviated as ''HIMYM'') is an American sitcom created by Craig Thomas (screenwriter), Craig Thomas and Carter Bays for CBS. The series, which aired from September 19, 2005, to March 31, 2014, follows main char ...
'', and the 116th episode overall. The episode was written by Chris Harris and directed by
Pamela Fryman Pamela Gail Fryman (born August 19, 1959) is an American sitcom director and producer. She was the principal director of the television series ''How I Met Your Mother'', directing 196 of the show's 208 episodes. Early life Fryman was born and g ...
. The series follows main character
Ted Mosby Theodore Evelyn Mosby is a fictional character and the protagonist in the American sitcom '' How I Met Your Mother'', portrayed by Josh Radnor. He serves as the show's narrator from the future, voiced by Bob Saget, as he tells his children ...
(
Josh Radnor Joshua Thomas Radnor (born July 29, 1974) is an American actor, filmmaker, author, and musician. He is best known for portraying Ted Mosby on the Emmy Award–winning CBS sitcom ''How I Met Your Mother'' (2005–2014). He made his writing and di ...
) and his group of friends in
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
. The
frame story A frame story (also known as a frame tale, frame narrative, sandwich narrative, or intercalation) is a literary technique that serves as a companion piece to a story within a story, where an introductory or main narrative sets the stage either fo ...
features a future version of Ted recounting stories to his children. In "Subway Wars", the main characters race to see who can get to Downtown New York the fastest. "Subway Wars" originally aired on
CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...
on October 11, 2010, to an audience of 8.48 million viewers. It was met with positive reviews from critics and was nominated for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series at the
63rd Primetime Emmy Awards The 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards, honoring the best in prime time television programming from June 1, 2010, until May 31, 2011, were held on Sunday, September 18, 2011, at the Nokia Theatre in Downtown Los Angeles, California. Fox televised the ...
.


Plot

Marshall Marshall may refer to: Places Australia *Marshall, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria ** Marshall railway station Canada * Marshall, Saskatchewan * The Marshall, a mountain in British Columbia Liberia * Marshall, Liberia Marshall Is ...
learns that celebrity
Woody Allen Heywood Allen (born Allan Stewart Konigsberg; November 30, 1935) is an American filmmaker, actor, and comedian whose career spans more than six decades. Allen has received many List of awards and nominations received by Woody Allen, accolade ...
has been spotted at a restaurant
downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in American and Canadian English to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political, and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business district ( ...
. He and his friends debate on the fastest way to get to the restaurant and decide to race each other there: Ted rides the bus,
Lily ''Lilium'' ( ) is a genus of herbaceous flowering plants growing from bulbs, all with large and often prominent flowers. Lilies are a group of flowering plants which are important in culture and literature in much of the world. Most species are ...
takes the subway, Robin opts to hail a cab, Marshall to run there on foot, and Barney fakes a heart attack to take an ambulance to a hospital next to the restaurant. His plan backfires, however, when the ambulance takes him to a hospital uptown, and he is forced to contact
Ranjit Ranjit can refer to: * Ranjit Singh (disambiguation) **Ranjit Singh (1780–1839), First Maharaja of the Sikh Empire **Ranjit Singh of Bharatpur (1776–1805), ruler of the Bharatpur princely state in Rajasthan, India **K. S. Ranjitsinhji (1872–1 ...
for a ride. Meanwhile, Lily misinterprets the subway conductor's announcement that the subway is undergoing maintenance, and soon after exiting the train, it departs. Marshall is at first enthusiastic and confident that he can outrun everyone, though he soon begins to lose energy while on foot. Robin fails to enter a car so she joins Barney in Ranjit's car. During the ride, Robin angrily reveals to Barney that she had tried to talk to him about how low she was feeling recently due to her break-up with Don and feeling shunned and forgotten due to her overly-enthusiastic new co-anchor, yet Barney ignored her and tried to use her as a decoy while he eyed up a woman at the bar. Barney apologises to Robin, but she is not interested and leaves the car. Robin takes the subway, where she sees a poster up for her news show, with her co-anchor's face taking up much more space then hers. Enraged, she rips it down, only to see an older poster behind it with one of her and Don and breaks down crying. Lily spots her and comforts her, though she quickly abandons her and calls Ranjit in favor of the race. Lily has Ranjit pick up Marshall on the way, and the two discuss their concerns: Lily had been feeling dejected after having been unable to conceive a baby with Marshall for two months, and Marshall was feeling the same, believing it to be his fault. They then agree there is really no rush to become parents, and abandon the race. Ted, Barney, and Robin race for the finish; however, Barney trips, taking Ted down with him and allowing Robin to win the race. Future Ted reveals he knew that Barney had intentionally tripped as he had spotted Robin crying earlier.


Production

"Subway Wars" was written by Chris Harris and directed by
Pamela Fryman Pamela Gail Fryman (born August 19, 1959) is an American sitcom director and producer. She was the principal director of the television series ''How I Met Your Mother'', directing 196 of the show's 208 episodes. Early life Fryman was born and g ...
. In an interview with ''Vulture'' series co-creator Craig Thomas, revealed that he and
Carter Bays Carter Loard Bays (born August 12, 1975) is an American author, composer and television showrunner. Bays co-created the CBS sitcom ''How I Met Your Mother'' where he served as showrunner, writer and executive producer for all nine seasons. Bays ...
were interested in shooting the episode on location in
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
, but the episode, like the majority of the series, ended up being filmed on various
sound stages A sound stage (also written soundstage) is a large, soundproof structure, building or room with large doors and high ceilings, used for the production of theatrical film-making and television productions, usually located on a secured movie or te ...
in
Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
, California. Despite this, the episode makes various references to the New York City setting. Thomas described the premise of the episode as being a mix of ''
The Cannonball Run ''The Cannonball Run'' is a 1981 action-comedy film directed by Hal Needham, produced by Hong Kong firm Golden Harvest, and distributed by 20th Century-Fox. Filmed in Panavision, it features an all-star ensemble cast, including Burt Reynolds ...
'' and ''
The Amazing Race ''The Amazing Race'' is an adventure reality competition franchise in which teams of two people race around the world in competition with other teams. ''The Amazing Race'' is split into legs, with teams tasked to deduce clues, navigate themselv ...
''. "Subway Wars" is mostly self contained, featuring very few
references A reference is a relationship between Object (philosophy), objects in which one object designates, or acts as a means by which to connect to or link to, another object. The first object in this relation is said to ''refer to'' the second object. ...
other episodes. However, it does progress some of the various plots of the show's sixth season, including
Lily ''Lilium'' ( ) is a genus of herbaceous flowering plants growing from bulbs, all with large and often prominent flowers. Lilies are a group of flowering plants which are important in culture and literature in much of the world. Most species are ...
and
Marshall Marshall may refer to: Places Australia *Marshall, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria ** Marshall railway station Canada * Marshall, Saskatchewan * The Marshall, a mountain in British Columbia Liberia * Marshall, Liberia Marshall Is ...
attempting to have a child, and Robin getting over her break up. "Subway Wars" features series regulars
Josh Radnor Joshua Thomas Radnor (born July 29, 1974) is an American actor, filmmaker, author, and musician. He is best known for portraying Ted Mosby on the Emmy Award–winning CBS sitcom ''How I Met Your Mother'' (2005–2014). He made his writing and di ...
as
Ted Mosby Theodore Evelyn Mosby is a fictional character and the protagonist in the American sitcom '' How I Met Your Mother'', portrayed by Josh Radnor. He serves as the show's narrator from the future, voiced by Bob Saget, as he tells his children ...
,
Jason Segel Jason Jordan Segel ( ; born January 18, 1980) is an American actor and writer. He is best known for his role as Marshall Eriksen in the CBS sitcom ''How I Met Your Mother'' from 2005 to 2014. He began his career with director and producer Judd ...
as Marshall Eriksen,
Neil Patrick Harris Neil Patrick Harris (born June 15, 1973) is an American actor, singer, writer, producer, and television host. Primarily known for his comedic television roles and dramatic and musical stage roles, he has received List of awards and nominations ...
as
Barney Stinson Barney Stinson is a fictional character portrayed by Neil Patrick Harris and created by Carter Bays and Craig Thomas for the CBS television series ''How I Met Your Mother'' (2005–2014). One of the show's main characters, Barney is known fo ...
,
Alyson Hannigan Allison Lee Hannigan (born March 24, 1974), known professionally as Alyson Hannigan, is an American actress and television presenter. She began her film career with supporting roles in the comedy films '' Impure Thoughts'' (1986) and '' My Step ...
as Lily Aldrin, and
Cobie Smulders Jacoba Francisca Maria "Cobie" Smulders (born April 3, 1982) is a Canadian actress. She is known for her starring role as Robin Scherbatsky in the CBS series ''How I Met Your Mother'' (2005–2014) and as S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Maria Hill in th ...
as Robin Scherbatsky.
Marshall Manesh Marshall Manesh (born August 16, 1950) is an Iranian-American actor. Biography Manesh's debut film was ''True Lies'', directed by James Cameron. He has appeared in more than 100 feature films, in television projects, and in more than 40 com ...
also appears in a recurring role as Ranjit. The episode featured the
running gag A running gag, or running joke, is a literary device that takes the form of an amusing joke or a comical reference and appears repeatedly throughout a work of literature or other form of storytelling. Though they are similar, catchphrases are no ...
of television personality
Maury Povich Maurice Richard Povich (born January 17, 1939) is an American former television personality, best known for hosting the tabloid talk show '' Maury'' which aired from 1991 to 2022. Povich began his career as a radio reporter, initially at WWDC an ...
appearing as himself in seemingly random locations. The original song "Marshal vs The Machines" appears in the episode sung by Segal, in character as Marshall. An alternate version of the song appeared in the ninth season. The song was later released on the
compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one Performing arts#Performers, performer or by several performers. If the recordings are from ...
'' How I Met Your Music'' (2012); which was later made available via
music streaming service A music streaming service is a type of online streaming media service that focuses primarily on music, and sometimes other forms of digital audio content such as podcasts. These services are usually subscription-based services allowing users to s ...
in 2019.


Broadcast

"Subway Wars" originally aired on October 11, 2010, on
CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...
. During its American broadcast, the episode was viewed live by an estimated 8.48 million viewers. The episode received the sixth highest viewership of the night overall, just below ''
House A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air c ...
'' but above ''
Two and a Half Men Two and a Half Men is an American television sitcom created by Chuck Lorre and Lee Aronsohn that aired on CBS for 12 seasons from September 22, 2003, to February 19, 2015. The series originally starred Charlie Sheen as Charlie Harper, a hedonis ...
''. "Subway Wars" had around 150,000 less viewers from the previous episode. and had around 430,000 more than the following episode. In Australia, the episode aired on
Seven 7 (seven) is the natural number following 6 and preceding 8. It is the only prime number preceding a cube. As an early prime number in the series of positive integers, the number seven has symbolic associations in religion, mythology, supers ...
on February 10, 2011, to an audience of 874,000 viewers, and was the 11th most-viewed program of the night. It was released alongside " Unfinished", which it beat in ratings by around 160,000 viewers.


Reception

"Subway Wars" was met with positive reviews from critics, who praised the episode's premise, comedy, and overall plot. Povich's inclusion was met with mixed reception. The episode was somewhat poorly received on social media.
Screen Rant ''Screen Rant'' is an entertainment website that offers news in the fields of television, films, video games, and comic books. It is owned by Valnet, parent of publications including Comic Book Resources, Collider, MovieWeb and XDA Developers. ...
's Mariana Fernandes noted it was one of the higher rated episodes of the season on
IMDb IMDb, historically known as the Internet Movie Database, is an online database of information related to films, television series, podcasts, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and biograp ...
. Donna Bowman from ''
The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was created in ...
'' gave the episode a B+ rating. Bowman praised the chaotic nature of the episode's plot and liked the episode's humor and the various running gags, although she criticized the degree of which Povich appeared. In contrast, Tiana Flores from Screen Rant praised Povich, opining that the more he appeared, the funnier the joke became. Robert Canning of
IGN ''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...
gave the episode a rating of 9 out of 10. Canning praised the episode for continuing various plotlines, noting that it easily could have avoided furthering the plot. DeAnn Welker of
Television Without Pity Television Without Pity (often abbreviated TWoP) was a website that provided detailed recaps of select television dramas, situation comedies and reality TV shows along with discussion forums. These recaps were written with sarcastic criticism a ...
gave the episode a B+ score. ''The Atlantic''s Lindsey Bahr opined that the episode was "mostly silly, occasionally amusing, and surprisingly clever." Writing for
Uproxx Uproxx Studios (stylized as ''UPROXX'') is an American music, entertainment and popular culture website and content studio. It was founded in 2008 by Jarret Myer and Brian Brater. The website was acquired in 2014 by Woven Digital (which later ...
,
Alan Sepinwall Alan Sepinwall (born October 19, 1973) is an American television reviewer and writer. He spent 14 years as a columnist with ''The Star-Ledger'' in Newark until leaving the newspaper in 2010 to work for the entertainment news website HitFix. He ...
felt "Subway Wars" was significantly better than the previous episode, believing that while " Unfinished" was disappointing, "Subway Wars" left him feeling "pleasantly surprised". For her work on the episode, director
Pamela Fryman Pamela Gail Fryman (born August 19, 1959) is an American sitcom director and producer. She was the principal director of the television series ''How I Met Your Mother'', directing 196 of the show's 208 episodes. Early life Fryman was born and g ...
was nominated for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series at the
63rd Primetime Emmy Awards The 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards, honoring the best in prime time television programming from June 1, 2010, until May 31, 2011, were held on Sunday, September 18, 2011, at the Nokia Theatre in Downtown Los Angeles, California. Fox televised the ...
. She lost the award to
Michael Spiller Michael Alan Spiller (born August 1, 1961) is an American cinematographer and television director.Modern Family ''Modern Family'' is an American television sitcom, created by Steven Levitan and Christopher Lloyd, that aired on ABC for 11 seasons from September 23, 2009, to April 8, 2020. The series follows the lives of three diverse but interrelated fa ...
'' episode "
Halloween Halloween, or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve), is a celebration geography of Halloween, observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christianity, Western Christian f ...
".


References


External links

* {{How I Met Your Mother episodes, 6 How I Met Your Mother season 6 episodes 2010 American television episodes