HIMYM’s Worst Episode Went on to Become One of Its Best in the Long Run
How I Met Your Mother has a lot of legen-wait-for-it-dary episodes, and just as many utterly cringeworthy ones – the episode in question has been both.
As some of you may have guessed, we are talking about How I Met Your Mother season 2, episode 11, How Lily Stole Christmas. It was not well received by the audience upon its release due to several factors – it centers around two of the show’s least favorite characters, Ted and Lily, features a confusing storyline, and introduces a few new running gags.
All of this is why the episode didn’t become an instant classic, although it received more fan love later. This Christmas story explores Ted and Lily’s relationship, which in itself is a rare occurrence, specifically their fight over Ted calling Lily a “Grinch” during her breakup with Marshall.
This word is clearly a substitute for a much worse obscenity as Ted is telling the story to his kids, and it is also part of the reason why global audiences have trouble understanding the conflict at all.
Despite the initial impression that Grinch is a substitute for the B-word, the How I Met Your Mother’s fandom has agreed that Ted replaces a certain four-letter word that starts with a C with Grinch, and in this case, Lily being so offended makes perfect sense.
This word is extremely offensive in the U.S. (much more so than the B-word, which is frequently said on the show without being censored) – so much so that it could never be aired on a series like How I Met Your Mother.
While the Americans probably understood immediately what Ted meant there and why Lily took an issue with it, viewers from other countries (even other English-speaking ones) struggled because the C-word is either not as offensive of an insult there, or it is simply not what comes to mind during the episode.
Anyway, Ted has really messed up on that occasion, and he is extremely lucky that Lily has forgiven him. Not many people would have!
Since the episode first aired, people have grown much warmer to it. Now the fans appreciate it for the first hint of Barney and Robin’s future relationship, the rare storyline about Ted and Lily’s friendship, and all the running gags it has introduced.