How I Met Your Mother S06E13 – Bad News

Worried they aren't pregnant yet, Marshall and Lily see a specialist. An old colleague causes trouble for Robin at her new job.


Future Ted tells his kids that Marshall and Lily are anxious and worried about their chances of having a baby. After several months of trying to conceive, their doctor refers them to a fertility expert. As they tell Ted the news at MacLaren's, Barney arrives and announces to Ted and Marshall's dismay that he needs a partner for a laser tag tournament.

Lily goes to her appointment with the fertility expert, Dr. John Stangel (Neil Patrick Harris) only to discover that he looks exactly like Barney, save for a beard and dark brown hair, raising her immediate concern that he is in fact, Barney in disguise. When Lily confronts Barney, Marshall vouches for Barney, saying that they spent the whole day together. To convince her that Stangel and Barney are not the same person, Marshall attends Lily's appointment and also immediately assumes Stangel is Barney. Barney shows up, acknowledges the similarity, and leaves. Lily still thinks Dr. Stangel is Barney in disguise upon hearing him say "Scoot up." After getting Barney and the doctor in the room together throughout the procedure, Lily is convinced that they are in fact two different people.

When Lily's tests reveal that she is extremely fertile, Marshall is about to call his father with the good news, but stops when he considers that his sperm may be the problem. He admits only talking about good news with his father and decides to get his sperm tested before calling him again. When Marshall is unable to produce a sperm sample at the doctor's office, he returns home to produce the sample, only to find that his parents have dropped by for a surprise visit. He eventually reveals to his parents his concerns about possible infertility, to which they reassure him that they love him regardless of whether he and Lily will give them grandchildren and suggest other options, such as adoption and sperm donors.

Meanwhile, Robin's new job at World Wide News has started badly, beginning with the revelation that the network's lead anchor is her old Metro News 1 colleague Sandy Rivers. He promptly tells the entire office that they had sex and continues to harass her in front of her new co-workers with increasingly embarrassing stories from Robin's past. The group tells Robin to play along with the mockery, insisting that it will only get worse if she resists it. However, after an especially humiliating day, Ted decides to help Robin by confronting Sandy at his apartment. Ted learns that Sandy is bald and wears a toupee; he snaps a picture, and tells Robin to use it to put him to shame. At work, Robin starts pitching a story when she's interrupted by Sandy again. Instead of showing the office the picture of him, she pulls out her old Robin Sparkles denim jacket, embracing the mockery and moving on (with Future Ted telling his kids that while Robin never shook off the nickname of 'Sparkles', she would go on to do great things while working for World Wide News).

Having spent the entire day anticipating bad news, Marshall receives good news about his fertility from Stangel (after a failed impersonation by Barney attempting to trick Marshall into becoming his laser tag partner). While at MacLaren's, he tries to call his father about his good news but he does not pick up the phone. Marshall is shocked to learn from Lily that his father died of a heart attack. He is left holding Lily and saying, "I'm not ready for this."

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