How I Met Your Mother - Episode 6.14 - Last Words - Recap

Although last night’s How I Met Your Mother was a solemn episode, it did not fall short of awesome or even hilarity. There were so many events and ideas that not only made viewers laugh but also warmed their hearts. How truly important are someone’s last words?

The episode started out at the funeral of Marshall’s father. Ted admits that it’s really hard to know what to say or do to help in those situations. Barney then decides their goal of the day will be to make Marshall laugh. He and Barney decide that showing Marshall “internet footage of a guy getting hit in the nuts” will make him laugh. They try countless times trying to make Marshall laugh, but never succeed.

Robin was carrying around a purse that seemed to have anything anyone at the funeral wanted or needed. Ted said it was as though she Tijuana in her purse, and later said she was “like Marry Poppins if her magic purse was also filled with drugs.” Lily spent her time helping Marshall’s mom by having her yell at her until she exhausted enough to do the things she hadn’t been doing for the last few days: sleep, eat, etc.

Marshall’s school bully Tray ends up having to lead the service, because the reverend (Tray’s father) has somewhere else to be. Marshall is bothered by this fact, but what start bothering him more is when Tray starts reading a list of questions his father usually asks for the service. The first question is “what were your last words with the deceased?” His mother and all his brothers seem to have amazing last word stories, but Marshall’s last moment with his father is less than perfect.

He remembers a few different ones, until he realizes the true last words were “rent Crocodile Dundee 3. I caught it on the cable last night. It totally holds up.” But then he realizes he has a voicemail from his father. His phone had been out of juice, and the call must have been made the day he passed away. He then spends time agonizing on whether or not he should listen to it.

Marshall still puts a lot of importance on it, and says he doesn’t want to confirm that his father’s last words to him weren’t as amazing as he’d want them to be. He didn’t want them to be any worse than Crocodile Dundee. He asks the rest of the gang what their father’s last words would be if their dads would all pass away at that moment. They all share tragic and embarrassing last words, and start to see Marshall’s point. Marshall makes a final decision to not listen to the voicemail, but then at the service when his mother and brothers share their stories of their last times his father and his last words to them—and even the gang gets emotional—he decides that he needs to listen to the voicemail.

He walks outside to hear and it, and the gang follows him. He hears that it is just a pocket dial, and he is heartbroken. He becomes upset and is yelling, and lets the pocket dial keep playing, but after a few minutes his dad’s voice comes in, apologizing for pocket dialing, and he tells that he and his mother had a great time seeing him, and he ends the message with “I love you.” Marshall gets so excited, but then the message continues to say “ooo, and let me know if you find my foot cream; they fungus thing is acting up again.” But Marshall chooses to ignore that, and sticks with the “I love you.”

Marshall speaks at the service, but decides to keep the true last words to himself and shares the last words of Crocodile Dundee. The episode wraps up nicely with the rest of the gang calling their dads to speak, but the last one is Barney, but he calls his mother; he tells her he’s ready to meet his father.

I’m excited to see the plot of Barney seeing his father develop. Although this episode had a more serious undertone, it still made me laugh, and was even a bit uplifting. It really seemed like Marshall made peace with his father’s passing once he heard the voicemail.