False Positive (How I Met Your Mother)

"False Positive"
How I Met Your Mother episode
Episode no.	Season 6 Episode 12
Directed by	Pamela Fryman
Written by	Craig Gerard & Matthew Zinman
Production code	6ALH12
Original air date	December 13, 2010 (2010-12-13)
Guest appearance(s)
Chris Romano (Punchy) Alex Trebek (himself) Ben Vereen (Sam Gibbs) Melissa Molinaro (Noelle)

"False Positive" is the 12th episode of the sixth season of the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, and the 124th episode overall. It aired on December 13, 2010. It features guest star Alex Trebek.

Plot

Ted is outside a movie theater showing It's a Wonderful Life, waiting for the rest of the gang and carrying a gingerbread house as their Christmas-themed movie snack. Future Ted backtracks to two days before, when Marshall and Lily eagerly await the results of her latest pregnancy test. The test is positive and they tell Ted, Barney, and Robin the news, but the doctor later says it's a false alarm and Future Ted tells the story of what happened while the gang thought Lily was pregnant.

Prior to the test, Ted and Punchy begin talking about Punchy's wedding. After hanging up, Ted argues with Robin about his ability to be an effective best man, especially in the event that Punchy gets cold feet. Robin reveals that she auditioned as a "currency rotation specialist" (coin-flip bimbo) in the game show Million Dollar Heads or Tails, hosted by Alex Trebek. Ted rebukes her for bailing on her New Year's Resolution to be working for the Worldwide News Network by the end of the year. Robin admits that she applied for the Network, but only an associate researcher position is available. When Marshall and Lily break the news of the pregnancy, Robin becomes aware of how her own life is stalling, and resolves to take the research position, but when they reveal the false positive, she changes her mind once more, deciding that she is content to be a "coin-flip bimbo".

Barney, meanwhile, has received an end-of-year bonus, which he intends to spend on luxuries for himself, including a suit with diamond pinstripes. When he hears about the pregnancy, he realizes how unfulfilled his selfishness has left him, and decides to spend the money helping others. After buying the patrons of MacLaren's designer clothes, toys and condoms, and taking them to a strip club, Barney goes to see Sam Gibbs, his brother's father and a minister, to make a donation to his church. He is in the process of writing a check for $10,000 when he gets the news about the false positive, and adds a decimal point to turn it into $100, returning to his selfish ways and, indeed, buying his diamond-striped suit.

Immediately after they discover the pregnancy test's results, Marshall and Lily begin to panic about how unprepared they are to raise a child, and scramble to complete pre-delivery remodeling of their apartment in one night. They announce the news of the pregnancy to the gang, and pretend to share their excitement, but are still terrified inside. After an argument about playing music for the child, the couple see the doctor, who tells them Lily is not pregnant.

Marshall and Lily meet up with the rest of the gang outside the theater and admit that they are relieved about the false positive. Since they are not ready for kids yet, Marshall says they're considering getting a dog for now. When Robin and Barney agree with Marshall, Ted explodes in anger, smashes the gingerbread house and angrily orders everybody to reconsider their decisions, forcing Marshall and Lily to go straight back home to try to conceive, ordering Robin to take the research job, and yelling to the "criminals of New York" about Barney's suit, effectively making him a walking target for theft. When Punchy calls him, suffering the predicted cold feet, Ted angrily orders him to get married, solving that problem as well. After everybody leaves, he decides to watch It's a Wonderful Life all by himself. In the end, Marshall and Lily continue trying to conceive, Barney makes his intended cash donation to the ministry and also donates suits for jobless people to wear to interviews, and Robin begins her first day at Worldwide News. Back at the apartment, Robin thanks Ted for his fit of rage and he accepts her offer to be the best man if she ever gets married to anyone other than him.

In the ending scene, Barney tries a Christmas message-style play on a girl called Noelle (Melissa Molinaro) at the bar, who turns him down.

Critical response

Donna Bowman of The A.V. Club gave the episode a A− rating.^[1]

Robert Canning of IGN gave the episode a rating of 9.5 out of 10.^[2]

DeAnn Welker of Television Without Pity graded the episode at A.^[3]

References

↑ Donna Bowman (2010-12-13). "How I Met Your Mother "False Positive"". The A.V. Club. The Onion. Retrieved 2010-12-14.
↑ Robert Canning (2010-12-14). "How I Met Your Mother: "False Positive" Review". IGN. News Corporation. Retrieved 2010-12-14.
↑ DeAnn Welker (2010-12-15). "How I Met Your Mother: It's A Christmas Miracle". Television Without Pity. NBC Universal.

External links

"False Positive" at the Internet Movie Database

How I Met Your Mother

Episodes	Season 1 Season 2 Season 3 Season 4 Season 5 Season 6 Season 7 Season 8 Season 9

Characters	Ted Mosby Marshall Eriksen Lily Aldrin Barney Stinson Robin Scherbatsky The Mother (Tracy McConnell)

Related articles	Awards and nominations The Bro Code Cheerleader effect "Nothing Suits Me Like a Suit"

How I Met Your Mother episodes

Season 1	"Pilot" "Purple Giraffe" "Sweet Taste of Liberty" "Return of the Shirt" "Okay Awesome" "Slutty Pumpkin" "Matchmaker" "The Duel" "Belly Full of Turkey" "The Pineapple Incident" "The Limo" "The Wedding" "Drumroll, Please" "Zip, Zip, Zip" "Game Night" "Cupcake" "Life Among the Gorillas" "Nothing Good Happens After 2 A.M." "Mary the Paralegal" "Best Prom Ever" "Milk" "Come On"

Season 2	"Where Were We?" "The Scorpion and the Toad" "Brunch" "Ted Mosby: Architect" "World's Greatest Couple" "Aldrin Justice" "Swarley" "Atlantic City" "Slap Bet" "Single Stamina" "How Lily Stole Christmas" "First Time in New York" "Columns" "Monday Night Football" "Lucky Penny" "Stuff" "Arrivederci, Fiero" "Moving Day" "Bachelor Party" "Showdown" "Something Borrowed" "Something Blue"

Season 3	"Wait for It" "We're Not from Here" "Third Wheel" "Little Boys" "How I Met Everyone Else" "I'm Not That Guy" "Dowisetrepla" "Spoiler Alert" "Slapsgiving" "The Yips" "The Platinum Rule" "No Tomorrow" "Ten Sessions" "The Bracket" "The Chain of Screaming" "Sandcastles in the Sand" "The Goat" "Rebound Bro" "Everything Must Go" "Miracles"

Season 4	"Do I Know You?" "The Best Burger in New York" "I Heart NJ" "Intervention" "Shelter Island" "Happily Ever After" "Not a Father's Day" "Woooo!" "The Naked Man" "The Fight" "Little Minnesota" "Benefits" "Three Days of Snow" "The Possimpible" "The Stinsons" "Sorry, Bro" "The Front Porch" "Old King Clancy" "Murtaugh" "Mosbius Designs" "The Three Days Rule" "Right Place, Right Time" "As Fast as She Can" "The Leap"

Season 5	"Definitions" "Double Date" "Robin 101" "The Sexless Innkeeper" "Duel Citizenship" "Bagpipes" "The Rough Patch" "The Playbook" "Slapsgiving 2: Revenge of the Slap" "The Window" "Last Cigarette Ever" "Girls Versus Suits" "Jenkins" "Perfect Week" "Rabbit or Duck" "Hooked" "Of Course" "Say Cheese" "Zoo or False" "Home Wreckers" "Twin Beds" "Robots Versus Wrestlers" "The Wedding Bride" "Doppelgangers"

Season 6	"Big Days" "Cleaning House" "Unfinished" "Subway Wars" "Architect of Destruction" "Baby Talk" "Canning Randy" "Natural History" "Glitter" "Blitzgiving" "The Mermaid Theory" "False Positive" "Bad News" "Last Words" "Oh Honey" "Desperation Day" "Garbage Island" "A Change of Heart" "Legendaddy" "The Exploding Meatball Sub" "Hopeless" "The Perfect Cocktail" "Landmarks" "Challenge Accepted"

Season 7	"The Best Man" "The Naked Truth" "Ducky Tie" "The Stinson Missile Crisis" "Field Trip" "Mystery vs. History" "Noretta" "The Slutty Pumpkin Returns" "Disaster Averted" "Tick, Tick, Tick..." "The Rebound Girl" "Symphony of Illumination" "Tailgate" "46 Minutes" "The Burning Beekeeper" "The Drunk Train" "No Pressure" "Karma" "The Broath" "Trilogy Time" "Now We're Even" "Good Crazy" "The Magician's Code"

Season 8	"Farhampton" "The Pre-Nup" "Nannies" "Who Wants to Be a Godparent?" "The Autumn of Break-Ups" "Splitsville" "The Stamp Tramp" "Twelve Horny Women" "Lobster Crawl" "The Over-Correction" "The Final Page" "Band or DJ?" "Ring Up!" "P.S. I Love You" "Bad Crazy" "The Ashtray" "Weekend at Barney's" "The Fortress" "The Time Travelers" "Romeward Bound" "The Bro Mitzvah" "Something Old" "Something New"

Season 9	"The Locket" "Coming Back" "Last Time in New York" "The Broken Code" "The Poker Game" "Knight Vision" "No Questions Asked" "The Lighthouse" "Platonish" "Mom and Dad" "Bedtime Stories" "The Rehearsal Dinner" "Bass Player Wanted" "Slapsgiving 3: Slappointment in Slapmarra" "Unpause" "How Your Mother Met Me" "Sunrise" "Rally" "Vesuvius" "Daisy" "Gary Blauman" "The End of the Aisle" "Last Forever"

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