All 206 Episodes of How I Met Your Mother (before the finale), Ranked

A bit more than a year ago, perhaps when 30 Rock was wrapping up, I said on Twitter that when How I Met Your Mother ended, I would make 100 top 10 lists about the show. A bit later, I also said I would rank all the episodes. Then I said I'd do the 100 lists, all the episodes, and also the top 100 characters, like I did for 30 Rock.

Today is the final episode of HIMYM, and all I've got for you are the episodes.

Now granted, that's 206 episodes, which is a lot. But this show isn't 30 Rock and ranking characters isn't that easy. And it ended a lot earlier in the year than I expected. So forget the character list, but the 100 top 10 lists are still coming, probably in May or June.

But for now, here's the first 206 episodes of How I Met Your Mother, ranked. Keep in mind, this list is 1. incredibly subjective, and 2. somewhat random. When you get to comparing something in the 120s vs. the 160s, it may just be a more recognizable episode title or a single joke. When you get the 180s, it may just be alphabetical (it is not alphabetical).

#	Episode
1	Slap Bet
2	Drumroll, Please
3	Ducky Tie
4	How I Met Everyone Else
5	Girls Versus Suits
6	Sandcastles in the Sand
7	Arrivederci, Fiero
8	Intervention
9	How Your Mother Met Me
10	Game Night
11	The Bracket
12	World's Greatest Couple
13	The Pineapple Incident
14	Last Words
15	Something New
16	Ten Sessions
17	Three Days of Snow
18	Something Borrowed
19	Cupcake
20	Mosbius Designs
21	Lucky Penny
22	Pilot
23	P.S. I Love You
24	Blitzgiving
25	Moving Day
26	The Wedding Bride
27	Slutty Pumpkin
28	Swarley
29	I Heart NJ
30	Little Minnesota
31	Robots Versus Wrestlers
32	No Pressure
33	Coming Back
34	Miracles
35	Columns
36	Slapsgiving
37	The Playbook
38	Trilogy Time
39	Sweet Taste of Liberty
40	The Naked Man
41	Perfect Week
42	Spoiler Alert
43	Bachelor Party
44	Definitions
45	Bad News
46	Zip, Zip, Zip
47	Showdown
48	Shelter Island
49	The Stinsons
50	The Magician's Code, Part 2
51	The Best Burger in New York
52	Something Blue
53	Come On
54	Gary Blauman
55	Hopeless
56	Natural History
57	Purple Giraffe
58	Woooo!
59	The Window
60	Doppelgangers
61	Monday Night Football
62	The Chain of Screaming
63	The Naked Truth
64	Robin 101
65	Subway Wars
66	Ted Mosby: Architect
67	Glitter
68	Legendaddy
69	Daisy
70	Right Place, Right Time
71	Symphony of Illumination
72	Third Wheel
73	Old King Clancy
74	Vesuvius
75	The Platinum Rule
76	Atlantic City
77	Murtaugh
78	False Positive
79	Home Wreckers
80	Where Were We?
81	Oh Honey
82	The Limo
83	The Final Page, Part 2
84	Nothing Good Happens After 2 A.M.
85	The Leap
86	Say Cheese
87	Life Among the Gorillas
88	Double Date
89	Unpause
90	The Time Travelers
91	Slapsgiving 2: Revenge of the Slap
92	Okay Awesome
93	Cleaning House
94	The Bro Mitzvah
95	First Time in New York
96	Best Prom Ever
97	Big Days
98	The Rehearsal Dinner
99	Mary the Paralegal
100	Duel Citizenship
101	The Yips
102	Farhampton
103	Return of the Shirt
104	The Scorpion and the Toad
105	Noretta
106	The Slutty Pumpkin Returns
107	Brunch
108	No Tomorrow
109	I'm Not That Guy
110	Bedtime Stories
111	The Magician's Code, Part 1
112	Matchmaker
113	We're Not From Here
114	Of Course
115	Band or DJ?
116	The Possimpible
117	Aldrin Justice
118	Dowisetrepla
119	The Wedding
120	The Locket
121	The Front Porch
122	The Duel
123	No Questions Asked
124	Tick Tick Tick…
125	Challenge Accepted
126	Stuff
127	Wait for It
128	Little Boys
129	Single Stamina
130	Milk
131	Do I Know You?
132	The Three Days Rule
133	The Final Page, Part 1
134	The Poker Game
135	The Lighthouse
136	The Goat
137	Landmarks
138	Belly Full of Turkey
139	Bad Crazy
140	The Rough Patch
141	Everything Must Go
142	Last Cigarette Ever
143	Sunrise
144	The Perfect Cocktail
145	The End of the Aisle
146	Rebound Bro
147	Jenkins
148	The Rebound Girl
149	How Lily Stole Christmas
150	Something Old
151	Tailgate
152	Platonish
153	A Change of Heart
154	Disaster Averted
155	Now We're Even
156	Rally
157	The Autumn of Break-Ups
158	Happily Ever After
159	The Best Man
160	Karma
161	Unfinished
162	Twin Beds
163	Benefits
164	Last Time in New York
165	The Drunk Train
166	Architect of Destruction
167	Sorry, Bro
168	Mystery vs. History
169	The Fight
170	Desperation Day
171	Bagpipes
172	The Broken Code
173	Good Crazy
174	Garbage Island
175	The Stamp Tramp
176	Ring Up!
177	Mom and Dad
178	The Sexless Innkeeper
179	As Fast as She Can
180	Field Trip
181	Romeward Bound
182	The Pre-Nup
183	The Stinson Missile Crisis
184	Baby Talk
185	Knight Vision
186	Splitsville
187	Twelve Horny Women
188	46 Minutes
189	The Broath
190	The Over-Correction
191	The Ashtray
192	The Fortress
193	Nannies
194	The Exploding Meatball Sub
195	Hooked
196	Weekend at Barney's
197	Rabbit or Duck
198	Who Wants to Be a Godparent?
199	Bass Player Wanted
200	Lobster Crawl
201	Not a Father's Day
202	The Burning Beekeeper
203	The Mermaid Theory
204	Canning Randy
205	Slapsgiving 3: Slappointment in Slapmarra
206	Zoo or False

2014 Oscars Picks

For the third straight year, I watched all of the 9 best picture nominees, as well as a couple other nominees (this year only cinematography/sound mixing nom Inside Llewyn Davis and original score nom Saving Mr. Banks). Still, that means I saw all but three of the nominees for the big 8 awards (August Osage County with nominees Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts, Blue Jasmine with an original screenplay nomination to go with Cate Blanchett and Sally Hawkins, and adapted screenplay nominee Before Midnight). So to start with, here are my personal choices on the big eight awards, with those I did not see unranked.

Philomena (and from what I've heard, Before Midnight) are the more talk-y script-heavy movies, but 12 Years a Slave is the best written of the four I saw, fairly easily.

Her is the most original screenplay, and while that is not exactly what the award is for, it's clever and fun and I would like to see it get honored.

Hill and especially Cooper are not in the same class as the top three, and Leto is a bit overrated. Abdi is a revelation in his first film, but Fassbender is also excellent in 12 Years.

This is not really close. To me, Nyong'o is the emotional force in 12 Years, far beyond what Ejiofor does. Squibb is fun, but Margot Robbie does a better job in Wolf of Wall Street doing what Lawrence does in American Hustle.

Christian Bale being here is a joke. Bruce Dern should be in the supporting actor category; he was very good but Will Forte was the leading actor in Nebraska (and excellent in it). Ejiofor is solid, but it feels like there are many actors who could have been just as strong in that role. These are the defining roles of both McConaughey's and DiCaprio's career, and I just preferred McConaughey's performance.

The fact that the single biggest non-Blanchett reason that Sandra Bullock will not win an Oscar for Gravity is that she won for The Blind Side is incredibly silly. The performance Bullock gives, mostly alone, through Gravity is outstanding.

I do not know if it was a directorial or editorial problem, but both Wolf of Wall Street and American Hustle seemed to drag on forever for me. Payne does a good job with Nebraska, but it does not hold a candle to the top two. As well made as 12 Years a Slave is, McQueen is stuck in the wrong year. Gravity is such an incredible directorial achievement that Cuaron is a lock here even for many who have 12 Years as the best picture.

I, however, do not have 12 Years as my best picture. I did not hate any of these movies, but I truly enjoyed the top seven here. Hustle is fun but meaningless, and Wolf of Wall Street could have been an hour shorter and still too long. Dallas Buyers Club has a tremendous performance but sort of a generic-Oscar bait story, and generic-Oscar bait is certainly a phrase that can be used for the sweet, and surprisingly funny Philomena. Movies 2 through 5 could be mixed in almost any order for me, but Captain Phillips stuck with me the most, while Her and Nebraska seemed like far more unique films than 12 Years. Gravity, however, is in a class of its own, a stunning technical, directorial, and acting experience. It was my clear number one.

That's who I like, but here is who I think will win in each category. Most of these I have no expertise, and I am following some combination of my preference, expert picks, and what seems the most Oscars-y. My best picture pick is so close, I flipped it several times before writing this, and I could switch several more times between 12 Years a Slave and Gravity before the ceremony tonight.