# Subway Wars

"Subway Wars" is the fourth episode of the sixth season of the American sitcom How I Met Your Mother, and the 116th episode overall. The episode was written by Chris Harris and directed by Pamela Fryman.
The episode was met with positive reviews from critics and was nominated for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series at the 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards. It originally aired on CBS on October 11, 2010, to an audience of 8.48 million viewers.

## Plot

Marshall learns that Woody Allen has been spotted at a restaurant downtown. Robin is interested in seeing him, so the gang debate on the fastest way to get to the restaurant, and quickly decide to race each other there: Ted rides the bus, Lily takes the subway, Robin opts to hail a cab, Marshall decides to run there on foot, and Barney fakes a heart attack to take an ambulance to a hospital right next to the restaurant. His plan backfires, however, when the ambulance takes him to a hospital uptown, and he is forced to contact Ranjit for a ride. Meanwhile, Lily misinterprets the subway conductor's announcement that the subway is undergoing maintenance, and soon after exiting the train, it departs. Marshall is at first enthusiastic and confident that he can outrun everyone, though he soon begins to lose energy while on foot.
Robin hails a cab, stealing it from a woman carrying bags who then angrily leaps on top of the windshield. Robin and the cab driver are freaked out, so Robin abandons the ride and rides along with Barney in Ranjit's car. During the ride, Robin angrily reveals to Barney that she had tried to talk to him about how low she was feeling recently due to her break-up with Don and feeling shunned and forgotten due to her overly-enthusiastic new co-anchor, yet Barney ignored her and tried to use her as a decoy while he eyed up a woman at the bar. Barney apologises to Robin, but she is not interested and leaves the car.
Robin takes the subway, where she sees a poster up for her news show, with her co-anchor's face taking up much more space then hers. Enraged, she rips it down, only to see an older poster behind it with one of her and Don and breaks down crying. Lily spots her and comforts her, though she quickly abandons her and calls Ranjit in favor of the race. Lily has Ranjit pick up Marshall on the way, and the two discuss their concerns: Lily had been feeling dejected after having been unable to conceive a baby with Marshall for two months, and Marshall was feeling the same, believing it to be his fault. They then agree there is really no rush to become parents, and promptly decide to head to Coney Island to have fun.
Ted, Barney, and Robin race for the finish; however, Barney trips, taking Ted down with him and allowing Robin to win the race. Future Ted reveals he knew that Barney had intentionally tripped as he had spotted Robin crying earlier.

## Production

"Subway Wars" was written by Chris Harris and directed by Pamela Fryman. In an interview with Vulture series co-creator Craig Thomas revealed that he and Carter Bays were interested in shooting the episode on location in New York City, New York. However the episode, like the majority of the series, was shot on a sound stage in Los Angeles, California. Despite this the episode makes various references to the New York City setting. In the same interview Thomas described the premise of the episode as being a mix of The Cannonball Run/The Amazing Race".
The episode features the song "Marshal vs The Machines". An alternate version of the song appeared in the ninth season. The song was later released on the compilation album How I Met Your Music (2012); the album was made available on streaming in 2019.
"Subway Wars" features series regulars Josh Radnor as Ted Mosby, Jason Segel as Marshall Eriksen, Neil Patrick Harris as Barney Stinson, Alyson Hannigan as Lily Aldrin, and Cobie Smulders as Robin Scherbatsky. Marshall Manesh appears in a recurring role as Ranjit. The episode featured the running gag of Maury Povich appearing as himself in seemingly random locations.

## Broadcast

"Subway Wars" originally aired on October 11, 2010, on CBS. During its American broadcast the episode was viewed live by an estimated 8.48 million viewers; the episode finished sixth of the night overall, just below House and above Two and a Half Men. "Subway Wars" was down 150 thousand viewers from the previous episode. and had around 430 thousand more than the following episode.
In Australia it was aired by Seven on February 10, 2011 to an audience of 874 thousand viewers and was the 11th highest viewed program of the night. It was released alongside "Unfinished" which it beat in ratings by around 160 thousand viewers.

### Critical reception

"Subway Wars" was met with positive reviews from critics who praised the episode's premise, comedy, and overall plot. Povich's inclusion was met with mixed reception.
Donna Bowman of The A.V. Club gave the episode a B+ rating. Bowman praised the chaotic nature of the episode's plot. She additionally praised the episodes humor and the various running gags, though she criticized the degree of which Povich appeared. Robert Canning of IGN gave the episode a rating of 9 out of 10. DeAnn Welker of Television Without Pity gave the episode a B+ score.
For her work on the episode Pamela Fryman was nominated for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series at the 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards. Though she lost to Michael Spiller for the for Modern Family episode "Halloween".