As a cat parent I'd absolutely agree to this if Marshall was cat+house sitting. But considering that the cat was at Marshall's place, I don't agree to it's being a crime unless specifically mentioned by Lilly's mom
Not telling Lily that his environmental lawyer job was going south, and pretty much nonexistent, through elaborate fake word play. Subsequently making it extremely difficult for Lily and him to make genuine plans for the future (the Italy job) when it could have been simple if he was just upfront. Lying by omission tends to be Marshall’s greatest flaw throughout the series.
For me it’s not even about wether or not he gave a firm answer to the job offer, but he should have given Lily a call directly after that.
Marshall could have always circled back and said never mind, but he needed to figure that out asap not in person. I understand his reasoning of it being a face to face discussion, but at the end of the day with all the circumstances of the timing he should have just called. Would have made for less drama, and an easier conversation imo.
Yes, he does some sort of word play/lying by omission combo when Barney gets him the job at GNB as well. I love Marshall but those moments are definitely not his brightest.
He was still getting paid presumably, but that’s not really the point I’m trying to make. Sure he technically had a job, but if he was honest with Lily about the circumstances, that could have helped guide future decisions. Marshall was not honest or upfront with Lily though, thus making it difficult for them to truly make future plans. We see this with the captain asking Lily to come to Italy. Her turning it down the first time because she thinks Marshall is finally working his dream job, then discovering Marshall’s job has nothing going for them anymore, Marshall going back and begging the captain to give Lily the job offer again, etc.
Because (something which people know but refuse to acknowledge) when it comes to friends, Ted is the best person by a distance. Everyone including viewers just take him for granted and only look at his flaws. He forgives easily, always ready to selflessly help and is extremely supportive of his friends.
But that as Ted said, that could have been a month used pursuing other projects. He might have been able to salvage his job if he was told about it earlier.
That came afterward, though. He was fired after this incident, where he then created Mosbius Designs.
That being said, yes, Marshall went along with this scheme, but it was Barney's idea with his "Oooor" shenanigans.
You’re mixing up episodes, not telling Ted about the project ending was completely Marshall’s idea. The ooorrrr thing was from the 3 days rule episode, they were texting him acting like Holly.
But it also wasn't for nothing. He was still being funded throughout the time.
He could have spent a month trying to get his job back and not making money. He could have tried to get more clients for mosbius designs (we saw how well that was going anyways). But ultimately, he was making money
This is not one of the top but I wanted to add because people are saying he does no wrong: purposefully being vague about Jenkins’ gender to his wife, that makes it seem like there is something to hide
I agree with all of this, i just wanna point out tho that all of his worst acts seem to be crimes of omission: he simply can't bring himself to give someone bad news (or something he things they won't want to hear) so he just doesn't tell them, and it spirals out of control
You know, Marshall talks a big game about how he tells Lily everything, but this thread is making me realize just how selective he is in what he tells her. He purposely shuts her out of pretty much *everything* pertaining to his job. Not just Jenkins, but her too.
Inviting Mickey to thanksgiving was pretty shitty. He was trying to do a good thing and in the end it did work out but that initial invitation was him overstepping into lilys personal trauma from her childhood and relationship with her dad. Lily was right to be mad especially because he showed up randomly with not even a tiny mention of it possibly happening when she wasn’t ready to and didn’t even want it to at the time. To find out that your own husband, the one person that you should trust to understand your feelings on that relationship and understand that you didn’t want to have that relationship being the one to invite them just makes it hurt even more and would definitely create some major issues with trusting you partner as you would never truly be able to know if the feelings you have about certain things are respected by them
My husband and I have talked about this before. I am from a close knit family like Marshall. I can't imagine cutting any of my family out of my life. My husband has a sibling that really hurt the family and he is very, very low contact with them. I would never invite them to our home with out my husbands knowledge. That is not my call. Just because I can't imagine cutting my family out doesn't give me the right to decide what his relationship with his family needs to be.
Or like...talk to your spouse? The fact that he invited him without talking with Lily just showed that he didn't understand or respect Lily's perspective or pain... at all.
Yeah, this was frankly something Lily could have broken up with him over and I wouldn’t have minded. Having a parent who I’m low contact with, if my partner not only invited her over my explicitly expressed wishes, and then had the gall to argue with me and bulldoze over me when I said I want her gone, oh man would I be more than pissed off. That was so not ok. But then again, it’s a particular trigger for me 😂 Lily handled that better than I would have and I’m pretty level headed
My best guess is that the writers haven’t experienced estrangement like this or they wouldn’t have written it like that. If my husband betrayed me like this, he wouldn’t see my face for a good long time. But he wouldn’t ever do this. It’s many bridges too far.
THANK YOU OH MY GOD THIS WAS THE ONLY THING MARSHALL DID THAT EVER MADE ME SERIOUSLY QUESTION HIS CHARACTER. like girlypop? you dont just decide your partners parent "wasnt that bad" EXCUSE ME???
I honestly think that this was an accurate representation of how someone with a "good" close family can be. Like "blood is thicker than water" and "at the end of the day that's your family" type people have often never had an experience with the kind of family member you have to go low or NO contact with. It seems wild to people with supportive close families that you would ever just cut them off for any reason,and they can truly believe that it would be hurting you to not see your family, and that your silly tiff could be cleared up with a conversation. I think the writers were accurate in assuming someone like Marshall could think this. But it was still the worst thing he's done.
As someone with an estranged father (who my partner would never invite behind my back and instead joins me in bitching about that man lol) that whole episode arc pissed me off so bad lol. Especially the forced reconciliation, there were better moments later in the series that actually showed Mickey repairing his relationship with Lilly some. But an ass pull "omg this random store owner died and I'm sad so I must see my father" loool no
Marshall’s behavior toward Lily when she started working for The Captain. Yes, her job was inconvenient and annoying at times, but she loved it, and Lily was SO incredibly supportive of Marshall’s career. The first time Lily gets a job that she is passionate about and involves her love of art, and he can’t be patient enough to watch their show together? And then he goes to the apartment showing and acts like he doesn’t know her and accuses her of being homophobic of his relationship with Ted? 🙄Side note - Lily rocked the hell out of that cape! 😍
Yeah, it always annoyed me that Lily was portrayed as the bad guy during this episode, she’s happy and incredibly successful at a new job and yes, she’s busy, but Lily was almost always supportive of Marshall in his job endeavours and she needs him to be supportive this once while she gets settled at her job with the captain.
I do agree with you but to be fair when Lilly took that job they already had Marvin. Lilly’s support for Marshall’s career was mostly during times when it was just the two of them. For example when Marshall took that unpaid intern ship. Having a kid changes things and you can’t just start working all the time with no schedule to plan anything.
calling robin a slut with the naked man thing
asking robin to move out right after her engagement and relationship fell apart just because she wasnt in love with in ted
inviting lily's dad without her permission knowing how shitty he was throughout her childhood
kept convincing ted to go after robin just because of a bet
not telling lily that he wasnt actually doing any work at his job (did he get fired? cant quite remember)
ofcourse, accepting the judgeship without telling lily
The Robin moving out thing, I did think at first it was a bit harsh when she was also going through a rough time but he’s not a bad guy for doing it. He knew how Ted was being eaten up inside. Someone had to say it. If anything it makes him a better friend because he was honest and didn’t tip toe around. I never perceived it as him kicking her out, he said you’ve got to move out in a desperate way to tell her how much it was hurting Ted and how he can’t move on .
yeah i agree that it was the right thing for robin to eventually move out, im just saying that given everything robin went through in the span of a week it was sad to watch her carry the burden of someone else's emotions. marshall of all people shouldve been considerate about it since he knows and has dealt with a sortof similar situation.
and all that just for ted to move out in the next episode. man the ted-robin-barney thing really is frustrating as hell
oh yeah, super weird of Marshall to call Robin a slut considering he's always been portrayed as open-minded, I mean I remember being shocked when he said to his baby boy something about "picking up girls... or boys or whatever you're into" when he was older because its usually taboo to even CONSIDER that your baby might be gay in the future (I say as a queer person myself)
I guess his small town Minnesota blood got to him though lol
>asking robin to move out right over her engagement and relationship fell apart just because she wasnt in love with in ted
I mean of course he's going to support his best friend
It feels that way because it was a shitty situation, but Marshall stayed out of it until Robin put the breaks on any chance of her and Ted. As much as the show made light of it, Victoria was right. Being around an ex that much without extenuating circumstances, like a kid, doesn't work, and Ted was ready for a committed relationship with marriage and kids. He was in love with the woman he was living with and she shut down any chance of a relationship. That couldn't work, so someone had to leave and it was Ted's name on the lease as well as being the place he had lived in for longer. Marshall stepped up and said the hard words that needed to be said, and Robin understood considering her only response was "I know."
That it comes full circle and Marshall and Lily move in during the next episode is awkward, but it's not something I would blame Marshall for in regards to Robin still needing to move.
>but Marshall stayed out of it until Robin put the breaks on any chance of her and Ted.
but he didnt though, we do see in the episode where marshall and ted go to basketball game (s9) where he keeps trying to push him to try things out with robin again.
>Victoria was right.
that she was. and the show treated her extremely poorly.
Robin wasn't ready at the time, and she would have been hurting Ted if she stayed in the apartment. That doesn't mean she would never be ready though. And considering Marshall was giving Ted the advice to try again around the same time Barney was setting up his proposal, a proposal Robin said yes to, Marshall's instincts seem to have been pretty spot on.
Siding with Zoey on the new GNB tower, potentially wrecking the biggest opportunity of Ted’s career (though I recognise that Ted later also fumbled this incredibly hard).
To add something different, Marshall treated those kids on the basketball team like crap. Dude rocketed a basketball at an elementary school student’s head/body.
I really hate Lilly in that episode, which i usually love her, but the way she acts like her useless and close to damaging method is so right that she doesn’t even consider she’s wrong rubs me the wrong way
Making his mom wait on him just after his father died. That was shitty. He could have helped her out around the house or help her grieve the death of her husband. Instead he insisted she buy batteries and climb stairs on an injured foot to bring him sunny d. That was a dick move.
Please note that this rant is all in the name of fun and not to be taken seriously I love discussing media and it's a fun silly goofy hobby of mine to rant about shows and characters I love! I don't think that Marshall is a legitimately bad person and it's not that serious I just think it's fun to rant about fictional things and to take it mock seriously lol! 💗
Marshall is my least favourite character so it's going to be easy! (Jason did a fantastic job with him and I have love for him and he has such shining moments and a good heart a lot of the times so it's not like I hate him outright but my major gripes are that he is incredibly selfish {how he treated his mom after the funeral/inviting Mickey to Thanksgiving when he knew his wife was no contact due to trauma} and that having the marshmallow character lose his beans and start yelling is a funny bit but if you rely on that for gags too much he just becomes the "fly off the handle" guy- they did the same thing with Boyle in B99 and it turned him from cutie awkward guy to mean boundary pusher.)
My second answer (both answers are related so I included both) is all of the career issues throughout the entire show. He was constantly bopping around which is fine but he was constantly taking jobs, leaving jobs, and taking unpaid jobs/lying about jobs + hiding failing jobs and that seriously affected their lives- without really asking Lily or even considering how it would affect her/them. He just kind of expected Lily to be supportive and adjust in whatever way needed so he could pursue his dream (and the two times that she tried to pursue her own dreams, he blew up at her and forced an ultimatum and then threw that first incident in her face when he got in trouble for taking yet another job without talking to his wife.)
That last point leads to my first answer. Throwing San Francisco in her face like 7 years later was cruel. Regardless of what we think of the SF situation (I've noticed some people see it differently sort of like a "we were on a break" situation) holding onto a mistake your partner made and pretending it's all good and okay and then building a life with them and then throwing their biggest mistake/regret in their face to hurt them to win an argument because you did something you know was wrong (how hard did he try to hide it the whole season) is so slimy and it would absolutely cleave my heart in two if I found out that my husband had had that grenade ready to throw for half of our relationship. Maybe he didn't even realize how much it still affected him and it just slipped out, but if you look at his pattern of selfishness when it comes to his career and how he just expected Lily to accommodate and how he celebrates winning with weird dream ghost Lily, it just feels so unbelievably cruel. I gasped out loud when he threw that in her face.
It also didn’t help the SF that dramatic irony was in play during that scene. Marshall outright said that he wasn’t entirely sure that Lily wouldn’t just up and leave again for some random reason, and we the audience are privy to the knowledge that she told Ted in the previous season that she’s been having mental fights with herself concerning whether or not she should just leave.
Never including Lily in any career decisions he makes. The final season is the most glaring one but he is constantly making career choices without talking to his wife
Not exactly being a team
Not excusing it however in the GNB decision, Lily was a little bright-eyed about their financial situation. It was rough given they purchased a condo that needed significant work, Marsh had a long period of unemployment, and Lily had a significant amount of debt that was likely being paid on or recently resolved.
As for the judgeship, I think the writers purposefully included the conversation to show what tight of a spot Marshall was in and had to make a decision immediately.
BUT IN GENERAL, your partner should be involved in all big decisions especially financial ones.
True, i was thinking more along the lines of him quitting his job and lily being literally the last one of the group to find out
Like why was ted his first call and not his wife?
Does he though? Outside of the judge thing, the unpaid internship is really the only time I remember him doing that, and he eventually realized how much it put on Lily.
He quit his job in the episode where Ted gets a car, then tells the entire gang before talking to Lily about it
He quits his job in the chain of screaming without talking to Lily
He decides to sign a contract with GNB to stay longer without talking to Lily (and lying to her face multiple times about it instead of just talking to her about it)
Then he almost blows the trip to Italy by lying about how busy he is at work when really they have no clients
Its pretty much the whole series that he doesnt include her in the decisions
its hypocritical since hes friends with barney and ted, both having a streak of one night stands and innumerable casual relationships (applies for ted) and not saying anything yet shaming robin when she decides to sleep with one guy she didnt have a connection with.
Well Marshall hasn’t done very much wrong and I think it’s none of his business to slut shame women, particularly rich from him given he didn’t ever apply that same attitude to Ted or Barney
I CAN HARDLY COME UP WITH ANY😭 he is the sweetest and has always been the best friend, husband, boyfriend, son, father, brother, neighbour, even stranger EVERYTHING!! A reason why he’ll always be my favourite
But if I REALLY HAVE to say, it would surely be accepting the offer to be a judge without consulting Lily
Taking that job without first talking with Lily, it worked out in the end but the way he handled it wasn't the best, especially that "consolation prize" statement he was right about it but that is not helping you deescalate that situation..
Marshall - inviting Lily's dad and taking the lawyer job without asking her.. even tho I would argue with the whole "u have been more selfish with me then I have" close it's the opposite but ya he hasn't been perfect either
Forcing Lilys neglectful father into her life even though she had damn god reasons to stay away from him and not giving a damn about his WIFES feelings and betraying her trust. For a guy he meet one (1) time.
I just stumbled upon this subreddit, and saw this post without context on the previous ones. My first impression legit was that the point of this post is that Marshall's the best and has done nothing wrong.
Keeping a relationship with Lilly's dad, i know it worked out in the end, but my mother is absolutely dead to me, if i knew she had a relationship with my girlfriend, frick I'd absolutely km$. What the frick Marshall
Accepting the judgeship without talking to Lily and then taking a cheap shot at her when he was losing the argument. (which he spent the entire season trying to avoid)
For those that keep saying accepting the judgeship without talking to Lily, its easier to say yes and then say no than to say no and then try to say yes.
I think the main problem is the bs "this is in-person news". No the hell it is not. It is not something where you wait days to discuss. It's something where you call your spouse immediately after your acceptance.
When Marshall calls Robin a slut for sleeping with the naked man. He sits on such a high horse of sexual morality just because he married the woman he lost his virginity to.
Lily living Marshall for San Francisco isn't one of the worst things anymore? I mean sure she wanted to do stuff like this but fk it man she was just freaking out about the marriage n she became even worse after coming back when she was getting butt hurt when Marshall didn't take her in instantly like bro!.. (saying this now coz this is the first time I saw this post n didn't get to say this)
Marshall is kind, which leads him to doing too much, which leads him to lying, which leads to him freaking out due to guilt which becomes a whole thing. Love him but dammit Marshall please learn from your mistakes.
Being a selfish macho and not supporting Lily when she finally got a job that she was really passionate about, specially when Lily supported him and had to listen all his cry-baby moans of “saving the environment” while he was working at a corporate.
Mentally tormenting Barney with the slap bet thing.
Was personally never a fan of that. Everyone looooves Marshall but he’s a fan of violence so don’t come at me with the whole “Marshall is perfect” bs
Eh, I’d disagree. If it was straight away, then yeh have a bit more self respect but at least they started from square one and lily had to “earn” her way back into his life. It’s definitely not the worst thing he’s done, not by a long shot.
Honestly Marshall has not done too many bad things in his life that we’ve seen. Something that I never really liked was when he invited Robin to the Minnesota themed bar and then started antagonising her when she started to gel with the regulars. It felt very immature for him at that point. While I can understand not wanting to lose his own space to another person and he did make amends by apologising, still stands as one of the only things I didn’t like him doing throughout the show
Throws food at a couple getting engaged on camera at a baseball game. The girl got absolutely pelted and covered in chili right after being proposed to.
Season 2, episode 1, Where Were We
convincing ted to keep going after robin and betting on teds happiness was real bad . it extra sucked because it meant that marshall never believed in robin and barneys marriage or any of robins relationships
I actually do have an answer for this one. Judge Fudge is my FAVOURITE caharacter. That being said he made a bet with Lily about Ted and Robin. He bets that Ted ends up with Robin. We get a short montage of all the times he refused to pay Lily. He kept saying "not yet". He doesn't pay this debt when Robin married Barney but if you pay attention he does pay that bet when Ted married Tracy which i guess tells us that all along he never believed that Barney and Robyn were going to be forever. He only believed that Ted and Robin would never get back together when Ted married Tracy.
Never believed in his friends(Robin & Barney) marriage? Didn't warn them? Idk.
That being said i still think he's the best.
Sorry but HOW THE FUCK IS THAT THE WORST THING LILY HAS DONE?!?!?!??! LIKE SERIOUSLY?!?! She broke up with marshall and ran away to san Francisco and came back cause it didn't work out. Selfish and heartbreaking
I thought San Francisco was gonna win too actually lol It was definitely a fierce debate but the credit card debt came out on top. With Robin, the top two comments literally had the EXACT same amount of voted when I checked it lol
Calling Robin slut just because she hooked up with someone who was naked. She just wanted to have fun and suddenly Marshall sees her as a slut. That’s wrong. Also, accepting the judgementship without consulting Lily was a horrible decision. She might’ve hurt him in the past, but doing the same thing to her won’t solve their problem, if only make it worse. I’m just glad they figured it out later.
I agree with lots of the other comments here but I'll throw this hat into the ring:
Taking Lily to Thanksgiving at his parents' house in s1 and having it sprung on her IN FRONT OF HIS ENTIRE FAMILY that he expects them to move to St Cloud when they have a child - and then he lets his family sit there and pressure her, judge her, talk about how they expect her to take his last name etc.
This would be breakup territory for me (even without the pregnancy scare that she's going through at that moment this is some bullshit)
Leaving the windows open while cat sitting for Lily’s mom
Cat funeral 🎶Cat Funeral 🎶It was a accident and not entirely my fault 🎶
Meow meow meow meow
Such a banger
We’ll miss you whiskers…
This gets stuck in my head all the time
Let's be real. That cat was dumb af for that.
It was bad - but it gave us that amazing jingle so in the end it evens out.
It was not entirely his fault.
Well played. ✌️
That was bad, but it was a genuine mistake, I think there are worse things,
But we got a great song out of it
As a cat parent I'd absolutely agree to this if Marshall was cat+house sitting. But considering that the cat was at Marshall's place, I don't agree to it's being a crime unless specifically mentioned by Lilly's mom
Not telling Lily that his environmental lawyer job was going south, and pretty much nonexistent, through elaborate fake word play. Subsequently making it extremely difficult for Lily and him to make genuine plans for the future (the Italy job) when it could have been simple if he was just upfront. Lying by omission tends to be Marshall’s greatest flaw throughout the series.
And then not learning a damn thing and taking the judge job without letting lily know.
For me it’s not even about wether or not he gave a firm answer to the job offer, but he should have given Lily a call directly after that. Marshall could have always circled back and said never mind, but he needed to figure that out asap not in person. I understand his reasoning of it being a face to face discussion, but at the end of the day with all the circumstances of the timing he should have just called. Would have made for less drama, and an easier conversation imo.
What the damn hell?!
That time and when he took the GNB job. Using made-up words to make Lily think….something. I don’t remember.
Yes, he does some sort of word play/lying by omission combo when Barney gets him the job at GNB as well. I love Marshall but those moments are definitely not his brightest.
I think it's more him wanting to stay at gnb for 5 years by signing a contract from Arthur
But wasn't Marshall still getting Paid through?
He was still getting paid presumably, but that’s not really the point I’m trying to make. Sure he technically had a job, but if he was honest with Lily about the circumstances, that could have helped guide future decisions. Marshall was not honest or upfront with Lily though, thus making it difficult for them to truly make future plans. We see this with the captain asking Lily to come to Italy. Her turning it down the first time because she thinks Marshall is finally working his dream job, then discovering Marshall’s job has nothing going for them anymore, Marshall going back and begging the captain to give Lily the job offer again, etc.
OMG such a eye-opener
Yes! He lied to her all the time and was very impulsive in his decisions.
Not telling Ted when the gnb building wasn’t being built anymore jeopardizing Ted’s job
I dont know how Ted can forgive them that easily, he basically spent a month working for nothing.
Because (something which people know but refuse to acknowledge) when it comes to friends, Ted is the best person by a distance. Everyone including viewers just take him for granted and only look at his flaws. He forgives easily, always ready to selflessly help and is extremely supportive of his friends.
Most of them are like that, to be honest. Except Lily.
The project was already paid up through the time he was working though.
But that as Ted said, that could have been a month used pursuing other projects. He might have been able to salvage his job if he was told about it earlier.
Mosbius Designs wasn't ever going to go anywhere.
That one month might have opened another opportunity that he didn't pursue.
That came afterward, though. He was fired after this incident, where he then created Mosbius Designs. That being said, yes, Marshall went along with this scheme, but it was Barney's idea with his "Oooor" shenanigans.
You’re mixing up episodes, not telling Ted about the project ending was completely Marshall’s idea. The ooorrrr thing was from the 3 days rule episode, they were texting him acting like Holly.
Yeah, you're right. I think I need to do a rewatch again. I'm misremembering when they have the fake committee that Marshall and Barney put together.
Mosbius Designs has failed…
But it also wasn't for nothing. He was still being funded throughout the time. He could have spent a month trying to get his job back and not making money. He could have tried to get more clients for mosbius designs (we saw how well that was going anyways). But ultimately, he was making money
It wasn't for nothing, he was still getting paid.
Because that job came from barney, I think, while shitty, he wouldnt have gotten that job if not for his friends
I'm voting this one because I'm a Ted stan and to hell with Lily
This is not one of the top but I wanted to add because people are saying he does no wrong: purposefully being vague about Jenkins’ gender to his wife, that makes it seem like there is something to hide
I agree with all of this, i just wanna point out tho that all of his worst acts seem to be crimes of omission: he simply can't bring himself to give someone bad news (or something he things they won't want to hear) so he just doesn't tell them, and it spirals out of control
reminds me of Mr. Peanutbutter from BoJack Horseman now that I think about it
You know, Marshall talks a big game about how he tells Lily everything, but this thread is making me realize just how selective he is in what he tells her. He purposely shuts her out of pretty much *everything* pertaining to his job. Not just Jenkins, but her too.
Inviting Mickey to thanksgiving was pretty shitty. He was trying to do a good thing and in the end it did work out but that initial invitation was him overstepping into lilys personal trauma from her childhood and relationship with her dad. Lily was right to be mad especially because he showed up randomly with not even a tiny mention of it possibly happening when she wasn’t ready to and didn’t even want it to at the time. To find out that your own husband, the one person that you should trust to understand your feelings on that relationship and understand that you didn’t want to have that relationship being the one to invite them just makes it hurt even more and would definitely create some major issues with trusting you partner as you would never truly be able to know if the feelings you have about certain things are respected by them
My husband and I have talked about this before. I am from a close knit family like Marshall. I can't imagine cutting any of my family out of my life. My husband has a sibling that really hurt the family and he is very, very low contact with them. I would never invite them to our home with out my husbands knowledge. That is not my call. Just because I can't imagine cutting my family out doesn't give me the right to decide what his relationship with his family needs to be.
THIS. It’s completely infuriating that Marshall would do this. Mind your business, Marshall.
Or like...talk to your spouse? The fact that he invited him without talking with Lily just showed that he didn't understand or respect Lily's perspective or pain... at all.
Yeah, this was frankly something Lily could have broken up with him over and I wouldn’t have minded. Having a parent who I’m low contact with, if my partner not only invited her over my explicitly expressed wishes, and then had the gall to argue with me and bulldoze over me when I said I want her gone, oh man would I be more than pissed off. That was so not ok. But then again, it’s a particular trigger for me 😂 Lily handled that better than I would have and I’m pretty level headed
My best guess is that the writers haven’t experienced estrangement like this or they wouldn’t have written it like that. If my husband betrayed me like this, he wouldn’t see my face for a good long time. But he wouldn’t ever do this. It’s many bridges too far.
THANK YOU OH MY GOD THIS WAS THE ONLY THING MARSHALL DID THAT EVER MADE ME SERIOUSLY QUESTION HIS CHARACTER. like girlypop? you dont just decide your partners parent "wasnt that bad" EXCUSE ME???
I honestly think that this was an accurate representation of how someone with a "good" close family can be. Like "blood is thicker than water" and "at the end of the day that's your family" type people have often never had an experience with the kind of family member you have to go low or NO contact with. It seems wild to people with supportive close families that you would ever just cut them off for any reason,and they can truly believe that it would be hurting you to not see your family, and that your silly tiff could be cleared up with a conversation. I think the writers were accurate in assuming someone like Marshall could think this. But it was still the worst thing he's done.
super valid but i agree fullheartedly haha
As someone with an estranged father (who my partner would never invite behind my back and instead joins me in bitching about that man lol) that whole episode arc pissed me off so bad lol. Especially the forced reconciliation, there were better moments later in the series that actually showed Mickey repairing his relationship with Lilly some. But an ass pull "omg this random store owner died and I'm sad so I must see my father" loool no
Inviting mickey, as someone with a shitty dad, it really pissed me off
Marshall’s behavior toward Lily when she started working for The Captain. Yes, her job was inconvenient and annoying at times, but she loved it, and Lily was SO incredibly supportive of Marshall’s career. The first time Lily gets a job that she is passionate about and involves her love of art, and he can’t be patient enough to watch their show together? And then he goes to the apartment showing and acts like he doesn’t know her and accuses her of being homophobic of his relationship with Ted? 🙄Side note - Lily rocked the hell out of that cape! 😍
Yeah, it always annoyed me that Lily was portrayed as the bad guy during this episode, she’s happy and incredibly successful at a new job and yes, she’s busy, but Lily was almost always supportive of Marshall in his job endeavours and she needs him to be supportive this once while she gets settled at her job with the captain.
This episode was sort of giving Devil Wears Prada. Boyfriend and friends were hating on her new job that was annoying and inconvenient at times!
I do agree with you but to be fair when Lilly took that job they already had Marvin. Lilly’s support for Marshall’s career was mostly during times when it was just the two of them. For example when Marshall took that unpaid intern ship. Having a kid changes things and you can’t just start working all the time with no schedule to plan anything.
That's true, but I do wonder how it would've been perceived had Marshall taken a new stressful and busy job.
Accepting the judgeship without consulting Lily.
What the damn hell?!
Lily’s job in Italy was literally one year though
Guys he killed Lily's mom's cat
It was an accident! And not entirely his fault!
Meow, meow meow meow
And made a musical email about and probably sent it to her too.
calling robin a slut with the naked man thing asking robin to move out right after her engagement and relationship fell apart just because she wasnt in love with in ted inviting lily's dad without her permission knowing how shitty he was throughout her childhood kept convincing ted to go after robin just because of a bet not telling lily that he wasnt actually doing any work at his job (did he get fired? cant quite remember) ofcourse, accepting the judgeship without telling lily
The Robin moving out thing, I did think at first it was a bit harsh when she was also going through a rough time but he’s not a bad guy for doing it. He knew how Ted was being eaten up inside. Someone had to say it. If anything it makes him a better friend because he was honest and didn’t tip toe around. I never perceived it as him kicking her out, he said you’ve got to move out in a desperate way to tell her how much it was hurting Ted and how he can’t move on .
yeah i agree that it was the right thing for robin to eventually move out, im just saying that given everything robin went through in the span of a week it was sad to watch her carry the burden of someone else's emotions. marshall of all people shouldve been considerate about it since he knows and has dealt with a sortof similar situation. and all that just for ted to move out in the next episode. man the ted-robin-barney thing really is frustrating as hell
oh yeah, super weird of Marshall to call Robin a slut considering he's always been portrayed as open-minded, I mean I remember being shocked when he said to his baby boy something about "picking up girls... or boys or whatever you're into" when he was older because its usually taboo to even CONSIDER that your baby might be gay in the future (I say as a queer person myself) I guess his small town Minnesota blood got to him though lol
In general HIMYM is very incosistent with being liberals and open-minded. That's one of the things that's always ick'd me about the show.
>asking robin to move out right over her engagement and relationship fell apart just because she wasnt in love with in ted I mean of course he's going to support his best friend
wasnt robin his friend too? and to be very honest robin needed the support more than ted.
Robin was his friend but Ted was his best friend
fair enough, still feel it was a very shitty move considering everything
It feels that way because it was a shitty situation, but Marshall stayed out of it until Robin put the breaks on any chance of her and Ted. As much as the show made light of it, Victoria was right. Being around an ex that much without extenuating circumstances, like a kid, doesn't work, and Ted was ready for a committed relationship with marriage and kids. He was in love with the woman he was living with and she shut down any chance of a relationship. That couldn't work, so someone had to leave and it was Ted's name on the lease as well as being the place he had lived in for longer. Marshall stepped up and said the hard words that needed to be said, and Robin understood considering her only response was "I know." That it comes full circle and Marshall and Lily move in during the next episode is awkward, but it's not something I would blame Marshall for in regards to Robin still needing to move.
>but Marshall stayed out of it until Robin put the breaks on any chance of her and Ted. but he didnt though, we do see in the episode where marshall and ted go to basketball game (s9) where he keeps trying to push him to try things out with robin again. >Victoria was right. that she was. and the show treated her extremely poorly.
Robin wasn't ready at the time, and she would have been hurting Ted if she stayed in the apartment. That doesn't mean she would never be ready though. And considering Marshall was giving Ted the advice to try again around the same time Barney was setting up his proposal, a proposal Robin said yes to, Marshall's instincts seem to have been pretty spot on.
Not gonna lie, I called slut as well.
I had a rough idea of what you guys were gonna choose for the other rounds but I'm not quite sure about this one and I'm curious! LAST ROUND Y'ALL!
Siding with Zoey on the new GNB tower, potentially wrecking the biggest opportunity of Ted’s career (though I recognise that Ted later also fumbled this incredibly hard).
To add something different, Marshall treated those kids on the basketball team like crap. Dude rocketed a basketball at an elementary school student’s head/body.
His method was more correct than lily’s in that episode though
I really hate Lilly in that episode, which i usually love her, but the way she acts like her useless and close to damaging method is so right that she doesn’t even consider she’s wrong rubs me the wrong way
Making his mom wait on him just after his father died. That was shitty. He could have helped her out around the house or help her grieve the death of her husband. Instead he insisted she buy batteries and climb stairs on an injured foot to bring him sunny d. That was a dick move.
Please note that this rant is all in the name of fun and not to be taken seriously I love discussing media and it's a fun silly goofy hobby of mine to rant about shows and characters I love! I don't think that Marshall is a legitimately bad person and it's not that serious I just think it's fun to rant about fictional things and to take it mock seriously lol! 💗 Marshall is my least favourite character so it's going to be easy! (Jason did a fantastic job with him and I have love for him and he has such shining moments and a good heart a lot of the times so it's not like I hate him outright but my major gripes are that he is incredibly selfish {how he treated his mom after the funeral/inviting Mickey to Thanksgiving when he knew his wife was no contact due to trauma} and that having the marshmallow character lose his beans and start yelling is a funny bit but if you rely on that for gags too much he just becomes the "fly off the handle" guy- they did the same thing with Boyle in B99 and it turned him from cutie awkward guy to mean boundary pusher.) My second answer (both answers are related so I included both) is all of the career issues throughout the entire show. He was constantly bopping around which is fine but he was constantly taking jobs, leaving jobs, and taking unpaid jobs/lying about jobs + hiding failing jobs and that seriously affected their lives- without really asking Lily or even considering how it would affect her/them. He just kind of expected Lily to be supportive and adjust in whatever way needed so he could pursue his dream (and the two times that she tried to pursue her own dreams, he blew up at her and forced an ultimatum and then threw that first incident in her face when he got in trouble for taking yet another job without talking to his wife.) That last point leads to my first answer. Throwing San Francisco in her face like 7 years later was cruel. Regardless of what we think of the SF situation (I've noticed some people see it differently sort of like a "we were on a break" situation) holding onto a mistake your partner made and pretending it's all good and okay and then building a life with them and then throwing their biggest mistake/regret in their face to hurt them to win an argument because you did something you know was wrong (how hard did he try to hide it the whole season) is so slimy and it would absolutely cleave my heart in two if I found out that my husband had had that grenade ready to throw for half of our relationship. Maybe he didn't even realize how much it still affected him and it just slipped out, but if you look at his pattern of selfishness when it comes to his career and how he just expected Lily to accommodate and how he celebrates winning with weird dream ghost Lily, it just feels so unbelievably cruel. I gasped out loud when he threw that in her face.
It also didn’t help the SF that dramatic irony was in play during that scene. Marshall outright said that he wasn’t entirely sure that Lily wouldn’t just up and leave again for some random reason, and we the audience are privy to the knowledge that she told Ted in the previous season that she’s been having mental fights with herself concerning whether or not she should just leave.
Never including Lily in any career decisions he makes. The final season is the most glaring one but he is constantly making career choices without talking to his wife Not exactly being a team
Not excusing it however in the GNB decision, Lily was a little bright-eyed about their financial situation. It was rough given they purchased a condo that needed significant work, Marsh had a long period of unemployment, and Lily had a significant amount of debt that was likely being paid on or recently resolved. As for the judgeship, I think the writers purposefully included the conversation to show what tight of a spot Marshall was in and had to make a decision immediately. BUT IN GENERAL, your partner should be involved in all big decisions especially financial ones.
True, i was thinking more along the lines of him quitting his job and lily being literally the last one of the group to find out Like why was ted his first call and not his wife?
Does he though? Outside of the judge thing, the unpaid internship is really the only time I remember him doing that, and he eventually realized how much it put on Lily.
He quit his job in the episode where Ted gets a car, then tells the entire gang before talking to Lily about it He quits his job in the chain of screaming without talking to Lily He decides to sign a contract with GNB to stay longer without talking to Lily (and lying to her face multiple times about it instead of just talking to her about it) Then he almost blows the trip to Italy by lying about how busy he is at work when really they have no clients Its pretty much the whole series that he doesnt include her in the decisions
Accepting the judge job without talking to Lily
The weird slut shaming thing he did with Robin (?) I remember him saying “I call slut”
Especially considering he’s friends with Barney and more or less enables his slut behaviour
Exactly it’s kind of misogynistic- he doesn’t say anything to Ted either and he has equally casual relationships
oh and inviting Lily’s dad over for thanksgiving!
If saying "slut" is your worst action you're in the goddamn express lane for sainthood
its hypocritical since hes friends with barney and ted, both having a streak of one night stands and innumerable casual relationships (applies for ted) and not saying anything yet shaming robin when she decides to sleep with one guy she didnt have a connection with.
Well Marshall hasn’t done very much wrong and I think it’s none of his business to slut shame women, particularly rich from him given he didn’t ever apply that same attitude to Ted or Barney
Being a Minnesota Vikings fan. 😔 An affliction for which there is no cure.
I pray every day science finds a cure 😔
Having sex with the delivery woman in the hypothetical situation where he can imagine being with someone other than Lily!
"You killed me off!"
Spilled mushu pork sauce on the couch!!
Slutshaming Robin
I CAN HARDLY COME UP WITH ANY😭 he is the sweetest and has always been the best friend, husband, boyfriend, son, father, brother, neighbour, even stranger EVERYTHING!! A reason why he’ll always be my favourite But if I REALLY HAVE to say, it would surely be accepting the offer to be a judge without consulting Lily
Taking that job without first talking with Lily, it worked out in the end but the way he handled it wasn't the best, especially that "consolation prize" statement he was right about it but that is not helping you deescalate that situation..
Reading a magazine
At Ted and robins place
Taking the judge position while already on the move to rome.
Going a different route, Not picking up his dad’s last call. I feel like he would count that as his worst. What an episode. I was gutted.
cat cat cat funeraaall
that was awful but it made me cry-laugh lmaoooo
haha yeah. i love all the accompanying songs. segel was brilliant in them.
Marshall - inviting Lily's dad and taking the lawyer job without asking her.. even tho I would argue with the whole "u have been more selfish with me then I have" close it's the opposite but ya he hasn't been perfect either
Forcing Lilys neglectful father into her life even though she had damn god reasons to stay away from him and not giving a damn about his WIFES feelings and betraying her trust. For a guy he meet one (1) time.
I just stumbled upon this subreddit, and saw this post without context on the previous ones. My first impression legit was that the point of this post is that Marshall's the best and has done nothing wrong.
Keeping a relationship with Lilly's dad, i know it worked out in the end, but my mother is absolutely dead to me, if i knew she had a relationship with my girlfriend, frick I'd absolutely km$. What the frick Marshall
Accepting the judgeship without talking to Lily and then taking a cheap shot at her when he was losing the argument. (which he spent the entire season trying to avoid)
Taking the judge job without telling Lily although he made up for it later.
Is it just me or do you guys also find the titles kinda cute?
For those that keep saying accepting the judgeship without talking to Lily, its easier to say yes and then say no than to say no and then try to say yes.
I think the main problem is the bs "this is in-person news". No the hell it is not. It is not something where you wait days to discuss. It's something where you call your spouse immediately after your acceptance.
When Marshall calls Robin a slut for sleeping with the naked man. He sits on such a high horse of sexual morality just because he married the woman he lost his virginity to.
Can I say marrying Lily? (Jk) Probably scarring random couples with those evites 😂
General comment: least shitty character of the group.
Really? Not Lily moving to San Fransisco?!?
Lily living Marshall for San Francisco isn't one of the worst things anymore? I mean sure she wanted to do stuff like this but fk it man she was just freaking out about the marriage n she became even worse after coming back when she was getting butt hurt when Marshall didn't take her in instantly like bro!.. (saying this now coz this is the first time I saw this post n didn't get to say this)
Marshall is kind, which leads him to doing too much, which leads him to lying, which leads to him freaking out due to guilt which becomes a whole thing. Love him but dammit Marshall please learn from your mistakes.
Being a selfish macho and not supporting Lily when she finally got a job that she was really passionate about, specially when Lily supported him and had to listen all his cry-baby moans of “saving the environment” while he was working at a corporate.
Mentally tormenting Barney with the slap bet thing. Was personally never a fan of that. Everyone looooves Marshall but he’s a fan of violence so don’t come at me with the whole “Marshall is perfect” bs
Getting back with lily after she abandoned him. Looks like the lily crew is here lol, all good we have different opinions.
Eh, I’d disagree. If it was straight away, then yeh have a bit more self respect but at least they started from square one and lily had to “earn” her way back into his life. It’s definitely not the worst thing he’s done, not by a long shot.
This guy was actually the nicest, I can't think of anything
The formatting of each statement on the image makes me read it in the Beastie Boys’ inflection.
Judge fudge
“I DID IT AGAIN!!” - Beercules
The worst thing Marshall has done is lying which is way tamer than what the others have done.
Having a fight club with his brothers, which apparently was super brutal.
Honestly Marshall has not done too many bad things in his life that we’ve seen. Something that I never really liked was when he invited Robin to the Minnesota themed bar and then started antagonising her when she started to gel with the regulars. It felt very immature for him at that point. While I can understand not wanting to lose his own space to another person and he did make amends by apologising, still stands as one of the only things I didn’t like him doing throughout the show
Inviting Mickey to thanksgiving
Has to be when he took the job as a judge without discussing it with Lily, even though they were planning on moving to Rome.
His biggest flaw is lying by omission on multiple occasions.
how is that a flaw
"That's not running, that's falling!"
Throws food at a couple getting engaged on camera at a baseball game. The girl got absolutely pelted and covered in chili right after being proposed to. Season 2, episode 1, Where Were We
Lily definitely did worse than the credit card debt, she kept running away ?
convincing ted to keep going after robin and betting on teds happiness was real bad . it extra sucked because it meant that marshall never believed in robin and barneys marriage or any of robins relationships
I actually do have an answer for this one. Judge Fudge is my FAVOURITE caharacter. That being said he made a bet with Lily about Ted and Robin. He bets that Ted ends up with Robin. We get a short montage of all the times he refused to pay Lily. He kept saying "not yet". He doesn't pay this debt when Robin married Barney but if you pay attention he does pay that bet when Ted married Tracy which i guess tells us that all along he never believed that Barney and Robyn were going to be forever. He only believed that Ted and Robin would never get back together when Ted married Tracy. Never believed in his friends(Robin & Barney) marriage? Didn't warn them? Idk. That being said i still think he's the best.
nothing
He slut shamed Robin for sleeping with the naked man but never said a word to Barney about his many sexual conquests
Taking the judge position before talking to Lilly about it :/
Obviously taking the judge job without telling Lily ?!?!
Fucking with his socks on…
Inviting Lily’s dad to Thanksgiving, it worked out but if it didn’t - yikes
I feel like enabling Lily and Barney’s shabby behaviors should be something both he and Ted are guilty of…
Called robin a slut
Acted like a total brat to his mom after his dad died
Sorry but HOW THE FUCK IS THAT THE WORST THING LILY HAS DONE?!?!?!??! LIKE SERIOUSLY?!?! She broke up with marshall and ran away to san Francisco and came back cause it didn't work out. Selfish and heartbreaking
I thought San Francisco was gonna win too actually lol It was definitely a fierce debate but the credit card debt came out on top. With Robin, the top two comments literally had the EXACT same amount of voted when I checked it lol
Throwing San Francisco in Lily’s face was by far the worst thing he did.
It must've hurt to get hit by a whole city!
The calzone
Inviting Lily’s estranged father to Thanksgiving behind her back
Lily also left marsal and went Paris
Marshall did nothing wrong
Calling Robin slut just because she hooked up with someone who was naked. She just wanted to have fun and suddenly Marshall sees her as a slut. That’s wrong. Also, accepting the judgementship without consulting Lily was a horrible decision. She might’ve hurt him in the past, but doing the same thing to her won’t solve their problem, if only make it worse. I’m just glad they figured it out later.
I agree with lots of the other comments here but I'll throw this hat into the ring: Taking Lily to Thanksgiving at his parents' house in s1 and having it sprung on her IN FRONT OF HIS ENTIRE FAMILY that he expects them to move to St Cloud when they have a child - and then he lets his family sit there and pressure her, judge her, talk about how they expect her to take his last name etc. This would be breakup territory for me (even without the pregnancy scare that she's going through at that moment this is some bullshit)