Episode no. Season 3
Episode 15 Production code 3ALH15 | Directed by Pamela Fryman Original air date April 14, 2008 | |
Written by Carter Bays & Craig Thomas | ||
"The Chain of Screaming" is the 15th episode in the third season of the television series How I Met Your Mother and 59th overall. It originally aired on April 14, 2008.
Contents
Plot
Marshall fears being yelled at by his boss, who is nicknamed "Artillery Arthur," after failing to turn in on time a report, about decertifying a class action due to lack of commonality and numerosity (which he nicknames "The Ninja Report" to make it sound cool). Robin, Lily and Ted each describe how they would deal with Arthur's aggression, and Barney explains that Marshall shouldn't deal with it - the way that the chain (or circle) of screaming works is that one person screams at someone "below" him, then that person screams at another person, and so on. Barney and Marshall go to a diner and Barney urges Marshall to scream at the waiter, but Marshall cannot do it - the waiter screams at Marshall instead. The next day, Marshall finally lets out his feelings towards Arthur and, in the end, quits his job at Nicholson, Hewitt & West.
Meanwhile, Ted has bought himself a new car, a blue Toyota Camry Hybrid. All of his friends think a nice car is totally unnecessary in New York City and proceed to eat ice cream and smoke cigars inside the car, despite Ted's protests. Eventually, Ted sells the car and gives the proceeds to Marshall to help pay for the apartment.
Critical response
Donna Bowman of The A.V. Club rated the episode with a grade A.
Michelle Zoromski of IGN gave the episode 7.4 out of 10.