How Marshall Met the Apocalyptic Wasteland | S2E2 "The Scorpion and the Toad"
How We Made Your Mother
Audacy & Josh Radnor and Craig Thomas
4.8 • 922 Ratings
🗓️ 27 October 2025
⏱️ 53 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
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Summary
Season two, episode two of How We Made Your Mother opens with a message from Brazil, and a story about growing up with HIMYM that sets the tone for a conversation about comfort, change, and creative courage. Josh and Craig discuss “The Scorpion and the Toad,” where Marshall tries to reenter the dating world with Barney as his wingman—only to be repeatedly sabotaged by him. They unpack the Aesop fable behind the title, Barney’s compulsive nature, and how this episode explores addiction, friendship, and moral boundaries beneath the comedy. The hosts share behind-the-scenes moments about Lily’s emotional return, Neil Patrick Harris’s magic tricks, and the infamous “smelly water” line, while praising Chris Harris’s clever wordplay and Alyson Hannigan’s acting. They touch on gender norms, Ted’s “lucky penny” bit, and Robin and Ted’s early relationship bliss before closing with Craig’s announcement of his debut novel That’s Not How It Happened and a heartfelt fan letter about how Lily’s bravery inspires creative risk-taking.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi guys, my name is Alini. I'm from Brazil and I've been a pen of the show for a few years now. |
| 0:07.0 | I first started watching when I was 16. It was my senior year of high school. |
| 0:12.0 | And at the time I was having a lot of fear and anxiety because I had no idea what I wanted to do. |
| 0:18.0 | In my life, I didn't know what profession I wanted or what college. |
| 0:22.5 | And the show really helped me to understand that not only my feelings were valid, but also |
| 0:29.4 | that I could trust myself and that I should trust the process that eventually things were going to |
| 0:34.0 | work out. And now I'm 24. I'm a psychologist and I'm studying to get into |
| 0:39.3 | residency, which has given me a lot of the same feeling thoughts that I had back then. And re-watching |
| 0:45.4 | the show because of the podcast is really helping me through it again. So thank you so much. Thanks for the |
| 0:52.2 | good advice and thanks for always being that show that's there when I need comfort. |
| 0:58.0 | I'm alone. |
| 1:00.0 | What a pity I won't be soon in New York City when I see you. |
| 1:10.0 | Please permit me to tell you everything in New York City. |
| 1:18.4 | Welcome, welcome back to How We Made Your Mother. |
| 1:21.9 | I'm Josh Radner. |
| 1:23.1 | I am joined by my friend Craig Thomas. |
| 1:25.0 | Hello, Craig. |
| 1:26.0 | Hey, Josh. |
| 1:26.8 | Very happy to be with you. Craig co-created a show called How I Met Your Mother my friend Craig Thomas. Hello, Craig. Hey, Josh. Very happy to be with you. |
| 1:27.7 | Craig co-created a show called How I Met Your Mother with Carter Bays that ran on CBS from 2005 to 2014. |
| 1:35.5 | I played Ted Mosby on that show. And we are doing a deep dive. We're revisiting the show. |
| 1:41.5 | All these many years later, we are discovering gems. |
... |
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