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Fridge Brilliance

  • In the Season 1 finale, early on Marshall nerds out for a second...
    Marshall: Unless... your [Ted's] dating life is the glue which holds the universe together! Whoa, chills. Anybody else get chills?
  • In Vesuvius, when Future!Ted is talking with the mother, they have this conversation:
    Ted: I'm just a boring old man who won't stop spinning yarn.
    The mother: I hope you won't stop spinning them... but I'm worried about you. I don't want you to be the guy who lives in his stories. Life only moves forward.
    • Notice Ted's pained expression. At this point, they already knew the mother's condition and the mother is basically telling him to not be tied down after her and to move on.
      • The needle gets buried even deeper if you consider the opening caption states it's the year 2024, the year Tracy dies.
  • Barney's comment to Ted about Ted using an advanced play from the Playbook in season 8—"First day at the salon and you want to cut and color"—makes a lot of sense once you realize that one of Barney's personas was a hairdresser, and a damn good one at that.
  • Barney made his friends vow not to meddle in his life unless it was a matter of national security or he was about to get up on a fatty. By pretending to date Patrice, he made it so Robin could meddle without breaking her promise.
  • The titles look like photographs because it's Ted's memories.
    • This also explains why the main cast looks almost the same in flashbacks to their youth. Ted just pictures them that way because he didn't know them growing up.
  • The final photo that ends the intro is a photo in universe and implied to have been taken sometime shortly after the pilot and them all first meeting Robin. The others are probably all actual photos in universe too.
    • Confirmed in Season 9's first episode - Ted gives the photo to Robin as a gift.
  • In the How I Met Your Mother episode "How Lily Stole Christmas", Lily accidentally hears a message where Ted calls her a "grinch." But he didn't say "grinch" and the episode implies that it's merely a substitute for a much fouler word. BUT, the episode gives a clue with the introduction of Ted's mom's new boyfriend, Clint, which looks like "cunt" in certain fonts.
  • Ted's character in general comes across as kind of... off: he's a single guy in his twenties/thirties, yet he acts like a dorky dad and is obsessed with marriage and kids. This isn't totally weird or anything, but it's unusual. Then you realize that the entire series is Ted telling stories to his kids: he's pretending that he was the same daddish figure in his youth as he is today, so his kids don't have their view of him ruined. Likewise, Barney comes across as larger than life; in reality, he probably wasn't anywhere near as awesome/caddish, but Ted's just exaggerating his character for the sake of the story.
    • However, this wouldn't make that much sense with regards to Ted: he obviously has no qualms about telling his kids what an asshole he could occasionally be, so he probably isn't pretending he was different. However, it's possible that he doesn't really know how he used to appear to others vs. how he used to think and feel inside (who does?), so he may think his dad-ness was expressed more openly than it actually was.
      • The same could go with Robin's Canadian-ness: no Canadian is really like that, but Ted's hyperactive imagination and ignorance about Canada causes her Canadian traits to seem like ludicrously over-the-top Canadian stereotypes to him. In fact, all the outlandish and unrealistic touches to the show just makes it seem more like a person's real memories rather than less — memories are usually far more unreliable and colored by the remember-er's thoughts and emotions than fictional stories are. Ted doesn't even have to be intentionally lying: it's just his point-of-view screwing up the specifics of past events.
    • Actually, Ted's personality is pretty logical given his circumstances: he spent the first ten years of his adult life living in extremely close contact with/in the same dorm as/in the same apartment as Marshall and Lily, one of the sweetest and most endearing, stable, happy, enviable couples imaginable. Of course he's gonna have inflated expectations of what love is like and long for what Marshall and Lily have.
    • Alternatively, what we are seeing isn't Ted's view of what was happening, but his children's view based on his story. This explains not only the over-the-topness of Barney, the fact that Ted seems to act just like a dad (including the asshole-ish parts), and why most of the characters seem to behave childishly at varying times, but it also makes sense in that, whenever he makes substitutions, we see the substitutions. As the kids are filling in the blanks, a lot of the blanks tend to be filled in with whatever they're familiar with. This is why, for instance, in the Star Wars marathon episode, when they were living in the dorms and visualizing life in three years, they miraculously visualized the apartment that they would actually move into - Ted never gave the kids a location, so they just substituted the same apartment they knew about.
    • Memory is incredibly fallible. We warp and alter our memories in lots of different ways, not least in that we remember ourselves as we are rather than as we were, and we tend to forget the unpleasant things.
      • But the kids know all of these people in real life. They'd know if Ted were exaggerating.
  • The basic concept of the show seems absurd - a guy really telling a story that long and wandering to his kids? But as the show progresses, you realize that this is exactly the kind of person Ted is.
    • What can make this better? The fact that the story is being told by Danny Tanner
      • Or at least a guy who sounds like Danny Tanner in his head.
  • In one episode, Robin chooses to forsake dating and focus on her career - the same decision she's made several times before and has publicly admitted to being a trend of hers. The stinger for the episode introduces Don, with the voiceover from Future Ted saying "Ironically, that was the day that she met Don." Initially, we're led to assume the irony is that they're going to get together despite her pretty much swearing off dating. But the true irony comes much later, when she is forced to choose between a dream job and Don (career vs. romance) and she chose romance. Moreover, when faced with the same decision Don makes the opposite choice (in other words, the one Robin made right before she met Don).
  • Barney cries a lot. A majority of the time it's about something really stupid and insignificant, and it's Played for Laughs. It actually makes sense, though: Barney is completely obsessed with making sure every minute of every day is absolutely awesome, and that's gotta be stressful. Deep down, he knows all of his pursuits are meaningless, but he keeps clamping down on his insecurities by trying to stack more awesome onto everything he does. He builds up these really high hopes about how legen...wait for it...dary something is gonna be, so even the tiniest thing going wrong is enough to bring those doubts bubbling to the surface again. His crying over the little, stupid things just shows what a fragile person he really is.
    • This is very nearly confirmed later on, when Barney says that while he loved his life as it was happening, he realizes it was meaningless that all it really did for him was leave him "broken".
  • They only seem to characterize Nora as being a lot like Robin, except British, bilingual, and wanting a family. Also significant sweet-moments between Robin and Barney become repeated with her, like her playing laser tag with him and her taking care of him when he's sick. This makes sense when you think about how Ted didn't know her very well, so most memories of her probably are coming from Barney. How would Barney remember her? As the woman he dumped for Robin after realizing he still had feelings for her. So probably the things he liked about her were the things that reminded him of Robin, or at least that's all he remembers about her. The only thing not too similar to Robin he seemed to remember was the kids thing, because she was also the one who initially got him realizing he wanted kids.
  • As much of a Base Breaker it is the reveal that the purpose of Ted telling the story to get his kids' blessing to date Robin definitely puts a new perspective on the series; why so much of the emphasis was put on Ted's relationship to her, explaining how much she really wanted kids.
    • Then again, the meaning of the reveal is also a base breaker: was Ted really telling the story to purposely get his kids blessing to date Robin, or was it really supposed to be a story about how he met their mother, and moved on from Robin, only to subconsciously reveal that he still has feelings for her?
      • Does he still have feelings for Robin even, or was he just feeling vulnerable after telling the story and his kids read into it too much?
  • Fridge Logic that mutates into Fridge Brilliance again: The Naked Man works 2/3 times, guaranteed. However, when they all tried it, Lily's version really doesn't count (it doesn't fit most of Mitch's description or philosophy of the naked man). However, the ratio still stands when you factor in Robin's, making it Mitch's success, Ted's success, and Barney's failure.
    • If you count Tracy as part of the group, then it works precisely 2/3 times. It works for Ted and Lily, it fails for Barney. It works on Robin and Marshall, it fails on Tracy.
  • Raise your hands, when Marshall gave a picture of his wife to his past self in Last Cigarette Ever, did anyone else catch that it was a reference to The Who's song Pictures of Lily?
  • Fridge Brilliance similar to the above example: Why did Robin feel so strongly about Don? He was an annoying, unprofessional sleaze at first, and a bland bore later on. It was certainly never shown why Robin would give up a great job in Chicago for him when she wouldn't do the same for her best friends. Then when you remember that this is all in Ted's memory, he probably just remembers Don as that jackass who broke Robin's heart, and Robin probably never told Ted about any of their sweet or loving moments together because all her memories of him were tainted by their bad breakup. So Ted's knowledge of their relationship is pretty rudimentary. He just remembers the stuff that actually affected the group: his shenanigans on the morning show, Robin giving up a job for him, Marshall being bizarrely infatuated with him (although probably neither Ted nor Marshall remember exactly why.)
  • Jessica Glitter is the "friend in Canada who got married way too young."
  • Why would Punchy invite Ted's entire group to his wedding? He grew up with Ted and he's his best man, but does that really earn him a +4 invite? They've met and hung out but don't seem nearly close enough to invite them to the wedding. The Fridge Brilliance comes in when you realize that his father-in-law is footing the bill, and they hate each other. He invited them in order to drive up the bill. Given that Punchy had never really left Shaker Heights he could probably stand to bolster his guest list. The promise of a free trip/party was enough to convince the gang to go even if they're not terribly fond of Punchy.
  • When Robin tells Ted about the importance of timing, it comes around to their relationship in the end. Ted and Robin were happy when they were in a relationship together, but they couldn't stay together because she wanted to travel the world and become a renowned journalist and he wanted to get married and have kids. In 2030, their relationship could work because they had both already achieved their respective goals.
  • Barney frequently discusses how women with daddy issues are less inhibited when it comes to sex. Lily has been shown to have both issues with her father and to be fairly dirty. Robin—-according to Ted, Barney, and Max—-is also very kinky.
  • Barney is shown to prefer women with daddy issues, even bringing it up in his song. When he finally falls for someone, it's Robin, who also happens to have what? Major daddy issues.
    • *salutes* Major Daddy-issues!
    • Barney grew up without a father, and the quest of finding his biological father has been a plot point in several episodes. In a certain way, he himself has daddy-issues.
    • When you think about it, everybody on the cast with the exception of Marshall has daddy issues (Ted's father is emotionally avoidant, the only thing they talk about is baseball; Lily's father is a deadbeat that left her and her mother.) This may explain the Ho Yay (why do we keep trying to have sex with Ted?) and Barney's obsession with Lily's boobs.
    • I wouldn't count Marshall out of that either. Yes he had a close relationship with his dad but there are several references to it seeming 'too close' (such as Lily getting angry when he interferes in them trying for a baby). Also, when Marshall teaches Lily's kindergarteners basketball, the brutal, cruel method he used was from how he was treated by his dad. Not such a healthy relationship after all. Then he dies. Even if the relationship was a bit too close and possibly controlling, his dad "leaving him" by dying messed him up big time.
  • In Sorry, Bro Barney runs from Wendy during a lunch after they've broken up when she reaches into her purse and produces a tie (He thinks she's pulling out a gun)... this gets sorted out because Barney is WEARING the tie while he tells the story.
  • More like Fridge Sadness than anything. In one episode, it ends with Ted reminding the kids about all the pictures they used to draw of themselves doing fun things with Robin. It's cute, right? Then comes the latest episode where Robin finds out she can't get pregnant and you realize the reason she's in all those pictures might be because Ted's kids are the closet thing she'll ever have to a child.
  • In "Doppelgängers", Lily says that she can't have a baby until she sees the fifth doppelgänger. She convinces herself that she sees Barney's doppelgänger at the end of that episode, so she's now emotionally ready to have a baby. However, and this is where the brilliance shines, she and Marshall aren't physically ready to have a baby until after she sees Barney's real doppelgänger, her fertility specialist, in "Bad News".
    • This is also a play on "see". When Lily originally means she's not ready to have a baby until she sees the fifth doppelgänger, she means until she visually notices him. She is physically ready to have a baby when she sees, as in consults, a fertility specialist, Barney's doppelgänger.
  • In "The Naked Man", Barney compares himself to Batman. Coincidentally, at the time, he was having a budding romance with Robin.
  • The only one of the five main characters to think that the North Pole is a fictional place is the Canadian.
  • In "Slapsgiving", Marshall performs a song for the gang. Robin and Ted take out lighters in a Raised Lighter Tribute. Later in season 5, Ted reveals to the kids that everyone in the gang was actually a heavy smoker. Everyone, the kids and the fans, was shocked and complained about the zero build-up and foreshadowing. But if Ted and Robin were smokers, it would make sense for them to have lighters on their person, wouldn't it?
    • This hint is made even clearer when you notice that Bob, who Robin was dating at the time, pulls out his cell phone rather than a lighter.
  • Robin has a habit of being extremely unsafe with guns, to the point that she really shouldn't have them. However, given Ted's status as an unreliable narrator, this likely isn't true. In reality Robin was reasonably safe, it is just that Ted doesn't consider guns safe at all. In his eyes Reckless Gun Usage is just the act of possessing them in the first place.
  • In "Return of the Shirt" Ted is planning to break up with Natalie for the second time (the first time he did it over her answering machine on her birthday) only to find out that, once again, it's her birthday. Rather than wait and do it later, he goes ahead and breaks up with her and she beats the crap out of him. Later in "Columns," Ted seems to have a hard time firing Hammond Druthers because, among other things, he finds out it's Druthers' birthday. Ted has obviously learned his lesson from his mistake with Natalie.
  • In the season six episode 'Blitzgiving' the Blitz, Steve, leaves early because he's "getting really into Madden 2k1", and Robin is clearly seen in the group. While at first it seems to be an anachronism, it's probably a subtle way for them to show how he's always late, not just to events but in games as well.
    • On the subject of the Blitz: when Ted and Stella were dating, Ted mentions how he kept missing things because he kept having to leave early to get to New York/New Jersey. Which made HIM the Blitz.
    • The real Fridge Brilliance here is when you remember that, like mentioned in the first Robin Sparkles music video, Canada is always about 10 years behind America. It would make sense that the game he's playing is outdated by about ten years.
  • In the episode "Ted Mosby: Architect," Robin assumes that Ted has been cheating on her based on stories that she's been hearing from strangers all night, including Ted bragging to a girl that he ended Frank Gehry's career (because he's so awesome). As it turns out, it was actually Barney masquerading as Ted all night in order to pick up chicks. Sleazy as usual, but it does show that Barney actually listens to Ted when he goes on for hours about architecture, at least enough to name drop Frank Gehry to the average bimbo.
    • Additionally, it may seem odd that Barney often refers to himself as a "barnacle", as being an immobile lifeform stuck to a rock, ship, or whale might seem to be antithetical to his lifestyle. Then you realize that barnacles have the longest penis proportionate to their body of all lifeforms on Earth.
    • Of course he listens. Barney's a terrible person, but a great friend.
      • Except for all the ways he's also a terrible friend, he's a great friend.
      • But he does have "Attention Deficit- something, can we have class outside?", which is Fridge Brilliance as the reason he keeps zoning out.
      • Additionally, he may have learned to listen with half an ear to what a girl is saying while simultaneously checking her out and making sure there aren't any hotter girls around to hit on, just so he can keep a conversation going.
      • Frank Gehry is also one of the better known architects, thanks to The Simpsons. He could have just as easily said Frank Lloyd Wright.
  • Notice how Ted has no problem talking about his and his friends’ sex life, but censors cuss words and replaces ‘weed’ for ‘sandwiches’. An interesting insight to the values of the future, perhaps?
    • Actually, quite a few of the practices he has with regards to what he censors make sense for a single widowed father of two kids. He's okay with talking about sex with his teenaged children, but he a) is still used to not using high-level curse words in front of them and b) doesn't want to encourage casual drug use in his own kids. I guess he figures if they choose to do so that's up to them, but he won't encourage it. Conveniently, everything he chooses not to use is stuff they couldn't say on TV anyway.
  • At first, it seems odd: Ted really didn't realize that something went down between Barney and Robin when he saw Barney cleaning up the candles and rose petals around her bed in "Tick Tick Tick"? He wasn't under some false impression either, since he connects the dots all on his own in "No Pressure," but how come it took so long? Then you realize that Ted was still very stoned from his and Marshall's escapade at the concert at the end of "Tick Tick Tick", and probably dismissed what he saw as more drugged-up weirdness, until the events of "No Pressure" made it suddenly click for him.
  • In the Seventh season finale, Robin says she's delivered many babies, "one of which was even human." She delivered a baby in a Funny Background Event back in season 5.
  • When Ted was left at the altar in "Shelter Island", he was angrier at Stella for leaving him than at Tony for stealing her. In fact, he harbored no ill will towards Tony despite "The Wedding Bride". This may be because, in "The Magician's Code", he's about to be in his position and steal Victoria away from her groom on her wedding day.
  • In pilot episode, in the very first scene with Robin, Barney, and Ted, Ted's describing it as "like something from an old movie, where the sailor sees the girl across the crowded dance floor, turns to his buddy and says 'See that girl? I'm gonna marry her some day...'", except that he never actually finishes his sentence IRL because Barney interrupts him. This is foreshadowing. Ted doesn't marry Robin; Barney does.
    • And the only time Ted got to finish that sentence was in 2030, when he told the story to his kids. Guess what else happened then...
  • Ted comments to Robin that they are all their own doppelgängers- different versions of themselves that have developed over time. The real 'doppelgängers' that they spot around the city could also be seen as different versions of most of the main characters.
    • Robin's doppelgänger is a short-haired boyish figure, similar to how she is seen in flashbacks growing up with her father, and could be an allusion to the person her father would have preferred her to be.
    • Lily's doppelgänger is a stripper, which relates to her personality as a very sexual person, and by the end of the episode she herself dresses in her doppelgänger's clothes to get up on the pole and try out the lifestyle of her alter ego.
    • Marshall's doppelgänger's main characteristic is a mustache, which Marshall is shown to equate with success when, in "Trilogy Time", Marshall's idea of himself in the future as successful and happy always shows him with the mustache he is unable to grow in real life. Furthermore, the doppelgänger is called Señor Justicia, i.e. Mr. Justice. Not only is Marshall a lawyer by this point, he goes on to be a judge.
    • Barney's doppelgänger... well, he's a guy that looks at lady parts all day. It fits Barney's personality so much that Lily refuses to believe it's actually not Barney. Also ironic, as the man who always tells people not to have kids has a doppelgänger whose career is centered on fertility and helping couples to have children.
    • Then what does Mexican Wrestler Ted signify? That whole episode ("Robots Vs Wrestlers") is about Ted being snobbish and pretentious and 'no fun'. The gang act as though he isn't any fun, mocking him for acting cultured, but then are presented with an alter ego of Ted that is very cool and fun. The picture they send to Ted of his doppelgänger also makes him leave the posh party he's at, realizing he'd rather have fun with his friends. So Mexican Wrestler Ted signifies the side to him that is fun and, just as Ted as the narrator is the centre of the friendship group, Robots Vs Wrestlers becomes a tradition that keeps them together.
  • In "The Best Burger in New York" (4.4) Regis Philbin hosts a TV show called "Million Dollar Heads or Tails". Yet, a couple of seasons later in "False Positive" (6.12), when we see the show again, it's hosted by Alex Trebek. While it's possible they just couldn't get Philbin back for a second cameo - it's also very likely that Philbin was probably fired from "Million Dollar Heads or Tails" for walking off the set for the sake of a burger!
    • Or a reference to how Meredith Viera replaced Regis for the syndicated version of Millionaire.
  • The story that Ted is telling is obviously a very long one and, at first glance, it could have been started at any point in his past. He could have started when he first went to college and met his roommate and future best friend, Marshall. He could have started when he graduated college and went out into the real world. He could have started when he first bumped into Barney. After all, he apparently loves long stories. So why did his story (and the series) start where it did? The answer can be found in the season finale of season 7. We already know that Ted will met the Mother at a wedding, specifically Barney's, but that episode finally revealed the bride. The reason that the first episode of the entire show was about that particular day in the life of Ted Mosby was because that's when he met Robin, the woman Barney will marry at the wedding the Mother will be present for, and brought her into the group. That day truly was the catalyst that led to him meeting the Mother.
    • Ted is on the Farhampton train station platform because he is leaving Robin and Barney's wedding to catch a plane so that he can leave New York, and Robin, behind. The Mother is ultimately there because of Robin. The Mother's roommate got her the wedding gig because the roommate's former boyfriend said he needed a band for a friend's wedding. The roommate met the boyfriend because he taught at Columbia thanks to a man who helped the boyfriend's dermatologist fiance run from the altar. The boyfriend met the fiance because he wanted to get a butterfly tattoo removed from his sacrum. He got the butterfly tattoo thanks to the rebound boyfriend Gael that came back from Argentina with Robin. Because of Robin, both parents are there at the same time, alone.
    • Also, the story started with Marshall being about to propose to Lily. This makes Ted realise that he's still nowhere near meeting the soul mate he's always dreamed of in those ImagineSpots - which is implied to be the point when he starts actually trying to meet the Mother.
  • A butterfly is a pretty generic tramp stamp, but it unintentionally holds a deeper meaning for Ted's story. The butterfly tattoo is how he met Stella, leading to the complicated series of events that get him his job, allow him to meet Cindy, and thus get closer to meeting the mother. It's a perfect example of the butterfly effect, something Ted all but mentions by name when he runs into Stella again in "Right Place Right Time."
  • In "Of Course", Robin initially turns Don down. On the surface, it seems like she just doesn't like him all that much, which considering his personality, is a fair cop. But in the context of the episode, in which Barney is tormented by a woman whose trick is to say "no" to get what she wants, Robin could be taking that advice literally with a guy she actually likes, since she seems pretty excited about it once it's happening.
  • In "Jenkins", Ted's stock student Betty is wearing a green argyle sweater that Robin was seen wearing on-and-off in Season Three. This seems like normal wardrobe recycling, but then it comes to light that all of Ted's students watch and love Robin's show. Betty was wearing the sweater as an homage!
  • In "The Stamp Tramp," Ted has a video recording of Marshall in his "big suit" which he wore for his third date with Lily. Why would a big guy like Marshall have an even bigger suit? Because he's the "runt of the litter" and it was a hand-me-down from one of his (even bigger) brothers.
  • In The Final Page, Part 2, the final scene has the, who I assume to be, President of GNB, thanking Ted for making the GNB Building and stating that it wouldn't have been possible without him. BUT, the scenes before this had Ted urging Robin to go after Barney and the scene immediately preceding this one is Robin accepting Barney's wedding proposal. So the President thanking Ted is a meta-nod: Barney and Robin marrying wouldn't have been possible had he not told Robin to go after Barney.
    • Not only that. We also see a shot of Lily and Marshall reunited with baby Marvin. Earlier in the season, Ted is shown as having encouraged Marshall to keep at it with Lily. Ted is thus responsible for both of his best friends ending up with their future wives, and for the birth of baby Marvin. Ted Mosby: The Ultimate Wingman.
  • In Something Old, Ted actually has a revelation when he realizes that he should take his fate into his own hands, which goes against Ted's previous way of just relying on the Universe to give him signs along the way to determine who's "THE ONE." So, in Something New, he's given the choice to do exactly just that when he finally meets the Mother.
    • Actually you can see this trend in Future!Ted: In The Time Travelers, possibly Ted's Darkest Hour, what does Future!Ted do? He decides to Screw Destiny and derails the whole sequence of events to meet The Mother 45 days before they were supposed to.
  • Something Old ends with a scene between Ted and Robin, alluding to their "old" relationship. Something New ends with the first appearance of the Mother, alluding to Ted's "new" relationship.
  • Keep an eye on the clown during Barney's Bachelor Party... when Ralph Macchio shows up, the clown is the only one other than Barney to express outrage. Of course he still has hard feelings towards this fake karate kid.
  • Why does Barney say in "Coming Back" that James' marriage helped him believe in love, while not saying the same for Lily and Marshall? Barney has always known Lily and Marshall as a couple, and he likes them together, but they're also "lame married people" in his mind. The way they are in their marriage, sweet with lots of corny rituals and very monogamous for each other, turned him off because he could never see himself in a relationship like that. James was his wingman for a long time, and grew up with the same non-monogamous single mother he did. James was a lot like Barney. James even admitted when he told Barney about his relationship with Tom that it initially scared him, that it wasn't what he was used to, but he still committed to that lifestyle. Well, at least until we discover that they were getting a divorce and James cheated on Tom, but Barney didn't know that at the time. His faith in Lily and Marshall showed that he believed in love and marriage to some degree, but not until it happened to James did he believe it could happen to him.
  • In "Perfect Week" Robin asks "Mookie Wilson, is that a thing?" If you only know him from coaching the Mets and/or from his part in winning the 1986 World Series for the Mets the line is simply an amusing case of Robin confusing the two New York major league baseball teams. It wasn't until I was looking him up almost four years after the initial airdate that I realised the rest of the joke: after playing for the Mets and before coaching them he spent a couple years playing for the Toronto Blue Jays. She never followed baseball but it's entirely possible that in her teen years she heard something about Mookie Wilson being traded from a New York team and was vaguely remembering that when she asked her question.
  • Why is Robin so desolate when she finds out she cannot have children, even when she never wanted them? Because, like lobster and Barney, she wants the things she cannot have.
    • Actually, it's implied that she is upset because the choice was taken away from her.
      • It's not implied at all: she says it outright, in pretty much those words.
      • That's kind of the point of it; she wants things she can't have, especially when the choice is taken away from her. So yes, she's upset because she wants what she can't have.
  • Fan reaction to the Mother has been mixed. You have to remember that the show is a flashback told from Ted's point of view, and when people are in love they view the object of their affection as perfect in every way.
    • This also explains why Robin was so perfect in season one, compared to later on where she was still very cool, but was seen to be dorky and flawed at times.
  • Ted knocking out Darren is important in the long run...had he not punched Darren, the latter would probably still be lead singer of the Super Freakonomics. The Mother would probably be well on her way back to New York, and she and Ted would probably never have hooked up.
  • It seems not only odd but very cruel that Tony and Stella would put together a film that makes Ted Mosby out to be a villain, when they left on decent terms. However, anyone who knows anything about the process of filmmaking knows that the screenwriter usually has very little say in how the final film turns out. So it probably initially started off as a film that was probably closer to real life, but since moral gray areas are boring and risky to Hollywood execs, they probably changed it to a simple romantic comedy, blowing up the flaws of the Jed Mosley, effectively turning him into a straight-up villain.
  • In "Unpause" it's revealed that Barney's job at GNB is to literally be an extremely well paid scapegoat in case of any investigations, and he was only working at GNB to gain revenge on the guy who stole Shannon from him in his hippy days. The Brilliance is that Barney got Marshall & Ted jobs at GNB too - he made sure his best friends got a big pay day before he destroyed the company.
  • Also in "Unpause" (though bordering on Fridge Horror): Marshall reveals that he fears that Lily sees her life with him and Marvin as a consolation prize after failing as an artist in San Francisco. This creates more context for his offense at Lily spending so much time at her job last season. It's also a viable fear for reasons Marshall doesn't even know about; if Marshall knew the events of "Milk" (where Lily swore up and down that all she had to do was see if she could get the fellowship) or her confession to Ted that she hates being a mom, who knows how he'd react?
    • Valid point, but she hardly said she hates that she's a Mom, it was more like "This is so hard that I sometimes wish I weren't a mom, but I feel so guilty about that feeling that I haven't been able to admit it to anybody, even Marshall, and that just makes it even worse."
  • In "How Your Mother Met Me", it's revealed that the Mother was unable to move on after her First Love Max's death, to the point of turning down her then-current boyfriend Louis's wedding proposal. But as seen in "The Lighthouse", the Mother immediately accepted Ted's proposal before he could even finish asking the question and saying "yes" multiple times, showing by the time she met Ted, she was able to move on.
    • Also this includes the phrase The Mother used to explain Louis why she can't move on: She felt like she won the lottery once and it won't be happening any time soon. Back in Season 1, one of the reasons Ted gave Natalie to break up was because he wasn't feeling she was "The One", like how not winning the lottery had similar chances of finding the one. Both of them wouldn't be winning the lottery any time soon.
    • It also explains how she was able to give a speech to Barney that inspired him to propose to Robin. She saw him and could relate to a relationship ending badly and having not moved on, and wanted to give him words of advice that she couldn't accept herself.
    • A big continuity mistake seemed to be the Mother wearing different clothes in the club (a dress) than in line with her umbrella (jeans). Simple: she let someone in line borrow it when she went in the club.
  • The reveal that Penny is the daughter's name initially seemed a little strange but it becomes an excellent Call-Back to the episode "Lucky Penny" where it was because of a penny that Ted ended up staying in New York and eventually meeting the Mother. Not to mention Ted and the Mother's love for coin collecting.
  • In "Autumn of Breakups," Marshall and Lily insist that the time off between when Ted and Victoria were together counts, saying it's an "unpause," not a "reset." Of course they think this - if they didn't, all the time they dated before Lily left for California would be forfeit.
    • Eh, there's still a huge difference between not counting a couple-month breakup in a nine year relationship and not counting a seven year breakup following a few-month relationship. I'd argue Lily and Marshall's breakup shouldn't really reset after their brief breakup, but Ted and Victoria's relationship definitely reset. At the very least they should only being the few months they dated in 2006 to their relationship length - so they can say they've been together for a grand total of what? six or eight months? but it's certainly ridiculous for them to act like they had been together for a whole seven year relationship.
  • In Last Cigarette Ever it is revealed that Robin has her last cigarette in June 2013 the month after she gets married
  • In The Pineapple Incident, we meet Trudy, who, during her brief screentime, comes off as smart and rather nice. When we see her again in The Third Wheel, she comes off as... a bitchy sorority girl. But wait! What's the main difference between those two episodes? In the latter episode, Trudy's former sorority sister is there. Apparently, the main five aren't the only ones to fall victim to "revertigo!"
    • Also, Ted was drunk when he first met her. He might've not remembered her personality exactly as it was.
  • Why did Barney fall in love with Quinn who is completely the opposite of Nora? Because it was an overcorrection!
  • At the end of "Daisy", we find out that that's the name Marshall and Lily give to the daughter Lily's pregnant with. This means that both Lily and her daughter bear the names of flowers.
  • Lily's behavior throughout the season make much more sense now that we know she's pregnant again
  • In "How Your Mother Met Me", it seems like a great coincidence how Ted was on the balcony at that exact time to hear the Mother sing. He was probably there for a smoke, since he hadn't quit yet.
  • In the stinger for "The Slutty Pumpkin Returns," Barney morphs into American Barney (Apollo Creed USA Suit) and Canadian Barney (Dudley Do-Right). You can tell it's a dream sequence since he's not wearing The Ducky Tie.
  • In the first season Thanksgiving episode, a stripper introduces herself as Tracy to Ted. Future Ted then tells his kids "And that's how I met your mother." Causing them to shout "What?!" in surprise before Future Ted says that he's just kidding. But in the series finale we find out that the Mother's name is also Tracy. The reaction of the kids in the future would not have made sense if the stripper didn't share her first name with the Mother.
  • In the episode "Gary Blauman" we learn years earlier Ted had become obsessed with former president Theodore Roosevelt after reading his biography and bored the gang with Teddy Roosevelt facts like how he was blinded in one eye during a boxing match while in office. The one fact about Roosevelt that isn't mentioned in the episode which predicts the finale? Teddy Roosevelt's beloved first wife dies of an illness just after a short period of marriage and he later remarries an old friend (who had attended his wedding to his other first wife).
  • One of the reasons that some fans believed that the mother wouldn't die in the finale, was because the kids at the beginning of the story, acted like they didn't want to hear it, which would make them seem insensitive and uncaring. But it's later established that Ted has a tendency to tell really long detailed stories, and the kids likely already know this. So, they weren't being jerks for not wanting to hear the story of how Ted met their dead mother, they were exasperated because they knew that Ted was going to tell a very long story, that actually had very little of their mother in it.
    • Didn't help that he point-blank said that yes, it was going to take a while.
  • An in-universe explanation for why the kids stopped commenting and were reduced to silent stock footage in the later seasons? They quickly figured out that Ted was still obsessed with Robin and were simply waiting him to get around to the end of the story to call him out on it.
    • You can argue that it even shows up in the first episode, since it ends on Ted narrating that the episode was how he met...their aunt Robin. Considering how he talks of her and the literal title of the show, it's Ted subconsciously admitting to his kids that he does kind of want Robin to be their new mother.
  • Notice how in "Shelter Island" in the hypothetical flashback to where Stella is the mother, she interrupts while Ted is telling the story. It makes you wonder why the real mother hasn't walked in while Ted is talking. She's been dead for six years.
  • Barney's mom lied to him all the time - and look how messed up he turned out. Makes sense that Ted would want to avoid lying to his children.
  • In a very early episode, "The Pineapple Incident," Barney sets Ted's coat on fire. Where did he get the lighter? We don't see him smoking, except cigars on special occasions. Except, as we find out several seasons later, he does smoke.
  • Barney has the highly questionable practice of filming his sexual exploits. One assumes he keeps them to jerk off to during a slump, and he does make mention once of using them to analyze his own performance. But consider: they can also be a defense against allegations of sexual assault.
    • On the other hand, recording someone without their consent is itself sexual assault.
  • From "Matchmaker," Ellen Pierce uses a whole lot of math to lure Ted into paying for her service, claiming that there's eight women in NYC that are Ted's possible soulmate. Except even a minute's worth of thought about that shows that she eliminates over a hundred and twenty thousand women on the basis that they're either relatives or ex-girlfriends of Ted's, or lesbians, which she notes as an afterthought. Never mind that he has no relatives in NYC, as his parents still live in Ohio and his sister hasn't moved out there yet. Shows very quickly how Pierce is using something very similar to home alarm hucksters to intimidate Ted into paying for her service, especially because it's physically impossible to have a 100% success rate.
  • Why was Barney's mom okay with him lying to her about his "family" in "The Stinsons?" Because she'd been lying to her kids throughout their entire childhood about who their father was and just about everything else that would have been inconvenient to talk about. No wonder Barney's constantly in denial, with how he was raised.
  • In "Disaster Averted" Robin calls Barney "Blondie" this is not something she'd ever called him before or ever again so it seemed odd but think of the context, she was secretly desperately hoping her dad would call while claiming it wasn't important insisting it was "barbeque weather" which he apparently later say's himself, she was trying to sound like her dad and what dose her dad say when he first meets Barney, "this man is blond!"
  • In "Daisy", it was revealed that Lily had been drinking non-alcoholic drinks all weekend. So why did she specifically claim in, "The Lighthouse" that, "Yes, I'm in a rotten mood. No, I don't want to talk about it. Yes, this has booze in it. No, it's not my first." At first it seems like a contradiction that Lily, as mad as she was and focused on her fight with Marshall, would have gone out of her way to lie about drinking. However, it makes sense when you consider the context. She didn't want to talk about what was going on with her. If anyone commented on her drinking this early in the day, she either had to lie (like she did) or tell the truth, leading people to question whether her other drinks were alcoholic and starting a whole thing of having to explain why she wasn't drinking. If she was going to lie, then it was better to get it out of the way straight away in a way that would lead to the fewest questions being asked which is what she did.
  • Robin learned in the third season that "getting the kid is winning" in a divorce. In the fourth season, we finally learn about all of her daddy issues, how he always wanted a boy and Robin moved in with her mother after he couldn't deny any longer that she wasn't one.
  • In Three Days of Snow, Lily and Marshall get each other six packs with punny names. Neither one understands Aspen Yard's Ale. This is a play on the words "Yard Sale".
  • In "Bellyful of Turkey," Ted can't understand why it's so hard to volunteer at the homeless shelter on Thanksgiving, especially when Kendall tells him that it's the biggest volunteer day of the year. Simply this: all the volunteers are like Amanda; they are serving dinner to get all the "really good" food that won't be eaten to take home with themselves. Barney doesn't know that since he is there for court-ordered community service.
    • Plus, it actually is a big volunteer day, with a lot of people deciding to give back (being thankful, spirit of the holiday, etc.) and going to soup kitchens or homeless shelters.
  • While it doesn't excuse Stella abandoning Ted at the altar like she did, she does have some good reasons for deciding that staying with Ted was not worth it. In "I Heart NJ", Ted and his friends demonize Stella for wanting Ted to move in with her in her New Jersey home instead of vice-versa because she doesn't want to uproot her daughter's entire life or take her away from her school and friends just to pursue a relationship. Ted, on the other hand, is able to easily move out of his apartment and because the part of New Jersey that Stella lives in is so close to New York it means Ted doesn't have to find a new job because of the potential move, which means that Ted moving in with Stella would be the better choice for everyone involved. Yet the narrative (which is being told by the older Ted) treats Stella as being super selfish and unreasonable for putting her daughter's stability and happiness before Ted's attachment to his bachelor apartment and his snobbery against lame old New Jersey. In another episode, the five main characters and the narrative demonized for not liking Star Wars. If Ted was willing to act entitled and immature over a few minor flaws, why whould Stella decide she wants to keep dating him?
  • "The Scorpion and the Toad," as well as the bar that gives the episode its name, is a reference to the old tale of the scorpion and the frog. The fable goes that the frog carries the scorpion across the river, and while the scorpion promises not to sting the frog because that'll drown both of them, it does so anyway. It's a story about how vicious people will go forward with their own instincts even when it's self-destructive. This is a metaphor for Barney acting as Marshall's wingman but not being able to resist his desire to snatch up Marshall's potential dates. In the end, they both get doomed by this behavior: neither of them get the girl, because Marshall loses his date to Barney and rejects the returning Lily, and Barney loses both twins when Marshall has Lily make Barney look bad as revenge.
  • In "Rally", Lily finally gets her wish to make out with Robin, as part of a desperate ploy to try and wake up a beyond-hungover Barney. Afterward, however, Lily is finally over the urge to do it...while Robin is the one who seems excited to kiss her again. Rule of Funny? Sure...but it also makes sense for Robin's character. She really wants to make out with Lily again because Lily locked the door.
  • The B-plot in "Bachelor Party" has Robin get a dildo for Lily's wedding shower without realizing Lily's older relatives, including a nun, would be there. However, when the truth comes out, Lily's relatives have no problem and are quite comfortable talking about it. This twist makes more sense given how, in "How Lily Stole Christmas," Lily in a flashback that her mom was a staunch feminist. So it tracks that her mom would have no problem speaking openly about female sexuality.

Fridge Horror

  • Off-universe the story is close to becoming a Long Runner, who knows how long Ted has been ranting In-Universe?
    • Every episode is about 21 minutes without commercials. At the end of episode 8, 184 episodes would have been broadcast. If he rants for 21 minutes per episode In-Universe, he would have been ranting for 64.4 (hopefully non-consecutive) hours. Assuming that season 9 is 24 episodes, that will lead us to 72.8 (still hopefully non-consecutive) hours.
    • Lampshaded here.
    • While the promo, positing that Ted has been talking for eight years straight and exposing all of the Fridge Squick that attends that concept, was just a joke, consider this: Ted's narration directed at the kids seems to assume that they're getting all the same information that we, the viewers, are. Add to that, there seem to be no breaks in the storytelling, and the kids are wearing the same clothes through the whole series. For obvious reasons, but let's hold off on the Meta for a moment and take all of that at face value. The entire premise of the series only makes sense if we assume that the whole thing happens in Real Time - that Ted did indeed talk nonstop for slightly over three days straight. Not as bad as the eight-years thing, but the three of them are probably a bit smelly by the end. Plus, hungry.
  • Claudia's Bridezilla tendencies are introduced with her yelling on the phone about how the cake better be Tahitian Vanilla or she will kill the person she's talking to. While that's pretty rude no matter who's on the other end of the line, most viewers probably won't think about the fact that, since she made the cake, that's probably Victoria Claudia is screaming at.
  • The Ho-be-gone system seems funny...until you realize Barney doesn't know where it leads.
    • Largely mitigated when he puts Robin through it and she comes back later, no worse for wear. Still Nightmare Fuel up until the point where she returns, though.
  • We laugh, but think about it: Scooter has been in love with Lily, and actively pursuing her and trying to get her to dump Marshall, for fifteen years. Despite the fact that he was just her high school boyfriend, and Lily has rejected him time after time. The guy has basically wasted half his life chasing an unattainable woman on the doomed hope that a perfectly happy, stable marriage will collapse.
  • (Season 7, Episode 2) Peter Durkenson, drunk master of Edward Forty-Hands, is actually a Surgeon
    • Speaking of Edward Forty-Hands, Fridge Logic comes into play. If he was initially playing it alone, and later it was just him and Marshall, how did they tape the bottles to their hands?
    • They showed that, he had the duct tape around one of the bottles in a later scene so he used that to let the tape spin.
  • The cockamouse settles in the Arcadian and has babies. Days later, Ted blows up the Arcadian, and a family of scientific wonders with it.
    • It's a cockamouse, though. It's probably survived far worse.
  • An in-show example:
    Future Ted: And my friends didn't see me for 72 hours.
    Robin: He was our ride.
  • The Toothbrush. Season Five. Watch Ted's expression. *shudder*
  • From "Jenkins": When Robin ended the Robin Scherbatsky drinking game: didn't Ted tell his class he'd pay for their drinks?
  • Think about "The Blitz". There's a phenomenon that suspends the rules of physics (and triples the rule of awesome) just to make the Blitz feel bad.
  • Ted managed to get over his anger with Stella by realizing that Lucy finally had her parents back together and no matter how much he, Stella and Lucy loved each other he knew he couldn't replicate that sense of joy, even claiming that it was a perfect ending to a perfect love story. It would be all just fine, but that wasn't the end of their story as they show up later in the season. In this return, Tony ended up leaving Stella for a very short time because of Ted talking about what a horrible thing she did. They got back together because of Ted's intervention, but that really makes Tony out to be a massive flake who is looking for any excuse to leave his wife and daughter.
  • After Symphony of Illumination, where Robin spends the entire episode talking to her kids that don't exist the fact that Ted is actually talking to his kids is now thrown into question.
    • Not necessarily; Robin could have told Ted sometime later that she was in the park trying to get through the situation. Future!Ted could have just imagined what she was doing there.
  • In "Symphony of Illusion," Robin mentions she can't talk to Lily about her woes because Robin will wind up having to console Lily. Later on, when confronted about how he was still in love with Robin, Ted wound up having to console Lily.
  • Not sure if this is really Fridge Horror, but in the episode "Front Porch," we learn that Lily sabotaged Ted and Robin's relationship back in the day. She explains that she was just looking out for them, that she didn't think they were right for each other, and that all she really wanted was to get them to talk about issues. She apologizes and everything is fine. But several seasons later, in "No Pressure," we find out that Lily had also made a bet with Marshall, that Ted and Robin would never be together. Meaning she had slightly less noble motives than she claimed for the breakup.
  • Jeanette is a insane woman who will trash the fuck out of your property if she feels you slight her in the slightest. She is a cop.
  • The Mother's Slimeball of a bandmate, Darren, sucks up to people, lies about a "tragic backstory" to gain their sympathy, and then proceeds to destroy their closest friendships by getting them to open up and then "accidentally" revealing the secret to the other person, for no reason other than he can. The guy might be an actual sociopath.
    • And even if he's not, the Mother's been putting up with him for how long? Who knows how many of her friendships he might've destroyed!
  • So in "Unpause," Barney reveals his entire job was signing things and being the fall guy when GNB's illegal activities come to light. As such, Barney is probably completely unemployable. Thank god Robin is Secretly Wealthy.
    • On the other hand, Barney has proven to be an utter genius when it comes to inventing things. See most of the stuff in his apartment. Some of that has to be marketable. He may not be office worker material, but he's still brilliant. It's just he's brilliant in completely insane ways.
    • And who's to say that Barney didn't learn a few things while he worked at GNB?
    • Also, Barney was probably smart enough to save a lot of money, plus is probably getting a very big whistle-blowers reward. Plus, he has enough skills to find employment.
    • Doesn't he work for the FBI to help them catch his boss by pretending to be The Pawn? And the boss is arrested in the end.
    • Going back, it's clear that Barney is a skilled hairdresser, hibachi chef, and linguist (speaking Korean and at least one dialect of Chinese) amongst other things. It's just all he ever uses them for is to get laid. Barney could be literally anything he wanted to. Getting hired as anything corporate might be tricky, but Barney is certainly smart enough to get hired. If nothing else, he could live off the stuff he's invented (he frequently mentions pending patents on the weird-ass stuff in his apartment).
    • His new career will likely be based on his role as a fall guy and informant in what would amount to one of America's largest corporate scandals. Indeed there are several avenues for him to monetize his experience: (1) He will earn good coin doing consultancy work, being an expert witness and giving speeches on compliance for corporations, law firms, law enforcement agencies, business schools etc. (2) He might also be able to write a book about the scandal himself, given he is apparently not a bad writer at all. (3) And given his excellent contacts to the news media, a pundit role could also be easily established. He'll be fine.
  • In "Sunrise" We see three of Ted's past girlfriends, among them Jeanette. We learn that on the day Victoria overnighted the package containing Robin's GRANDMOTHER'S locket, she signed for it, claiming to be Ted's wife. Lets see... she committed fraud, tampered with another persons mail. Add her two white-collar crimes to her end less list of stalking, harassment, and property damage how is this woman employed by the police? She should be locked up!
  • When Robin is talking about Barney's predisposition to lying to her in "The End of the Aisle", she refers to his catch-phrase 'Legendary' as being not real, right? Well at the end of the episode, Future Ted says the following line about Barney and Robin's vows.
    Future Ted: And it was legendary.
  • Knowing the last scene in the finale was planned from almost the beginning, pretty much everything involving the mother. No matter who she was, Ted Mosby's wife was always doomed to die young and never see her children grow up. That's practically a curse from an evil warlock!
    • Also, if the show never picked up a second season due to one reason or another, and placing Victoria as the mother, one would speculate her shared fate.
      • And since the ending had been written beforehand, it would have also been applied to Stella and Zoey.
      • Given that Ted met Victoria in 2006, and the eldest child was born around 2015 and the kids would have been teenagers by 2030, and applying the speculation above, it would have been a years-long struggle of hardships, plans and infertility scares before that.
      • The finale we saw wasn't set in stone until the kids stopped appearing in new scenes, in the second season opener. Presumably around this time, they filmed that scene in the finale about how their mother was dead. The creators could have had any ending they wanted up to that point. What they actually would have done is purely a matter of speculation. Come to that, they could have just thrown away the scene with the kids and done whatever they liked, anytime.
  • The fact that Ted and Robin get together in the finale is a reflection of the relationship between his parents. Remember in the episode of Season 2 where Ted's parents reveal they've been divorced for so long and didn't tell Ted. Ted's parents told Ted and Robin how different they were and how it backfired on them and the two realized they aren't so different to Ted's parents. Ted might've gotten together with Robin for the sake of proving that there was a possibility where his parents could've stayed together and not get divorced.
    • Made worse is that Robin felt like being together with Ted again despite his marriage to Tracy is her failing to remember the very warning she gave to Ted when he tried to marry Stella ("disappearing into someone else's wedding, someone else's house, someone else's life without a second thought"). As a result, Robin disappeared into Ted's house and into his life of raising his teenage children after their mother had died. Even in the alternate ending, Robin will disappear into someone else's house and life: Barney and his daughter Ellie.
  • One regarding Twelve Horny Women: Brad makes a video of him swimming in Frog Lake to convince the all-female jury that it wasn't polluted. Gruber Pharmaceuticals either made him make that video or they allowed him to swim in the lake knowing fully well it was polluted. No surprise that Brad later has a Heel Realization and quits to work for Honeywell & Cootes.
    • Also, as Gruber Pharmaceuticals' attorney in this case, he would (or *should*) have also known about the pollution. If he didn't, then that meant they were also lying to their own attorney!
      • Or his success bonus/sheer kudos for winning was worth a little dermatitis
  • Both Barney and Ted see their respective brides in their dresses before getting married, which is stated to be bad luck for their marriages. This rings true for both of them, as Barney and Robin get divorced, and Tracy dies young.
  • It's played for laughs, but Stuff heavily implies that all of Ted's girlfriends are so interchangeable in his mind that he genuinely can't tell them apart in his memories. For example, he insists he's taken Robin to a restaurant that she's never been to, and he thinks Robin is the girl he was dating when Van Helsing came out - a full year before he even met her. Kinda makes you wonder if maybe there's a reason he's still single even though he's desperate to get married...

Fridge Logic

  • In the seventh season Ted discovers that Lily and Marshall have been betting on the group members' lives, for example Lily bet against Marshall that Ted and Robin wouldn't end up together. But how could you possibly bet on this, since even if Robin and Ted did get married to other people, there's no knowing for sure that they won't some day (maybe in ten years or so) decide their lives suck and they still love each other, and get divorced and run off together. The only way to make sure that the bet has been won would be if either Ted or Robin (or both) died. Rule of Funny, I guess, but still.
    • Not necessarily. Lily or Marshall would pay up when Ted or Robin got married to someone else, because Ted or Robin probably couldn't marry someone if they still loved one another in any way that might make them want to get back together, either their own feelings would get in the way, or Lily would do something to stop it. I have a feeling that Robin is probably included in the Front Porch Test now.
  • So, why do those kids apparently not have any idea what their own mother's first name is?
    • That's not the case: When he tells about Robin in the pilot, he only mentions her name at the end of the episode, and all the other times he names a girl, there is no sign that the kids actually think it could be their mother.
    • Also, as the title implies, Ted hasn't actually met the kids' mother yet. So he probably hasn't mentioned her name.
      • Stella was said to have been a back-up mother—but wouldn't the kids have known? Especially considering that Stella came with a daughter—if she and Ted had gotten married, the kids would have known it since they'd undoubtedly know their own sister.
    • Also, some scenes (particularly sex scenes involving Ted, especially if he's paired with 'Aunt Robin') leave you thinking "Wait, the guy told his KIDS that?"
      • This is lampshaded quite nicely by a fanon interpretation of how his kids would react, including "Why do we need to know who your best friend was sleeping with?"
      • We see the story in a lot more detail than Ted's telling it, and what he's saying doesn't always match what actually happened ("Eating a Sandwich", "Playing the Bagpipes", "Grinch")
      • Plus, you can never be sure that what we see is what he tells his kids, except for when you hear Future Ted talk. For one thing, in a season 5 episode the kids are shocked to learn that all five of the adults smoke, even though we've seen them smoke before that episode.
      • ...No we haven't.
      • Robin, Lily and Barney all smoke cigars in various episodes, and Robin was quitting smoking in the season 2 episode where she moved in with Ted.
      • I will give you Robin and her cigarettes (and the time Lily did it at her wedding), but cigar-smoking is a relatively common social activity, especially on special occasions. It's the fact that all of them smoked cigarettes on a semi-regular basis that is shocking.
      • Regarding the smoking, Lily quit when she started trying to get pregnant. Marshall quit when his son was born. So, Marshall was exposing his pregnant wife to secondhand smoke?
      • That's the date of Marshall's last cigarette ever. He might not have smoked during Lily's pregnancy, or at least done it outside of the apartment, and smoked his first cigarette in months on the day of his son's birth (which he does, in Good Crazy without even realizing Lily is in labour ).
      • ... No? That's when he quit, but it's not like he wasn't without a cigarette in his hand before that. Just because he smokes it doesn't mean that he is always smoking.
      • The exact wording is that Marshall has his 'last cigarette ever' the day his son was born - which he smokes when he's very drunk with Barney in Atlantic City and doesn't even know Lily is in labor.
      • Lampshaded in the one where Barney attempts a "Perfect Week":
      Future Ted: ...Am I a bad dad?
      • It's also made clear that he's definitely not telling them everything we're seeing. For example, the third season episode where he's going for "the belt" starts with Future!Ted telling his kids, "There are some stories you tell, and some you don't." What follows is a story that Future!Ted is most definitely not telling his children.
  • In the pilot, if Lily got groped by a five-year-old, why is the handprint an adult sized hand? (Just about her own size, actually. hmmm...)
    • ... not really. That's definitely a child-sized handprint.
    • Yeah, Alyson Hannigan is just a tiny person, so it looked like a bigger handprint.
    • According to the commentary, the hand belongs to Jason Segel.
  • Every time Robin says anything about Canada, she's met with derision, ignorance and scorn. You would think that she'd have learned to stop doing it.
    • The thing is that she has problems to discern which parts of POP Culture are only specific to Canada, and which parts are also known in other English speaking countries.
  • Why did the girl from "Ted Mosby: Architect" make it to the final four in "The Bracket." The worst thing Barney did to her was give a fake name and form letter, which he presumably gave many other women. But Barney never saw her reaction, he didn't do anything harmful to her, and had no reason to think she would hate him. It seems like the only reason that she made it in was a Continuity Nod and because they had a killer joke in the form of the website TedMosbyIsAJerk.com.
    • That isn't reason enough?
    • Remember the Bracket was narrowed down by his friends. Ted was mad that Barney was being Barney under his name, and so was everyone else, as well as Robin and Lily resenting that he sent them on a wild-goose chase the entire night.
  • Why would Stella, a trained, licensed medical doctor not tell Ted about her apparently serious allergy of peanuts when he decides to cook? Especially since peanuts aren't that uncommon of an ingredient.
    • Especially since using peanuts in pesto is really not that uncommon.
    • Maybe Stella doesn't know that, at least for the pesto? And maybe she just forget to mention it, or maybe she didn't know Ted was going to cook until she got to his apartment, and was touched enough not to ask until she ate it.
    • I thought it was pine nuts, which is very common in pesto.
    • I'm watching the episode now - it's peanuts. However, Ted addresses the peanuts as his "secret ingredient" moments before she keels over, so clearly she didn't expect them to be in the pesto and didn't think it was going to be an issue. This raises the question, however, of how allergic she is that she'd collapse that fast from a single bite.
  • At the end of "The Three Days Rule," Future Ted tells his kids that he proved that the titular rule was wrong. Cut to the scene where he is on his date with Holli, the girl whom he didn't wait 3 days to call, and he is shown freaking out over the personal things she's saying to him. In response, Future Ted says that Holli needed to abide by the Three Days Rule, but apparently he himself didn't. Fridge Logic comes into play when you consider that everything Holli said to him was exactly what he was texting to her earlier in the episode. If anything, this actually proved that the Three Days Rule was right, and that Ted is a Jerkass employer of the Double Standard.
    • Ted and "Holli" were actually hitting it off before he got personal, while the actual Holli was insane. He didn't 'disprove' it with her, he called their mother right away.
    • The "I called her right away" is very vague because we don't know the context of the first meeting with the mother. He may literally "not wait three days to call" but the call may not be the type of call we are all assuming it to be.
    • And when Ted said Holli "needed" to abide by the three-day rule, he was saying it after the failure of a date, not before. As in "she should have waited three days", because she was ridiculously desperate and obviously hadn't had enough time to pull herself together — he was saying that a one-size-fits-all universal rule was a load of crap, because he was ready right to call right away, while Holli on the other hand definitely wasn't , meaning that there is no "rule" for calling dates — different people have different comfort levels, so just call whenever you feel like you're ready, not before and not after.

  • How is it possible for three people (and an occasional fourth) to share one toothbrush for eight years without noticing? The bristles would wear out more quickly, requiring more frequent replacements, and one of the parties should have noticed that their toothbrush was being replaced (even if it was somehow always the same model).
    • Rule of Funny
      • It's actually quite possible. Consider the circumstances: Ted is not aware that he is sharing the toothbrush with anyone, Lily and Marshal believe they only share it with each other. Ted, being the housekeeper, would buy the new toothbrush every time. Lily and Marshal would notice but would just assume the other having bought a new one. Since it is such a mundane thing to do they would have no reason to inquire if this was actually the case. It almost becomes a version of the Prisoners and Hats Puzzle!
      • But, as we remember, Marshall and Lily tell each other EVERYTHING.
      • This is especially plausible given the fact that Ted, the most anal of the group, is the lone one, therefore he would more than likely be the one replacing the toothbrush every time (well before Marshall or Lily would reach the point that they would). Ooooooooooooooof course this doesn't change the fact no one noticed the toothbrush being wet for 10 years...
      • ...We see Lily and Marshall brushing their teeth together in "Zip, Zip, Zip"...!
      • Of course, having never been present when the couple got ready for bed together, and not having the shared toothbrush story in mind, Ted probably just automatically imagined them brushing side-by-side, which is why he tells the story that way.
      • The story could also be filtered through Ted's kids' perception, and since the kids didn't yet know about the sharing a toothbrush story, if Ted just said that Marshall and Lily were getting ready for bed, that's how they would naturally imagine it.
  • How exactly did the gang get from someone else's rooftop jacuzzi back to their apartment building after "The Leap" without being arrested for trespass?
    • Maybe the people of that apartment were really nice.
    • Fire escape I presume?
    • I can't recall if their building was higher than the other (though I assume so), but maybe we're supposed to think that they jumped back?
  • Speaking of "The Leap" ... How the damn hell did they jump there anyway? It's a big stretch but at least conceivable with Barney because he's occasionally shown to have decent athletic potential. Marshall is pretty athletic but given how his injuries have limited him, there's no way he could make that gap - remember that even though he's 6'4" yet can barely touch the net (an average person that height, even one who's never played a sport or worked out in their life, can get net), which means he has very little leaping ability. Robin was an athlete as a kid and is a tough individual but that doesn't translate to having the muscle ability to long jump. And with Lily or Ted it's just completely unbelievable.
    • The other building is lower than theirs, which would give them some extra distance. It's a narrow alley, and it's much easier to jump horizontal distance (a running start doesn't help nearly as much with a vertical jump). It's doable, but incredibly unwise (considering that their apartment is on the third floor, so they're at least three stories up.
  • In "Little Minnesota", Heather complains at Ted that he still thinks of her as an "out-of-control" teenager. But why wouldn't he? As Ted himself says earlier in the episode, she got arrested for shoplifting eight months ago and her track record is not good.
    • Heather probably is just upset that he thinks of her that way, even though he has a point.
      • A point her behavior in the episode actually just reinforces, no less. That's not how grown-ups handle interpersonal problems.
    • The idea was probably that Ted was expecting her to screw-up in some way and that even if she really was trying to turn her life around not having his support doesn't help her. Being able to play him so easily was meant to be his wake-up call that always criticizing her and expecting her could end up as a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy. Granted, putting his own credit and reputation on the line just because they're family is its own social fallacy.
  • How does Ted remember everything from the past twenty-five years of his life, including events during which he wasn't even present?
    • Lily, Marshall, Robin and Barney probably tell him all about it at McLaren's. I can also remember at least one instance where Future!Ted had to make something up because he wasn't in the room at the time (Season 5, "Definitions")
    • He's also used the This is just what I was told, believe it or not" disclaimer a few times.
    • Maybe he has an eidetic memory? Also, on some occasions, he misremembers the time something has happened (e.g. at which birthday he had the run in with the goat), or has forgotten important details (e.g. one girl's name). This way we know that his memory may be quite good, but not perfect.
    • There are definitely episodes (Season 1, "Okay Awesome", and Season 4, "I Heart NJ") where Ted says "Now, believe this if you want, but Uncle/Aunt whoever swears this is how it happened" for particularly unbelievable moments.
    • He could have hyperthymesia, which gives you the ability to remember an awesomely extraordinary amount of your past. Plus people with this are also known to dwell on their past A LOT - perhaps to the point of telling a crazy-detailed story to their children that spans 8 years?
    • Or, more simply, he doesn't and he's bullshitting. The series shows him having a spotty memory, and the entire show thrives on Ted being an Unreliable Narrator, sometimes deliberately.
    • Ted sure had trouble remembering why Lily and Barney were fighting in "The Mermaid Theory".
      • Though that turned to just be a case of remembering something that happened in a later story because Barney brought up the Mermaid Theory then as well.
    • He could be writing some things down. Even if he doesn't keep a daily journal, he might keep something to write the occasional stories in. He did/does keep a dream journal, after all.
      • Well, in the episode "Twin Beds" (Season 5) he is shown to keep The Letters reminding him why he must not get back together with his ex-girlfriends in a box labeled "For my Biographer". Barney even calls him out on it. He's been established as the kind to dwell in the past, so he might have read its content again recently when he's talking to his kids.
    • Ted is very much stuck in the past, often going back over why things didn't work out with someone or why someone did or didn't do something. If you're constantly thinking about the past, you're more likely to remember it. You might not necessarily remember things exactly as they happened, but you're more likely to have the basic details down.
  • Fridge Logic: A season 6 episode features a short discussion about how gross "who's your daddy?" is under scrutiny.
    • How is this meant as Fridge Logic?
      • It's in-universe Fridge Logic regarding the use of that phrase.
  • Fridge Logic: It is shown that Robin's father treated her as a boy all through her life, even making her dress as a boy, and was devastated when he realized "I have no son!" Yet, several episodes later, we learn that Robin has a younger sister, and from what we see of her, she isn't being treated the same way.
    • Fridge Brilliance: Robin's parents were divorced. Maybe her sister lived with her mother, which * isn't too unusual given that they have a 10 year age gap between them.
    • This is actually pretty much implicitly the case. Robin says to her sister "Don't tell mom." Plus, after Robin's falling out with her father, she went to live with her mother, which fits in with her childhood memories of her sister.
    • Also, given the ten-year age gap between the two, Robin's sister could very well be her half-sister, through her mother. Thus, she would never had been around Robin's dad, and not having the same ill-effects of him on her life.
      • Doesn't work, Kate's last name is Scherbatsky.
      • Robin's mother is credited as Genevieve Scherbatsky, isn't she?
    • We've seen Robin dressed (and being treated) as a girl before we ever hear about her dad (In Miracles), and then she's shown as being raised as a boy by her dad. What is likely is that the first part is -before- her parents divorce and after they did (and her dad got the custody), he just decided to treat her as a boy full time. Kate is much younger than her, but they might have already have divorced by then and had a minor reconnection at some point during child's visitation that resulted in a child, but not to getting back together - which also explains why Kate was raised as a girl. As Robin goes to live with her mother, Kate would've been quite young, as seen in one of the flashbacks.
  • Fridge Logic: Don't Barney and Ted realize how illegal it is to run a bar out of your apartment? Even if they are just treating it as a New Year's Eve party, you still need a liquor license if you are charging people for drinks.
    • Since when has illegality ever stopped Barney?
    • Barney sold a woman and regularly works with North Korean military leaders for something, I don't think he cares about the punishment for running a bar out of his apartment.
    • It looked like they just moved the party to their apartment, they probably don't have the personal resources to keep a marching band stocked up on alcohol for a night.
      • Barney certainly does.
  • Barney and Robin made a sex tape. Therefore, Robin really is a porn star now. Does that mean Barney won the slap bet?
    • Robin wasn't paid by Barney, so she technically isn't a porn star. Sex tape =/= Porn
    • The bet wasn't that Robin will have ever done porn, it's that she has done porn. Even if we count the sex tape it would be akin to making a bet "I bet you it is year 2013 AD today" on 26 Sept 2012 and then coming back in January claiming you won.
  • Some pretty sad Fridge Logic: By now Barney's Character Development has progressed to the point where he wants kids. But he's marrying Robin, who doesn't ever want kids.
    • He corrected his mother; he likes kids, he doesn't want kids. Besides, he winds up with at least two "nephews" (Marvin and Luke) and "nieces" (Penny and Daisy).
    • That's why the twist of twist ending may have been happier for him.
  • Fridge Sadness in that we know Ted wants to call his kids Luke and Leia, and they don't appear to know much about their actual mother since they fall for/ accept all the Romantic False Leads (most notably the stripper), suitable foreshadowing that perhaps their mother is dead at the time of Ted's recollection.
    • The kids are fairly young, their mother likely wouldn't have told them if she used to be a stripper.
    • Plus we never see the kids reactions, who's to say that they actually believed all of these girls their father dated were their mother? He did specifically lie to them about the stripper, after all, even if he immediately took it back "Just kidding"
    • Fridge Logic: Since The Mother is so much Ted's soul-mate, there is a better than average chance the kids' names will be Luke and Leia.
      • Shown in "Unpause" that his daughter is named Penny and his son is Luke.
      • One wonders if the Mother was the woman that the dating service finally matched up with Ted. After all, they have (had) a 100% success rate.
      • She wasn't. The woman was 28 in 2005, the same age as Ted. The mother was 21 in 2005.
  • In "Daisy" Ted deduces a lot about Lily by her smoking habits, and turns out to be wrong. Fridge thinking remembers that he can't possibly have been right because we already know that Lily's last cigarette was when she started trying to get pregnant, and she already has had her first child by this episode therefore can't have been smoking.
    • She could have started again after Marvin was born, especially with the stress related to raising a child. Many smokers quit several times in their life (for example: pregnancy) only to start again later. It was in no way an unreasonable assumption for Ted to make.
    • You have to remember it was Future!Ted in 2030 who said Lily had her last cigarette at that point (which was after their "last cigarette" in the "Last Cigarette Ever" episode), but all present day Ted knows is Lily hasn't smoked in a few years. We as the audience have the benefit of a narrator, which gives us information the characters aren't privy too.
  • When Curtis sees Ted and Tracy at the Farhampton Inn in 2024 (in "Vesuvius"), he greets them like old friends, or at least old customers. He most likely believes he got them together by putting Tracy in room six, next to Ted. Another success story for the Farhampton Inn.
  • I'd often noticed that the show's writers made Kevin's personality almost exactly like Ted's. (Other than the lines about his family and being a therapist, is there any joke or reaction Kevin offers that would be out-of-character for Ted? I haven't found one yet). At first I thought it was laziness because they already knew his voice so well, but while reading this page it hit me that Alternate-Universe Ted is exactly who Robin might want to date once she starts to seriously think about putting a relationship before her career. It was the writer's way of saying she might want to redo a past relationship which may be why she revisits her relationship with Barney during their brief affair and find a better ending for it even though she and Kevin also ultimately broke up.
  • When Lily blows the secret about James getting divorced, everyone just figures it's because she's drunk. But she isn't. She had been drinking non-alcoholic drinks literally since the moment she got to the Farhampton Inn, because she thought she might be pregnant. However- she has shown to be severely affected by "pregnancy brain", which causes pregnant women to have faulty judgment. The kind of faulty judgment that might cause someone to blurt out something that was supposed to be a secret...
  • One of the main points of "No Tomorrow" seems to be that you can't always tell when you're acting like a jerk, especially at the time. In the flashbacks, Ted is drunk and seems pretty annoying compared to how inquisitive and clear-headed he was when we saw it the first time. Except there's an issue - Ted's already drunk when he gets to the club, but a) he wasn't drinking when he left the house, b) he went straight to the club, and c) they didn't consume any alcohol until they started ordering champagne off the other guy's tab.
  • Robin getting over Don. We see her hit a single button to dial the phone, so unless she had previously (and incorrectly) typed it in as a contact, there's no way she could have moved on and forgotten his number.
    • Lily made her delete Don from her contacts to stop her drunk-dialing him.
      • She would have had to re-enter it wrong at some point, which only raises more questions. Not to mention that if she really wanted to find the number it'd almost certainly be in her dialed calls, since deleting a contact doesn't remove the number from the calls, just the name from the number.
  • In "Home Wreckers", Ted is telling the group what he did the night he went incommunicado, saying he went to a website he sometimes gets on when he can't sleep. We're pulled out of the flashback when his friends react in disgust, Lily saying, "We do not want to know what you and the internet do when you're lonely." That wasn't what he was referring to, but why would Robin be pulling that face? She had sex with the guy for a year, plus when they hooked up a few times as friends. And she's apparently not contradictory that way — one time, to prove he has a "naked lady laugh," she casually opens her robe to him. This is leaving aside Barney's hypocrisy considering his tendency to overshare.
    • Rule of Funny aside, presumably they don't talk about each other's masturbation habits. There is a stigma out there where sex is fine, but masturbation is seen as weird. Go figure. Plus, Robin seems more casual about that sort of thing than Lily or Marshall.

  • The Naked Man works two out of three times in the episode in which it appears, with Barney's being the time it doesn't work. But Mitch sets conditions; you have to "pick your spot." He says it works best as a Hail Mary when a date's not going well and you figure there's nothing to lose since there won't be a second one. Barney, however, shoehorns it into his date without regard for how it's going. He just wants to use the move, and he goes into the date intending from the start to do so.
    • Questionable whether this is fridge logic or fridge brilliance, since Barney's biggest obstacle to his getting laid consistently is his own Complexity Addiction, relying either on insane plays like the Mrs. Stinsfire or the Scuba Diver or the Weekend At Barney's, or just being crude (I could deliver another package, my penis) to pick up women. His desire to use the move interfered with what might have been an otherwise perfectly workable one-night stand. On the other hand, Barney doesn't seem to get that The Naked Man is something you use when you know you're not going to score otherwise, since Barney a) thinks he's virtually irresistible and b) typically just walks away when he knows it's not going to happen. He's never been in the situation where you would use the move, because he usually pulls out immediately when things start going badly.
    • An additional point of Fridge Brilliance sets in when Don uses the Naked Man on Robin. Not only does it not work on her (because it already worked on her and wouldn't again), but Don doesn't use it as a Hail Mary play, he opens up with it. Why? Because he learned about it from Barney's blog, and Barney didn't do it right either! Barney probably didn't even mention the conditions, and those conditions conflict with Don and Robin's work - the idea being you're not going to see this girl again, so go big or go home, and that goes for the girl too. Don and Robin work together, so it's an additional bad idea.

  • This seems like nitpicking about the law, but during the whole "Arcadian as a landmark" debacle, wouldn't most of the major characters be unable to take part in the hearing? Marshall, Ted, Zoey, and Barney would all be unable to testify in the case due to personal reasons. The project architect is dating the opposition's leader, who admits she is unable to be objective about the building due to growing up there, his best friend is the lawyer hired for the opposition side (who is a former GNB employee) and his other best friend is the project organizer, who happens to be a good friend of the opposition's lawyer and is the one who got the guy a job at GNB.
    • Testifying before a legislative or commission hearing isn't the same thing as testifying in a court of law; the rules of procedure aren't as strict. They generally aren't defined by law, just the rules set by the body. Generally, anyone can be called to testify, and in some bodies, they're obligated to let anyone who wants to testify. The conflicts between them are pretty much irrelevant. And in Zoey's case, growing up there isn't a conflict; in fact, the commission could consider the sentimental value to city residents in making their decision. Objectiveness of fact isn't the sole factor.
      • Even in court cases, it may be up to the judge's discretion (who may leave it up to the jury to decide if the conflicts outweigh the value of the testimony in their deliberations).

  • In "Moving Day" Barney stole a moving van where Ted was keeping all his stuff. Just one episode earlier in "Arrivederci, Fiero" it had been established that Barney can't drive even an ordinary car over a short distance. Clearly the van was too big for a man of Barney's size and strength to have moved by hand without help (it's not like he was Lou Ferrigno moving a bus). How did he manage to hide the van before Ted could come downstairs and find it missing?
    • Barney learned how to drive. We see Barney driving a variety of times after that like in The Magician's Code prt 2 and when he was a taxi cab driver to pick up girls, so he definitely did at some point.

  • What exactly will happen to Barney's financial situation after the series has ended? It's been established that soon after the finale he left his high paying corporate job after cooperating with the government against them. He's not exactly known for living prudently, being both a gambling addict and spending a "crapload" on suits (Ted's words). He had said that he didn't need to worry about money because Robin's family is rich but they got divorced (and Robin herself didn't seem to have any money so it's unlikely he got a big payout, if anything probably just taking out what he put in). During he and Robin's marriage he wasn't shown actually being employed and was able to be dragged around the world with her. Now he has a kid to take care of. While he may have been able to find another job, if he's gotten a reputation as a whistleblower then any company with shady practices will be reluctant to hire him which of course is what he has the most experience with. Granted, this is Barney we're talking about and he probably could talk a company into hiring him. Still, it's probable he wouldn't earn as much working for an honest company as he was used to.
    • If you're willing to hand wave things for sake of suspension of disbelief, Barney spends one "crapload" per year on suits, but makes *sixteen* craploads per year in salary, and had done so for ten years. Any sum that serves as the "crapload" which inspires such shock in his friends when he tells them implies that sixteen craploads is an impressive income. He also seems to have gotten past his gambling addiction, for the most part. Aside from all that, the acumen and foresight he displays throughout the series suggests that he has some kind of long-term support plan, though it may very well be insane.
    • He likely recieves a MASSIVE whistleblower fee, he probably could write a book on things, and he could be a public speaker, or even a pundit. Plus, advertising on his blog. These are all things that can keep someone afloat for decades.
    • He certainly may have saved substantially, and he might have other sources of income as mentioned above (such as stock and investments). His status as a whistleblower could've been anonymous, and even if it weren't, there's a lot of companies that engage in legitimate business practices that may still hire him (if anything, having GNB on his resume after the FBI raid may hurt him more than being a whistleblower). And barring that, he could get alimony from Robin.

  • Perhaps this is more Fridge Jerkiness than anything, but before Lily returned from San Francisco Barney was apparently being a jerk and stealing every girl Marshall had a chance with. When Lily gets back, she pays Barney back on Marhall's behalf by ruining his chance to sleep with two twins claiming to have been given Chlamydia by him. However, we later learnt that he had actually flown to San Francisco to insist Lily fly back and come see Marshall and that he was intentionally stealing girls from him in order to keep him single because he wanted them to end up back together. He even told Lily this. So when Lily ruined his chance with these women she did so after he'd done a huge favour for her and Marshall. Ruining his chance with the women was unwarranted.
    • It's Barney. He's got it coming, for karmic balance if nothing else. At that point in the series alone, besides the dozens of women he's deceived, he set up one of his closest friends with a huge bill (for a single suit, no less!) in order to force him to work at a company he had no interest in working at.
  • Just a minor one, but in "The Poker Game" Barney mentions that James has "Just Short of a Pair of Sixes". The fridge logic comes in when you realise that if a six is your best card, you can't have any combination that's worse than a pair of sixes. If you have five cards and they're a 2,3,4,5 and 6 then you have a straight. Otherwise, you need to either have multiple sixes or at least one card of greater value than six (meaning you have "almost" a pair of sevens, for example). In essence, it's impossible to have a hand as bad as James' was implied to be since, if you don't at least have a pair, you'll at least a high card of seven. Of course given the writers clearly do understand poker, this is probably just Rule of Funny, but it's easy to miss.
  • In "The Possimpible" we see Barney's video resume which is appropriately ridiculous. However, in "Unpause" it was shown that when Barney wanted to break into the corporate world, he went to his current company. At that time, he was shown using a regular CV and got his current job just to replace the last guy. So he's never actually gotten for a job using the video CV.
  • In Barney's part of "Bedtime Stories: Barney Stinson, Player King of New York City," he and five other players are seated around the table: Barney, Pickle Jar Bob, Staten Island Lou, Tuxedo Charlie, Captain Bill and Bronx Donnie (all played by NPH). These six players have evenly divided New York City and Barney crossed the line (from the Westside to the Eastside) of 5th Avenue. At then end of the story, Barney gets the others to drink poison, making him "The Player King." Since he wasn't arrested for murder later, he was actually "murdering" other aliases he used in his travels.
  • In the season one two-parter ‘Life Among the Gorillas’ and ‘Nothing Good Ever Happens After 2AM’, Ted stays up most of the night waiting for a call from and then trying to call his girlfriend in Germany. Germany is five to six hours ahead of NYC (depending on daylight savings time), meaning that he was annoyed at Victoria for not calling him while it was the middle of the night in Germany and she was clearly asleep. In fact, when she finally calls at a little after 3am, it was about 9am in Germany. Had Ted just not figured out the time difference yet, or…?

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