HIMYM / Tropes Season One

Tropes for How I Met Your Mother, Season One.

Examples:

• Acoustic License: Averted in the fifth episode. The gang goes out to a nightclub, and while on the dance floor no one can hear each other, except when there's a momentary lull in the music.
• Actually Not a Vampire: Parodied. Marshall believes that a bartender is a vampire, based on his black clothing and tendency to come out at night.
  Robin: Hey! That does describe a vampire! Or, you know, a bartender.
• Anachronic Order: "The Pineapple Incident" has a loose Framing Device where Ted is trying to reconstruct a night he can't remember, being redirected from multiple people into telling only part of the story. It became the first of many similar episodes throughout the show.
• Analogy Backfire: In the first episode.
  Ted: I gotta do what that guy couldn't. I gotta take the leap. Okay, not a perfect metaphor, 'cause for me it's falling in love and getting married and for him it's... death.
  Barney: Actually, that is a perfect metaphor. (to Marshall and Lily) By the way, have I congratulated you two yet?
• Artistic License – Law:
  • Barney mentions The Jailbait Wait when he says the only reason to wait a month to have sex is if she's 17 and eleven months, implying the age of consent is 18. New York's age of consent is 17. It is, however, 18 in California.
  • Also, Marshall presumably concentrated on environmental law while he was in law school, since that's what he wants to do with his law degree. He spends more of the series than not working in corporate law. And also gives his friends legal counsel when they need it. You can't just switch back and forth that way- a corporate lawyer would be studying completely different areas of the law than an environmental lawyer would. On the other hand, Marshall winds up as a judge, so he clearly knows his stuff.
• A Storm Is Coming: The opening of the season finale foreshadows the massive rainstorm that occurs when Robin and Ted get together while Marshall and Lily break up with both the narrator and a TV weatherman invoking this trope (in the past and future-tenses respectively).
• Authentication by Newspaper: Ted tries to fake this with Victoria's care package.
• Big Damn Heroes: Marshall in the New Year's Eve episode. It's played that way, with Marshall running through the steam to Bon Jovi.
• Bittersweet Ending: Ted comes back to his apartment, high on the thrill of having finally gotten with Robin and more happy about life than he's been in a long time...to find Marshall on the stairs outside, holding Lily's disowned engagement ring.
• Blatant Lies: "See? Not awkward at all."
• Book Ends: The series begins with Marshall happily showing Ted the engagement ring he will give to Lily. The Season Finale closes with Marshall tearfully showing Ted the same ring disowned by Lily. Further, both the pilot and season finale involves and shows Marshall and Lily having sex after the proposal and before the break-up, as well as Ted riding a cab to go to (pilot) and to leave (S1 finale) Robin's apartment.
• Bottle Episode: "The Limo" takes place almost entirely in... well... the limo.
• Break the Cutie: Kind of happens in "Game Night". Hippie Barney is more funny than sad, and his ridiculous crying similarly distracts from the tragedy, but the watcher is also shocked at how Shannon screwed him up.
• Butt-Monkey: Natalie. She and Ted dated, and Ted broke up with her over her answering machine on her birthday, during a surprise party at which she hadn't arrived yet (to be fair, he didn't know about that), waited three years for her to get over him, tracked her down, apologized and begged her to take him back, and then breaks up with her three weeks later, again on her birthday.
• Calvinball: Baskiceball.
  Marshall: We can't let our kid play Baskiceball.
  Lily: What are the rules?
  Marshall: There are no rules, we just wail on each other.
• Can't Believe I Said That: Robin invites Ted over. She suggests they drink wine and his response is "Wine not? Wow, that's the stupidest thing I've ever said."
  • Also:
  Ted: (on the phone with Robin) Ain't no thing but a chicken wing, mamasita!
  Ted: (to others in the room) Who am I!?
  • And most importantly:
  Ted: I think I'm in love with you.
• Cloud Cuckoo Lander: When Barney, Robin and Lily are trying to sneak into a high school prom, one of his plans involves asking Robin how capable she is with a crossbow.
• Comically Missing the Point: Ted's kids, after he tells them the story of when he dated an ex, who he had previously dumped on her birthday, via an answering machine message, convinced her that he'd changed in order to get a second chance, only to break up with her on her birthday AGAIN, only this time in person... Which led to her kicking Ted's ass. All Ted's kids took from this story is that their dad got beat up by a girl.
• Complexity Addiction: In 'Best Prom Ever', Barney attempts to sneak into a prom by first crawling through the vents; then borrowing a giant turtle mascot costume to disguise himself... whereas Ted and Marshall snuck in through the back door.
• Confusing Multiple Negatives: Ted after getting plastered in 'The Pineapple Incident'- "And now, I don't think I won't not go to the bathroom!"
• Coordinated Clothes:
  • Lily and Marshall are a cute couple and very much in love. They like wearing matching Halloween costumes. In "Slutty Pumpkin", they dress up as a not-gay pirate and his parrot.
  • In a flashback in "Slutty Pumpkin", Marshall and Lily are shown being Sony and Cher (surprisingly, Marshall as Cher and Lily as Sonny) for one Halloween.
  • "Slutty Pumpkin": Barney wants his best friend Ted to coordinate their Halloween costumes. He brought two ace pilot costumes and wants Ted to go as his literal and metaphorical wing-man. Ted defies the trope. He insists on wearing his old costume as the infamous ballot vote "Hanging Chad" because that's how possible future Mrs Mosby known only as Slutty Pumpkin remembers him.
  • "Slutty Pumpkin": Robin and her boyfriend joked over emails about dressing up as Hansel and Gretel. Mike thought she was serious, but Robin's part of the costume was missing.
• *Cough* Snark *Cough*: In "Best Prom Ever", Barney and Robin have this exchange:
  Barney: *cough* Lesbian.
  Robin: The cough is supposed to cover the "lesbian".
  Barney: Nah, I'm trying to start a thing where the cough is separate.
• Dawson Casting: Played With in-universe when the gang attempts to sneak into a high school prom, only to be immediately busted at the door for being adults.
• Derailed for Details:
  • When Ted wakes up with a strange girl in his bed and a pineapple on his nightstand, everyone tries to figure out who the girl is and how Ted hooked up with her ... except for Marshall, who's fixated on getting details about the pineapple.
  • Marshall again in "Drumroll, Please". Ted is telling everyone about the girl he met at Claudia and Stuart's wedding, but all Marshall cares about is the cake.
• Digging Yourself Deeper: Ted had a spectacular instance of this when he attempted to break up with one of his girlfriends of the week (who knew Krav Maga).
• Don't Explain the Joke: In "The Slutty Pumpkin", Barney says this to a girl dressed as a hula dancer when she comments on his "getting lei'd" joke.
• Drinking Game: In-Universe, the game Marshgammon has a rule where anyone who answers "What?" must drink a shot.
• Eek, a Mouse!!: In "Matchmaker" Lily and Marshall get freaked out by a creature living in their apartment that they dub a "cockamouse" (a combination of a cockroach and a mouse).
• Everyone Looks Sexier if French: In the pilot Barney comments that Lebanese women have replaced half-Asian women in his fantasies.

• Flynning: An episode has Marshall and Ted in a swordfight over Lily moving in/who gets to keep the apartment in the end. Any sense of the fight being real disappears once they start pausing to issue instructions on how next to Flynn in a stylish and awesome manner.
• Foregone Conclusion: "Kids, I'm gonna tell you an incredible story - the story of how I met your mother." - these are the first words of the series.
  • "Because this, kids, is the true story of how I met your Aunt Robin!" - we learn Robin's not the Mother at the end of the pilot!
  • Also, we know for a fact that Ted, Marshall, Lily, and Robin (but not necessarily Barney - though he is an Honorary Uncle, Ted speaks about him as though his kids don't know him that well) will still be close friends after the series is over, no matter what an episode tries to throw at them.
• Fruit of the Loon: The inxeplicable pineapple that shows up after a wild night of boozing.
• Funny Background Event: In Best Prom Ever, during a phone conversation between Robin and Marshall, Barney sneaks into the prom, gets caught, and is thrown out.
• Good Angel, Bad Angel: Parodied; they're at a rooftop party, and Ted has to pee, but doesn't want to leave. Barney, dressed as a devil, suggests he pee off the roof from behind his right shoulder. A random dude dressed like an angel says from Ted's left shoulder that it'd be a bad idea. And then asks for some weed.
• "Good Luck" Gesture: In "Slutty Pumpkin", Lily crosses her fingers intensely when she hopes that she and Marshall will win the costume competition.
• Gray Rain of Depression: In the season finale, when Ted finds Marshall crushed after Lily left him to go to San Francisco in order to pursue her dreams.
• Grilling the Newbie: The gang does this to poor Victoria about her love life, with the questions thinly disguised as being part of a Truth or Dare style board game.
• Heroes Love Dogs: Robin has five dogs living with her.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: The coat check girl in Okay, Awesome, played by Jayma Mays thinks a good idea for a date is going to the dentist to get her teeth cleaned. Guessing Glee's Emma agrees.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: In "The Duel", Barney beings to institute a "Lemon Law" on all his dates, meaning that he's giving them five minutes before he decides if it will work out or not. Near the end, a woman he tries to pick up "Lemon Laws" him. Rather than being upset, Barney is happy that his idea has caught on, although he regrets not calling it "Barney's Law".
• Holiday Volunteering: The first Thanksgiving episode features Ted and Robin trying to volunteer at a soup kitchen on Thanksgiving. However, thanks to this trope, there's no openings. Much to their surprise, Barney is a rockstar volunteer and vouches for them. However, they soon learn that the volunteers aren't exactly the saints they envisioned, and wound up being kicked out.
• Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Marshall and Lily already evoke this, but when they go visit Marshalls' family it's shown that the 6'4 Marshall is the smallest adult male in his family with one brother about 7' tall and even his mom is over 6'. When giving welcoming hugs she comes across especially tiny, but this all plays into some gags about the possibility of her becoming pregnant with a turkey sized Ericson child.
• Hypocritical Humor: Barney calls Marshall "gay" for hosting a wine-tasting while wearing a silver, reflective shirt.
• I Know Krav Maga: Ted getting beat up by a disgruntled ex using Krav Maga.
• Important Haircut: In "Game Night," we discover that Barney became the awesome dude he is today after being dumped when he was a long-haired hippie and deciding to go to the dark side.
• Intoxication Ensues: Ted in "The Pineapple Incident" after drinking five shots in a row of a unknown mixture. They're called Red Dragons.
• Ironic Echo: In "Mary The Paralegal", "C'mon, if you don't laugh, it just seems mean." First said by Barney when he mocks Ted for believing Mary was a hooker due to Barney's prank, and then repeated by Marshall when Ted gleefully extends his stay in the hotel room which Barney's credit card paid for.
• The Jailbait Wait: Barney references this when he says
  Ted, the only reason to wait a month for sex is if the girl is seventeen years, eleven months old.
  • Though it implies the age of consent is 18, New York's actual age of consent is 17.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: In one episode, Barney is telling Ted that the Universe doesn't care about Ted's love life. Marshall interjects jokingly, "Unless Ted's love life is the glue binding the entire Universe together!" Everyone laughs, of course.
• Leaving You to Find Myself: Lily has an engagement freakout and leaves Marshall to take an art program in San Francisco.
• Living Memory: "Nothing Good Happens After 2 AM"
• Mathematician's Answer
  Ted: Wait, [bring a prostitute to Robin's award ceremony] to hang out with ironically or to actually have sex with?
  Barney: Yes.
• Meaningful Name: Bob Rorschach of Love Solutions. He provides Ted with a profile for his soul mate... the purpose of which (plotwise) was to have Ted realize that he wants Robin.
• My Friends... and Zoidberg: "Ladies. Gentlemen. Ted."
• Noodle Incident / Noodle Implements: Ted's ex-GF Victoria told a story involving a game of Truth Or Dare, ice cream topping and the pool at her grandparents' retirement home. It wasn't that awesome.^Note: To be fair, it was only a Noodle Incident because Future!Ted didn't want to tell his kids the exact details.
  Marshall: That's the most awesome story ever!
  • The Pineapple Incident - where the hell did he get that pineapple?
• Not so Fast, Bucko!: An obvious use: At the start of the pilot, Future Ted starts to tell the story of how he met his kids' mother. However, by end of the pilot: "And that, kids, is the story of how I met your Aunt Robin." Justified, since Future Ted said it would be a long story.
• Oblivious to Love: Ted is completely clueless to Robin's growing feelings for him in the middle of the season, that is until Lily tells him.
• Plot Leveling: The first 13 episodes, written before the network ordered more, were conceived as if Victoria ("Buttercup") was the titular mother. Once the series was extended, they rewrote the concluding voice over, and Victoria was downgraded to a recurring girlfriend in the second half of the season.
• Pretentious Pronunciation: Barney's alias, "Jack Package". "It's pronounced pe-kahj."
• Rain Dance: Ted does one in an Overly Long Gag as a desperate attempt to keep Robin from going on a company picnic.
• Riddle for the Ages: "The Pineapple Incident". Ted and co, as well as the viewers, will never find out how he got a pineapple and why he brought home from his epically drunk night. ^note A Deleted Scene from the Finale Season suggests he may have realized he drunkenly stole it from The Captains townhome, pineapples being an apparent naval tradition, and to avoid his wrath Ted has left that answer to die.
• Romantic Rain: Ted has been in love with Robin for the whole season 1. In the finale, he's convinced he has to make it rain to keep Robin in New York (otherwise she will go on a company trip and might get together with her colleague). Amazingly, it starts raining heavily and Ted heads to Robin's. Ted is soaking wet and convinces Robin to go outside as well, though he comes to her door first and they start kissing violently.
• Romantic Spoonfeeding:
  • In "Slutty Pumpkin", Marshal and Lily are dressed in matching Halloween outfits and share dinner — Lily spoonfeeds Marshal. They later also share a dessert.
  • Robin is reluctant to do any lovey-dovey stuff with Mike in "Slutty Pumpkin". Mike wants her to taste his chicken, but she refuses and defies the trope. Lily tells her she should be more girlfriend-like and she attempts to share her sundae, but she likes it too much, so it doesn't really work out well.
• Running Gag: "Have you met Ted?"
• Seven Minute Lull: In a mild variation, the club music stops right after Ted realizes the girl he's with can't hear him, and starts shouting weird things.
  Ted: "I'm wetting my pants!"
• "Shaggy Dog" Story: The pilot. The whole episode centers on Ted meeting, falling for and ultimately failing to have a relationship with Robin, with a promise of many more stories about his attempts, successful or not, to win her. We then learn that she is not the Mother. The entire episode, as well as much of the next two seasons, becomes this trope.
• Shock Party: Ted breaks up with one of his girlfriends over her answering machine, while all her friends and family are listening, waiting with a Surprise Party.
• Shout-Out: Barney's transformation in "Game Night" bears some resemblance to another famous suiting-up. Especially considering that the episode first aired a few months after that movie came out.
• Stalking is Love: Though Ted surprising Robin in her flat with an entire orchestra isn't received with eruptive joy.
• Start of Darkness: Barney in his Day in the Limelight episode "Game Night".
• This Is for Emphasis, Bitch!: Also Ted in "The Pineapple Incident": "I drank all five, bitch!"
• This Is Going to Be Huge: "Lemon Law! It's gonna be a thing."

• Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: Stewart and Claudia but played a bit differently; she's a controlling shrew and he's a miserable drunk. However, characters repeatedly comment on Claudia being out of Stu's league.
• Un-Duet: Marshall and Lily have a full dance-routine to go with "Don't Go Breakin' My Heart." Marshall, eager to fit in with his new co-workers, doesn't sing the song at karaoke. However, when he decides Lily's more important, he gets on stage and sings his half of the song, until Lily joins in halfway through.
• Unrequited Love Switcheroo: Ted/Robin/Victoria.
• Unusual Euphemism: When Ted says "It's ineffable", Natalie misunderstands and says "I'm not F-able?!"
• Vertigo Effect: Used in "Belly Full of Turkey", when Lily finds out the typical size of an Eriksen newborn.
• "Walk on the Wild Side" Episode: "The Pineapple Incident" has the gang convince Ted to drink instead of think. He wakes up next morning with a sprained ankle, burned coat, several drunken messages on Robin's phone and a girl he's never met before in bed next to him. Oh, and a pineapple that never gets explained.
• Wham Episode:
  • "Drumroll, Please": Ted starts dating Victoria, only for Robin to realize that she has feelings for him. Interestingly, this episode was planned to be a potential Series Finale, with Victoria to be the Mother if the show had to end early.
  • "Nothing Good Happens After 2 AM": Ted ruins everything. Robin invites him over to her house late at night, and he tells her that Victoria broke up with him even though she hasn't yet. However, Lily accidentally tells Ted about Robin's crush, prompting him to kiss Robin. However, before anything can happen between them, Robin picks up a call from Victoria where they both learn that Ted was lying, so he ends up single with both Robin and Victoria angry at him.
  • "Come On": Ted and Robin start dating, and Lily breaks up with Marshall.
• What Did I Do Last Night?: "The Pineapple Incident."
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Robin had a group of friends in the pilot and another one in the episode where she hangs out with Barney. They all appear in one scene, never to be seen ever again. Robin even talks about how she barely knows anyone in New York and has no friends before meeting Ted, since she's new in town and she spends most of her time at work.
• Will They or Won't They?: Ted and Robin for the majority of the first season; subverted and further complicated by the fact that the audience knows from the first episode that the two do not end up together (so season 2 is will they or won't they break up?) — and even more so because they're suddenly willing again.

---