Ted needs a date to take to Robin's awards banquet, so Barney hooks him up with Mary, who may be a call girl.
This episode provides examples of:
- Blond, Brunette, Redhead: Mary is the blond, Robin is the Brunette and Lily is the redhead.
- Brick Joke: Lily borrows Mary's lipstick and Marshall is horrified accordingly. When she finds out Mary's a prostitute, her first reaction is to wipe off the lipstick.
- Marshall combines this with Ironic Echo at the end. When Barney reveals that Mary actually is a paralegal, nobody else laughs, and he says "If you don't laugh, it just seems mean." When Ted gets revenge on Barney by running up his hotel room bill, Marshall throws Barney's line back at him.
- Brutal Honesty: While Ted is trying to dance around saying he cheated on Victoria, Barney recounts it exactly and calls him out on it.Ted: Robin's still pissed at me after... you know.Barney: You lied and said you were broken up with Victoria before you actually were so you could try to nail Robin and you wound up losing both girls in one night?Ted: Yes. That's what I meant by "you know."
- Disposable Sex Worker: Discussed. Barney says that this is an opportunity for Ted to get to know Mary and learn that "courtesans" are people too.
- Dude, Not Funny!: In-Universe. Barney is tickled pink over his prank. Ted lambasts him that it wasn't funny. Barney agrees that it was in bad taste, and keeps laughing anyway.
- Exact Words: Barney never actually says that Mary is a prostitute. He simply doesn't correct anyone's assumption that she is and deliberately manipulates things to make this appear to be the case.
- Graceful Ladies Like Purple: Lily wears a violet dress at the LAMA ceremony.
- Hello, Attorney!: Turn out, Mary works at a law firm.
- Hooker with a Heart of Gold: Despite his reservations at first, Ted starts to really like Mary for her wit and personality as well as how hot she is.
- Ironic Echo: After Barney reveals to the gang that Mary isn't really a prostitute, he then says "Come on. If you don't laugh, it just seems mean." When Ted realizes this (after embarrassing himself in front of Mary), he takes advantage of the complimentary hotel room that Barney paid for (including the luxury spa and room service) shocking Barney and prompting Marshall to say "Come on. If you don't laugh, it just seems mean."
- Jerkass Has a Point: Sure, it was a bit of a dick move by Barney to imply that Mary is a prostitute (and having so much fun with it), but he was right in saying that Ted acted much more confident on his date with her when he didn't need to wonder about whether or not he'd get to have sex with her.
- Mistaken for Prostitute: Barney invokes this by implying to his friends (specifically Ted) that Mary is a hooker. Mary is not amused.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Barney rented (with his credit card) a hotel room for Ted and Mary to use...Ted: (to Barney) Yeah, that really expensive hotel room you put on your credit card? Never checked out. By the way, you know what's super fun? Pouring Dom Perignonnote down a bathtub drain. Well, it's almost 3:00, got a massage. Toodles!
- The Oldest Profession: Barney refers to it by name while trying to convince Ted to take a prostitute as his date.Marshall: You really think that's true?Barney: Oh, yeah. I bet even Cro-Magnons used to give cave hookers, like, an extra fish for putting out.Marshall: Aha, so then the oldest profession would be fishermen. Kaboom! You've been Lawyered!
- One Dialogue, Two Conversations: Ted thinks they're talking about Mary's work as a hooker. Mary's talking about her actual work as a paralegal.
- Operation: Jealousy: Barney suggests that Ted bring "someone hotter" than Robin as his date to mess with her head. Lily asks Robin if that's why she's bringing a date, too.
- Psychic Link: Parodied with Ted and Marshall's (as well as Lily's) "telepathic conversations".
- Secondary Character Title: Mary the Paralegal is just another one of Ted's Girl of the Week.
- Spoiler Title: Guess what Mary really does for a living?
- Twist Ending: Mary's not a prostitute. Barney made it up to screw with Ted.
