When it turns up that Lily's pregnant, the outcome of reflecting on their own lives turns out to be nothing but positive for the rest of the gang.
This episode provides examples of:
- Call-Back:
- Barney met James's father Sam in "Cleaning House", where he came to the mistaken belief that Sam was his father too, despite Sam being black. Barney trying to get Sam to say he's his father becomes a Running Gag in this episode.
- Robin considers auditioning for Million Dollar Heads or Tails, a game show which was introduced in "The Best Burger in New York", where it was hosted by Regis Philbin.
- The Cameo:
- Alex Trebek appears as the new host of "Million Dollar Heads or Tails".
- Punchy also only shows up briefly to freak out for half a second then get reminded that he loves his fiancée and get back to getting married. Seriously, dude has 900 milliseconds of screentime.
- Continuity Nod: Robin reminds Ted that the last time he was a best man, the groom (Marshall) ended up with a Traumatic Haircut.
- It's a Wonderful Plot: Exploited. While the gang plans to watch It's a Wonderful Life in a theater, Ted isn't the George Bailey of this story. Rather, Ted is a Supporting Protagonist, the guardian angel Clarence, & the "false positive" is the Rage Breaking Point that prompts Ted to smash his gingerbread house in anger, and when he yells at his five friends, he forces them to make the right choice with their lives. And since Robin, Barney, Marshall, Lily, & Punchy didn't object or complain, Ted calmly and peacefully watches the movie alone.
- Insistent Terminology: Robin insists that the "coin-flip bimbo" of Million Dollar Heads or Tails is actually called a "currency rotation specialist." She later uses the former term as an Appropriated Appellation.
- Left the Background Music On: During a montage of Lily and Marshall preparing for their baby's birth, chaotic music plays. Lily, who taped an iPod to her stomach to expose her baby to classical music, stops the music after realizing she accidentally left it on shuffle.Lily: (crying) The Jerky Boys! Our baby heard the Jerky Boys!
- Oh, Crap!: Barney, while making out a check to a church, gets the message that it was a false positive and silently reacts this way. He recovers when he remembers decimal points and makes a still generous, but not nearly as over the top as intended, donation.
- Pregnancy Test Plot: Marshall and Lily get ecstatic when the home pregnancy test read positive, and the gang celebrates with them. Unfortunately, it turns out that it was a false alarm, and the whole gang contemplates about it and react on the events prior to the announcement.
- Rage Breaking Point: Ted stands outside the movie theater holding a gingerbread house as his friends show up and announce they're giving up on moving forward in their lives. He eventually gets so fed up he smashes the house and screams at them one by one, sending them back to stop being scared and pursue their dreams.
- Shout-Out: Barney's expensive, diamond lined suit is called "The DiBiase"
- Spoof Aesop: The Stinger is a parody of the kinds of messages sometimes delivered to the audience at the end of Christmas episodes. Neil Patrick Harris (in character as Barney, but initially unbeknownst to the audience) talks to the camera, and at first it sounds like he's going to promote the importance of charity or family, but he's really just hitting on women at the bar.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Ted delivers an epic one to both the gang and Punchy over the phone, calling them out for selfishly backing out on their life-changing decisions.
- Supporting Protagonist: Ted acts as one for this episode. He remains the narrator, but is the only one who doesn't have a major crisis to deal with. Instead, he helps Robin, Barney, and Marshall and Lily make the right choices in their lives and go through some Character Development.
- Unflattering ID Photo: Robin poses neatly for her World Wide News ID photo, but it still somehow comes out with her making an ugly face.
