History Recap / HowIMetYourMotherS5E18SayCheese

* WhatDidYouExpectWhenYouNamedIt: Strawberry, one of Ted's former girlfriends, ruined a celebratory dinner at a Teppanyaki restaurant by throwing red paint onto the chef and shouting "MEAT IS MURDER!". Ted tries to claim in front of the group that he couldn't have known she'd so that going in, but everyone else in the room invokes this trope by shouting at him that her name made it obvious.

** Though he isn't called out for it, Ted calling Lily a birthday brat is extremely hypocritical. He showed up at a friend's birthday party ''at their home'' with an unannounced and uninvited guest, decided that said guest would be the one to make Lily's birthday cake ''even though Lily specifically asked for a cognac pumpkin cheesecake from Edgar's'', and then had the gall to be resentful that Lily wasn't thrilled that he hijacked her birthday party to win points with a girl whose name he won't even remember in a year.

%% This doesn't explain the reaction. Please do not unhide until further context has been added. * Berserk Button: For Marshall it's to ruin Lily's birthday.

* {{Corpsing}}: Despite himself, Neil Patrick Harris can't help but smile, trying not to laugh when [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enyX9m-Csm0 Marshall sings in falsetto]] to teach a song harmony to Robin. It's in character for Barney to PassThePopcorn and find Marshall taking Lily's birthday seriously as ActuallyPrettyFunny.

* BerserkButton: For Marshall it's to ruin Lily's birthday.

* GirlOfTheWeek: Ted brought a new girlfriend to Lily's birthday. And to many other celebrations.

** While listing all the intimate gatherings ruined by Ted's "random skanks", Lily brings up how he brought his hippy girlfriend Strawberry to their celebration of Marshall passing the bar exam at the Teppanyaki restaurant Shinjitsu. Marshall finds out that he passed the bar in "[[Recap/HowIMetYourMotherS3E08SpoilerAlert Spoiler Alert]]".

-->'''Lily''': Yes, this skank managed to work out-

-->'''Lily''': -but she's the skanky exception, not the skanky rule.

** One of the group pictures in Lily's album was taken at Robin's US citizenship approval party was taken between, a nod to "[[Recap/HowIMetYourMotherS5E05DuelCitizenship Duel Citizenship]]", where she decided to apply for citizenship.

**

** The very first of Lily's pictures shown was taken after the events of "[[Recap/HowIMetYourMotherS5E05DuelCitizenship Duel Citizenship]]" where Barney and Robin were still a couple.

** Marshall mentions he consoled Natalie (and other girls) after she broke up with Ted the first time. Lily and Marshall also bring back Karen.

** In "[[Recap/HowIMetYourMotherS1E04ReturnOfTheShirt Return of the Shirt", which occurred in October 2005, Ted said that he hadn't seen Natalie in three years. However, Marshall's flashback to one of the times he and Natalie broke up occurred in February 2005. Not to mention the fact that Ted broke up with her in a restaurant in that episode (and over her answering machine three years earlier), not the apartment, so there was no reason for her to be there in the first place in either of those instances.

* ContinuitySnarl:
** When Marshall is pretending to be a bird, he is holding the hat with his right hand, but in the photograph (in which Lily is upset), he is holding the hat with his left hand. Marshall's eyes were also opened in this photo. Same for Barney, who can be seen right before the photograph adjusting his tie with his right hand and holding his glass with his left hand, but who is then adjusting his tie with his left hand and is holding his glass with his right hand in the photograph.
** Back in Season 1, Ted said that he hasn't seen Natalie in three years. The first season started in September 2005, and the episode he saw her again was on October of the same year. However, Marshall's flashback happened on February 2005. Not to mention the fact that Ted broke up with her in a restaurant, not the apartment, so there's no reason for her to be there in the first place.
** In a funeral picture Lily shows, Barney is wearing a suit, while in "[[Recap/HowIMetYourMotherS2E14MondayNightFootball Monday Night Football]]", he says that he never wears a suit at a funeral.

* NoAccountingForTaste: Lily and Marshall point out that Ted kept bringing his random dates to their important moments always thinking every one of them could be "The One", therefore making them think the relation is serious and making their inevitable break-ups even harder on them.

* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: This is one of the few instances that Marshall, generally the GentleGiant and TokenGoodTeammate, lost his temper against Ted's date.

* RememberTheNewGuy: The reason Lily is so reluctant to have Ted's girlfriend in the group picture is because all his past girls have ruined the moments. This is further accentuated when Lily made up a new game called "Name the Bitch". Ted, of course, failed to remember their names.

* HippieName: One of Ted's previous girlfriends was a SoapboxSadie named Strawberry who ruined a celebratory dinner at a steakhouse by throwing red paint on the chef and screaming "MEAT IS MURDER!"

* CallBack: Lily's disdain for people outside of the group being in important events was first alluded in the Season 3 episode "[[Recap/HowIMetYourMotherS3E09Splapsgiving Slapsgiving]]".