Line #7 Recap/HowIMetYourMotherS5E18SayCheese


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/himym_5x18.jpg]]
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3	'''Air Date: March 22, 2010'''
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5	Marshall has planned an intimate party for Lily's 32nd birthday. But things get awkward when Ted shows up with a date. Meanwhile, Robin tries to get a bad picture of Barney.
6	----
7	!!The episode provides examples of:
8	* AccidentalMisnaming:
9	** Ted kept mistaking all the names of his previous dates when Lily made him play "Name ''That'' Bitch".
10	*** First thinking Leilani, the girl Ted brought to the gang's first Christmas together was "Sarah", associating the name with "Santa".
11	*** In New Year's Eve of 2007, there was Emily (who gave Robin a kiss in the cheek). Ted named her "Erin".
12	*** To Robin's uncle Cesar's funeral, Ted brought Isabel. Ted named her "Irene".
13	*** To Lily's appendix surgery, Ted brought... [[BrutalHonesty a chick he admitted he was trying to bang]]. Even Lily fist-bumped him.
14	*** The other girl that ruined their photo with Slash on Barney's birthday.
15	*** A year later, Amanda became "Bertha" because she attended Lily's ''Birth''day.
16	** Amanda, Ted's GirlOfTheWeek, decorated Lily's birthday cake with "Happy ''42nd'' Birthday ''Lori''".
17	* AccidentalPervert: Barney thought Slash was grabbing his ass during a group picture. Marshall then confesses that it was him because he thought Barney was Lily.
18	* ActuallyPrettyFunny: When the cake Amanda bakes turns out to read "Happy 42nd Birthday, Lori," Lily simply laughs it off, presumably realizing it was an honest mistake. It's ''Marshall'' who blows up.
19	* AesopAmnesia: The episode ends with Lily deciding to give Amanda a second chance, and Ted agrees to cool it on the whole "inviting random girls to the group events". TheStinger reveals that neither party learned their lesson; Ted can't remember Amanda's name, and Lily pulls out her "Name That Bitch" album.
20	* AllMenArePerverts: Marshall’s breakfast birthday for Lily was Spain-themed, completed with live music and a guitarist. Later decided to take the guitarist with him because he was looking at Lily with perverted eyes.
21	* BaitAndSwitch: During the "Guess who" game where Lily had to guess who wrote her positive attributes, Lily guesses the first one correctly (it was Robin's since it was long and heartwarming). The following card only had a "you seem nice", which led Lily and Marshall to think it was from Amanda. It was actually Barney's.
22	-->'''Barney''': And I meant every word!
23	%% This doesn't explain the reaction. Please do not unhide until further context has been added. * BerserkButton: For Marshall it's to ruin Lily's birthday.
24	* BirthdayEpisode: The episode takes place on Lily's birthday.
25	-->'''Lily''': (at 00:00) It's my Birthday!!
26	-->'''Lily''': (at 09:00 am) It's STILL my Birthday!!
27	* BlondeBrunetteRedhead: Amanda, Robin and Lily respectively.
28	* BothSidesHaveAPoint: On the one hand, the whole group has the right to call out Ted for bringing random girls to special occasions. It puts undue pressure on them to be more formal and the girl will mess up in an attempt to fit in with them. Robin relates how she was one of those girls in Japan while attending a wedding with her boyfriend, and it was super-awkward. On the other, Ted calls Lily a SpoiledBrat and a {{Hypocrite}} because for all her calling the random girls "skanks" and "bitches", she was the "skank" for Marshall once in college. Ted in fact reveals that he was more than fine with Marshall inviting her for a special occasion and encouraged Marshall to take a picture because Lily might be "The One". Lily herself gets a JerkassRealization about it that Ted gave her a chance.
29	* BrickJoke:
30	** The "Happy '''42nd''' Birthday '''Lori'''" punchlines a few minutes later by both Barney and Robin.
31	** Marshall's "Happy, Happy Lily Day" song got a punchline from Barney a few minutes later.
32	* CallBack: Lily's disdain for people outside of the group being in important events was first alluded in the Season 3 episode "[[Recap/HowIMetYourMotherS3E09Slapsgiving Slapsgiving]]".
33	* TheCameo: Creator/AnneDudek (Natalie) and Creator/LauraPrepon (Karen) appeared in flashbacks.
34	* ColorMotif: Ted tries to whisper to Amanda that Lily’s favorite color is yellow (which was the wrong answer), with yellow being associated to The Mother.
35	* ContinuityNod:
36	** One of the group pictures in Lily's album was taken at Robin's US citizenship approval party, a nod to "[[Recap/HowIMetYourMotherS5E05DuelCitizenship Duel Citizenship]]", where she decided to apply for citizenship.
37	** While listing all the intimate gatherings ruined by Ted's "random skanks", Lily brings up how he brought his hippie 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]]".
38	** Marshall mentions he consoled Natalie (and other girls) after she broke up with Ted the first time. Lily and Marshall also mention Karen ruining their trip to Paris.
39	** Robin mentions her short stay in Japan in Season 4.
40	** Robin also briefly says she didn't bring Don to the reunion, as they just hooked up in the previous episode "[[Recap/HowIMetYourMotherS5E17OfCourse Of Course]]"
41	* CynicismCatalyst[=/=]TookALevelInCynic: Marshall claims that since he has to console ''all of Ted's exes'', he has become less and less sympathetic towards them.
42	* DeathGlare: Averted by Lily not shooting Amanda her "You're Dead to me" look but played straight with Marshall for ruining Lily's birthday.
43	* {{Deconstruction}}: This episode serves as one regarding Ted's ReallyGetsAround attitude and his quest to find "The One". When he brings yet ''another'' flame to an event where Lily specified it should be friends and family only, Lily gets mad. (Part of it is her being a "birthday brat" while the other part is how a new person wrecks the established group dynamics.) As she and Robin put it, it doesn't matter if Amanda is a perfectly NiceGirl; the problem is that Ted brought one of his "skanks" and is oblivious to how most of the time, they ruin events. Robin joins in by saying that it's not fair to Amanda; having been invited to a wedding in Japan, she mentions that it's awkward when you show up at a serious event, only to find out the relationship isn't serious.
44	* EpicFail: The cake is decorated nicely, but somehow Amanda gets Lily's name ''and'' age wrong. Lily laughs it off, but Marshall doesn't. A better alternative would have been to write a neutral "Happy Birthday".
45	* EveryoneHasStandards: Barney is fine with his friends banging women. Even he thinks that Strawberry was a bad choice for Ted, and that the name should have made it obvious.
46	* {{Flashback}}: Two of Ted's previous dates (the picture with Slash on Barney's birthday and the StrawVegetarian at Marshall's bar-exam party), Karen ruining Spring Break in Paris and Marshall consoling Natalie and other two girls at the apartment.
47	* FlashForward: The last scene of the episode takes place a year later, with Lily playing "Name ''That'' Bitch" with Ted on Amanda's picture, Marshall still taking a terrible picture (but with his eyes open) and Robin finally taking a bad picture of Barney.
48	* {{Foreshadowing}}: In a flashback, Lily jokes that Barney and Robin wouldn't last. While she said that as part of a ContinuityNod, this becomes HarsherInHindsight after Barney and Robin's divorce at the finale.
49	* GirlOfTheWeek: Ted brought a new girlfriend to Lily's birthday. And to many other celebrations. {{Deconstructed}} when it turns out that ''Lily'' was the GirlOfTheWeek for Marshall in his and Ted's first photo as roommates.
50	* HeelRealization: After seeing her, Ted, and Marshall's very first college picture, Lily realized at the end of the episode that she acted like a {{Jerkass}} and she had to give Ted's girls a chance as he did with her.
51	* HippieName: One of Ted's previous girlfriends was a SoapboxSadie named Strawberry who ruined a celebratory dinner at a Teppanyaki restaurant by throwing red paint on the chef and screaming "MEAT IS MURDER!"
52	-->'''Ted''': Okay, I admit, Strawberry was a mistake. But how could I have possibly known that going in?\
53	'''Everyone''': HER NAME WAS STRAWBERRY!
54	* {{Hypocrite}}: Ted points this out about Lily. She takes offense about how he keeps inviting "skanks", but Ted reveals that she also got invited to a special occasion: Ted and Marshall's first college photo. In fact, Marshall was worried that the relationship wouldn't be serious, but Ted encouraged him to invite Lily to the photo in case she would be The One for him. Lily gets a HeelRealization about this at having once been the "skank".
55	** Though he isn't called out for it, Ted calling Lily a birthday brat is extremely hypocritical given how inconsiderate his behavior is in the episode. 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.
56	* ImStandingRightHere: Robin when both Ted and Lily accidentally insult her while making a point.
57	-->'''Lily''': You should listen to Robin.
58	-->'''Ted''': Right. Because Robin's your best friend.
59	-->'''Lily''': Yes.
60	-->'''Ted''': And what was Robin before she became your best friend? That's right, one of my random skanks!
61	-->'''Robin''': (who is sitting right beside Lily) Hey!
62	-->'''Lily''': Yes, this skank managed to work out--
63	-->'''Robin''': [[ImStandingRightHere Hey!]]
64	-->'''Lily''': --but she's the skanky exception, not the skanky rule.
65	-->'''Robin''': Hey, I'm crying here.
66	* ItsAllAboutMe: Lily's attitude during her birthdays. Ted calls her out on it.
67	-->'''Ted:''' You're being such a birthday brat!
68	** To be fair, Ted brought a complete stranger into her home without any advanced notice, and unilaterally decided that his new girlfriend[[note]]who he had only met because her hair fell into his food while she was cooking and does not bother to pull back her hair for the party[[/note]] was going to make Lily’s birthday cake rather than bringing the ''very specific'' cheesecake that she’d ''explicitly requested''. While Lily may have been being a bit spoiled, [[{{Hypocrite}} Ted was also being incredibly selfish and entitled during her birthday party]].
69	* JerkassHasAPoint:
70	** Rude as she is, Lily has a justified reason for only wanting to be with important people in her life during her birthday. The whole group also calls out Ted for doing this on a regular basis.
71	** Marshall's OOCIsSeriousBusiness below not only supports Lily's reason above, but also the fact that he's the one who had to clean Ted's "messes" up, and that inviting these girls to serious events makes them think Ted is more serious about them than he really is.
72	** Despite being insensitive to Lily's perspective, Ted himself has justified reasons for calling her a birthday brat.
73	** Ted inviting his random skanks to these events made them think the relationship was serious... but it ''was''. Ted never brought a one night stand to these things, they were all girls he was seriously dating and thought could be The One.
74	* LastSecondPhotoFailure:
75	** Robin finds out that Barney has the same pose in every picture. When asked, Barney claims he never takes a bad picture. Robin spends the episode trying to get a bad photo of Barney. At the end of the episode, the gang are about to take a picture for Lily's birthday. Robin tells Barney there's a hole in his jacket, forcing him to take it off as the picture is being taken. However, when the picture is shown, it shows him in his usual pose. TheStinger shows Robin was able to get a bad picture of Barney by giving him cilantro, which he's allergic to, right before taking a photo. The final picture shows Barney having a sneezing fit.
76	** Played straight earlier in the episode when Lily tries to take a photo for her birthday. Ted has invited his latest GirlOfTheWeek along with him to the party. Lily is annoyed by this, as he always includes his current girlfriend into their group activities, only to dump them later. She tries to exclude Ted's girlfriend from the group picture and gets upset when Ted protests. When the picture is taken, Lily is visibly angry and Ted appears shocked.
77	** Marshall always appears with his eyes closed or with an awkward expression in the groupshots. Even after Ted tries to signal Marshall to open his eyes in the last second, he ends up looking even more awkward.
78	* LineOfSightAlias:
79	** Ted tries to recall the names of his past dates from photographs by associating them with either the occasion (He later called Amanda "Bertha" because of the Birthday Party), or something in the picture (he thought Leilani's name started with "San" because he was thinking of "Santa" and "Christmas"). He gets them all wrong.
80	** Lampshaded later by Marshall and Lily a year later.
81	--->'''Lily''': Ok, Ted. Name the Bitch.
82	--->'''Ted''': Uhm... Ber... Bertha?
83	--->'''Lily''': No, it was my "''Birth''-''day''".
84	--->'''Marshall''': Your brain makes associations in a very obvious way.
85	** Lily herself uses "camera words" when she is forced to explain herself for wanting to take a certain picture.
86	* MaleGaze: Robin, [[MsFanservice as usual]], wears a tight and revealing dress compared to Lily's.
87	* MeetCute: Ted claims this is how he met Amanda: She was a chef at the restaurant where Ted found a hair in his soup.
88	* MisplacedRetribution: Marshall lashes out at Amanda for messing up Lily's name and age on the birthday cake, rather than at Ted for inviting a new person. It was an honest mistake, and Ted tells Marshall to be angry at him, not Amanda.
89	** Averted with Lily. Though she is furious with Ted for bringing (yet another) stranger to her birthday party, she is always polite to Amanda's face and clearly doesn't blame Amanda for the fact that it was inconsiderate of Ted to invite her without asking.
90	* TheMusicMeister: Marshall being Marshall, he planned songs to use for Lily's birthday.
91	* MyFriendsAndZoidberg:
92	-->'''Lily''': I can't imagine a better birthday than being here with my four best friends! Yay! Oh, Ted's here now, yay!
93	--> (opens the door)
94	-->'''Ted''': Happy Birthday! This is Amanda.
95	-->'''Lily''': And Amanda. [[DeadpanSnarker Yay.]]
96	* 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 relationship is serious and making their inevitable break-ups even harder on them.
97	* OddNameOut: The StrawVegetarian Ted dated in one of the Flashbacks was named "[[PunnyName Strawberry]]", which is why the gang point out to Ted that she was obviously crazy.
98	* OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: In the time it took for Lily to pull out her photo album with evidence that Ted's many dates have ruined events, Amanda baked ''and'' decorated a really nice cake. (Any baker can tell you that such effort takes time.) If she hadn't gotten Lily's name and age wrong, that may have saved the party.
99	* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: This is one of the few instances that Marshall, generally the GentleGiant and TokenGoodTeammate, lost his temper against Ted's date.
100	* PinkMeansFeminine: Robin's dress.
101	* PlotAllergy: Robin manages to take a bad picture of Barney by giving him cilantro. This allergy is never mentioned in the show afterwards.
102	* RageBreakingPoint: As Lily moves to ruin her own birthday by confronting Ted for his ReallyGetsAround attitude, Marshall does his best to break the tense atmosphere. He orders everyone to sing for Lily, as she ignores him. Just as Ted promises that Amanda won't ruin Lily's birthday, Amanda comes out with the cake all finished. She got Lily's name and age wrong, and Marshall ''snaps''. He lashes out at Amanda, telling her that Lily doesn't look 42! Amanda unsurprisingly runs off in tears as Ted gives Marshall a WhatTheHellHero for being angry at the wrong person.
103	* ReallyGetsAround: Ted has been with enough girls to fill up Lily's photo album, literally! She brings it out as evidence that Ted's habit of bringing them to events without notifying the others, and then forgetting their names because they weren't "The One". Ted takes more offense at the fact that Lily calls his dates "skanks" than about the fact that his friends are reading him the riot act.
104	* RememberTheNewGuy: The reason Lily is so reluctant to have Ted's girlfriend in the group picture is that all his past girls have ruined the previous precious moments. This is further accentuated when Lily made up a new game called "Name the Bitch". Ted, of course, failed to remember their names.
105	* RidiculouslyPhotogenic: Robin tried to take a bad picture of Barney after they notice that all his pictures have him in the exact same pose, even when he is bent over, or ''eating a chip''. She only manages it a year later.
106	** Completely averted with Marshall, who either has his eyes closed in every take, or is making a terrible face, even with Ted signaling when to open his eyes.
107	* RomanticFalseLead: It's very obvious that Amanda is not The Mother. When Lily decides to give her a chance, she says that "For all I know, she could be The One". A year later, Ted also forgot her name.
108	* RunningGag: "Name the Bitch", Robin trying to take a bad picture of Barney and all of Marshall's photos being terrible.
109	* SeriesContinuityError:
110	** 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.
111	** 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.
112	** 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.
113	** While Robin and Barney were shown to still be a couple in the flashback to Robin receiving her US citizenship, Barney mentions that she still had not received her citizenship in "[[Recap/HowIMetYourMotherS5E07TheRoughPatch The Rough Patch]]", the episode where they break up.
114	** Subverted with Marshall's record of taking pictures with awkward expressions, since all the other photos before this episode has him with normal faces. Apparently the curse only applies to Lily's groupshots.
115	* SoapboxSadie: In one of the flashbacks, Ted brought a vegetarian radical to Marshall's celebration for passing the bar of his test. The girl [[StrawVegetarian immediately yelled "Meat is Murder" after throwing red paint to the teppanyaki chef]], ruining again the party.
116	-->'''Ted''': Ok, I admit it. Strawberry was a mistake. But how can I know that going in?
117	-->'''Everyone''': [[CaptainObvious HER NAME WAS "STRAWBERRY"!!]]
118	* TrueBlueFemininity: Lily's dress.
119	* 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 do that going in, but everyone else in the room invokes this trope by shouting at him that her name made it obvious.

Context Recap / HowIMetYourMotherS5E18SayCheese