New Year's Eve is a wild ride as Ted rents a limo for a night of party-hopping with the gang.
It was New Year's Eve of 2005, and Ted is determined to make this New Year's Eve a memorable one after several years of letdown: He rents a limousine (driven by Ranjit, which he paid for using half of his Christmas bonus) for him and the gang, planning on skimming through five parties in three hours to find the best place to welcome the new year. Before they are to hit the road, however, Robin bails out of the gang at the last second, as she was planning to spend the New Year with her boyfriend Derek. Ted is a bit disappointed, but Barney uplifts the mood with his "Psyched Up" mixtape, which has Bon Jovi's "You Give Love A Bad Name" as its opening track.
At the first party, Ted bumps into Mary Beth, his coworker who flirts with him, while Barney hooks up with a foreigner named Natalya. After the second party, they saw Moby walking outside, and they invite him to hitch along with them. It turns out, however, that he was just a lookalike, his real name is Eric, and he spent the rest of his time in the limo taking crazy and brandishing his handgun, which he calls "Janice." As they drop Moby off his party, however, he swipes Barney's mixtape. Without music to psych them up, Ted and Robin decide to sing the opening bars of "You Give Love a Bad Name." Mary Beth notices that Ted only has eyes for Robin, and she decides to leave.
Ted tries to cheer up Robin by promising to kiss her at midnight.
As they were about to toast, however, Derek appears, saying that he hastened to finish his work so he can be with Robin for the New Year. Seeing that all of his friends are paired up while he was all alone, Ted leaves the limousine and heads out home. However, Robin goes after Ted, reminding him that she has not forgotten their deal. Surprised, Ted asks her why she left Derek for a moment, but she reasons out that "he can wait a little longer; after all, he made me wait all evening," and they share a New Year's Kiss.
This episode provides examples of:
- Bottle Episode: The episode takes place entirely inside the limo.
- Celebrity Resemblance/Identical Stranger: The gang met a Moby look-alike (J. P. Manoux).
- Chromatic Arrangement: The three girls' outfits - Marybeth has a green dress, Robin has a blue one and Lily wears a big red coat over hers.
- Four Is Death: Party # 4 turns out to be Not Moby's party.
- Funny Background Event: After Robin kisses Ted, during the crane shot at the end you can see her spot the champagne glass he left on top of the limo and take it inside with her.
- I Call It "Vera": Not Moby has a handgun he calls Janice.
- Living Prop: Ted's date, compared to Barney's, rarely or never gets to speak at all and is largely ignored.
- New Year Has Come: After his mixtape is stolen, Barney spirals into an introspective mess.
- Phrase Catcher: Ted's date Marybeth likes to greet people with a hug, and they always respond with a surprised "Oh, you're friendly."
- Reckless Gun Usage: When the gang picks up Not Moby, he pulls out his gun and starts waving it everywhere while making elaborate hand gestures. After they drop him, he steps back in, still holding the gun, to give them a piece of advice: safety first.
- Romantic False Lead: Marybeth realises she's this for Ted and politely breaks it off with him.
- Sixth Ranger: This episode has plenty. In addition to regular sixth ranger Ranjit as their chauffeur, there's Ted and Barney's respective girls of the week and the Moby look-alike. Robin's boyfriend counts more as that episode's literal 11th-Hour Ranger.
- Theme Music Power-Up: Barney invokes and enforces Bon Jovi's "You Give Love A Bad Name" as this. Later, it plays over Marshall running through the steam of a subway grate to get back to the gang just before midnight.
- Vehicle Title: The entire episode takes place in a... guess what?
