Ted has a small window of time to hit it off with Maggie, a girl with the Girl Next Door appeal, who he's been waiting for years to get together with.
This episode provides examples of:
- Arc Words: "The window is open/closed."
- Brick Joke: Maggie liking overalls as well as Ted's class using the Fun with Acronyms below.
- Childhood Friend Romance: Maggie ultimately ended up with her childhood friend.
- Continuity Nod:
- Maggie mentions "Vanilla Thunder" to Marshall, his self-proclaimed "Red Baron" first mentioned in "The Possimpibile".
- Robin briefly mentioned her past relationship with Barney.
- Did Not Get the Girl: Maggie is not the Mother.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Played for Laughs when Barney intends to bed Maggie.Barney: Ted, the window is closing in 10 minutes.Ted: What?! Why?Barney: Because we're bros.
- First Guy Wins: Maggie and her eventual husband are each others' Victorious Childhood Friend.
- Fun with Acronyms: Ted uses this as an excuse to his class when he accidentally wrote Maggie's name at the blackboard.Ted: It means Make Adjustments, Go Get It Energized.
- Girl Next Door: Maggie Wilks is described as such, in fact she is the "Ultimate Girl Next Door".
- Graceful Loser: Once Maggie got together with her eventual Victorious Childhood Friend, Ted took the loss with class.
- Heroes Want Redheads: Maggie is a very, very pretty redhead.
- Immediate Self-Contradiction: Barney makes fun of Marshall's overalls saying that nobody can get laid wearing them. He then decides to do exactly that.
- Meaningful Echo:Future!Ted: Maggie's window never opened again.
- Not Distracted by the Sexy: Robin repeatedly tries to sway Maggie's co-worker friend from her by seducing him, but no avail.
- Remember the New Guy?: Maggie seems to be close to both Marshall and Lily, but this is the first time she's mentioned.
- Shipper on Deck: Marshall and Lily, Maggie's neighbor and his his class fully supports him going for Maggie.
- Shout-Out: Robin intended for a (failed) Se7en joke at the beginning ("What's in the box?!").
- Single-Target Sexuality: Maggie's co-worker friend is only interested at her despite Robin blatantly seducing him.
- Stalker with a Crush: Ted towards Maggie. It's also implied that Maggie's co-worker friend is this.
