Barney declares himself the new leader of the gang after Marshall and Lily move, and replaces them with "Stripper Lily" and her boyfriend, who are nothing but bad news. Lily's dad torments her and Marshall about their new house which he knows better than them.
This episode provides examples of:
- Abilene Paradox:
- Future Ted talks about this and calls it "Early Relationship Chicken." It's the phase where both partners agree to every activity the other suggests, because they want to seem interesting, adventurous, and open-minded. This eventually leads to them getting roped into activities that neither of them wants, because they're afraid to be the first to say "No"—until one of them finally caves, much to the relief of both parties.
- Kevin and Robin go through their own Early Relationship Chicken, which leads to them birdwatching in Central Park, bungee jumping, and attending a butcher class before they come to their senses.
- The Bus Came Back: "Stripper Lily" appears again. This time she robs Barney, Robin, and Lily with the help of her boyfriend, who Barney nicknames "Better Marshall", alongside a bunch of other vaguely Eastern European stereotype people.
- Call-Back: In the Cold Open, Marshall and Lily hand Robin, Barney, and Ted spare keys to their house in Long Island. At the end of the episode, the trio use one of their keys to see if the keys work.
- Dirty Old Man: Lily's dad keeps reminiscing about growing up in the house, but everything seems to have something to do with his teenage sex life.
- Dumbass Has a Point: Kevin actually agrees with Barney on how Robin and Ted are handling Lily and Marshall's move.Barney: Enough! I am sick of you two wallowing in sadness instead of doing the healthy thing and pretending anyone who leaves you never existed in the first place.Kevin: I hate to agree with Barney's near paralyzing abandonment issues, but he has a point. You can't just stop living just because two of your friend's moved away.
- Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: Marshall tries to explain to the gang that he and Lily moving isn't the end of their friendship.Marshall: Guys, we'll still see each other all the time, and we'll talk on the phone. And, I know people say having kids means you won't see your friends anymore but - oh God, this is goodbye, isn't it?
- Hidden Depths: Despite appearing as a Dirty Old Man, Mickey actually knows his way around every corner of the house, even without the lights on.
- The Nicknamer: During the poker game, Ted refers to the (obviously members of the Russian mob) other members as Butterfly Knife, Face Tattoo, Jagged Cheek Scar, and LarryLarry-with-the-ferret-eye patch-mustache-and-mohawk: Why don't I get nickname?!Ted: Because you've got too many things, Larry! You get one thing!
- Once More, with Clarity: During the poker game, Arvydas defuses the situation and allows the gang to leave. A flashback to that same scene later in the episode adds subtitles to what he says in Russian: he is planning on robbing them later.
- Series Continuity Error: Lily's dad previously had a successful boardgame (Slapbet), but here he has a second first successful boardgame, Lites Out.
- Shout-Out:
- Marshall trying to find his way through the darkened Long Island house is an extended reference to The Blair Witch Project.
- Ted stacks up his chips while winning poker with a Russian gang and singing "We Built This City".
- Special Edition Title: When Barney declares himself the new leader of the gang, he cues to a new opening title with "How I Met Your Barney" and all pictures of him with Robin and Ted looking disgusted. Barney also sings new lead vocals to the theme song (now sung by Barney and with some changes).Barney: [singing] And Barney is the leader of the gangandlifeisawesome.
- There's a second title sequence later featuring Jasmine (stripper-Lily) and Arvydas (her boyfriend), with Faux Cyrillic title card, a slightly different song featuring low-pitched male vocals and Barney wearing a Russian-style furry hat in the last picture.
- The Thing That Would Not Leave: After two weeks, Lily's dad has thoroughly worn out his welcome.
- Too Dumb to Live: Subverted. After being almost killed by Russian mobsters and robbed by Lily's doppelganger and her boyfriend, Barney eventually realizes that he doesn't want to be the leader of the gang anymore because of this, but he can't say it aloud for many reasons (ego, stubbornness and also that they're still accompanied by the mobsters).
