Air Date: October 9, 2006
Barney tells Ted that single women like architects. But will Ted use this useful tidbit of information to cheat on Robin after they have their first fight?
The episode provides examples of:
- Action Girl: The Girl of the Week is stated to be a kickboxing instructor.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer:
- Turns out many of Marshall's college friends are hard-drinking Frat Boys by night and bright students at Columbia by day. Notable examples include Brad Morris and Kara (who, according to Future!Ted, becomes the Attorney General).
- Turns out Barney has actually been listening to all the stories Ted has been telling, enough to be able to name-drop famous architects and pull off a convincing con as an architect on the fly.
- Cassandra Truth: At one point, Lily calls Marshall to see if Ted was at the club with him. Marshall said that Ted was working at the office.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Robin discovers after a while that she is this towards Ted.
- Foil: Barney continues to be this to Marshall, Lily, and Ted. When Robin tells Lily she and Ted had their first fight, Lily takes out her earbuds and says, "Oh no! What'd you fight about!" When Barney hears the same from Ted, he says the same thing sarcastically and puts his in.
- Foreshadowing: A rather subtle one with Marshall saying "This isn't you, Ted."
- Gag Penis: Druthers' building.Ted: This project is getting hard and hard.
- Hard Work Hardly Works: Ted kept complaining about his job and how underappreciated his designs are. It eventually is averted episodes later when the firm recognizes his design for a skyscraper was far better than Druthers' "penis building".
- Heel Realization: After most of the episode had Robin complain about Ted being too needy, when she thinks Ted is cheating on her, she finally realizes she is the problem, as Robin was neglecting Ted to the point of pushing him to do this. Fortunately, it wasn't Ted at all.
- Hidden Depths: It is impressive that Barney actually remembered enough of Ted's comments about architecture to impersonate him, showing that he does actually pay attention during Ted's boring stories, unlike Robin.
- Job Title/Role Called: Subverted. Barney is just using Ted's name and job to get laid.
- Love Makes You Crazy: Robin realizes this is the first time she turns into a Clingy Jealous Girl, as Ted is her first real relationship in a long time.
- Mistaken for Cheating: Lily and Robin are convinced that Ted is having an affair after an episode-long mystery tracing. It turns out it was actually Barney pretending to be Ted the whole time.
- Not Hyperbole: Robin tells Lily about a fight she and Ted had when she called Field of Dreams a bad movie. Lily tells Robin that what Ted was really mad about was that she wasn't talking to him about her feelings. Cut to Ted talking to Marshall and Barney where it turns out he really was mad because she doesn't like Field of Dreams. He was also upset that she wasn't interested in his day, it's just that he was also upset about Field of Dreams.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Invoked by Robin, who realizes that Ted would never cheat on her unless it was a very good reason. Fortunately for her it wasn't the case and this does teach her to appreciate Ted more.
- Once More, with Clarity: After a whole night of listening how Ted scored a girl using his architect job, Robin and Lily discover it was really Barney using Ted's name.
- Running Gag: This episode introduces the penis tower Ted's boss designed.
- Serious Business:
- Lily tells Robin that Ted is angry at her for being uninterested in his day, cut to the guys being appalled that Robin said Field of Dreams was a lame movie. The fight was real, they just got de-railed.
- Marshall's college friends' first reactions to Marshall's break-up are starting to do legal talk: contract lease, property sues, etc.
- Shout-Out: Robin gets nervous when she finds out "Ted" went to a dance club with a hook-up.Robin: OK, maybe this is a little bad. Dancing is bad. Dancing leads to sex.Lily: Did you grow up in Footloose Town?
- Twist Ending: Ted is revealed to be not trying to cheat on Robin at all. It was just Barney using Ted's name and job to pick up girls.
- Young Future Famous People: Future!Ted stated that two of Marshall's colleagues/friends at the party will eventually become prominent law personnel.
