Barney ruins Marshall's bachelor party, and Robin finds herself in a sticky situation when she gets an inappropriate joke gift for Lily's bridal shower, which is made of older women.
This episode provides examples of:
- Actually Pretty Funny: Once everyone at Lily's bridal shower sees Robin's gift, the older ladies start to joke about having seen it in Sex and the City. Future Ted claims the party got even more uncomfortable for Robin and Lily.
- Awful Wedded Life: Stuart provides the bitter jokes about marriage, to the point the others start to question him if everything is all right with Claudia.
- Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: As it turns out, Lily only returned to New York because Barney flew out to San Francisco and asked her on Marshall's behalf.Barney: (at Lily's apartment) Yeah, yeah, yeah, "Barney, what are you doing here? I can't believe it's really you. Come in, have a seat. Do you want some tea? I know the apartment's small, but I don't need much space. Let me show you some of my paintings. I think it's some of my best work ever," just stop it. Lily, you have to come home. You and Marshall belong together. The two of you have something that most people search their whole lives for and never find. I know you love him, and if you knew what he was going through right now, you wouldn't be here for one more second. (pulls out a plane ticket) I bought you a ticket home. Marshall is one of the best people I know, and it won't be long until someone else realizes that, and you'll lose him forever. I can't stand the thought of that happening, and I cannot keep stealing chicks from him forever. (begins to leave) Never, ever tell anyone I was here, I will deny it tooth and nail, this trip never happened.
- Celebrity Paradox: Sex and the City (SITC) is (in)famously mentioned at Lily's bridal shower. Later, Kim Cattrall, who was Samantha on the latter show, played the older Sophie on HIMYM 's spinoff How I Met Your Father — while very publicly not playing Samantha on SITC 's spinoff And Just Like That....
- Covert Pervert: After the bridal shower ends, Lily and Robin laugh at the gift and, make some jokes about having it, Robin suggests returning it. Lily promptly refuses and insists on keeping it.
- Don't You Dare Pity Me!: The stripper the guys hired had her ankle broken, and tells the story of her daddy issues and her earning this job for raising her kids while her fiancé who came back from Iraq drinks his ass off. The guys try to console her, but she states this trope, and insisting that The Show Must Go On.
- Double Entendre: After Robin switches the tags of hers and Lily's grandma's gifts, which respectively contain a vibrating dildo and a sewing machine, Lily's grandma fully describes the sewing machine in detail without her knowing it was swapped and Lily mistakes it for the dildo, and everything the grandma says could apply to either device.
- Hidden Heart of Gold: Turns out that all those times Barney stole the girls away from Marshall was to prevent him from hooking up before Lily came back.
- I Need a Freaking Drink: Robin starts downing wine when she realizes her horrible mistake.Woman: Could you pass the wine?Robin: (clutching the bottle) No.
- Mood Whiplash: After Barney delivered his speech to Lily and gave her the plane ticket, he left her apartment... only to immediately come back in, asking how he should kill time until his plane ride home.Barney: Hey, if you had three hours to kill before your flight, what would you do: Alcatraz or Fisherman's Wharf?
- Noodle Implements: Future Ted skips how the stripper's routine went, only that it included a smoke machine, a weight ball, furry handcuffs, and a hippity hop.
- Oh, Crap!:
- Robin is not amused after finding out that Lily's bridal shower was a lot different from what she thought, as the guests are mostly her relatives, kids and a nun.
- Barney realizes that he forgot to put out the cigar, which causes a fire at the hotel and for the guys, and Barney, and maybe Brad, to be kicked out from said hotel. No one knows what happened to the stripper they hired.
- Once More, with Clarity: The episode starts with a flashback to August 2006, where we see Barney bailing from the bar seeing Marshall was still hung up on Lily leaving him. Towards the end of the episode, Lily explains the full circumstances: Barney didn't actually bail. Rather, he left, hopped on a flight to San Francisco, tracked Lily down, and told her she needed to come home.
- The Reveal: Right when Marshall was chewing out Barney for ruining his Bachelor Party, Lily confesses that it was Barney the one who convinced Lily to return to him.
- Secret Message Wink: Ted makes Barney promise not to bring strippers to Marshall's bachelor party. Barney promises... and does a very obvious wink.Ted: Barney, I want you to promise me. No strippers.
Barney: Okay, I promise. [wink]
Ted: I'm serious. No strippers.
Barney: So am I. No strippers. [wink]
Ted: Now say it without winking.
Barney: No strippers. [wink]
Ted: You just winked.
Barney: No I didn't. [wink] - Stag Party: Ted arranges a more sedate affair for Marshall, seeing a boxing match followed by a nice steak dinner, and even lies to Barney about where they're going to keep him from meddling. It doesn't work. By the time they arrive at the hotel Barney has somehow arranged for a stripper to meet them. The evening pretty much unravels from there.
- Series Continuity Error: A minor one in Barney's speech convincing Lily to return to New York. While visiting Lily in San Francisco, Barney mentions that he can't keep stealing girls from Marshall, a nod to the plot of "The Scorpion and the Toad". Problem is, Lily had already returned to New York by this point, having returned at the end of the previous episode, "Where Were We?". Of course, as with many continuity issues in the show, this could be explained by Future!Ted making a mistake.
- Take Our Word for It:
- The audience never gets to see Robin's gift, only the reactions when Lily opens the box.
- Future Ted refuses to tell his kids what the stripper's performance involved and the audience doesn't get to see it either.
- The Unreveal:
- Why was Brad found naked in the middle of the road?
- Future Ted also refuses to tell his kids what exactly the stripper Barney hired did during her performance.
