The gang tells Ted about their own bad experiences of dating people they see on a regular basis in order to discourage him from making his moves on a doctor.
This episode provides examples of:
- Call-Back: Ted names several of Barney's dating rules from previous episodes, specifically the Lemon Law from "The Duel" and the Hot-Crazy Scale from "How I Met Everyone Else".
- Chekhov's Gunman: Ted's dermatologist Stella is mentioned, but not seen, before becoming an important recurring character later on as one of Ted's major Love Interests. Her and Ted's relationship also ends up contributing significantly to him meeting the Mother years later.
- The Golden Rule: The Platinum Rule of the title is Barney's corollary to it: "Never, ever, ever, ever, love thy neighbor." Ted points out that "Love thy neighbor" isn't the Golden Rule.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Ted says he's going on a date as soon as he's done fixing his hair; Barney notes that means the group have "a solid half-hour" to convince him otherwise.
- Literally Loving Thy Neighbor: Barney's Platinum Rule explicitly advices against it, and the others tell stories confirming it.
- Wrongfully Attributed: Barney mistakes "Love Thy Neighbor" for the Golden Rule, which Ted quickly calls him up on. Barney insists that since he put so much thought on his Platinum Rule, they should just go with it.
