🎵It was the greatest week and a half of my life...🎶
Barney helps Robin feel better after she is dumped for the second time by her old boyfriend played by James Van Der Beek.
This episode provides examples of:
- Animal Wrongs Group: Metro News One gets mistaken for one due to one of Robin's Love Makes You Dumb moments. See Soundtrack Dissonance for more details.
- Beach Episode: The music video for the titular song, at least.
- Brainy Brunette: Michelle is earning her PhD in behavioral psychology.
- Call-Back/Continuity Nod: Everything about Robin's Idol Singer past was revealed in the season 2 episode Slap Bet.
- The Cameo: Tiffany, Alan Thicke and Robin's Robot Buddy.
- Chekhov's Gunman: Alan Thicke will show up in seasons 5 and 6.
- Cliffhanger: The episode ends with Robin and Barney hooking up, which we know will be a source of major conflict going forward.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: Played for Laughs with Lily and Robin's argument about Robin continuing to date Simon. Once Robin points out that Lily and Marshall are starting to sound like her parents, their conversation becomes exactly like one between disapproving parents and a Bratty Teenage Daughter.Robin: "You're worried about me?" Okay, is there any version of this conversation where you guys don't sound like my parents?Lily: Oh, I don't know, is there any version of this where you don't sound like a 16-year-old girl?Robin [folding arms petulantly]: That's exactly what my mom would say...Lily: No, if I was your mom, I'd say we forbid from seeing this boy!Robin [whining]: Lily!Lily: I'm sorry, but it's for your own good!Robin: You guys just don't get it! You've never felt the way that I feel!Marshall: Now, now, we were both young and in love once.Robin: Yeah, like a billion years ago...Lily: And you've been drinking, haven't you?!Robin: [beat] Yeah, we all have. You bought the last round.Lily: You are not going to that concert!Robin: Yes, I am! And you know what? After the concert, Simon and I are going all the way!Lily: [as Robin leaves] Young lady, get back here! [to Marshall] Thanks for your help![beat]Ted: So, today at work...Marshall: NOT NOW, TED!
- Double Entendre: Barney and Robin's conversation before watching the music video of the titular song. Due to what happened afterwards, it also counts as Tempting Fate.Barney: So should I just put it in?Robin: Yeah, why not.
- Emotional Regression: Robin goes through this when Simon comes back into her life. Lily and Ted are also shown to go through this when their best friends from high school show up. Marshall nicknames it as "revertigo", though Ted nixes that.
- History Repeats: Robin got dumped by Simon at the exact same van for the exact same reason.
- Hypocritical Humor: Upon seeing Robin, the fat, balding Simon says "Man, you got old."
- Jerkass: Simon broke up with Robin when they were teenagers because his ex-girlfriend's parents put in a pool. Ten years later, he re-entered her life, put down her friends, strung her along, and dumped her again for the same ex-girlfriend.
- Love Hurts: Robin learned it the hard way.
- Love Makes You Dumb: The episode centers around Robin's regression every time she's around Simon.
- Mood Whiplash: Barney is an amazing friend, comforting Robin at a really low point. It's absolutely heartwarming. Then they go to her place and she lets him watch "Sandcastles in the Sand", which is hilariously awful. Then they hook up, and it's not portrayed as a good thing.
- The Namesake: "Sandcastles In The Sand" is the name of Robin's second single which she will show Barney at the end of the episode.
- Pet the Dog: Barney consoling Robin after she's dumped by Simon.
- Sassy Black Woman: Subverted. Lily's black best friend can actually speak casually without an urban accent as long as she and Lily are not together.
- Sophomore Slump: In-Universe example. According to Robin, the titular song was her big artistic follow-up to "Let's Go To The Mall", but it flopped.
- Small Name, Big Ego: Simon thinks he's all that, but he's not.
- Soundtrack Dissonance: Simon convinces Robin to play one of his songs during the news, and chooses to play it during a pet adoption segment, with pictures of animals being shown as the song "Murder Train" is being played. According to Robin, it actually did help get a lot of animals adopted, though only because the people calling thought they were going to kill them.
- Stylistic Suck: Both the music video and the song.
- The Problem with Pen Island: The gang immediately realizes the problem with Simon's band name "The Foreskins/Four Skins." When asked why he named it that way, he claims it's because there are four members, and they each play sports without their shirts.
- Wham Episode: Thanks to the Wham Shot below.
- Wham Shot: Robin and Barney hook up in The Stinger.
- What Does She See in Him?: The episode's main theme.
