After a near-death encounter, Ted reexamines his life and relationship with Stella now that they've broken up. Marshall and Lily debate over the existence of miracles while Barney spends most of the episode trying to reach the hospital that Ted's at.
This episode provides examples of:
- Bait-and-Switch:
- As Ted's taxi gets hit, we briefly flash to white before getting a dramatic montage of Lily, Marshal and Robin getting called to the hospital. Once they all arrive, it's a slow-mo run to where Ted is being held... and he's just chilling out on a bed, eating pudding.
- When Barney makes it to the hospital, we are clearly shown that he's standing next to a sign designating a one-way street. As he begins to cross, he actually looks down the appropriate end... only to get swiped by a bus going the wrong way.
- Bread, Eggs, Breaded Eggs/Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick: Marshall and Lily joke about what they think Barney saw when his life flashed before his eyes. They come up with (in order): boobs, scotch, money, suits, a suit of money, a suit of boobs, a giant boob wearing a suit of money and lactating scotch.
- Big Damn Kiss: When Stella arrives to the hospital and the rest of the gang give them more privacy, Stella takes her time to read Ted's chart, right before dry humping him on his bed to make out.
- Cliffhanger: The episode (and season) ends with Ted's Wacky Marriage Proposal to Stella.
- Continuity Nod: During Ted's My Life Flashed Before My Eyes moment, he sees all his friends and Stella in important events from past episodes such as him tending to a depressed Marshall after Lily left him, Lily telling him that she's torn between going to San Francisco or proceeding with her and Marshall's initial wedding plans, Robin confessing to him that she slept with Barney, his fallout with the latter and Stella apologizing to him for overreacting over their little secret.
- Cynicism Catalyst: Robin reveals that the reason she doesn't believe in miracles is because when she was a young girl, they had a family dog, whom she loved so much, who has terminal illness. The dog eventually dies, so Robin's parents collaborated with the vet to tell her that the dog was cured but the treatment has "serious side effects" and gave her a turtle whom they led her to believe was the dog. Robin was not pleased upon realizing it, and she implies it took quite a while for that to happen.
- The Determinator: After failing to get a cab in order to make it to the hospital, Barney ran.
- Divine Intervention: Marshall is convinced that Ted's surviving the car crash was a miracle; Robin is more skeptical, and Marshall spends the rest of the episode discussing other instances in his life that he considers "miracles."
- Double Subversion: The episode makes it clear that a character was involved in a terrible accident. Ted was at the beginning of the episode, but it reveals that he only suffered minor injuries. Later, Barney gets seriously injured, but he gets better.
- Foreshadowing: Ted explains that what flashed before his eyes were people he cared about. Barney was among them.
- Four Is Death: The cab that Ted rode is the fourth cab that passed by him.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: The front page New York Examiner Marshall is reading has the headline "NUDE CABBIE VOWS TO KILL AGAIN", a sketch of a man with glasses and an eye patch, and a hand-written note that reads "Dear New York. I will kill. More must die. The Nude Cabbie".
- Jerkass Realization: Learning that Barney ran all the way to the hospital, and almost got killed by a bus, after hearing about Ted's accident, makes Ted forgive Barney for sleeping with Robin, restoring their friendship.
- Look Both Ways: Barney gets run over crossing a one-way street. While he does look at the appropriate direction, the bus that runs him over was traveling the wrong direction.
- Love Epiphany: A second before the car hits his cab, Ted realizes that he made a mistake when he intended to break up with Stella. When Lily and Marshall ask Barney what he saw when the bus hit him, Barney gazes at Robin.
- Man Hug: Despite Barney being extensively wounded, Ted and Marshall give Barney a hug while declaring that they are more than friends, they are brothers.
- Mood Whiplash: Upon hearing of Ted's accident, Marshall, Lily and Robin are very emotional while rushing to the hospital. Once they get to see him, he's OK. As Lily is telling Barney about the accident, he hangs up on her and we're made to think Barney doesn't care. Instead, it's immediately revealed that he hung up because he couldn't even wait for the rest of the phone call before rushing to Ted's side.
- My Life Flashed Before My Eyes: Discussed throughout the episode. According to Ted, you can't see all your life flashing before your eyes at the moment of an accident. Only what you love.
- Not What It Looks Like: When Lily calls Barney in the middle of his meaning, the second she says Ted was in a car accident, Barney hangs up. Ted just assumes that meant Barney didn't care (since the two of them were still on the outs); in reality, Barney hung up so that he could rush to the hospital as fast as he could.
- Oh, Crap!: Everyone in the gang gets one when they learn Ted was in a car accident and is in the hospital. Subverted when they all rush to the hospital with sad music playing over it, run into his hotel room, and see that he's fine.
- Season Finale: The third one.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Ted's in a car accident and walks away without a scratch, but the hospital insists on tests to make sure he doesn't have internal injuries.
- Unluckily Lucky: Reason why Marshall believes miracles exist.
- After he, Barney and Ted stuck a bunch of sharp pencils on the ceiling, one of them fell and only got stuck in Barney's nose.
- After Marshall returns from a trip to Amsterdam, airport security almost busted him, until a shift change puts a less competent security guard that lets him go without a baggage search.
- Marshall went to Lily's classroom to play with the children, and accidentally got lice, which ruined a hearing with his old boss to get his job back. A few days later, the entire company was busted.
- Wacky Marriage Proposal: Ted does it in an arcade. In his defense, he at least tries to get a fake diamond ring to make it a little more conventional. He can't, so he uses an orange kangaroo doll instead.
- Wham Line: Thrice.
- Stella's Flat "What" after Lily declared her joy that the former and Ted got back together, revealing that she didn't think Ted was breaking up with her.
- Someone calls Ted at the hospital...
female nurse: Hi, Ted Mosby? We have you listed as the emergency contact for... Barney Stinson.- Ted tries to make up with Stella...
Ted: So, I've been thinking about what changed from the moment I broke up with you, to the moment I knew I wanted you back. And I... think I finally figured out what happened.Stella: Your cab got t-boned by a jackass on a cellphone?Ted: No. I changed. I'm ready to give you what you need. That's why I spent 10 minutes in the damn claw machine, trying to get the big fake diamond ring. But all I can get was this orange kangaroo.Stella: Diamond ring?(Realizes what that means)Ted: Will you marry me? - Wham Shot:
- Ted's cab being hit by a limo.
- Barney being hit by a bus.
- When Marshall and Lily discuss My Life Flashed Before My Eyes to Barney, they said that he mostly thought of scotch and boobs. When Robin (re)enters the room, he grins warmly revealing (to the audience) that he has fallen in love with her.
- Worth It: Said verbatim by Barney after he gets Marshall to high-five him while he's in tractionnote , even though it causes him immense pain. Tellingly, he says this while looking directly at Ted.
