Marshall's closeness to his family and his desire to be with them gets on Lily's nerves, while Ted and Barney argue about having dibs over a hot girl in the bar.
This episode provides examples of:
- Armor-Piercing Response: Lily asks Barney if she was too crazy about Marshall being too close to his father. Barney warns her that she won't want to hear his answer, likely because she was looking for someone to validate her reaction. He tells her that if he had his dad's number, he would call him every day.
- Babies Ever After: A flashforward near the end reveals Cindy and her friend-turned-girlfriend later had a daughter together.Future Ted: That girl wasn't your mother. She became someone else's mother. In fact, they both did.
- The Big Damn Kiss: Cindy and her friend share one at the bar, beginning a relationship together.
- Both Sides Have a Point: Marshall concedes that his father is far too involved in his and Lily's lives, while Lily recognizes that his closeness with his father isn't actually a flaw.
- Call-Back:
- Robin's subplot concerns her break-up with Don, which occurred in the previous season's finale.
- Ted gets nervous about talking to Cindy, after things ended badly between them in "Girls Versus Suits".
- Call-Forward: A major one, being the first to flashforward to Barney and Robin's wedding day in "The End of the Aisle".
- Girl on Girl Is Hot: Barney takes a picture of Cindy and her date kissing.
- Heroic BSoD: Robin remains deeply depressed over her break-up with Don.
- Lipstick Lesbian: Both Cindy and her date (and eventual wife) are very conventionally feminine and attractive.
- Obnoxious In-Laws: Marshall's dad plays with this. He's not intentionally a Jerkass to Lily, but his complete disregard for her boundaries does irritate her and stress her out.
- Red Herring: Ted initially thinks that the girl Cindy is with might be her roommate (that is, the Mother), but it turns out she's on a date with Cindy.
- Serious Business: Dibs, of course, for both Ted and Barney.
- Twist Ending: The episode opens with Marshall and Ted at a wedding, in tuxedos, with the former asking if the latter is nervous, hinting that it's Ted's wedding. Instead, the end reveals Ted's the best man, nervous about his toast.
- The Unreveal: The end of the episode doesn't reveal whose wedding it is.
- Wham Line: "That night, by golly... Cindy went for it."
- Wham Shot: Following the aforementioned Wham Line, Cindy kisses her friend (who it turns out was actually her date), who reciprocates.
