Ted and Marshall race to gather the components to Stinson's Hangover Elixir while Lily and Robin try everything to wake Barney enough to reveal the secret ingredient only he knows.
The episode provides examples of:
- Artistic License – Law: A Flash Forward shows Marshall running in an election against Brad to become a judge on the "New York State Supreme Court." The show seems to think that this is New York's highest court, since Marshall had already become a lower-level judge by this point, as shown in Last Forever: Part Two. However, New York's highest court is actually called the Court of Appeals (confusingly, its lower-level trial court is called the Supreme Court) and its justices are appointed by the Governor, not elected. Interestingly, the show made the opposite mistake in Twelve Horny Women, where Marshall applies to the New York Judiciary Committee to become a judge, despite New York trial court judges being elected rather than appointed.
- Aside Glance: Ted hesitates about eating bacon saying "What if I don't like bacon?". Both the Farhampton Chef and Marshall glance at the camera with a "Are you serious? Who doesn't like bacon?" look in their faces.
- Bait-and-Switch, Breaking the Fourth Wall: Three HUGE examples:
- The episode opens to a Flash Forward to just before a party Ted and the Mother are going to, where the Mother worries that Ted's going to get drunk. He tells her not to worry about it since he made a vow. The episode flashes back to the morning of Barney's tremendous hangover. One by one, we see each cast member vow to never again get as drunk as Barney is right now, only for Future!Ted to Flash Forward to a moment where that cast member broke the vow and did indeed get that drunk again. Finally, Ted becomes the last person to make that vow. We then Flash Forward to the morning after that party at the beginning...only to see that Ted kept the vow. Instead, it was the Mother who got drunk that night and is now nursing a tremendous hangover that Ted cures with Barney's Magic Feather.
- We get a montage of brief images that are all that Barney remembers from that morning, including an image of a ferocious bear roaring, that will remind the audience of the ringbear. Instead, it's just footage from a nature documentary on TV that Robin and Lily are showing to Barney in a futile attempt to wake him up.
- After 9 years of Lily making all sorts of Ambiguously Bi
Les Yay at Robin, they finally kiss (to wake up Barney) only for Lily to decide the kiss was "weird" and she's now completely over Robin. But Robin loved that kiss, and manages to make almost as much Ambiguously Bi Les Yay at Lily in the 30-second Stinger as Lily had to Robin in the past 9 seasons. - After several times finding out Robin can't have kids, in a flashforward to 2016, Robin and Barney wake up in a hotel room in Argentina to the sound of a crying baby. As she starts to comfort the child, Robin asks,"Barney, whose baby is this?" The child's mother comes in, yelling at the stupid, drunk Americans. Seems they were in the wrong room.
- Black Comedy: Used in the Breakfast Scene:Chef: At the Farhampton Inn we don't cook with grease. Our menu is organic. Farm to table. Locally grown. No "grease".Marshall: Sir, I am from Minnesota, where every meal is cooked with grease and my father dubbed that food "The Tastiest eats in the Gosh Dang World".Chef: And how is your father's health?(Beat)Marshall: Point is it tastes really good.
- Blatant Lies: When they realize that the hangover cure doesn't actually work, the guys decide to tell Barney that they used "Weekend at Barney's" and that Robin's dad still adored him so he won't feel bad. What really happened was that the photoshoot had to be cancelled and Robin's dad kicked Barney on the crotch out of anger.
- Cargo Ship: Ted immediately develops a crave for bacon right before he went into a food coma for eating a tray full.Ted: I finally found "The One", Marshall! Her name is "Bacon"!
- Continuity Nod:
- Barney's inability to take a bad photo is referenced yet again, as Ted hopes it will allow Barney to appear in the wedding photos even severely hungover as he is. Unfortunately, it doesn't work this time.
- In the "The Broken Code", Ted and Barney, together with Marshpillow reenact the scenes from Weekend at Bernie's which is one of Barney's old plays from the Season 8 episode, "Weekend at Barney's". Later, in "Knight Vision", Barney wants to use his "Weekend at Barney's" play after the wedding minister died but Robin rejected it. And it happens again in "Rally", when the gang pulls the stunt during the wedding photos. Or at least that's what they tell Barney to cover up the fact that the photos were cancelled.
- Barney's honestly level drunk is referenced when everyone tries to wake him up. They were able to briefly wake him, and he reveals there was no secret ingredient because he cared for them when they were having a Heroic BSoD or a Despair Event Horizon.
- Continuity Snarl: In one of the flashforward segments, it shows Marshall balding in 2020, but in the epilogue of The Exploding Meatball Sub, Marshall still has his hair even though at that point, he's supposed to be a judge.
- It's implied that the hair loss was from the stress of the election.
- Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: Ted tries to deny Marshall's claim that Ted's mom lied to him about being allergic to bacon.I'm allergic to a lot of stuff. Bacon, donuts...Halloween candy...not saying, "Thank you"...Oh my God! That bitch lied to me!
- Girl on Girl Is Hot: Lily suggests Robin and her should try it, although Lily briefly forgets that it was to wake up Barney. Turns out it actually works.
- Hideous Hangover Cure: The Stinson Hangover Fixer Elixir is Barney's version of this that's guaranteed to cure the drinker's hangover. At least, that's what he's convinced the others. It doesn't actually do anything.
- Lies to Children: Marshall tells Ted that his mother told him he was allergic to a lot of things because she wanted him to eat healthy as a child.
- Magic Feather: The gang tries to prepare the Stinson Hangover Fixer Elixir, Barney's cure for hangovers, to sober Barney up in time for the wedding photos. They gather all the ingredients they know and try to wake up Barney enough to tell them the secret ingredient. Barney tells them that there is no secret ingredient; the Elixir is a fake, they got cured only because they thought it would. In a flash-forward at the end, Ted pulls the same trick on the Mother.
- In the same episode, Robin mentions the Trope Maker from Dumbo (or Dum-bro as Barney puts it).
- Placebo Effect: The secret ingredient of the Stinson Hangover Fixer Elixir, lampshaded:Robin: Like placebo!Barney: Place-BRO!
- Parental Hypocrisy: In the flash forwards to 2030 where Marshall and Lily drop Marvin off at Wesleyan for his first year of college. They warn him not to do any underage drinking, but Marvin, well aware of what they did in college, goes to a bar moments after they leave, only to run into his parents doing shots.
- The Reveal: A minor one. We find out how Marshall got the name Big Fudge. By eating a whole lot of fudge, of course.
- Shout-Out: The gang compares the hangover cure to Dumbo's Magic Feather.Barney: Dum-BRO.
