How I Met Your Mother

Season 5

Definitions

1. The scene in which Ted runs out of his lecture hall was filmed at UCLA.

Double Date

1. First mention of the doppelgangers
2. Robin is wearing the wishbone necklace Lily wore in season one. Zoey is seen with the same one in "oh honey". This could be explained by Robin borrowing the necklace from Lily in "double date" and by lily and Marshall selling their stuff online and zoey buying the necklace before "oh honey"
3. When Lily impersonates "Jasmine" she looks exactly like "Jasmine". However, when "Jasmine" impersonates Lily, she wears her hair in a ponytail, whereas the real Lily was wearing her hair down.

Robin 101

1. When Ted is teaching Barney, and Barney doesn't pay attention, he mutters "How do I reach this kid?", which is a reference to Stand And Deliver, a movie about a teacher in an inner city class. Later, they reference Dead Poet's Society, another movie centered around a teacher and his students.
2. Lyndsy Fonseca (Daughter) and Olga Fonda (Candy) have appeared together on the TV show 'Nikita'. They played Alex and Larissa respectively.
3. Ted says 'bowl' 21 times.
4. Marshall says to Lily and Robin, "Have you two ladies lost weight recently?". It's a reference to their pregnancies in the previous seasons.
5. Robin is 29 years old and claims to be 26, while Cobie Smulders was actually 27.
6. Because she was born on July 23, Robin Scherbatsky is a Leo.

The Sexless Innkeeper

1. itwasthebestnightever.com is an actual internet page featuring photos from the double date night and a black and white video of Jason Segel performing the song "Best Night Ever".
2. The music video of "Best Night Ever" features Nuno Bettencourt from the band Extreme and parodies the music video from their song "More Than Words".
3. The character named "Shea" may have been inspired by the First Assistant Director whose name is listed in the credits as "Michael Shea".
4. Julianna Guill is married to a Chinese man Matthew See.
5. When describing the agenda for Vermont Marshall mentions it's syrup season. Then the fall colours. Syrup season would be early spring.

Duel Citizenship

1. In a flashback from Ted and Marshall's roadtrip to Chicago we see them eating beef jerky and drinking Tantrum, although we earlier learned that Marshall didn't allow any food or drinks in the Fiero.
2. Robin tells Ted that the "hydro bill is bigger than Louis Cyr's arms." Cyr was a French-Canadian strongman and weightlifter whose forearms reportedly measured 16.3"/41.4cm. Also, "hydro" is a term used by Canadians to mean "hydroelectric" and refers the electricity bill.
3. The Tim Hortons, described by Robin as being near The Hockey Hall of Fame, is real.
4. Near the end of the episode Ted asks Marshall if he wants to crank some Van Halen like the old days, but in Marshall's old car a tape was stuck playing "I'm Gonna Be" on a loop.
5. Country music singer Kenny Rogers reads the audio book Lily supplies for the road trip she, Marshall and Ted go on.
6. Just like Neil Patrick Harris (Barney), Alyson Hannigan (Lily), and Sarah Chalke (Stella Zinman), Jim Varney also appeared on Roseanne (1988).
7. Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) shows Robin (Cobie Smulders) a picture of Ernest P. Worrell (Jim Varney). Varney and Harris were both born on June 15, in 1949 and 1973, respectively, which were both Ox years under the Chinese Zodiac.
8. This episode references actor Jim Varney and his Ernest P. Worrell character/film franchise. Sarah Chalke, who played the recurring role of Stella Zinman on this show, appeared in Ernest Goes to School (1994). Chalke was the only actor/actress to have a starring or recurring role on How I Met Your Mother (2005) who also appeared in the Ernest P. Worrell film franchise.
9. In the opening scene's flashback of Robin in the bar fight, a background patron wears a hockey jersey with the name "Bays" on it. This may be an inside reference to Carter Bays, one of the show's creators and writers.

Bagpipes

The Rough Patch

1. When fat Barney and ugly Robin are fighting, the music playing in the background is "Murder Train" by The Foreskins, the song Robin's ex-boyfriend played with his band in the "Sandcastles in the Sand." This song is used often throughout the series after its original appearance for different fighting montages.
2. Barney exclaims "Catchphrase" while describing his and Robin's relationship. Neil Patrick Harris was the spokesperson for the game Catchphrase in the early 2010s
3. Ted first says "Oh honey" to Meg in the Stakeout Station Wagon. A year later, an entire episode is devoted to an "Oh Honey" girl, Katy Perry.
4. The diner that Robin and Barney eat at is named "The White Flag". According to Merriam Webster, a white flag is "a flag of plain white used as a flag of truce or as a token of surrender" This could be a nod to them breaking up at the end.
5. When Robin and Barney are in the diner toward the end of the episode they are looking at their reflections in the window. They are astonished at how they have been changed by their relationship and their effect on each other. This is reminiscent of a similar scene from Mister Buddwing when Jean Simmons and James Garner have a similar reaction as they look into the mirror above the mantle.

The Playbook

1. During Barney's description of "The Lorenzo von Matterhorn", he mentions that the move involves several websites boasting the adventures of Lorenzo von Matterhorn. One of the websites' URL is www.tedmosbyisajerk.com and actually exists.
2. Marshall mentions that an accountant in his office is named Matthew Blitz. Matthew Blitz is the name of one of the production staff for this show.
3. The music featured at the end of "The He's Not Coming" is Mancini's theme from "Romeo and Juliet."
4. When Lily is talking to Shelley in the staff room at school there is a sign behind her that says 'Please keep the sink clean. Thank you'. This is a reference to the episode Bagpipes in which Marshall tells the group that Lily likes a clean sink.
5. While Ted and Marshall are playing their Xbox 360, Ted's controller has no battery.
6. One of the articles for Lorenzo Von Matterhorn has Barney dressed like a doctor. Neil Patrick Harris played a kid doctor in the tv show Doogie Howser (1989)
7. Barney mentions MILSWANCA's. Ted guesses that it means "Mother I'd like (to) sleep with and never call again." Ted was right and Barney shouts "Correct! Circle gets the square" which is a reference to Hollywood Squares.
8. Lily says she met Shelly "three years ago", and knew she'd be perfect for Ted. 3 years before the events of this episode Ted would have been dating Robin.
9. The fake medical condition that Barney invented for the "Lorenzo von Matterhorn" play is called "phallumegaly", which basically means "abnormally large penis".
10. The last page of the Playbook is revealed during the episode 'The Final Page: Part Two' as being The Robin.
11. Cobie Smulders and Sarah Wright were leading ladies in two of Tom Cruise's movies Jack Reacher: Never Go Back and American Made.

Slapsgiving 2: Revenge of the Slap

1. Lots of comparisons are made between HIMYM and the 90's sitcom Friends. Christina Pickles, who plays Lily's Grandmother, played Judy Geller in Friends.
2. Lily's father is said to be trying to invent the next great board game. The following board games are referenced or seen: Tijuana Slumlord.Car Battery.Diseases!Thirsty Thirsty Hippo.Sleepy Tombstone Maze.Landmine Lunge.There's a Clown Demon Under the Bed.Bermuda Triangle.Dog Fight Promoter.Slap Bet.
3. In this episode, Marshall uses his fourth out of five free slaps, which he won in How I Met Your Mother: Slap Bet (2006).
4. The song in the commercial for "Slap Bet" is a version of the Slapsgiving song that Marshall wrote.
5. Lily's look "You're dead to me" resembles her character from Buffy, Willow when she goes dark. She also "kills" one of the characters by destroying them in a fire, just like Dark Willow does

The Window

1. The narrator - Ted's older self in 2030 - doesn't make any comments during this episode until about 2/3 of the way. This includes the usual opening voice-over, "Kids..."
2. JoAnna Garcia became the 4th guest star who had also previously starred along Jason Segel in Freaks and Geeks.
3. Joanna Garcia and Josh Radnor also started in Not Another Teen Movie
4. Eight years later, JoAnna Garcia Swisher also plays a character named Maggie in Fist Fight (2017).
5. When writing to 60 year old Marshall, he refers to him as Sir, possibly acknowledging his position as a judge.

Last Cigarette Ever

1. When everyone is smoking on the roof, there's a Tim Horton's coffee tin on the table being used for the butts. A nod to Robin's Canadian-ness.
2. Ted's kids act shocked that the gang all smoke but in season 2, at Lily and Marshall's wedding, Robin and Lily go outside to smoke.
3. Another banner for the band "Pitter Pals Revival" can be seen behind Robin when they are all outside.
4. The reaction shot of Ted's future kids after the revelation of the gang smoking is the same as the one shot for the pilot episode. All subsequent shots show them in different clothes with an altered set. It's likely that this was the only one they could find to match the situation as all reaction shots for the kids were finished shooting early on in season 2 and they didn't have one that matched.
5. Marshall wears an Auburn University T-shirt in this episode, War Eagle!!!
6. All the major characters are smokers, but based on Ted's monologue, three of them have already quit: Lily when she decided to start trying to get pregnant, Marshall when Marvin was born, Robin quit in 2013 and Ted will quit after his second date with the mother. And Barney quit in 2017.
7. We already learn in episode 11, season 5 (when the gang tries to stop smoking) about the sex of Marshall and Lilly's future child because Ted says: 'Marshall stopped smoking when his son was born'

Girls vs. Suits

1. This is Neil Patrick Harris's favorite episode of the show.
2. This is the show's 100th episode.
3. When no longer wearing his trademark suits, Barney wears a shirt depicting the cover of the book "Die Neue Wohnung" (german for 'The new appartment') by famous architect Bruno Taut, indicating that the shirt might actually belong to Ted. Barney probably took all his "new" non-suit clothes from Ted's more casual wardrobe.
4. The music accompanying Barney's hidden suit in the restroom in MacLaren's pub is "Bullwinkle pt. II." A reference to a scene in Pulp Fiction (1994). Where, to the same song, Vincent Vega (John Travolta) shoots up heroin.
5. Zachary Woodlee, choreographer of Glee (2009), choreographed the musical sequence within Barney's mind. Heather Morris is a lead on Glee and was one of the dancers in this episode's musical number. Neil Patrick Harris later guest-starred on Glee.
6. TV's Tim Gunn (playing Barney's tailor) uses his famous catchphrase when telling Barney that he "just couldn't make it work."
7. According to the DVD commentary of this episode, there was a scene where the suits moved and talked to Barney in different accents. It was cut out because of the 18 minute limit they had due to the song at the end being 3 minutes long. You can see a suit move at the end of the episode, it was going to be a follow up to this.
8. When Ted says to Cindy, "So, do you ever date cute idiots?" and she responds, "Almost exclusively," this is a reference to the first season Seinfeld episode "The Stakeout" where Jerry says to Vanessa, "Do you date immature men?" and she responds, "Almost exclusively."
9. The scene where Barney puts on the suit in the bathroom stall mimics the scene where Vincent Vega shoots up heroin in Pulp Fiction (1994), using similar shot styles and the same music.
10. During the dance number, you can see the Royal Diner from the set of Bones.
11. Glee (2009) star Heather Morris can be seen dancing in the musical number 'Nothing Suits Me Like Suit' in episode 12, season 5
12. Lily mentions that Karina is younger than Marshall. When in actuality, Stacy Keibler (Karina) is three months older than Jason Segel (Marshall).
13. Marshall actually slaps Barney when Barney's rubbing his face on Marshall's suit, but they don't keep track of this one. If they did this would be the last of the 5 slaps Marshall could give until the later shown "Duck Tie Saga".

Jenkins

1. Cast-member Neil Patrick Harris' directorial debut.
2. The explanation of the name Gazebo made by Ted to his students is completely made up.
3. During a lecture to his architecture class, Ted explains "...he is only remembered for one thing, that my friends is the sad legacy of Gregorio Franchetti Gazebo," as he shows a slide of a gentleman (circa 1900) in front of a gazebo. Gregorio Franchetti is a friend of Josh Radnor who plays Ted, and is credited as Assistant to Director in the film Happythankyoumoreplease (2010) which was directed by Josh Radnor.
4. The college bar that Robin, Ted, Barney, and Marshall attend is the same set that was used for The Scorpion and the Toad bar and the Minnesota Vikings bar.
5. The instrumental song playing following Ted's night out with the students is "Adagio for Strings" most commonly known from the movie Platoon (1986).
6. The actor who plays "Blauman", the character who introduces Jenkins to Marshal by saying, "watch out for this guy, he steals stuff" is Taran Killam, the real life spouse of Cobie Smulders who plays Robin.
7. When Robin realizes the college kids are watching her for their drinking game, she says but-um 42 times.
8. First time that Marshall is known as the now infamous nickname "Big Fudge". It is a running joke for the rest of the series to say "Come again for Big Fudge" for the remainder or the series. Lily is the only one that make It her own by changing"Big Fudge" for "Little Fudge".

Perfect Week

1. Nick Swisher is the husband of JoAnna Garcia-Swisher who plays Maggie Wilks in the Season 5 episode, "The Window".
2. In the scene when Ted is doing roll call in his class, he calls out the name Jamie Adamic. Jamie Adamic is the name of one of the assistants to the producers on the show.
3. When sitting at the table with Swisher Robin asks if Mookie Wilson is a thing. Mookie Wilson was a baseball player in the 80's and was a member of the 1986 World Series Champion Mets. Wilson was actually the batter when Bill Buckner committed his famous fielding error in game 6.
4. When Ted and Barney are checking the "scouting report" for Barney's next conquest, the main theme from "Major League" can be heard playing in the background.
5. When Barney exits the bar with the 4th woman, he is touching the wall (where there might be a poster or a sign hanging) with 4 of his fingers. This could be another of many sports references in this episode, as the Liverpool FC legendary soccer player, Steven Gerrard, was known for touching the iconic "This is Anfield" sign with 4 fingers on his way to the pitch before every match.
6. When Jim Nantz asks Barney if he's ever taken "performance enhancing drugs" Barney says "No sir, I respect the game too much... I've never touched the stuff". However, we find out in season 9 episode 15 that he does, indeed, use "performance-enhancing drugs". Marshall comes down to ask him for some and he responds with "I always keep these on hand".

Rabbit or Duck

1. During Barney's interaction with Marshall and Lily at Mclaren's, he acts like Gollum in The Lord of the Rings. His phone being the ring.
2. This episode bears resemblance to "The Tell-tale Heart" story by Edgar Allan Poe. Barney is the narrator being driven slowly mad by the sound of a beating heart of a murdered man, represented by the ringing of his magic phone.
3. Jim Nance is the sports announcer in the cold opening who says, "Welcome back to Super Bowl forty four in Miami." and "Get a load of that guy.". He is never seen on camera and those are his only two lines in this episode. He did however, have a much bigger role and was seen on camera many times in the episode immediately preceding this one entitled "The Perfect Week" (S:5 E:14). It's possible that Nance recoded the short two-liner for this episode when he was filming the much bigger part in "The Perfect Week". Incidentally, former NY Giant and Super Bowl XXI MVP Phill Simms is the second announcer who says, "Do you think that's his real number?".
4. In "Rabbit or Duck" when Lily and Marshall are going over options of women Ted has dates in the past to be his "future wife" and among those options is Natalie and Lily says that Ted is her least favorite person on Earth which Marshall responses with "she's not getting any younger". In the first season, episode four "Return of the Shirt" at the end of the episode older Ted says that within a year of that episode she was married with kids. Meaning at the time of "Rabbit or Duck" she would have been married already.
5. In the episode of "Rabbit or Duck," Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) is seen on the TV screen during a Super Bowl game holding a sign that says "Hey Ladies Call Barney Stinson 1-917-555-0197." The letters C, B, and S from "Call Barney Stinson" is highlighted boldly to represent the CBS network.
6. Barney's ringtone is an instrumental version of "Turkey in the Straw", later while Ted is on Marshall and Lily's arranged date the restaurant has another version of "Turkey in the Straw" playing as it's ambient music. This would become the ambient music for restaurants in future episodes as well.
7. Don pulls the Naked Man on Robin who read the idea off of Barney's blog; both mentioned in previous episodes.

Hooked

1. The fifth season episode, "Hooked", was mostly in front of a live studio audience.
2. This marks exactly halfway through the series, as this is episode 104 and there are 208 episodes total.
3. Marshall wears the same Auburn University t-shirt in this episode that he wore in the Last Cigarette Ever episode. War Eagle!!
4. Scooter is seen working as a cafeteria worker in the school Lily works at. In real life David Burkta is actually a chef.

Of Course

1. During her interview with Anita, Robin says "but um," the infamous phrase that Ted's students listen for in a drinking game.
2. Each character in the series has had their own musical number except Lily (Alyson Hannigan). Ted (Josh Radnor) had his own musical number called "Super Date" in the episode How I Met Your Mother: Of Course (2010). Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) has his own musical number called "Nothing Suits Me Like a Suit" in the episode How I Met Your Mother: Girls vs. Suits (2010). Robin (Cobie Smulders) had her own musical number (and many others) called "Lets Go To The Mall" in the episode How I Met Your Mother: Slap Bet (2006) and Marshall (Jason Segel) has his own musical number called "Marshall vs. the Machines" (2010) and that leaves Lily without ever having her own musical number. This is down to actress Alyson Hannigan (Lily) dislike of singing.
3. When Ted describes Barney's super-date, he mentions dinner at Le Tombeau des Culottes - "the fall of the panties".
4. In an episode where Robin is interviewing a woman about her books (Jennifer Lopez) the camera man asks if either of the women wants coffee and in the background there is a yellow sign that says, "NO FOOD OR DRINK ON SET"
5. Ted's super-date is 17 dates in one. This show is the 17th episode of the season.

Say Cheese

1. This episode, where they celebrated Lily's 32nd birthday, aired on March 22, 2010, Alyson Hannigan's 36th birthday.
2. Marshall claims to be Ted's "break up clean up crew" and then it flashes to Natalie sitting on the couch in their apartment, crying saying they "broke up, again. " In season 1, ep. 4 Return of the Shirt, we see that Ted broke up with Natalie on an answering machine during her surprise birthday party and then again on her birthday in a restaurant where she uses Krav Maga to beat him up.

Zoo or False

1. One of the girls Barney meets in the bar calls him Neil (thinking he was Neil Armstrong) followed by the other one saying "That's not his real name". Barney Stinson is played by Neil Patrick Harris.
2. The belt worn by Barney after he lies about having a threeway was first part of a storyline from the 3rd episode of the 3rd season, titled "Third Wheel".
3. The pizza delivery man, is yet another Breaking Bad actor in this show. He played "Badger"
4. Ted tells Barney that he can't just tack on a new ending because he isn't satisfied with how things happened. Ironically, the fans of the show forced the creators to tack on a new ending of the last episode when they didn't like what happened.

Home Wreckers

1. When Barney is having a flashback of driving Ted's mom to the airport (about 15 minutes in), he says "and that's how you got the brooch." This is a continuation of the conversation Barney and her had in the episode Brunch (season 2, episode 3) where he asked about its origin.

Twin Beds

1. In hindsight, Barney's line to Ted about Robin saying "I'll take her till she's forty and then you can have her." foreshadows how things will turn out for the three of them.
2. At the end of the episode old Ted tells his kids "come hell or High-water we all still get together" and go to robot vs. Wrestle but it has been proven a few times During the show that they don't for example when Ted is sitting alone in the bar imagining future Barney and future Ted and on the ninth are you going when Robin haven't seen the group in a while

Robots vs. Wrestlers

1. Although it is true there is an "Alberta Building" in New York (at Riverside Park), it is not the one depicted in the episode, and the name of the architect, Lewis Lamar Skolnick, is completely made up. In fact, Lewis Skolnick and Lamar were both characters in Revenge of the Nerds.
2. The effetely off-color "Constance Frye" song that Will Shortz, Ted (Josh Radnor), Jefferson Van Smoot (Michael York) and Peter Bogdanovich sing at the party is from Trading Places (1983), in which it is sung by Louis Winthorpe III (Dan Aykroyd) and his rich, insufferable friends.
3. The billboard for Mustache Marshall translates to: Mr. Justice! Make the right call, Call Mr. Justice.
4. The robot which fought the doppelgänger of Ted is the same robot as is seen in the Season 14 episode of ChickleVision, titled Run Robot Run (Episode 11).
5. Lily wears the same white blouse with a red flower on it that Robin wears from a few episodes earlier.
6. A wine blind testing is not as depicted in this episode, but with the taster without having seen the label or the shape of the bottle. Sometimes it may involve serving the wine in a black glass to cloak the colour of the wine.
7. Barney's rule to Lily and Marshall about not loving the baby more than him is also what Jeremy Sisto's character tells Keri Russell's character in Waitress (2007), which also features Darby Stanchfield.

The Wedding Bride

1. Some of the baggage the people from the street have: Still likes Oasis, 5 gay ex-boyfriends, Cubs fan, Mom still does laundry, Elvis is alive, tri-polar, loves cats more than people, still thinks his ska band is going to take off, Pacific Islander fetish, only dates guys in a band. Three different women have: "Slept with Barney".
2. The music in The Wedding Bride is from Love Actually.
3. The wedding dress "movie-Stella" wears is the same the real "Stella" wears in How I Met Your Mother: Shelter Island (2008).
4. Guest-star Malin Akerman appears in cast-member Josh Radnor's directorial movie debut Happythankyoumoreplease (2010).
5. When Ted and Royce are discussing The Wedding Bride, she mentions the "part where Jed gets beat up by a goat." Ted wasn't beat up by the goat until Stella and Tony had already left for LA and out of his life in season 4 episode "The Leap."
6. About 1 minute in, Barney says that "only women with major baggage go into porn," causing Ted and Robin to do their signature salute while repeating "major baggage." This is reminiscent of an inside joke they share originally revealed in Slapsgiving (season 3 episode 9).
7. In this episode, Marshall and Lily describe unknowingly helping some men rob an apartment. This also was described in a previous episode by Robin.
8. Malin Ackerman (movie Stella), started in a romcom alongside Judy Greer (Royce) called 27 Dresses. This entire episode was based around a fake romcom.

Doppelgangers

1. The ticked countries which can be clearly identified in Barney's world sex map are: Canada, USA, Mexico, Bahamas, Cuba, Panama, Colombia, Peru, Brazil, Iceland, UK, Ireland, France, Norway, Italy, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia, South Africa, Burkina Faso, Gabon, Kenya, Djibuti, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, India, China, Japan, Indonesia and Australia.
2. Alyson Hannigan had previously played her own doppelgänger in two episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997): Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Wish (1998) and Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Doppelgangland (1999).
3. The title of this episode refers to the German word for look-alike. The word "Doppelgaenger" can be singular and plural in German. So "Doppelgangers" with a S at the end is grammatically wrong.
4. In the second season episode Arrivaderci Fiero (2007), it is revealed that Barney does not know how to drive, even taking lessons with Ted that terrify him. However, he is seen driving the cab in this episode. It can be assumed that Barney being Barney, he put forth an extreme effort to learn how to drive in order to pick up chicks.