How I Met Your Mother is not just known for its eight-series-long mystery of who the mother is, or how lovable and genuine the characters are. One of the things many fans love about the series is the numerous hidden details and subtle easter eggs throughout the show.
With the first series of How I Met Your Father being a great success (with the show also being renewed for a second season), fans have taken to rewatching the original series to keep themselves occupied while also trying to identify some of the hidden details they missed in previous viewings.
The Countdown To Marshall’s Father’s Death
The episode in which Marshall’s father dies is inarguably one of the most hard-hitting and heart-wrenching of the series. Fans continue to talk about how well this episode is done and how powerful the moment Marshall founds out is.
One thing that is credited to this is the countdown of numbers that can be seen throughout the episode, hidden in the scenes leading to the news. Indeed, Redditor bringyourownbooyah suggests “the whole time you’re paying attention to what seems like just another episode, but, underneath the surface, the suspense is rising and rising.”
The Callbacks In The Episode Where Marshall’s Father Dies
Although the countdown in “Bad News” is not the only thing to credit for the success of this episode of the fantastic 2000s sitcom series. There is another indication that something big is going to happen in this episode.
Redditor Funandgeeky points out that “this episode [is] full of callbacks “and” is hilarious right until they pull the rug out from under us. “They allude to the return of the doppelgängers, Sandy Rivers, and chords to Robin’s hit song ‘Let’s Go To The Mall.’ Arguably, this theme of reminiscing good times can be understood as foreshadowing the loss at the end of the episode.
Gary Blauman’s Early Appearance
Gary Blauman is known in HIMYM for having an affair with Barney’s brother. Indeed, a whole episode is dedicated to Gary Blauman and whether he should be allowed to attend Robin and Barney’s wedding upon the gang discovering that everyone either loves or hates him.
However, Longjumping_Cow9426 noticed that “in the Swarley episode, when they were drinking in the bar, Cobie Smulders real-life husband, who plays Blauman in future episodes, is drinking beer in the background.” This is well before his character is properly introduced in the series.
Barney And The Number 83
It is well known that, in HIMYM, Barney is forever coming up with theories and stories about how to seduce women that he claims are true (even though everyone knows they are not). Still, it is amusing to see him spout such lies to try and convince his wise friends, who are onto all his tricks.
A deleted Redditor noticed an easy way to spot this, stating “whenever Barney needs a percentage or random number, he’ll always use 83, or 8.3, or a variation of that.” Furthermore, this Redditor realized that even “Ted points it out at one point.” This detail could very easily go unnoticed but is a long-standing theme in the series.
The Doogie Howser References
Neil Patrick Harris, who portrays Barney, formerly portrayed Doogie Howser. Indeed, there are a couple of subtle references to this in the series. Firstly, when Barney hires an actor to play his son, jooes notes that Barney yells “Child actors are not as good as they used to be!”, Having been a child actor himself.
In another moment in the series, Barney can be seen writing in his blog. Redditor navjot94 notes that the episode “plays the Doogie Howser music” and a deleted user remembers that “Doogie usually writes in a journal and Neil Patrick Harris does the same kind of pauses and reflections [in this moment in HIMYM]. “
Reinterpreting The Color Theory
Like many shows and movies, colors can be symbolic and this also proves to be the case for HIMYM. For many characters, yellow represents ‘The One’ while purple represents the opposite.
However, one Redditor has re-interpreted what the colors really mean in regards to the Nora, Barney and Robin love triangle. PoussseMoussue describes how Robin wears yellow during her and Barney’s first kiss and when they nearly kiss during the hurricane, but Nora wears yellow and Robin wears purple the first time Nora meets Barney. Similarly, Nora wears purple when they break up. As such, PousseMoussue “[thinks] it means that the ‘right choice’ is really a constant evolution, and there is no [real] ‘right’ choice, but the one you make and you feel is good for you. “
Barney Predicts Robin’s Relationships
When Ted and Barney both realize they are still in love with Robin, it becomes a competition between the pair to get Robin back, despite her being happy in a relationship with Don at the time. During this, Barney proposes that he be with Robin until she is 40 years old and that Ted is with Robin from then onwards.
Existing_Lemon_878 noticed that it was quite strange how “That’s kind of what happens.” Indeed, this does mostly foreshadow what happens in the series; Robin initially marries Barney but they split after three years, and then, following Tracy’s death, Ted and Robin reunite later in life – although some fans argue that this finale ruined HIMYM.
Familiar Ringtones
In the series, there are several memorable songs made specifically for HIMYM. Fans will fondly remember songs like “Sandcastles in the Sand,” “Murder Train,” “Super Date” and “Just Got Slapped.”
However, two Redditors have observed that two songs from earlier in the series appear later as Ted and Marshall’s ringtones respectively. While MaxPowerzs notes that ‘Let’s Go To The Mall “is Ted’s ringtone, pyralisha notices that Marshall’s ringtone is a song he created about being a lawyer in the episode. “Sweet Taste of Liberty. ”
Women’s Baggage Being Barney
In “The Wedding Bride,” Ted sees a movie written by Stella’s husband, in which Ted is depicted as the bad guy. He soon realizes that he, and the people he dates, all have baggage (with the show also making a point of this by having the characters carry suitcases that are labeled with their personal insecurities.
However, jooes identified that there are “five or six people who carry a ‘Slept with Barney’ bag.” Indeed, many of the suitcases are labeled with this, which is both hilarious and easy to miss (although it does highlight Barney’s highly problematic nature).
When The Gang Finally Agree To Watch Robin’s Show
In “The Front Porch,” Robin convinces the gang to watch her show upon finding out that none of them have ever seen it. However, they all get distracted when it transpires that Lily has long been interfering in Ted’s relationships in order to ensure that he does not end up with the wrong person.
While the focus of the episode is the gang’s discussion and Robin’s show is muted in the background, Redditor jooes notes that “there is a ton of [wild] s *** happening. “Indeed, Robin puts out a fire on a chef, the weatherman collapses and Robin administers CPR, and she delivers a baby when a show guest goes into labor.
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