Barney makes plans to sleep with his two hundredth girl while future Ted explains to his kids the how essential it can be to be in the right place at the right time.
This episode provides examples of:
- Abhorrent Admirer: Barney's bodybuilder gym buddy Pauline, who has apparently "been after" him for a while. Barney does sleep with her, but only because he was trying to get to 199 sexual conquests at the last minute before his date with a Czech supermodel (whom he intended to be his 200th). Unfortunately for him, a counting error results in Pauline actually being his 200th.
- And Then What?: Barney runs into this after sleeping with 200 girls, an ambition he held onto since middle school, as he wonders what next. It's at this point that Robin walks in, as if to answer the question.
- Arc Symbol: The yellow umbrella makes an appearance.
- Book Ends: The episode begins and ends with Ted's walk to the bagel shop.
- Brawn Hilda: Barney's female gym buddy is heavily implied to be one.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: Internally: as Future Ted admits that everything that went into him heading outside at the start of the episode was integral to how he would eventually meet the Mother (as the woman he bumps into is Stella), he explains what he would have done had he known that at the time... by having Ted run around and hug every involved character from the three plotlines of the episode.
- The Bus Came Back: Stella returns after bailing on her and Ted's wedding earlier this season.
- Call-Back: Marshall's fish-based "comedy" routine returns, as does Barney's habit of going to the gym to "invest" in women.
- Cliffhanger: The episode ends with Ted meeting Stella for the first time since she bailed on their wedding. It also ends with Barney tearing up his 200 list and saying, "Now what?", then looking over to Robin at the bar.
- Continuity Nod:
- The Intervention banner reappears.
- Barney's gym, Total Rip Fitness, was previously seen in Season 3.
- Continuity Snarl:
- At the beginning of this episode, Future!Ted tells us this episode was set in May 2009 despite occurring before Ted's 31st birthday which has already been established as being on April 25th.
- When Ted is walking down the stairs of the apartment, the MacLaren's Pub sign was missing.
- Event Title: Self-explanatory.
- The Faceless: Barney's female gym buddy.
- For Want Of A Nail: To an impressive degree. Every little detail, from Robin getting food poisoning at Schlegel's Bagels, to Barney's 200th date, to even Marshall's chart fixation, all were integral to Ted being at a specific street corner one rainy day in May... just so that he can run into Stella once again.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: At the beginning of the episode, right before it starts to rain, it's possible to see who the women who comes up to Ted is.
- Fun with Acronyms: Milt, the crazy homeless guy (played by Dan Castellaneta) apparently thinks ATM stands for "Alien Time Machine."
- Handshake Refusal: When Barney announces that he's about to date his 200th woman.Ted: 200? As in "sex with"?
Barney: As in "sex with". I request the highest of fives.
Ted: Not even if I was wearing a hazmat suit. - How We Got Here: Ted explains all the little things that caused him to be at the right place at the right time on the corner.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Robin jokes about being pregnant.
- Shout-Out:
- Barney argues you can't have "too much of a good thing" and references Steve Guttenberg and the Police Academy films as an example.
- Marshall's Cecilia chart is a reference to a Simon & Garfunkel song of the same name.
- Marshall is shown ranking the American presidents in his charts.
- When talking to Matthew Panning in the flashback, Young Barney is playing Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. There is a 2nd edition Dungeons and Dragons Dungeon Master's Screen on the table.
- Single Woman Seeks Good Man: Exploited by Barney in his efforts to pick up women at the gym, who he sees as future investments. He takes an interest and acts kind to women who are working out in an attempt to get fit. The way he sees it, when they lose weight and become more attractive, they'll remember the guy who was kind to them before they lost the weight.
- Squick: Again, In-Universe, everyone is disgusted by the number of women Barney has slept with, including Mathew Panning, the guy who claimed to have slept with 100 chicks in the seventh grade.
- Took a Level in Kindness: Barney's childhood bully has obviously changed a lot for the better.
- Twist Ending: The episode heavily builds that it will be Ted and The Mother's first meeting. It... wasn't.
- Wham Shot: Ted sees Stella again for the first time since she bailed on their wedding.
