Recap / How I Met Your Mother S 6 E 15 Oh Honey

Ted and Zoey struggle when confessing their feelings to each other when Zoey's cousin Honey (Katy Perry) is in town visiting.

This episode provides examples of:

• 419 Scam: Honey appears to have fallen victim to one of these, explaining how she gave her Social Security number to a "Nigerian prince."
• The Big Damn Kiss: Ted and Zoey, after they learn from Marshall that their feelings for each other are mutual.
• Brainless Beauty: The Super Gullible Honey, who's played by Katy Perry. That said, Robin describes her as intelligent.
  Ted: [To Barney] I'd say hump her brains out, but someone obviously already has.
• Blatant Lies: Even if Robin hadn't already told Marshall the truth about the gang's evening with Zoey and Honey (i.e., that Honey liked Ted and wanted to go home with him), Barney's version is so ludicrously over-the-top (with Honey supposedly deliberately pointing her straw at him while seductively mouthing "straw" to him) that it's unlikely Marshall would have believed him anyway. Also, he tells Honey that she was his "first."
• Break Her Heart to Save Her: Ted doesn't want his feelings for Zoey to cause her to cheat on the Captain, so he pretends that he hates her (after first pretending that everyone else hates her, of course) so that she won't have to make the choice.
• Call-Back: Honey reveals that Barney reached out to his father, after asking his mother for his address in the previous episode.
• Cannot Spit It Out: With good reason. Ted believes Zoey is still married and is unwilling to be a homewrecker. Zoey believes Ted has grown to hate her over her opposition to the GNB building.
• Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Ted, Zoey, and Honey all wear the same color as the Clue characters Marshall uses to explain the situation to Judy and Marcus. Ted wears purple, corresponding with Professor Plum, Zoey wears white, for Mrs. White, and Honey wears red, for Miss Scarlet.
• *Cough* Snark *Cough*: An extended version by Barney, while they're waiting for Honey and Zoey describes her as "cute".
  Barney: Cough "Cute" means fat Cough
  Zoey: She's not fat.
  Barney: Cough "Not fat" means ugly Cough
  (Honey walks in)
  Barney: Cough I take back everything I said Cough
• Foreshadowing: Older Ted admits that he and his friends don't remember Honey's real name. If Zoey was the mother, the group would have remembered her name because they would have seen her more often.
• I Kiss Your Hand: In Barney's version of how the evening went, he does it to Honey when they are introduced.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Ted tries to distance himself from Zoey due to his feelings for her, since she's married. Until, of course, he finds out that she loves him too and is getting divorced.
• Lady in Red: Honey wears a form-fitting red dress while hanging out with the gang.
• Love Dodecahedron: Ted and Zoey are in love with each other, while Zoey is married to The Captain, and Honey expresses some interest in Ted before sleeping with Barney. Everything ultimately gets sorted out in the end, as Zoey and the Captain turn out to be getting a divorce.
• Matchmaker Crush: Played with. Zoey sets Ted up with her cousin Honey while being in love with Ted, but she was already in love with him before setting them up, and did so precisely because of her feelings for him.
• Minnesota Nice: A Running Gag throughout the episode is Marshall feeling compelled to answer the phone no matter what, and doing so in a weirdly formal manner ("Eriksen residence, Marshall speaking!"), for fear of seeming rude. Lampshaded by Robin.
  Robin: Oh my God, you are so Minnesooota. You can't not answer the phone because it would be rude!
• Oblivious to Love: Both Ted and Zoey are unaware that one is in love with the other, and they go to great lengths to push each other away because of Zoey's marriage.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: Much like Blah Blah, Honey's real name has been lost to the ages. Thanks to her being Super Gullible, every story she tells ends with the listener spitting out a sympathetic "Oh, honey...".
• Phrase Catcher: Honey, obviously. People responding to her breathtaking naiveté with "Oh, honey..." is where her nickname comes from.
• Shipper on Deck: Marshall, Judy, and Marcus all root for Ted and Zoey to get together, after figuring out that they're in love with each other.
  Marcus: So help me, Marshall, if you don't call those two crazy, mixed-up kids, I will.
• Shout-Out: There are several references to Clue, and Marshall uses character cards from the game to explain the situation between Ted and Zoey to his mother and brother.
• Super Gullible: Oh, Honey. While hanging out with the gang, she mentions several instances in which she has been obviously duped, including believing that her landlord installed a camera inside her shower for "extra security" and giving her Social Security number to someone claiming to be a Nigerian prince. Also, Marshall gets her to tell him Zoey's secret (that she's getting divorced) by claiming to be Zoey's therapist.