Best Prom Ever

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“Best Prom Ever”
How I Met Your Mother episode
Lily at the prom in a flashback.
Episode no.	Season 1 Episode 20
Written by	Ira Ungerleider
Directed by	Pamela Fryman
Production no.	1ALH19
Original airdate	May 1, 2006
Episode chronology
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"Mary the Paralegal"	"Milk"
List of How I Met Your Mother episodes

"Best Prom Ever" is the 20^th episode in the first season of the television series How I Met Your Mother. It originally aired on May 1, 2006.

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

In the opening of the episode, Marshall finds out that Van Smoot, the dream place where Marshall and Lily would like to have their wedding, is suddenly available. They rush over and take the opening, but that sets the date of Marshall and Lily's wedding, which would be in 2 months. Lily is stressed out about everything, even to the point of almost being a Bridezilla, and all she can think about is her wedding. Marshall finds a possible band for the wedding, The 88, but Lily will not sign off on them until she hears them play Marshall and Lily's song ("Good Feeling" by The Violent Femmes), and the only way she can hear them is if she sneaks into a high school prom. Thus, Lily goes along with an idea of Barney's, and decides to sneak in with Robin and Barney (Barney suggests the idea because he thinks there will be no issues for them sneaking in, since he tells Lily, "I'm ageless, Scherbatsky just needs a good night's sleep, and you have statuatory written all over you."). Robin is excited, because Robin never got to go to prom in high school due to field hockey tournaments. However, when they arrive, they find tight security, so Lily and Robin offer to be the dates of two nerdy high school seniors, while Barney decides to find another way in. Meanwhile, Ted and Marshall are stuffing wedding invitations on their "Guys Night Out" until Robin calls Marshall and asks him to bring the lyrics of "Good Feeling" to Lily. Meanwhile, Lily is remembering her senior prom, and beginning to have doubts about getting married, since she never did a lot of what she wanted to do in life. She tells this to Robin, who convinces her that she is marrying her best friend in the world, and that she could possibly be an artist and live an artist's lifestyle later in life, and then kisses her on the lips to give Lily a "Lesbian experience," even though neither of them are lesbians. Ted and Marshall sneak in the back, and find Barney dressed as a turtle mascot. Marshall asks the senior who is Lily's date for the night where she is, and he pulls out a pair of Nunchaku and hits Marshall with them. Ted then tackles the senior to show Marshall that Ted will always have Marshall's back in a fight. The two seniors, Marshall, Ted, and Barney are taken outside, but Marshall and Ted sneak back in when Barney grabs the head of the turtle mascot suit and runs off. Marshall and Lily dance together, and agree to have The 88 play at the wedding, while Ted dances with Robin, who wants to try to restore their friendship now.

[edit] Cultural References

Barney references many young women that most teenage girls idolize when he tells Robin and Lily that they are dressed too classy, saying, "It’s so classy and nice; you’re going to stick out like a sore thumb. Have you seen how the kids are dressing these days? With the Ashley, and the Lindsay and the Paris. They all dress like strippers. It’s go ho or go home."
Marshall says that The 88 are "The Wiggles" of wedding bands, as The Wiggles are a famous children's band from Australia.
At one point Lily believes that Ted's cousin Bonzo was John Bonzo Bonham from Led Zeppelin.
Lily's desire for a lesbian experience references Alyson Hannigan's character Willow in Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, who had many such experiences in college in the show.