Oh Honey

"Oh Honey" is the fifteenth episode of the sixth season of the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother and the 127th episode overall. It aired on February 7, 2011.

Plot

With Marshall living with his mother for a while due to his father's recent death, he is forced to hear of the gang through phone calls, and is glad to hear of an interesting story developing between Ted and Zoey. Robin explains that it began when Zoey offered to hook up Ted with her cousin. Future Ted is unable to remember her name, and simply refers to her as "Honey", due to the fact she appears to be extremely gullible but cute; those listening often say "Oh, Honey" to her in a chiding manner. At McLaren's, Ted and Honey appear to be hitting it off, although Barney is also clearly enamored with her. Ted decides to let Barney leave with Honey, later confessing to Robin that he's fallen in love with Zoey. Knowing that such love is forbidden, as Zoey is married, Ted holds an intervention for himself, with him initially deciding that he should stop being friends with Zoey. The others don't want to lose Zoey as a friend, and convince Ted to get over his feelings for her.

In the present, Marshall receives a call from Barney, who tells him that something strange had happened after hooking up with Honey. The following morning, Barney ran into Zoey and revealed that Ted had not hooked up with Honey after all; hearing this, Zoey hugged Barney. Marshall realizes that Zoey is in love with Ted as well, and calls Ted. Before he can tell him, though, Ted explains that he has his own story to tell. Earlier, Zoey had arrived at his apartment to hang out, and Ted finally told her that he couldn't hang out with her anymore, but could not say why. Lily then calls Marshall, explaining that Ted had actually said that Lily hated her. Zoey rushed over to Lily to ask why; Lily initially tried to play along, but after hearing that Zoey was going through some tough times, lied and said that the reason for them being unable to hang out was because Robin hated her. Robin lied as well and said that Marshall hated her, much to the latter's annoyance, because Robin reasoned that Zoey would never call Marshall so soon after losing his father.

At this point, Honey calls Marshall, as Barney had left his cell phone in her room. Honey reveals that Barney had broken down in tears after she asked him about his dad (by saying "Who's your Daddy?"); Barney had tried to contact him but had not received a response yet. Remembering Lily's story of Zoey going through a tough time, Marshall pretends to be Zoey's therapist and Honey reveals that Zoey is divorcing her husband, The Captain, as well as getting her own apartment. As Marshall explains the situation to his mother and brother (who have both been eavesdropping on Marshall's phone conversations throughout the episode), Zoey confronts Ted, demanding to know the real reason that he doesn't want to be friends. Ted claims that he hates her and begins rambling off all the things he likes about her, though saying them in a way to make it seem like they annoy him. Marshall separately calls Zoey and Ted, informing them of their feelings for each other and also telling Ted about Zoey's divorce, and the two then embrace and kiss.

Production

Katy Perry released two clips on her YouTube account.

Continuity

• The title was first mentioned by Ted in season 5, "The Rough Patch", when he and Marshall were talking to Crazy Meg and she thought Barney was going to propose to her.
• Marshall was previously seen enjoying the board game Clue in "The Sexless Innkeeper".
• There is a poster above Marshall's childhood bed of the Loch Ness Monster, further demonstrating his fascination with the legendary creature.
• This episode resolves the Ted-Zoey relationship that was hinted at with a ticking clock in "The Mermaid Theory".
• Barney's father issues are brought up again. He mentions his attempt at contact, began in "Last Words".
• The "Who's your Daddy?" line from "Baby Talk" is used by Barney once more.
• The episode flashes back to Ted and Zoey's first meeting in "Architect of Destruction", and their first Thanksgiving in "Blitzgiving".
• Marshall's mother and brother, Marcus, appear in this episode.
• Ted takes out the "Intervention" banner, first seen in "Intervention".
• Lily rallies Marshall into hating Ted, similar to how she had the group dislike Kate Hudson in "Blitzgiving".
• Ted's neighbor, who appeared in "As Fast as She Can", peeks in the hallway to see Ted and Zoey kissing.
• Barney tells Honey that he plays for the New York Yankees, which is what he told the waitress Robin helped him hook up with in "Do I Know You?".
• Robin claims to have thought the oven was in Celsius, continuing her use of Canadian units of measurements which had been seen in "Subway Wars".
• Zoey is protesting in front of Goliath National Bank to not close the Arcadian, first seen in "Architect of Destruction".

Barney's blog

Barney lists ten situations that he claims are signals that a woman is playing "hard-to-get".

Cultural references

• Marshall uses Clue cards to portray the four main characters of the episode (Ted as Professor Plum, Barney as The Reverend Green, Zoey as Mrs. White and Honey as Miss Scarlet), who appear throughout the episode clad in their counterparts' primary color. Marshall also calls The Captain Colonel Mustard; while The Captain does not appear in this episode, his next appearance in "Garbage Island" portrays him wearing a yellow top, furthering the comparison.^[1]
• Honey was tricked into believing that she would appear on the series Lost which had ended by the time the episode takes place. She says her audition was behind a KFC.
• Honey's claims about a so-called Nigerian prince seeking her Social Security number is a reference to the Nigerian scam.
• Judy Eriksen, Marshall's mother, mentions going to shop at Byerly's, a popular Minnesota supermarket chain. Marcus asks her to buy more Bugles.
• Marshall, in his rant to Robin, references the ingrained rivalry between Minnesota and Wisconsin when he yells on the phone about proper manners and table etiquette.
• Barney discusses disposable cell phones in the same manner as the Barksdale Organization in The Wire

Critical response

Donna Bowman of The AV Club put the episode at A-, saying the story of Zoey and Ted's first kiss and the multiple phone conversations were gimmicks to keep the audience hooked. She also noted the various practical jokes that are common to people in the Midwest region.^[2]

Television Without Pity's DeAnn Welker also gave the episode an A-^[3]

Eric Goldman of IGN gave the episode a 7.5^[4]

References

External links

• "Oh Honey" at the Internet Movie Database
• "Oh Honey" at TV.com