The Wedding Bride
| "The Wedding Bride" |
| How I Met Your Mother episode |
| Episode no. |
Season 5
Episode 23 |
| Directed by |
Pamela Fryman |
| Written by |
Carter Bays and Criag Thomas |
| Production code |
5ALH24 |
| Original air date |
May 17, 2010 (2010-05-17) |
| Guest stars |
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| Season 5 episodes |
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"The Wedding Bride" is the 23rd episode of the fifth season of the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother and is the 111th episode overall. It originally aired on May 17, 2010. Guest stars include Judy Greer, Jason Lewis, Malin Åkerman, and Chris Kattan.[2]
Plot
Future Ted discusses with his children how everyone in their 30s tends to have "baggage," which then manifests itself in Ted's mind when he discovers it, and labeled baggage is shown onscreen. He talks about dating a girl named Royce who seems to have no baggage, despite several false starts in his apartment. The gang discusses their own baggage; even Marshall has baggage - he is just too nice and trusting. When Ted sees a new movie called The Wedding Bride with Royce, he discovers it is based on his relationship with Stella and was written by Tony, the man Stella left him for, and his character, "Jed Mosley," is portrayed in a negative light. He points out several of the aspects which were initially romantic, but twisted so that he comes off as a jerk. Royce also helps him realize that he has his own baggage: being left at the altar. His friends also tell him that he should tell Royce the truth, but Ted believes he can ignore it despite the movie becoming the 5th highest grossing movie of all time. When Royce's friends talk about going to see the film again, he finally snaps and walks out on her.
Marshall ultimately helps him cope with it, reminding Ted that he is fundamentally a good person. Ted rushes to the cinema where Royce is again watching the film and admits the film was based on his being left at the altar. He kisses Royce in front of the screen displaying a kiss scene from The Wedding Bride and takes her back to his apartment for pancakes. Unfortunately, Royce reveals her "baggage" - she was left at the altar three times, has a gambling addiction, and shares a bed with her brother. Ted asks her to leave.
Music
"Portuguese Love Theme" and "PM Love's Theme" (by Craig Armstrong), both from the 2003 British film Love Actually are used as the soundtrack for the fictitious movie The Wedding Bride.
Also featured is the song "Play" by Chop Chop off of their album Screens.
Continuity
- The fictional movie The Wedding Bride is first mentioned in the Season 4 episode "As Fast as She Can". The website and theatrical poster for it were also displayed in the episode.
- The movie version of Stella (Malin Åkerman) is seen in an arcade which resembles Kiddie Fun Land. In "Miracles", Ted proposes to the real Stella in an arcade.
- The movie version of Stella could be seen wearing the same dress that the real Stella wore in "Shelter Island".
- Both Robin and Ted display their habit of saluting phrases that sound like military ranks (in this case "Major Baggage"), as seen in "Slapsgiving".[3]
- The episode flashbacks to Ted's proposal in "Miracles" of Season 3, Ted's two-minute date with Stella in "Ten Sessions" of Season 3, Ted and Stella kissing on the couch in "Do I Know You?", Ted fetching Tony and her daughter, Ted finding Stella's farewell note in his room on the wedding day, and Tony and Stella together on the barge all from "Shelter Island" of Season 4.
- The notion of a person having a "but..." was previously discussed in "Little Boys".
- Barney has always had an issue with women in their 30s. This was shown previously in "Little Boys", "Intervention", and "Zoo or False".
- "The Stinsons" introduced the fact that Barney sees films' intended antagonists as protagonists, as he does here in saying that The Wedding Bride got everything right about Stella's relationship with Ted, both the intended antagonist and his best friend.
- While with Royce and her friends, Jed Mosley's similarities with Ted surfaced, including the butterfly tattoo,[4] the red cowboy boots,[5] Ted over-pronouncing "encyclopaedia",[6] and Ted's battle with the goat,[7] although the latter incident occurred months after Stella left Ted.
- This is not the first time that a member of the group unintentionally helped robbers ransack an apartment; Barney and Robin had helped several people "move out" of their apartment as part of completing the Murtaugh list.[8]
- "Baby Doll" was previously used by Barney in "Girls Versus Suits": "Drop the act, baby doll! Daddy needs a gin-and-tonic!" Ted also says "I'm back, baby doll!" upon both of his drunken returns to McLaren's in "The Pineapple Incident".
- Future Ted censors a dirty word used by Barney by using "Kiss" instead. He's done this for his children in "How Lily Stole Christmas" with the word "Grinch," in "How I Met Everyone Else" with the word "Sandwich," in "Murtaugh" with the word "Stuff," and in "Bagpipes" with the word "Bagpipes."
- Robin mentions the propaganda footage of Kim Jong-il riding a horse, which she first noted in the episode "The Front Porch" as part of a Korean channel that often defeats her network in the ratings.
Barney's blog
Barney reviews the film The Wedding Bride.[9]
Cultural references
- Barney alludes to Sesame Street and the character Big Bird, by describing a place where Marshall's geniality is normal as a street where a giant yellow bird lives.
- Ted mentions Adolf Hitler during the bar scene with Royce and her friends.
- According to Robin, North Korean leader Kim Jong-il ranked The Wedding Bride as his second favorite movie.
- Marshall said that he thought that the 1987 film Spaceballs was about him.
- The "baggages" in the background include sleeping with Barney, being a fan of the Chicago Cubs, believing that Elvis Presley is still alive, still thinks his Ska band is going to take off, Tri-polar, slept with Barney, loves Cats more than people, Pacific Islander fetish, only dates guys in a band, and still liking Oasis.
- Marshall mentions that he wanted to see Avatar again to hide the fact he had seen The Wedding Bride.
Critical response
Donna Bowman of The A.V. Club rated the episode grade B-.[10]
Amanda Sloane Murray of IGN gave the episode a grade of 9.3. She stated that the concept of a romantic comedy within a romantic comedy was a challenge for the writers, given the task of creating a fictional movie for the episode and casting actors who have themselves played characters in romantic comedies.[3]
DeAnn Welker of Television Without Pity gave the episode a B- rating.[11]
References
External links