How I Met Your Mother/Fridge

Fridge Brilliance

 * In the How I Met Your Mother episode "How Lily Stole Christmas", Lily accidentally hears a message where Ted calls her a "grinch." But he didn't say "grinch" and the episode really doesn't elaborate on what the word he uses actually is. BUT, the episode gives a clue with the introduction of Ted's mom's new boyfriend, Clint, which is a name notorious among comic book fans.
 * Minor one, almost definitely accidental. When Lily is trying to talk Ted out of cheating on Victoria with Robin, Lily says that any future relationship will be "based on a crime." Under New York state law, adultery is technically illegal. Then again, she does also claim that "being mean" is illegal so... probably just her being dramatic.
 * Ted's character in general comes across as kind of... off: he's a single guy in his twenties/thirties, yet he acts like a dorky dad and is obsessed with marriage and kids. This isn't totally weird or anything, but it's unusual. Then you realize that the entire series is Ted telling stories to his kids: he's pretending that he was the same daddish figure in his youth as he is today, so his kids don't have their view of him ruined. Likewise, Barney comes across as larger than life; in reality, he probably wasn't anywhere near as awesome/caddish, but Ted's just exaggerating his character for the sake of the story.
 * However, this wouldn't make that much sense with regards to Ted: he obviously has no qualms about telling his kids what an asshole he could occasionally be, so he probably isn't pretending he was different. However, it's possible that he doesn't really know how he used to appear to others vs. how he used to think and feel inside (who does?), so he may think his dad-ness was expressed more openly than it actually was.
 * The same could go with Robin's Canadian-ness: no Canadian is really like that, but Ted's hyperactive imagination and ignorance about Canada causes her Canadian traits to seem like ludicrously over-the-top Canadian stereotypes to him. In fact, all the outlandish and unrealistic touches to the show just makes it seem more like a person's real memories rather than less -- memories are usually far more unreliable and colored by the remember-er's thoughts and emotions than fictional stories are. Ted doesn't even have to be intentionally lying: it's just his point-of-view screwing up the specifics of past events.
 * Actually, Ted's personality is pretty logical given his circumstances: he spent the first ten years of his adult life living in extremely close contact with/in the same dorm as/in the same apartment as Marshall and Lily, one of the sweetest and most endearing, stable, happy, enviable couples imaginable. Of course he's gonna have inflated expectations of what love is like and long for what Marshall and Lily have.
 * Alternatively, what we are seeing isn't Ted's view of what was happening, but his children's view based on his story. This explains not only the over-the-topness of Barney, the fact that Ted seems to act just like a dad (including the asshole-ish parts), and why most of the characters seem to behave childishly at varying times, but it also makes sense in that, whenever he makes substitutions, we see the substitutions. As the kids are filling in the blanks, a lot of the blanks tend to be filled in with whatever they're familiar with. This is why, for instance, in the Star Wars marathon episode, when they were living in the dorms and visualising life in three years, they miraculously visualised the apartment that they would actually move into - Ted never gave the kids a location, so they just substituted the same apartment they knew about.
 * The basic concept of the show seems absurd - a guy really telling a story that long and wandering to his kids? But as the show progresses, you realize that this is exactly the kind of person Ted is.
 * What can make this better? The fact that the story is being told by Danny Tanner
 * In one episode, Robin chooses to forsake dating and focus on her career. The stinger for the episode introduces Don, with the voiceover from Future Ted saying "Ironically, that was the day that she met Don." Initially, we're led to assume the irony is that they're going to get together despite her pretty much swearing off dating. But the true irony comes much later, when she is forced to choose between a dream job and Don (career vs. dating) and she chose dating. Moreover, when faced with the same decision Don makes the opposite choice (in other words, the one Robin made right before she met Don).
 * Almost assuredly accidental bit of Fridge Brilliance in Lily's awful play in "Monday Night Football." Her she introduces her character as "RAAA- err... ENVY!" immediately after a character introduces himself as "RAAAAAAAAAAGE." Obviously, it's just that Lily flubbed her line. But if it were intentional, it would have rather clever, as Envy would have been envious of Rage and trying to take its name and presentation.
 * This used to bother me and then turned into Fridge Brilliance: They only seem to characterize Nora as being a lot like Robin, except British, bilingual, and wanting a family. Also significant sweet-moments between Robin and Barney become repeated with her, like her playing laser tag with him and her taking care of him when he's sick. At first I was annoyed that they didn't come up with different moments for Nora to make her unique, instead making her sort of a perfect version of Robin. But this makes sense when you think about how Ted didn't know her very well, so most memories of her probably are coming from Barney. How would Barney remember her?  So probably the things he liked about her   The only thing not-too-similar to Robin he seemed to remember was the kids thing, because she was also the one who initially got him realizing he wanted kids.
 * Fridge Logic that mutates into Fridge Brilliance again: The naked man works 2/3 times, guaranteed. However, when they all tried it, Lily's version really doesn't count(it doesn't fit most of Mitch's description or philosophy of the naked man). However, the ratio still stands when you factor in Robin's, making it Mitch's success, Ted's success, and Barney's failure.
 * Fridge Brilliance similar to the above example: why did Robin feel so strongly about Don? He was an annoying, unprofessional sleaze at first, and a bland bore later on. It was certainly never shown why Robin would give up a great job in Chicago for him when she wouldn't do the same for her best friends. Then when you remember that this is all in Ted's memory, he probably just remembers Don as that jackass who broke Robin's heart, and Robin probably never told Ted about any of their sweet or loving moments together because all her memories of him were tainted by their bad breakup. So Ted's knowledge of their relationship is pretty rudimentary. He just remembers the stuff that actually affected the group: his shenanigans on the morning show, Robin giving up a job for him, Marshall being bizarrely infatuated with him (although probably neither Ted nor Marshall remember exactly why.)
 * Fridge Brilliance:  is the "friend in Canada who got married way too young."
 * This one started as Fridge Logic then became Fridge Brilliance: Why would Punchy invite Ted's entire group to his wedding? He grew up with Ted and he's his best man, but does that really earn him a +4 invite? They've met and hung out but don't seem nearly close enough to invite them to the wedding.
 * The Fridge Brilliance comes in when you realize that his father-in-law is footing the bill, and they hate each other. He invited them in order to drive up the bill. Given that Punchy had never really left Shaker Heights he could probably stand to bolster his guest list.
 * Loops back around to Fridge Logic when you realize the rest of the gang (Robin especially) REALLY doesn't like Punchy. Them shelling out for a flight halfway across the country for a wedding of some guy sounds pretty unlikely, especially considering Marshall is unemployed at the time.
 * ...And back into Fridge Brilliance when you consider that Punchy probably paid for their flights because the father-in-law footed the bill.
 * Fridge Brilliance: Barney keeps drawing eerily accurate sketches of Lily's chest. How would he know the details? Two words: Stripper Lily.
 * Fridge Brilliance: Barney frequently discusses how women with daddy issues are less inhibited when it comes to sex. Lily has been shown to have both issues with her father and to be fairly dirty.
 * Fridge Brilliance: Barney is shown to prefer women with daddy issues, even bringing it up in his song. When he finally falls for someone, it's Robin, who also happens to have what? Major daddy issues. Boo-yah.
 * *salutes* Major Daddy-issues!
 * Barney grew up without a father, and the quest of finding his biological father has been a plot point in several episodes. In a certain way, he himself has daddy-issues.
 * Whenever we see younger versions of the characters in flashbacks (like teenage Robin in the episode with her old boyfriend Simon), they're often portrayed by the same actors. That makes a lot of sense though: Ted might have been told what happened, but unless he's seen photos, he doesn't know what they looked like then. So he imagines them looking almost like they do in the story's present, and that's what we see.
 * In Sorry, Bro Barney runs from Wendy during a lunch after they've broken up when she reaches into her purse and produces a tie (He thinks she's pulling out a gun)... this gets sorted out because Barney is WEARING the tie while he tells the story.
 * More like Fridge Sadness than anything. In one episode, it ends with Ted reminding the kids about all the pictures they used to draw of themselves doing fun things with Robin. Its cute, right? Then comes the latest episode where Robin finds out  and you realize
 * In "Doppelgangers", Lily says that she can't have a baby until she sees the fifth doppelganger. She convinces herself that she sees Barney's doppelganger at the end of that episode, so she's now emotionally ready to have a baby. However, and this is where the brilliance shines, she and Marshall aren't physically ready to have a baby until after she sees Barney's real doppelganger, her fertility specialist, in "Bad News".
 * In "The Naked Man", Barney compares himself to Batman. Coincidentally, at the time, he was having a budding romance with Robin.
 * The only one of the five main characters to think that the North Pole is a fictional place.
 * In "Slapsgiving", Marshall performs a song for the gang. Robin and Ted take out lighters in a Raised-Lighter Tribute. Later in season 5, Ted reveals to the kids that everyone in the gang was actually a heavy smoker. Everyone, the kids and the fans, was shocked and complained about the zero build-up and foreshadowing. But if Ted and Robin were smokers, it would make sense for them to have lighters on their person, wouldn't it?
 * In "Return of the Shirt" Ted is planning to break up with Natalie for the second time (the first time he did it over her answering machine on her birthday) only to find out that, once again, it's her birthday. Rather than wait and do it later, he goes ahead and breaks up with her and she beats the crap out of him. Later in "Columns," Ted seems to have a hard time firing Hammond Druthers because, among other things, he finds out it's Druthers' birthday. Ted has obviously learned his lesson from his mistake with Natalie.
 * The shows' framing device seems absurd at first - a father narrating a story that long and meandering? - but after a while you see that some of the story might only be shown to the viewers and not told to the kids. But after watching the show a while long, it demonstrates that this is completely in character for Ted. He really is that pedantic.
 * More importantly, he is telling them the story in 2030; the kids are around 16, which means they were born in 2014. By the time the series ends its 8 seasons, it will be 2013 -- a likely year the kids were conceived. The viewers are seeing Ted meet their mother in real-time. Basically, Ted is telling the story in the future, but the story he's telling is taking place in our present, at the same time we are watching it.
 * In the season six episode 'Blitzgiving' the Blitz, Steve, leaves early because he's "getting really into Madden 2k1", and Robin is clearly seen in the group. While at first it seems to be an anachronism, as Robin wouldn't join the group until 2005, it makes perfect sense when you remember that Ted is an unreliable narrator. Robin is such a permanent fixture in the group's collective unconscious that Ted just assumes she was there.
 * I always thought that Steve just liked to play really old video games, but that works also.
 * Given the theme of the Blitz is that he's chronically late, it's probably a subtle way for them to show how he's always late, not just to events but in games as well.
 * On the subject of the Blitz: when Ted and Stella were dating, Ted mentions how he kept missing things because he kept having to leave early to get to New York/New Jersey. Which made HIM the Blitz.
 * Fridge Brilliance: In the episode "Ted Mosby: Architect," Robin assumes that Ted has been cheating on her based on stories that she's been hearing from strangers all night, including Ted bragging to a girl that he ended Frank Gehry's career (because he's so awesome). As it turns out, it was actually Barney masquerading as Ted all night in order to pick up chicks. Sleazy as usual, but it does show that Barney actually listens to Ted when he goes on for hours about architecture, at least enough to name drop Frank Gehry to the average bimbo.
 * Additionally, it may seem odd that Barney often refers to himself as a "barnacle", as being an immobile lifeform stuck to a rock, ship, or whale might seem to be antithetical to his lifestyle. Then you realize that barnacles have the longest penis proportionate to their body of all lifeforms on Earth.
 * Of course he listens. Barney's a terrible person, but a great friend.
 * Notice how Ted has no problem talking about his and his friends’ sex life, but censors cuss words and replaces ‘weed’ for ‘sandwiches’. An interesting insight to the values of the future, perhaps?
 * Fridge Brilliance: At first, it seems odd: Ted really didn't realize that something went down between Barney and Robin when he saw Barney cleaning up the candles and rose petals around her bed in "Tick Tick Tick"? He wasn't under some false impression either, since he connects the dots all on his own in "No Pressure," but how come it took so long? Then you realize that Ted was still very stoned from his and Marshall's escapade at the concert at the end of "Tick Tick Tick", and probably dismissed what he saw as more drugged-up weirdness, until the events of "No Pressure" made it suddenly click for him.
 * In the Seventh season finale, Robin says she's delivered many babies, "one of which was even human." She delivered a baby in a Funny Background Event back in season 5.
 * When Ted was left at the altar in "Shelter Island", he was angrier at Stella for leaving him than at Tony for stealing her. In fact, he harbored no ill will towards Tony despite "The Wedding Bride". This may be because, in "The Magician's Code",.
 * Fridge Brilliance: In pilot episode, in the very first scene with Robin, Barney, and Ted, Ted's describing it as "like something from an old movie, where the sailor sees the girl across the crowded dance floor, turns to his buddy and says 'See that girl? I'm gonna marry her some day...'", except that he never actually finishes his sentence IRL because Barney interrupts him. This is
 * Fridge Brilliance: Ted comments to Robin that they are all their own doppelgangers- different versions of themselves that have developed over time. The real 'doppelgangers' that they spot around the city could also be seen as different versions of most of the main characters. Robin's doppelganger is a short-haired boyish figure, similar to how she is seen in flashbacks growing up with her father, and could be an allusion to the person her father would preferred her to be. Lily's doppelganger is a stripper, which relates to her personality as a very sexual person, and is further suggested in the show where she dresses in her doppelganger's clothes to get up on the pole and try out the lifestyle of her alterego. Marshall's doppelganger's main characteristic is a moustache, which Marshall is shown to equate with success when, in "Trilogy Time", Marshall's idea of himself in the future as successful and happy always shows him with the moustache he is unable to grow in real life. Barney's doppelganger... well, he's a guy that looks at lady parts all day. It fits Barney's personality so much that Lily refuses to believe it's actually not Barney. Also ironic, as the man who always tells people not to have kids has a doppelganger whose career is centred on fertility and helping couples to have children.
 * In "The Best Burger in New York" (4.4) Regis Philbin hosts a TV show called "Million Dollar Heads or Tails". Yet, a couple of seasons later in "False Positive" (6.12), when we see the show again, it's hosted by Alec Trebek. The first thing I thought was that they just couldn't get Phibin back for a second cameo, and most likely that's true - but then I realized that Philbin probably would have gotten fired from "Million Dollar Heads or Tails" for walking off the set for the sake of a burger anyway! - Forceheretic

Fridge Horror
"Future Ted: And my friends didn't see me for 72 hours. Robin: He was our ride."
 * Fridge Horror: We laugh, but think about it: Scooter has been in love with Lily, and actively pursuing her and trying to get her to dump Marshall, for fifteen years. Despite the fact that he was just her high school boyfriend, and Lily has rejected him time after time. The guy has basically wasted half his life chasing an unattainable woman on the doomed hope that a perfectly happy, stable marriage will collapse.
 * Fridge Horror: (Season 7, Episode 2) Peter Durkenson, drunk master of Edward Forty-Hands, is actually a
 * Speaking of Edward Forty-Hands, Fridge Logic comes into play. If he was initially playing it alone, and later it was just him and Marshall, how did they tape the bottles to their hands?
 * They showed that, he had the duct tape around one of the bottles in a later scene so he used that to let the tape spin.
 * The cockamouse settles in the Arcadian and has babies. Days later, Ted blows up the Arcadian, and a family of scientific wonders with it.
 * It's a cockamouse, though. It's probably survived far worse.
 * Fridge Horror: AGAIN, You know how Robin was the love interest of the main character for so long? How would you feel as a child having your dad constantly talking about all the great time he had with her and how he kept living with her even when they were not together anymore. Wouldn't you feel like your mother served as a "Second prize" and there whole relationship including YOU was the best way Ted could make up for not being with Robin.
 * Fridge Horror: An in-show example.


 * Another: The Toothbrush. Season Five. Watch Ted's expression. *shudder*
 * One more from "Jenkins": When Robin ended the Robin Scherbatsky drinking game: didn't Ted tell his class he'd pay for their drinks?
 * Think about "The Blitz". There's a phenomenon that suspends the rules of physics (and triples the rule of awesome) just to make the Blitz feel bad.
 * Barney's entire childhood.

Fridge Logic
"Ted: Like I'm totally going to sit my kids down and talk to them about the time Barney nailed seven chicks in a row.
 * So, why do those kids apparently not have any idea what their own mother's first name is?
 * That's not the case: When he tells about Robin in the pilot, he only mentions her name at the end of the episode, and all the other times he names a girl, there is no sign that the kids actually think it could be their mother.
 * Also, as the title implies, Ted hasn't actually met the kids' mother yet. So he probably hasn't mentioned her name.
 * Also, some scenes (particularly sex scenes involving Ted, especially if he's paired with 'Aunt Robin') leave you thinking "Wait, the guy told his KIDS that?"
 * We see the story in a lot more detail than Ted's telling it, and what he's saying doesn't always match what actually happened ("Eating a Sandwich", "Playing the Bagpipes", "Grinch")
 * Plus, you can never be sure that what we see is what he tells his kids, except for when you hear Future Ted talk. For one thing, in a season 5 episode the kids are shocked to learn that all five of the adults smoke, even though we've seen them smoke before that episode.
 * ...No we haven't.
 * Robin, Lily and Barney all smoke cigars in various episodes, and Robin was quitting smoking in the season 2 episode where she moved in with Ted.
 * I will give you Robin and her cigarettes (and the time Lily did it at her wedding), but cigar-smoking is a relatively common social activity, especially on special occasions. It's the fact that all of them smoked cigarettes on a semi-regular basis that is shocking.
 * Regarding the smoking, Lily quit when she started trying to get pregnant. Marshall quit when his son was born. So, Marshall was exposing his pregnant wife to secondhand smoke?
 * ... No? That's when he quit, but it's not like he wasn't without a cigarette in his hand before that. Just because he smokes it doesn't mean that he is always smoking.
 * Lampshaded in the one where Barney attempts a "Perfect Week":

Future Ted: ...Am I a bad dad?"

Fridge Brilliance: Marshall learned the rules for the "ying la" game in Atlantic City because he loves making games and is good at winning them.
 * In the pilot, if Lily got groped by a five-year-old, why is the handprint an adult sized hand? (Just about her own size, actually. hmmm...)
 * ... not really. That's definitely a child-sized handprint.
 * Yeah, Alyson Hannigan is just a tiny person, so it looked like a bigger handprint.
 * Every time Robin says anything about Canada, she's met with derision, ignorance and scorn. You would think that she'd have learned to stop doing it.
 * The thing is that she has problems to discern which parts of Pop Culture are only specific to Canada, and which parts are also known in other English speaking countries.
 * Why did the girl from "Ted Mosby: Architect" make it to the final four in "The Bracket." The worst thing Barney did to her was give a fake name and form letter, which he presumably gave many other women. But Barney never saw her reaction, he didn't do anything harmful to her, and had no reason to think she would hate him. It seems like the only reason that she made it in was a Continuity Nod and because they had a killer joke in the form of the website Ted Mosbyisa Jerk.com.
 * That isn't reason enough?
 * Remember the Bracket was narrowed down by his friends. Ted was mad that Barney was being Barney under his name, and so was everyone else, as well as Robin and Lily resenting that he sent them on a wild-goose chase the entire night.
 * Why would Stella, a trained, licensed medical doctor not tell Ted about her apparently serious allergy of peanuts when he decides to cook? Especially since peanuts aren't that uncommon of an ingredient.
 * Especially since using peanuts in pesto is really not that uncommon.
 * At the end of "The Three Days Rule," Future Ted tells his kids that he proved that the titular rule was wrong. Cut to the scene where he is on his date with Holli, the girl whom he didn't wait 3 days to call, and he is shown freaking out over the personal things she's saying to him. In response, Future Ted says that Holli needed to abide by the Three Days Rule, but apparently he himself didn't. Fridge Logic comes into play when you consider that everything Holli said to him was exactly what he was texting to her earlier in the episode. If anything, this actually proved that the Three Days Rule was right, and that Ted is a Jerk Ass employer of the Double Standard.
 * Ted and "Holli" were actually hitting it off before he got personal, while the actual Holli was insane. He didn't 'disprove' it with her, he called their mother right away.
 * The "I called her right away" is very vague because we don't know the context of the first meeting with the mother. He may literally "not wait three days to call" but the call may not be the type of call we are all assuming it to be.
 * And when Ted said Holli "needed" to abide by the three-day rule, he was saying it after the failure of a date, not before. As in "she should have waited three days", because she was ridiculously desperate and obviously hadn't had enough time to pull herself together -- he was saying that a one-size-fits-all universal rule was a load of crap, because he was ready right to call right away, while Holli on the other hand definitely wasn't, meaning that there is no "rule" for calling dates -- different people have different comfort levels, so just call whenever you feel like you're ready, not before and not after.
 * How is it possible for three people (and an occasional fourth) to share one toothbrush for eight years without noticing? The bristles would wear out more quickly, requiring more frequent replacements, and one of the parties should have noticed that their toothbrush was being replaced (even if it was somehow always the same model).
 * Rule of Funny
 * It's actually quite possible. Consider the circumstances: Ted is not aware that he is sharing the toothbrush with anyone, Lily and Marshal believe they only share it with each other. Ted, being the housekeeper, would buy the new toothbrush every time. Lily and Marshal would notice but would just assume the other having bought a new one. Since it is such a mundane thing to do they would have no reason to inquire if this was actually the case. It almost becomes a version of the Prisoners and Hats Puzzle!
 * This is especially plausible given the fact that Ted, the most anal of the group, is the lone one, therefore he would more than likely be the one replacing the toothbrush every time (well before Marshall or Lily would reach the point that they would). Ooooooooooooooof course this doesn't change the fact no one noticed the toothbrush being wet for 10 years...
 * ...We see Lily and Marshall brushing their teeth together in "Zip, Zip, Zip"...!
 * Of course, having never been present when the couple got ready for bed together, and not having the shared toothbrush story in mind, Ted probably just automatically imagined them brushing side-by-side, which is why he tells the story that way.
 * How exactly did the gang get from someone else's rooftop jacuzzi back to their apartment building after "The Leap" without being arrested for trespass?
 * Maybe the people of that apartment were really nice.
 * Fire escape I presume?
 * I can't recall if their building was higher than the other (though I assume so), but maybe we're supposed to think that they jumped back?
 * In "Little Minnesota", Heather complains at Ted that he still thinks of her as an "out-of-control" teenager. But why wouldn't he? As Ted himself says earlier in the episode, she got arrested for shoplifting eight months ago and her track record is not good.
 * Heather probably is just upset that he thinks of her that way, even though he has a point.
 * A point her behavior in the episode actually just reinforces, no less. That's not how grown-ups handle interpersonal problems.
 * How does Ted remember everything from the past twenty-five years of his life, including events during which he wasn't even present?
 * Lily, Marshall, Robin and Barney probably tell him all about it at McLaren's. I can also remember at least one instance where Future!Ted had to make something up because he wasn't in the room at the time (Season 5, "Definitions")
 * He's also used the This is just what I was told, believe it or not" disclaimer a few times.
 * Maybe he has an eidetic memory? Also, on some occasions, he misremembers the time something has happened (e.g. at which birthday he had the run in with the goat), or has forgotten important details (e.g. one girl's name). This way we know that his memory may be quite good, but not perfect.
 * There are definitely episodes (Season 1, "Okay Awesome", and Season 4, "I Heart NJ") where Ted says "Now, believe this if you want, but Uncle/Aunt whoever swears this is how it happened" for particularly unbelievable moments.
 * He could have hyperthymesia, which gives you the ability to remember an awesomely extraordinary amount of your past. Plus people with this are also known to dwell on their past A LOT - perhaps to the point of telling a crazy-detailed story to their children that spans 8 years?
 * Or, more simply, he doesn't and he's bullshitting. The series shows him having a spotty memory, and the entire show thrives on Ted being an Unreliable Narrator, sometimes deliberately.
 * Fridge Logic: A season 6 episode features a short discussion about how gross "who's your daddy?" is under scrutiny.
 * Fridge Logic: It is shown that Robin's father treated her as a boy all through her life, even making her dress as a boy, and was devistated when he realized "I have no son!" Yet, several episodes later, we learn that Robin has a younger sister, and from what we see of her, she isn't being treated the same way.
 * Fridge Brilliance: Robin's parents were divorced. Maybe her sister lived with her mother, which * isn't too unusual given that they have a 10 year age gap between them.
 * This is actually pretty much implicitly the case. Robin says to her sister "Don't tell mom." Plus, after Robin's falling out with her father, she went to live with her mother, which fits in with her childhood memories of her sister.
 * Fridge Logic: Don't Barney and Ted realize how illegal it is to run a bar out of your apartment? Even if they are just treating it as a New Year's Eve party, you still need a liquor license if you are charging people for drinks.
 * Since when has illegality ever stopped Barney?
 * Barney sold a woman and regularly works with North Korean military leaders for something, I don't think he cares about the punishment for running a bar out of his apartment.