Best Prom Ever

"Best Prom Ever"
How I Met Your Mother episode
Episode no.	Season 1 Episode 20
Directed by	Pamela Fryman
Written by	Ira Ungerleider
Production code	1ALH19
Original air date	May 1, 2006
Guest stars
David Burtka (Scooter) David Henrie (Son) Lyndsy Fonseca (Daughter)
Season 1 episodes
Pilot Purple Giraffe Sweet Taste of Liberty Return of the Shirt Okay Awesome Slutty Pumpkin Matchmaker The Duel Belly Full of Turkey The Pineapple Incident The Limo The Wedding Drumroll, Please Zip, Zip, Zip Game Night Cupcake Life Among the Gorillas Nothing Good Happens After 2 A.M. Mary the Paralegal Best Prom Ever Milk Come On

"Best Prom Ever" is the 20th episode in the first season of the television series How I Met Your Mother. It originally aired in the United States on May 1, 2006. It had the lowest recorded viewership for season 1 (7.24 million).

Plot

At the beginning of the episode, Marshall discovers that the location where he and Lily would like to have their wedding, the Van Smoot House, has an unexpected opening. They hurriedly book the available date, leaving only two months until the wedding. Lily becomes very stressed due to the shortened timeframe and obsesses over the details, becoming somewhat of a bridezilla.

Marshall finds a possible band for the wedding, The 88, but Lily will not approve the booking until she hears them play "their" song ("Good Feeling" by Violent Femmes). The only way Lily can hear them is if she sneaks into a high school prom where they are playing. Lily thus decides to sneak in with Robin and Barney. Robin is excited, because she never had the chance to attend her prom in high school, having been too busy with hockey tournaments. 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 sheet music of "Good Feeling" to Lily. Lily remembers her senior prom and all she had thought she'd experience but never did, and begins to have doubts about getting married, since she never achieved many of her goals 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, giving Lily the "lesbian experience" she never had.

Ted and Marshall sneak in the back, and find Barney dressed as a turtle mascot. Marshall asks the senior who Lily's date is for the night and where she is, then pulls out a pair of Nunchaku and hits Marshall with them. Ted then tackles the senior to show Marshall that he will always have his back in a fight. The two seniors, Marshall, Ted, and Barney are taken outside for tresspassing, 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 now wants to try restoring their friendship.

Music

• The Verve Pipe - "The Freshmen"
• The 88 - "Hide Another Mistake"
• The 88 - "Head Cut Off"
• Violent Femmes - "Good Feeling"
• The 88 - "Good Feeling"

Production

• The chaperone who refuses to let Lily, Robin, and Barney into the prom is played by the episode's writer Ira Ungerleider.

Continuity

• There is a flashback that shows Lily breaking up with Scooter in their highschool prom. This is mentioned again in season 6 episode "Natural History".

Continuity Flaws

• Robin says she has never been to a prom because they had field hockey nationals, while in the Slutty Pumpkin episode she says she never played team sports. However it is never stated that Robin played field hockey, she could have attended.

Cultural References

• Barney makes a reference to the movie Thelma & Louise.
• When Barney is dressed as a turtle, Ted says to him "Slow and steady won the race", in a reference to the famous fable The Tortoise and the Hare.

Critical response

Ryan Budke of TV Squad wrote how the flashbacks in the episode lent some real credibility to Lily's doubts about getting married, going on to say how he loved the line about how her doubts weren't in him, they were in her. The truth of this line he says shows "why this show isn't just a Friends clone".

External links

• Best Prom Ever at TV.com
• Best Prom Ever at the Internet Movie Database