The Wedding Bride

"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 Akerman, and Chris Kattan.^[2]

Plot

Ted discusses with his children how everyone in their thirties tends to have "baggage," which then manifests itself in Ted's mind when he discovers it. He talks about dating a girl named Royce who seems to have no baggage, despite several false starts in his apartment. The gang discuss their own baggage; even Marshall has baggage - he is just too nice and trusting. Ted then sees a new movie called The Wedding Bride with Royce and discovers it is based on his relationship with Stella and was written by Tony, the man Stella left him for, and his character, "Jed Mosely," is portrayed in a negative light (and one of the actors is even heard to call him "Ted Mosby" at the end of the film). 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 dumped 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. Ted becomes angry and upset as the movie goes on to become a hit, and 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 nice guy. 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. Royce then reveals her "baggage" - left at the altar three times, has a gambling addiction, and shares a bed with her brother. Ted then asks her to leave.

Music

Features music from Love Actually by Craig Armstrong (mostly used in the movie The Wedding Bride).

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 the said movie was also displayed in the episode.
The character Jed Mosely is shown wearing red cowboy boots, the same as Ted owns.^[3]^[4]
The movie version of Stella (Malin Akerman) 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."
In the trailer, Jed Mosely is said to be "such a douchebag." This refers to his real-life counterpart, Ted, who was on several occasions called a "douche" himself, such as in "Mosbius Designs" and "Robots Versus Wrestlers."
In the episode "The Best Burger in New York," Marshall states, "I don't know how to break dance and win the begrudging respect of a street gang." and in this episode Robin describes him stopping to breakdance.
Both Robin and Ted display their habit of saluting phrases that sound like military ranks (such as "Major Baggage"), as seen in "Slapsgiving."
Lily uses the phrase "Run Tell That." Barney uses the same phrase in "Definitions."
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" 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 from "Wait For It" of Season 3, the Red Cowboy Boots from "Everything Must Go" of Season 3, Ted over-pronouncing "encyclopedia" in "Intervention" of Season 4, and Ted's battle with the goat from "The Leap."
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.^[5]
"Baby Doll" was previously used by Barney in "Girls Versus Suits" -- i.e., "Drop the act, baby doll! Daddy's home!"
Future Ted censures 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," and in "Murtaugh" with the word "Stuff."
The episode also reveals Tony's last name, Grafanello, which has never been mentioned since his debut in Season 4.
Towards the end, several of the women in the background are carrying baggage that say "Slept With Barney."

Cultural references

"Run Tell That" could be a phrase from the fourth verse of the second chapter of the book of Zechariah in the Bible.^{[citation needed]}
Barney alludes to Sesame Street and the character Big Bird, by describing a place where Marshall's overt 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.
Instead of seeing The Wedding Bride, Marshall states that he wanted to watch James Cameron's Avatar again.
Marshall said that he thought that the movie Spaceballs was about him.
The "baggages" in the background include being a fan of the Chicago Cubs and believing that Elvis Presley is still alive.

Critical response

Donna Bowman of The A.V. Club rated the episode grade B-. ^[6]

Amanda Sloane Murray of IGN.com 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. ^[7]

References

^ http://www.spoilertv.com/2010/04/how-i-met-your-mother-episode-523.html
^ http://www.tv.com/how-i-met-your-mother-the-wedding-bride-cast!/webnews/59548.html
^ Everything Must Go
^ The Three Days Rule
^ "Murtaugh" of Season 4
^ Donna Bowman (2010-05-17). "How I Met Your Mother "The Wedding Bride"". The AV Club. The Onion. Retrieved 2010-05-18. Rating B-
^ Amanda Sloane Murray (2010-05-18). "How I Met Your Mother "The Wedding Bride" Review". IGN.com. Retrieved 2010-05-19.

External links

Official "The Wedding Bride" website
- How I Met Your Mother - The Wedding Bride on YouTube
- The Wedding Bride Promotional Photos at SpoilerTV.com

[pressrelease-1] ttp://www.spoilertv.com/2010/04/how-i-met-your-mother-episode-523.html

[2] ttp://www.tv.com/how-i-met-your-mother-the-wedding-bride-cast!/webnews/59548.html

[3] Everything Must Go

[4] The Three Days Rule

[5] "Murtaugh" of Season 4

[avclub-6] Donna Bowman (2010-05-17). "How I Met Your Mother "The Wedding Bride"". The AV Club. The Onion. Retrieved 2010-05-18. Rating B-

[IGN-7] Amanda Sloane Murray (2010-05-18). "How I Met Your Mother "The Wedding Bride" Review". IGN.com. Retrieved 2010-05-19.

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v t e How I Met Your Mother
Episodes	Season 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Characters	Ted Mosby Marshall Eriksen Lily Aldrin Barney Stinson Robin Scherbatsky Tracy McConnell
Soundtracks	"Let's Go to the Mall" "Sandcastles in the Sand" "Nothing Suits Me Like a Suit" "P.S. I Love You"
Related articles	Awards and nominations Bro Code Cheerleader effect "How I Wet Your Mother" How I Met Your Dad How I Met Your Father

v t e How I Met Your Mother episodes
Seasons: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Season 1	"Pilot" "The Pineapple Incident" "The Limo" "The Wedding" "Nothing Good Happens After 2 A.M." "Mary the Paralegal"
Season 2	"Where Were We?" "Ted Mosby, Architect" "Swarley" "Slap Bet" "Single Stamina" "How Lily Stole Christmas" "First Time in New York" "Columns" "Monday Night Football" "Lucky Penny" "Something Blue"
Season 3	"Wait for It" "We're Not from Here" "Third Wheel" "Little Boys" "How I Met Everyone Else" "I'm Not That Guy" "Dowisetrepla" "Spoiler Alert" "Slapsgiving" "The Yips" "The Platinum Rule" "No Tomorrow" "Ten Sessions" "The Bracket" "The Chain of Screaming" "Sandcastles in the Sand" "The Goat" "Rebound Bro" "Everything Must Go" "Miracles"
Season 4	"Do I Know You?" "I Heart NJ" "Intervention" "Shelter Island" "Happily Ever After" "Not a Father's Day" "Woooo!" "The Fight" "Little Minnesota" "Benefits" "Three Days of Snow" "The Possimpible" "The Stinsons" "Sorry, Bro" "The Front Porch" "Old King Clancy" "Murtaugh" "Mosbius Designs" "The Three Days Rule" "Right Place, Right Time" "The Leap"
Season 5	"Definitions" "Double Date" "Robin 101" "The Sexless Innkeeper" "Duel Citizenship" "The Rough Patch" "The Playbook" "Slapsgiving 2: Revenge of the Slap" "The Window" "Last Cigarette Ever" "Girls Versus Suits" "Jenkins" "Perfect Week" "Rabbit or Duck" "Hooked" "Of Course" "Say Cheese" "Zoo or False" "Home Wreckers" "Twin Beds" "Robots Versus Wrestlers" "The Wedding Bride" "Doppelgangers"
Season 6	"Big Days" "Cleaning House" "Unfinished" "Subway Wars" "Architect of Destruction" "Canning Randy" "Natural History" "Glitter" "Blitzgiving" "The Mermaid Theory" "False Positive" "Bad News" "Last Words" "Oh Honey" "Desperation Day" "Garbage Island" "A Change of Heart" "Legendaddy" "The Exploding Meatball Sub" "Hopeless" "The Perfect Cocktail" "Landmarks" "Challenge Accepted"
Season 7	"The Naked Truth" "Ducky Tie" "The Stinson Missile Crisis" "Field Trip" "Mystery vs. History" "Noretta" "The Slutty Pumpkin Returns" "Disaster Averted" "Tick, Tick, Tick..." "The Rebound Girl" "Symphony of Illumination" "Tailgate" "46 Minutes" "The Burning Beekeeper" "The Drunk Train" "No Pressure" "Karma" "Trilogy Time" "Now We're Even" "Good Crazy" "The Magician's Code"
Season 8	"Farhampton" "The Pre-Nup" "Nannies" "Who Wants to Be a Godparent?" "Splitsville" "The Stamp Tramp" "Twelve Horny Women" "Lobster Crawl" "The Over-Correction" "The Final Page" "Band or DJ?" "Ring Up!" "P.S. I Love You" "The Ashtray" "Weekend at Barney's" "The Fortress" "The Time Travelers" "Romeward Bound" "The Bro Mitzvah" "Something Old" "Something New"
Season 9	"The Locket" "Coming Back" "Last Time in New York" "The Broken Code" "The Poker Game" "Knight Vision" "No Questions Asked" "The Lighthouse" "Platonish" "Mom and Dad" "Bedtime Stories" "The Rehearsal Dinner" "Slapsgiving 3: Slappointment in Slapmarra" "Unpause" "How Your Mother Met Me" "Sunrise" "Rally" "Vesuvius" "Daisy" "Gary Blauman" "Last Forever"
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