Big Days

"Big Days"
File:Big Days Screenshot.png

"Big Days" is the first episode of the sixth season of the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, and the 113th episode overall. It originally aired on September 20th, 2010.

Plot

Future Ted pontificates on the important days in a relationship: "the day you meet the girl of your dreams, and the day you marry her." The audience is shown a church backyard, where Marshall brings Ted a beer, both men dressed in tuxedos. Marshall notices Ted is nervous by his habit of ripping the beer bottle label. Flashing back to the present day at MacLaren's, Barney notices Ted doing the same thing as he sits grading papers. Amidst his work, Ted is nervous about a girl at the bar he wants to approach, and Barney boosts his confidence before calling "dibs."

While they argue, Robin walks into the bar, disheveled with a burger & bag of fries. After being left by Don, she has sunk into a depression, even going as far as to swear Ted to not sleep with her (which he finds easier in her current state). After a bit of heckling from Barney, Robin cleans up and struts into the bar in a sun dress, showing off her skill before waving off a guy who hits on her.

Ted notices the girl he has been watching is standing next to Cindy (Rachel Bilson), the girl he had briefly dated from his school, and whose roommate Future Ted says is the eponymous mother. After their one date, Cindy had treated him badly when they met during the schoolday. Ted assumes that the woman at the bar is Cindy's roommate, and is desperate to meet her. Cindy sees Ted and takes him aside, thanking him for helping her realize what she was looking for, and invites him to say goodbye to her before he leaves.

Ted struts up to the two ladies, assuming he is going to be introduced to the woman he thinks is Cindy's roommate, but the two women kiss, and Ted realizes that it is not Cindy's roommate. Then, he tells his children that he met their mother at a wedding. The scene flashes forward to the same wedding, where Ted says that he is nervous about his toast at the wedding and he wants it to be perfect. It is also revealed that Ted is the best man, and is called in by Lily. It starts to rain, and Ted says that he doesn't have an umbrella.

Meanwhile, in the present, Marshall and Lily show up at MacLaren's, arguing about trying to get pregnant. Lily had set a romantic evening at home, with candles and banjo music, but when she finds out that Marshall has told his father that they are trying, Lily freaks out about how invasive Marvin Eriksen is. Marshall argues that his father is a part of his life and deserves to know, but Lily can't stand Mr. Eriksen's constant calls and domineering personality. Then Barney mentions that if he knew his father's phone number, he'd be calling him all the time. Lily goes after Marshall, and the two reconcile, agreeing that his father is fairly insane and very enthusiastic just like Marshall. They both then head upstairs to try to make a baby.

Music

"Ballad of Sir Frankie Crisp (Let it roll)" by George Harrison plays during A little ways down the road when Ted and Marshall talk outside the church.

Continuity

• Ted mentions an umbrella before heading into the wedding where he meets "the mother," a reference to the yellow umbrella that passed between the two before they met. It is also a storyline that was referenced as far back as Wait for It in Season 3.
• Robin is currently in a post-break-up state, following the end of her relationship with Don Frank from last season's episode, Doppelgangers.
• Marshall and Lily are attempting to get pregnant, following their conjugal decision from last season's, Doppelgangers.
• The song that Lily plays on the iPod for when she and Marshall are "doing it" is the instrumental of the song, "Bang, Bang, Bangity Bang" from the episode, Of Course.
• Calling "dibs" to mark each other's target was also used in Three Days of Snow, when they met two college girls.
• Cindy, a grad student at Ted's school, went on a date with Ted in the Season 5 episode Girls Versus Suits. Walking into her apartment, Ted was amazed by all the things he had in common with her, but Cindy explained that all the items he had picked out were her roommate's. Future Ted explains that the roommate was his future wife. In this episode, Future Ted explains that he met this roommate at the wedding in the episode.
• Barney attempts to tell another fake historical tale to justify his behavior, claiming that the word "dibs" comes from an Arctic frigate captain, Sir Walter Dibs. In The Goat, Barney cites the story of Barnabas Stinson and the Bro Code, set admist the American Revolution. In Hooked, Barney uses a historical evolution of the "hot girl profession" from the Stone Age, to World War I, and the Age of Flight.
• A GNB colleague says to Marshall, "Sink that spunk, Big Fudge," referring to his skee ball alias revealed in the Season 5 episode Jenkins.
• Barney usually congratulates people with a "high 5". He attempts to do something new with a "high 6".
• Lily's estranged relationship with Marshall's family is shown here, as was previously noted in Belly Full of Turkey.
• Since their marriage, Lily hasn't changed her last name to "Eriksen". She let Marshall's family know about in Belly Full of Turkey, and it was brought up again during her first dance with Marshall in Something Blue.
• Lily has previously poked Marshall's strange closeness with his family in Slapsgiving 2: Revenge of the Slap.
• Marshall's "close relationship" with his father and how he perceived his upbringing was touched upon in Murtaugh.
• Barney's apparent father issues were lightly touched upon in this episode. This was brought up in Showdown and in Not a Father's Day.
• It has always been an internal debate among Marshall, Ted, and Barney, as to who is each other's best friend and best man. Whenever one appears to be favored over the other, they all react with a "Whoa". This was seen in multiple occasions such as in the Pilot episode, Bachelor Party, How I Met Everyone Else, Shelter Island, and Woooo!.
• Whenever betting or payment is involved, Barney always asks for denominations in the thousands to the hundred thousands, such as in Monday Night Football and I Heart NJ.
• Barney refers to Robin as a "minx". He has called her this way previously in The Leap.
• While Ted talks to Cindy, Future Ted voices over and says that he had expected a "savage beating". In season 1's Return of the Shirt, Ted is mercilessly beaten by Natalie after he dumps her.
• Marshall has a special weakness for Lily, and is unable to make logical arguments nor focus, such as in Bagpipes and Brunch.

Cultural references

Cindy's date was reading Brideshead Revisited, The Sacred & Profane Memories of Captain Charles Ryder by Evelyn Waugh at the bar while her shields were up.

Barney's comment "Are you there, Barney? It's me, horny" references Judy Blume's book Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret.

Marshall tells Lily he's been "Saving all my love for you", referencing the same-titled 1980s hit by Whitney Houston from her debut album.

When Marshall gets out of the elevator he shouts "Can you dig it?", referencing the same phrase from "The Warriors" movie.

Critical response

Donna Bowman of The AV Club gave the episode a B+ score. She said that the episode put in the show's "core competencies in a shrewdly calculated package," citing flash-forwards to the day Ted meets the Mother and how other elements could have a role in making it happen. DeAnn Welker of Television Without Pity rated the episode at A+.