10 Things You Missed in the Background of How I Met Your Mother

Top 10 Things You Missed in the Background of How I Met Your Mother

Welcome to MsMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the Top 10 Things You Missed in the Background of How I Met Your Mother.

For this list, we’ll be looking at hidden easter eggs, funny running gags, or just random things that occur in the backdrop of this beloved sitcom. Because some of those background teasers hint at some big plot points, a spoiler alert is now in effect.

Did you notice these in the background of How I Met Your Mother? Let us know in the comments!

#10: Frozen Background Character
“Miracles”

This was one of those things that you couldn’t unsee once you saw it, and when you did see it, you might wish you hadn’t. When Marshall explains how Barney surviving getting a pencil stuck up his nose was a miracle, we saw a flashback of the extraordinary moment. What viewers may not have noticed was an extra sitting in the booth behind him. While background characters are normally pretty unremarkable, this one was quite noticeable in an eerie way. Throughout the entire scene, he stayed absolutely still while smiling with his eyes wide open, and we didn’t even see him blink. It was an odd element of the scene that we’re sure was unplanned, but still, we couldn’t look away.

#9: The Loch Ness Monster
“We’re Not from Here”

It was no secret that Marshall had a soft spot for myths, the supernatural and the like. He was vocal about his beliefs in aliens and Sasquatch, and he had a fondness for the Loch Ness Monster. But, it looks like his suspicions about the Scottish creature might have been correct, as we saw in a flashforward to the year 2029 from a season 3 episode . While Marshall opened a letter from Lily at his desk, there was an interesting newspaper clipping framed in the background. The headline read “NYC Lawyer Captures Nessie,” and we can only assume this was referring to Marshall considering his career path. If only “How I Met Your Mother” had shown Marshall capturing the monster, then he could have really put all those naysayers in their place.

#8: The Missed Cab
“Miracles”

Despite Ted and Barney’s friendship being strained, Barney desperately tried to get to the hospital to see Ted after his accident. On his trek to the hospital, the show had a clever way of showing us how impressively fast Barney was able to make it there. When his cab was stolen by a group with balloons, Barney was forced to run to the hospital. When he got there, we saw that same cab with the balloons arriving. Too bad he wasn’t able to hop in with them, as he would have avoided his near-death bus accident. But maybe then he and Ted wouldn’t have made up, so perhaps it all worked out just the way it was supposed to.

#7: Clue Colors
“Oh Honey”

When Marshall went home to Minnesota, he created an evidence board using the characters from “Clue” to represent his friends in an attempt to figure out what was going on with Ted and Zoey. The creators cleverly played into this by dressing each character in the color associated with their personas in the game. Ted was in purple for Mr. Plum, Zoey was in white for Mrs. White, Honey was dressed in red for Ms. Scarlett, and Barney donned Green to match the character of the same name. This is something you’d only notice upon many a rewatch, and we couldn’t help but applaud the creators creativity in bringing the beloved boardgame to life.

#6: Chopsticks
Various

Barney Stinson was a mysterious character to say the least, and it seemed like nothing about him was random or uncalculated. We saw a variety of scenes throughout the show in which the gang was eating food with chopsticks, and when you looked closely you noticed that Barney was never able to get the food to his mouth when he was using chopsticks. This may have just seemed like an odd quirk, but we learned later this was all part of a bigger scheme. Not only could he eat with chopsticks, he was trained in teppanyaki cooking, and was saving his skills for a very special bet that had been years in the making.

#5: La Vie en Rose
“The Limo” & “How Your Mother Met Me”

This song was involved in significant moments with both of Ted’s big loves. In season one, Ted and Robin shared a New Year’s kiss while this song played, and in season nine, Ted overheard Tracy for the first time when she sang her version. “La Vie en Rose” was fitting for the show’s protagonist, as he was certainly a romantic that saw the world through rose colored glasses and endless optimism, just like the song suggests. Songs were an important element of the show, as we also heard an orchestral version of “Sandcastles in the Sand” play as Robin walked down the aisle to marry Barney, and this was the song that brought them together in the first place. (xref)

#4: 4:20
Various

While it’s no secret that Ted, Marshall, and Lily indulged in the more-than-occasional “sandwich”, that wasn’t the only reference to the drug that appeared throughout the show. If you look closely, the clock that hung above the fireplace in the trio’s apartment never changed, and was always set to 4:20. This was clearly a reference to the gang’s smoking habit, as that is infamously the number and time of day associated with it. The clock didn’t change no matter who lived there, so either the friends were too lazy to fix the clock or they liked it just the way it was. Looks like, at the gang’s apartment, it was always time to enjoy some sandwiches.

#3: Low Point
“No Tomorrow”

When Barney convinced Ted to celebrate St. Patrick’s day, a series of bad decisions ensued. They did everything from leave their dates behind to putting expensive booze on a stranger’s tab, and it looked as though there were no consequences for the duo. But, Ted’s memories of the night were skewed, and both Ted and Barney reached a low point by morning, with Barney even waking up in a dumpster. When Ted returned to the bar to search for his lost phone, it was revealed that the bar was aptly called “Low Point.” In later seasons, we learned this was meaningful on several levels, as it turned out the titular mother was there and was also at a low point.

#2: The Countdown
“Bad News”

While most of the hidden background elements featured on the show were fun and playful, this one hinted at one of the saddest moments in the series. While Lily and Marshall visit a fertility specialist and get a surprise visit from Marshall’s parents, hidden throughout the episode were numbers that were counting down the episode down from 50 to 0. When it reached 1, the audience, and Marshall, received some news. While the actors themselves even thought that the news was going to be Lily’s pregnancy, the shocking announcement was that Marshall’s father had died. The creators wanted to provide this twist to explore how sudden and devastating real-life loss can feel, and boy, did they nail it.

Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.

Lily’s Belongings, Various
After Lily & Marshall Sell Their Stuff Early On, We Can See Her Belongings Reappear Later in the Show

Cropped Wedding Photos, Various
In the Background of Future Ted’s Home, the Newlyweds Seen Behind the Kids Are Cropped So We Can’t See the Mother

Conan O’Brien, “No Pressure”
In a Blink-and-You’ll-Miss-It Moment, Conan O’Brien Can Be Seen Hanging Out at MacLaren’s

#1: All of the Clues About the Mother
Various

The show’s creators dropped many clues about the mother throughout the show’s nine seasons. But, what we didn’t know was, a lot of clues were actually hinting at her untimely demise. When the gang was joking endlessly about Canada, we saw a couple’s entire love story play out in the backdrop, and it foreshadowed a lot of Ted and Tracy’s future. Furthermore, when Marshall visited his father’s grave, we saw a headstone that simply read “mother.” And lastly, Ted was reading “Love in the Time of Cholera” when he first met Tracy, and the book mirrored his life in many ways. It dealt with sickness, love, and lovesickness – all things Ted was all too familiar with by the end of the series.