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The Pineapple Incident
HIMYM episode 1x10 (10)
Ted's memories
First aired:
November 28, 2005
Director:
Pamela Fryman
Writer:
Carter Bays
Barney's Blog

Images (7)

The gang tries to reconstruct what happened to Ted the previous night after he wakes up with a pineapple, a girl he believes to be Robin and no memory of the evening.


Recap[]

In this episode, Barney, Marshall, and Lily criticize Ted for overthinking what he's about to do rather than acting by the seat of his pants. They convince Ted to take five shots of a drink called the 'Red Dragon' (a special blend by Carl that resembles blood, causing Ted to state Marshall's theory that Carl is a vampire); Ted claims that he can still function cognitively even under the influence of the alcohol, but shortly afterwards he blacks out. He wakes up the next morning with a brunette girl he doesn't remember beside him in bed, a pineapple on his nightstand, and a sprained ankle. He also finds out that his coat has been partially burnt. Ted asks Marshall and Lily about the night, and Marshall and Lily tell him that he sang along with the jukebox in the bar while standing on a table. He also was talking on the phone with Robin while he was singing. He fell off the table (explaining the sprained ankle), and Marshall and Lily took him up to his bed. However, they do not know why there is a girl on the bed and why there is a pineapple on Ted's nightstand, and the reason his coat was burned. Ted calls Barney, thinking that he might know what had happened.

After finding Barney in the tub, Ted asks him about the night. It's revealed that after Lily and Marshall put Ted to bed, he got back up again and returned to the bar. Barney also tells Ted that he lit his jacket on fire because Ted called Robin. Barney then tells Ted that after some more fun, he put Ted back into bed. Ted then finds that someone wrote on his arm, saying to call the number if Ted was found passed out somewhere. Ted calls the number, and finds out it belongs to the bartender, Carl. Carl tells Ted that he once again returned to the bar after Barney had put him to bed. Carl also informs him that he went to the bathroom to vomit (ending Ted's "vomit free since '93" streak), and then told him the meaning of the word karaoke and that he wanted to go see some penguins at the zoo, but he had to make one more call first. Based on this information, Marshall, Lily, and Barney believe that the girl in Ted's bed is Robin, but as Ted goes to wake her up, Robin calls.

The girl in bed, Trudy, wakes up, and explains her side of the story, telling Ted that he did not vomit after all, and that she exchanged numbers with him in the ladies' room of the bar. It's revealed that the person that Ted drunkenly called was not Robin as he had intended, it was Trudy, which explains why she was the one in his bed.

Ted tells Trudy to hide when Robin comes over to talk, and Trudy leaves via the fire escape before Ted can show her to Robin to prove that he has moved on. In the end, Ted eventually pieces his night together (except for the mysterious pineapple).

Continuity[]

  • Barney uses his pickup line "Daddy's home" for the first time.
  • Lily jokingly insults Barney and lifts her hand for a high five. In response, Barney shakes his head and doesn't high-five her. This exchange recalls a moment in the Pilot when Barney makes an inappropriate comment and Lily shakes her head instead of high-fiving him.
  • Marshall insists that Carl is a vampire. His belief in the paranormal was first referenced in Matchmaker.

Future References (Contains Spoilers)[]

  • The "hundred-millionaire" Robin goes out with is named Derek, as revealed in The Limo​​​​. She dates him until breaking up with him in The Wedding​​​​.
  • Marshall is the only one interested in where the pineapple came from, possibly alluding to his fixation with food seen in many episodes, including Drumroll, Please, Slapsgiving, and The Best Burger in New York​​​​.
  • In Game Night, an upset Marshall points out that Ted lied about being "vomit free since '93", after Ted tells the "Story of the Re-Return" and how he threw up on Robin's doormat after the events of the Pilot.
  • Barney says "Daddy's home" again in future episodes, including Single Stamina​​​​, The Yips​​​​, and The Rough Patch​​​​.
  • Ted runs into Trudy again in Third Wheel​​​​, where a flashback reveals he had the pineapple by the time they got to his apartment.
  • Trudy gets married some time by Rabbit or Duck, as revealed by Lily when Marshall suggests setting Ted up with her again in order to "arranged marriage" him.
  • Ted, Marshall, and Lily discover that Barney spent the night in their tub. Zoey also does this in Blitzgiving​​​​.
  • In Mom and Dad, Lily points out how Ted, eight years later, still hasn't been able to figure out where the pineapple came from when making fun of his "detective skills."
  • The pineapple mystery eventually gets solved in How I Met Your Father. In the episode Timing is Everything, the Captain mentions that someone took it from his main door.

Gallery[]

For a listing of all images on the wiki tagged as being from this episode, see Category:The Pineapple Incident images.

Memorable Quotes[]

Ted: I drank all five, Bitch!

Robin: He's not a billionaire, he's a hundred-millionaire. Why do people always round up?

Lily: Friends don't let friends drink and dial.

Notes and Trivia[]

Goofs and Errors[]

  • Future Ted says he left Trudy a message and she never called him back. In Third Wheel, Ted says he wishes he had called her. However it is possible that he confused the memory since he was very hung over the morning after.
  • Marshall says Carl the bartender only works at night, however later in the episode when Ted calls Carl he is working. The call takes place in the morning.

Allusions and Outside References[]

  • Ted's 13 year "Vomit free since '93" streak is an homage a 1993 episode of Seinfeld, in which main character Jerry flaunts his own 13 year streak (having lasted since 1980).
  • Marshall's line, "Oh, bad idea jeans!" refers to a Saturday Night Live skit of the same title in which wearers of the jeans announce that they will do something that others would advise them not to do.
  • During Ted's "Hazy Memory" sequence, you can vaguely hear a sound similar to that made by the TARDIS from Doctor Who. The graphics of the sequence are also vaguely reminiscent of the time vortex from that show.
  • In the first scene when Ted says "Where is Thurston Howell taking you" he is referring to Thurston Howell III (The Millionaire) from Gilligan's Island.

Music[]

Other Notes[]

  • Carter Bays later admitted he learned a lesson from this episode to not write themselves into a corner. The line "we never found out where the pineapple came from" was something they never should have said.[1]
  • The pineapple was set to make a re-appearance in Season 9, but is only mentioned in dialogue. Alyson Hannigan explained via Twitter that the resolution of the pineapple's origin was cut from an episode due to time constraints.[2] The deleted scene was released exclusively to BuzzFeed, and takes place during the events of Daisy​. It reveals that a drunken Ted had found the pineapple outside of the Captain's townhouse at the time of The Pineapple Incident. (Pineapples historically served as symbols of hospitality.)
  • Until Last Forever - Part One and Two aired, this was a highest rated episode of the series.

Guests[]

Reception[]

  • The St. Petersburg Comic Review gave this episode 9 stars out of 10. "We love you, Drunk Ted. ... And we still don't know where the pineapple came from!"

References[]

External Links[]


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