"Daisy" is the twentieth episode of the ninth season of the CBS

sitcom A sitcom, a Portmanteau, portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troup ...

How I Met Your Mother ''How I Met Your Mother'' (often abbreviated as ''HIMYM'') is an American sitcom, created by Craig Thomas and Carter Bays for CBS. The series, which aired from September 19, 2005 to March 31, 2014, follows the main character, Ted Mosby, and ...

'', and the 204th episode overall. It was written by Carter Bays and Craig Thomas, directed by Pamela Fryman, and aired on March 10, 2014. The episode centers around the guys searching for Lily (

Alyson Hannigan Alyson Lee Hannigan (born March 24, 1974) is an American actress. After starting her career at age four with appearances in commercials, she moved to Hollywood at age 11 and soon got an agent. Hannigan began her film career with supporting r ...

), who is missing after a fight with her husband Marshall ( Jason Segel), as they try to figure out why she changed her mind about going to Italy. At the same time, Robin (

Cobie Smulders Jacoba Francisca Maria "Cobie" Smulders (born April 3, 1982) is a Canadian actress. She is known for her starring role as Robin Scherbatsky in the CBS sitcom ''How I Met Your Mother'' (2005–2014) and as S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Maria Hill in the ...

), who is engaged to marry Barney (

Neil Patrick Harris Neil Patrick Harris (born June 15, 1973) is an American actor, singer, writer, producer, and television host. Primarily known for his comedic television roles and dramatic and musical stage roles, he has received multiple accolades throughout ...

), is worried she is marrying her someone just like her father. This episode contains a deleted scene that reveals the genesis of the pineapple from "The Pineapple Incident," a long-running gag on the show. "Daisy" received mostly positive critical reception.

Plot

Four hours before the wedding, Robin asks her mother how she made it despite a

fear of flying Fear of flying is a fear of being on an airplane, or other flying vehicle, such as a helicopter, while in flight. It is also referred to as flying anxiety, flying phobia, flight phobia, aviophobia, aerophobia, or pteromechanophobia (although ae ...

. Genevieve says she somehow got over the fear despite panicking on board and accidentally opening the exit door, resulting in her being restrained to her seat by

duct tape Duct tape (also called duck tape, from the cotton duck cloth it was originally made of) is cloth- or scrim-backed pressure-sensitive tape, often coated with polyethylene. There are a variety of constructions using different backings and adhes ...

. Genevieve asks Robin more about Barney and immediately makes comparisons to Robin Sr. Genevieve's various descriptions of Robin Sr. rankle Robin and

Lily ''Lilium'' () is a genus of herbaceous flowering plants growing from bulbs, all with large prominent flowers. They are the true lilies. Lilies are a group of flowering plants which are important in culture and literature in much of the world. M ...

because the similarities with Barney make Robin think she is about to marry someone like him.

Marshall Marshall may refer to: Places Australia * Marshall, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria Canada * Marshall, Saskatchewan * The Marshall, a mountain in British Columbia Liberia * Marshall, Liberia Marshall Islands * Marshall Islands, an ...

discusses his upcoming judgeship with Ted, Barney, Ranjit and Billy Zabka. He admits he feels guilty due to Lily's desire to move to

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

and confused at her changing her mind while she was gone. Zabka claims he saw Lily leaving a nearby convenience store in a car owned by the Captain. The men go to the Captain's estate to confront him and discover he is

engaged An engagement or betrothal is the period of time between the declaration of acceptance of a marriage proposal and the marriage itself (which is typically but not always commenced with a wedding). During this period, a couple is said to be '' ...

to Robin's old

colleague Collegiality is the relationship between colleagues. A colleague is a fellow member of the same profession. Colleagues are those explicitly united in a common purpose and respect each other's abilities to work toward that purpose. A colleague is ...

Becky. The Captain insists that nothing happened between him and Lily, who came to use the powder room. When the Captain brings Ted a daisy from the powder room, Ted analyzes Lily's actions over the past several days. Ted states his theory that Marshall's recent absence prompted Lily to

smoke Smoke is a suspension of airborne particulates and gases emitted when a material undergoes combustion or pyrolysis, together with the quantity of air that is entrainment (engineering), entrained or otherwise mixed into the mass. It is commo ...

, and that the fight with Marshall made Lily smoke one last cigarette in the Captain's powder room. After deducing that the cigarette butt was in the daisy's vase, Ted searches for it. Instead, he uncovers a positive

pregnancy test A pregnancy test is used to determine whether a female is pregnant or not. The two primary methods are testing for the female pregnancy hormone (human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG)) in blood or urine using a pregnancy test kit, and scanning with u ...

. A flashback shows what really happened: after getting sick on the train to Farhampton, Lily paid Linus to serve her

non-alcoholic drink An alcohol-free or non-alcoholic drink, also known as a temperance drink, is a version of an alcoholic drink made without alcohol, or with the alcohol removed or reduced to almost zero. These may take the form of a non-alcoholic mixed drink (a "vi ...

s because she suspected she might be pregnant, later buying the test kit at the store. The men return to the Farhampton Inn, where Marshall reconciles with Lily over her pregnancy and tells her they are moving to Italy to let her pursue her dream. Barney is introduced to his soon-to-be

mother-in-law A parent-in-law is a person who has a legal affinity with another by being the parent of the other's spouse. Many cultures and legal systems impose duties and responsibilities on persons connected by this relationship. A person is a child-in-la ...

, whom he embraces. Noting that Barney is a hugger unlike Robin Sr., Genevieve brings Robin to the balcony and tries to ease her wedding jitters. A year later in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, it is revealed that Marshall and Lily's second child is a girl named Daisy.

Deleted scene

A scene cut from this episode explains where the pineapple, one of the show's running gags from " The Pineapple Incident", came from. The scene was released online by ''

BuzzFeed BuzzFeed, Inc. is an American Internet media, news and entertainment company with a focus on digital media. Based in New York City, BuzzFeed was founded in 2006 by Jonah Peretti and John S. Johnson III to focus on tracking viral content. ...

''. In the clip, The Captain has a pineapple on his porch, and explains to the gang that he practices the tradition of putting one outside as a " symbol of hospitality". This leads Ted to remember stealing an identical pineapple from The Captain's house in New York when he was very drunk.

Critical reception

Bill Kuchman of Popculturology raised the theory that based on the reveal that Lily and Marshall had a daughter, the ending of

Vesuvius Mount Vesuvius ( ; it, Vesuvio ; nap, 'O Vesuvio , also or ; la, Vesuvius , also , or ) is a somma- stratovolcano located on the Gulf of Naples in Campania, Italy, about east of Naples and a short distance from the shore. It is one of ...

could be foreshadowing something happening to Lily, saying, "Maybe Ted isn't broken up in 2024 over the thought of his

wife A wife ( : wives) is a female in a marital relationship. A woman who has separated from her partner continues to be a wife until the marriage is legally dissolved with a divorce judgement. On the death of her partner, a wife is referred to as ...

missing the future wedding of his daughter, Penny—maybe Ted is broken up over the thought of Lily missing the future wedding of her daughter, Daisy. ... We won't know for sure what the ending of 'Vesuvius' really meant, but if this theory is right, HIMYM once again outwitted one of the biggest fan theories surrounding the show." Donna Bowman of ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cr ...

'' graded the episode a B+. Max Nicholson of IGN gave the episode 7.3/10, saying it was saved by an interesting shake-up for Marshall and Lily. Kaitlin Thomas of TV.com said the Marshall and Lily plot did not hit all of the "right emotional beats."

References

External links

* {{How I Met Your Mother episodes, 9 How I Met Your Mother (season 9) episodes 2014 American television episodes