So Ted still keeps in touch with Trudy, a.k.a. the girl from season one’s “Pineapple” episode, a.k.a. Danica McKellar? Perhaps not a stunning revelation — this is Ted, after all — but an amusing callback to a character in an episode filled with lots of them. Last night’s parade of previous guest stars was, in some ways, the modern equivalent of a montage episode — you know, when television shows used to just string a bunch of old scenes together and call it new even though the only fresh thing about them was the cheesecake that got eaten? The nostalgia was rote, yet nonetheless entertaining.
Finally, the surprise cameo. Ted is definitely the type of guy who would be really, really into Weird Al. Others might find more fleeting enjoyment in his parodies. Put this way, Ted would have been thrilled by a closing scene with the man who took his “Like a Surgeon” suggestion. We would have been just as happy with Winnie Cooper.
