S1E5: And this relates... how?

Season 1: Episode 5: Okay Awesome

The episode starts of as future-Ted tells his kids that this will be the story of, "The Time I Went Deaf." Now, how on earth does this relate to how he met their mother? Well, I don't know either.
Alright, well first off, the separation of Lilly and Marshall from the rest of the group is kind of interesting. It does kind of make sense that since they're going to get married, they might want to be a bit more serious in their outings, yet at the same time they realize that like Ted a couple episodes back, trying to be a couple that they're not doesn't work for them.
Personally, I like to think of this episode as, "This-Is-Why-We-Hang-Out-At-A-Bar." By showing how loud, awkward, and potentially-crown-loosening a club can be, it seems like an episode dedicated to explaining why the gang always meets up at McKlaren's (however you spell it).
Now, if you listen, you can actually hear the people shouting what their subtitles read, which is kind of funny to me for some reason. Why Ted decides he's going to shout ridiculous things however, is debatable.
As far as Robin getting kept out of the club, it's a little bit at odds with the last episode. In the last episode, Robin felt like her job was unimportant, but realized that it was to the people she interviewed, despite the low viewership. Robin suddenly feeling like being invited to be a VIP at a club getting to her head, like this happens to her all the time, feels off. If this sort of thing had happened a couple of times, it would make more sense that Robin should get a reality check as to how famous she is. Even if these episodes were released a week apart, that's an awfully fast turn around of character considering Robin is still working at Metro News 1.
As far as Barney, when the girl he's been dancing with all night turns around and the two freak out, I thought she was going to just be some random girl that he had hooked up with before, as would be most people's first assumption based on the last four episodes. The fact that it's his cousin instead, is actually a pretty funny turn around. It's also interesting, because Barney swears Ted he'd never tell what happened, and future-Ted is telling his kids. Future-Ted not commenting on it however, is interesting. It's also interesting that once again, the girl that Ted gets interested in right off the bat is stated as not his future wife. Clearly, this won't always be the case, or all we'd ever have to do is wait for the one girl that he doesn't clarify this about.

~spinedjellyfish