Lily Aldrin is one of the more stubborn characters in the movie how I meet your Mother. If she disagrees with something or doesn’t like someone’s behavior, she won’t hesitate to speak her mind. In some cases, Alyson Hannigan’s character uses her own form of punishment, known as “Aldrin justice”, to take revenge on those who have treated her badly.
Aldrin Justice is Lily’s personal form of punishment, dating back to her time as a kindergarten teacher. Whenever her students misbehave, she takes away one of their toys as punishment. Lily applies this technique to her adult life by taking valuables from people who insult her, hurt her, or unfairly treat her friends.
Aldrin Justice is used multiple times throughout how I meet your MotherLily’s friends don’t like her stealing from others, especially Marshall. The group is always trying to convince Lily to return the stolen items, and sometimes she does – but not always. Using Aldrin Justice often leads to other consequences and often teaches Lily or her friends other important life lessons.
Lily uses Aldrin justice in every episode of How I Met Your Mother
“Justice Aldrin” (Season 2, Episode 6): Lily first used Justice Aldrin outside of class when she stole a pair of khaki pants from a store after the clerk was rude to Robin. The pants were later given to Ted as a gift and never returned. The story is explained after Lily steals a precious baseball belonging to Ted’s respected boss, Hammond Deruthers (Bryan Cranston). Pete Rose has been signed to the baseball team three times and is a special asset to Hammond. Lily refuses to return it, and Ted has no choice but to fire her from her job as an office assistant; However, her form of justice later inspired him to take a stand against his boss.
“How Lily Stole Christmas” (season 2, episode 11): Although Lily doesn’t see her actions in this episode as Aldrin’s justice, she does take some steps to get revenge on someone. She turns the apartment into a winter wonderland for Marshall and Ted to enjoy on vacation. After learning that Ted called Lily a “monster” (codename for swear words) when he left Marshall, Lily stole the Christmas decorations and brought them back to her apartment. She then threatened to call Ted’s parents for using vulgar language, another form of punishment she applies to students.
“Blitz” (season 6, episode 10): Before Ted was in a relationship with Zoe Pearson (Jennifer Morrison), the two were enemies. On the night before Ted is due to throw a big Thanksgiving party, his friends meet Zoe at a bar and befriend her. When the dinner Ted prepares for his friends fails, they are invited to dinner at Zoe’s house. Ted and Zoey continue to argue, leading to the group being kicked out of the group. To punish Zoe for throwing them out, Lily stole a toy turkey. Later, when the group learned that the toy belonged to Hannah, Zoey’s stepdaughter, they went back and made amends.
“Ashtray” (season 8, episode 17): Because of his experience in art, the Captain (Kyle MacLachlan) invites Lily to see a painting he bought at his apartment after it was displayed at a gallery display. When she commented that another picture would be better than the one he had bought, the captain tried to insult her, calling her “just a kindergarten teacher.” Lily was so angry that she stole an expensive ashtray from his apartment. Marshall then convinces her to return the ashtray, and when she returns it, the captain doesn’t even know it’s lost.
“Bass Player Wanted” (Season 9, Episode 13): how I meet your Mother The episode focuses on how the mother meets Marshall, revealing that she took advice on how to use justice for Aldrin. The mother, aka Tracy, formed a band in college, but the lead singer tried to take over and replace her. In revenge, Tracy steals Barney and Robin’s truck before their wedding at the Farhmapton Inn. After picking up Marshall and Marvin, she gets back in the truck and reclaims her spot in the band.