HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER: Slapsgiving 2: Revenge of the Slap

It’s that wonderful time of year again. When you get together with loved ones to give thanks, share great food, create memories…and cause Barney to flinch uncontrollably in fear. It’s SLAPSGIVING! So put your slappetizer down, tie your friend to a chair and let us give thanks to another new episode of HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER.

It’s the first Thanksgiving at Lily and Marshall’s Dowistrepla apartment. But Marshall was extremely bummed out when after finding the perfect Thanksgiving turkey he left it in a cab. Thankfully he has great friends like Ted and Robin who went to the Port Authority to find his turkey. To show them how much they mean to him, Marshall gave them one of the greatest gifts he could bequeath unto them: the fourth slap! I know this is the Thanksgiving episode but for me, Christmas came early!

After setting down some Slapsgiving rules (all approved by the Slapsgiving Commisioner of course), all but Barney believed this day would be one of the best holidays ever. Unfortunately, Lily’s dad Mickey (guest star Chris Elliot) knocked on the door.

Three years earlier, Lily had a huge falling out with her father. Through flashback we saw how he had always disappointed her throughout the years. But in 2006, Lily had all she could take. After being kicked out of his apartment for not paying rent, Mickey moved back in with Lily’s grandparents, forcing them to cancel their move to Florida and forcing Lily’s grandfather to come out of retirement. Lily’s anger bubbled up so strongly that she finally gave her father her “You are dead to me” look. A look Hannigan must have perfected as Evil Willow on Buffy. Lily’s evil stare caused the recipient to burst into pieces (quite similar to when vampires were staked – nice touch.)

It was easy to guess that Marshall invited Mickey to Thanksgiving. He wanted his wife to have the type of family he grew up with. The Ericksons are super-close, to the point that every Sunday they have dinner together, including Marshall on video chat. I’m going to have to agree with Lily here, it is a tad creepy. Especially those fake arms he holds on to as if he’s holding hands with his family through the computer.

I was happy to have a Lily/Marshall-centric episode but some of it fell a little flat. Thanksgiving was obviously never going to be cancelled, so the drama of Lily leaving the apartment wasn’t anything to be worried about. Marshall was going to see things Lily’s way after spending some time with Mickey while Lily was going to realize how harsh she could be. As a kindergarten teacher who brings a guitar to basketball practices and sings to her students when coaching, Lily has little patience when she doesn’t get her way.

With all the drama of Lily and her dad, Barney was still  freaking out about the slap. He wanted to know who is going to slap him. At first Ted and Robin kept giving the honors to each other. Then when Robin decided to accept the volley, Ted got upset. They both believed each deserved to slap Barney and argued their individual case. The sundown deadline was fast approaching, so Barney inserted himself strategically into their conversation, pitting them against each other, procrastinating the inevitable.

Raise your slapping hand if you too nearly fell for Ted saying he was still in love with Robin? I think I had a mini heart attack during that moment! Future Ted would have needed to change some of the words I said in order to continue telling his children the story. Touché, writers, touché!

In the end, Robin gave the slap to Ted who was recovering from having a bad year. But he couldn’t do it and gave the slap to Robin who had just gone through a hard break-up with Barney. However Robin couldn’t do it either. Robin offers Mickey the slap as part of his welcome to the little family. He, in turn, gives it to his princess Lily. She too couldn’t slap Barney.

Surprisingly Lily never shied away from punching Barney in the arm before but today she could not slap him. Marshall explains that this slap has done exactly what he hoped; it brought everyone closer together. A happy Marshall frees Barney from the shackles that held him to the Slap Throne, telling him that there would be no slap today. Just as Barney stands up from the chair feeling safe…SLAP!! That’s four!

This part, while meaning to be sentimental felt forced. Each of them deserved to slap Barney. Barney has hurt each of them in his own special way. Actually, the only person that hasn’t been extremely hurt by Barney is the person with all the slap power, Marshall…and I guess Mickey.  I actually would have liked everyone to slap Barney without taking away one of Marshall’s slaps.

I did really enjoy this episode. The misdirection regarding the slap worked effectively, as it did at the original Slapsgiving. I felt it was right to not focus on Barney this week after such a Barney-heavy episode. NPH facial expressions and squeaky voice was funny.

Highlights from this episode:

• The board games! “There’s a Clown Demon Under the Bed!” would have made me go running and screaming out of the room too!

• The callback to Lily’s wedding when she gave her bridesmaid Whitney the “you’re dead to me” look.

• All the slap puns: Slape Diem, Slap-rentice, Eric Slapton, poisoned slapple are hilarious.

• The 90s Nickelodeon-like slap bet game commercial with accompanying music that was Marshall’s song from the original Slapsgiving.

• Now I want you to tell me if you are grateful for this episode. Did it kick off the holidays for you or leave a lead paint from China taste in your mouth?

Jen is our HIMYM guru. She’s excited for the biggest food holiday of the year. She hopes you all have a lovely Thanksgiving and if she could, she would bequeath unto you a slap.