There's always a sense, when a show has been building up to a momentous occasion that the event has been oversold. How I Met Your Mother oversold nothing this Slapsgiving. The groundwork was laid last season (but who knows if this ending was planned at that time) and a countdown clock has been up and continuously running on a website from the beginning of this season. It was a lot to live up to. If a show pushed a joke like that and then didn't deliver, the letdown would be tremendous. But, I'll say it again, the folks over at HIMYM came through tonight in a big way.

Early on in the episode, while at the bar, Barney didn't seem to think Slapsgiving was going to be so bad. Barney stated that the worst part of the entire slap bet is not knowing when the slap is coming. Marshall gave up the element of surprise by announcing it would happen on Thanksgiving Day. Then, Marshall even went a step further, stating that at 3:01 Barney's face would have an imprint of Marshall's hand on it. Barney didn't believe the slap would cause him any pain… silly Barney.

Where Barney was deadly wrong tonight was with this notion of the element of surprise. The surprise was not in the when. The surprise was not in the what. The surprise was in the how. The slap was coming. We all knew the slap was coming, the only question that remained was how the slap was going to arrive. In the end, the worry over the how terrified Barney.

Don't read on if you don't want to know what happened because we're heading into **spoiler alert** territory and I don't want to take any sort of blame for you're not being surprised at the how.

I think that one of the best elements of the show tonight was the fact that, no matter how much Barney said that he wasn't scared, that Marshall had ruined the entire thing by giving up the time of the slap, the man was terrified. Barney's cool demeanor cracked in a big way, even before he started crying. The complete breakdown he had was great, but so was the slow buildup to it throughout the episode. He even ended his tearful outburst with the wonderful quote, "you're allowed to slap my face sir, but you're not allowed to slap my mind. Good day."

At that point in Barney's tantrum Lilly almost destroyed the whole thing. She, as Slap Bet Commissioner, declared no slaps on Thanksgiving Day. She issued a ruling that nearly destroyed Slapsgiving. Thank goodness she rescinded her ruling. Thank goodness Barney made a big enough ass off himself at dinner that Lilly allowed Marshall to slap him just as the counter was about to hit zero.

It was pretty obvious that Lilly was going to relent in the end, but I don't think it mattered. Marshall built the occasion into such a huge event that, even if the physical force of the slap wasn't what we may have hoped for, the blow still sent Barney reeling.

Other things that made me slap-happy tonight:

• Marshall holding up a bunch of paper turkeys-hands and showing them to Barney – "See what I got going on here, they're turkeys but they're also hands. Because later we're going to eat turkey, and then I'm going to slap you in your face."
• Canadian Thanksgiving is the real Thanksgiving, Robin? Really? That's the real Thanksgiving? Oh Robin, I can only forgive you because you actually kissed the old guy Ted saw as Bob in the same scene.
• To cover a story about a girl in front of Robin, Ted stated that Pierce Brosnan was his favorite of all the Bonds. It was a lie, but I guess I can accept it. I didn't think Brosnan was as bad as some other folks did. I loved Goldeneye. But, then again, I love my James Bond, any James Bond, all James Bonds. Even Barry Nelson.
• I also thought it was great tonight that Robin called Ted on his girl-of-the-week tendency this season. The fact that the producers recognize it as an issue is encouraging (I think I've said that before, but it's no less true now).
• So, if that's three slaps down, then there are two to go. Is Slapsmas Day right around the corner? What about Slapsnnukah? St. Slappys Day? Where do they go from here?
• What I'm really curious about though is what exactly Marshall had intended for the slap. Things did not unfold as he had planned. Sure, the result was right, but the how was wrong. Or was it? Is it possible that Marshall had foreseen everything unfolding exactly as it did?
• Lastly, if you check Slapcountdown.com you'll see that the clock is gone. The site now redirects you to YouTube and a "You Just Got Slapped" music video. Good times.

From the bottom of my heart, and the bowels of The TV and Film Guy's Reviews, I wish you and yours a Happy Slapsgiving.

Comments

The song was absolutely great. And the rest of the cast was laughing pretty hard: I know it would be in character for them to laugh, but it just seemed like they were unable to keep a straight face.

And I notice you didn't even mention the Ted/Robin plot. I don't know that I liked the rebound sex, but the awkardness was well-done. And I always love split conversations, like this one that went back and forth between the guys and girls (paraphrasing here) "I couldn't leave her to do all the work by herself. She was exhausted." "I kept fake yawning as a hint he should leave, but he wouldn't go."

Billiam | Nov 19, 2007 9:28:37 PM | #

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I found the slap petty and juvenile- I guess Michael Bluth was right about our generation being in a state of arrested development.

AC | Nov 19, 2007 9:53:58 PM | #

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All the build up for that? For me this was perhaps one of the bottom three episodes of the season. I am fearing this is getting a little too close to "Friends" territory for comfort.

Johnny | Nov 19, 2007 10:43:34 PM | #

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The only resemblance to Friends that HIMYM has is that they often sit in the cafe/bar otherwise I don't think they're that similar. They don't even have six friends just the 5 of them. I loved Friends and I love HIMYM for different reasons. Tonights episode was brilliant - kudos once again to Neil Patrick who has instilled so much machismo into Barney but is not afraid to make him cry and us laugh at the same time.
The Ted and Robyn story was very real as my best friend did exactly that with his recent ex -girlfriend and doesn't know what to think either! And I said that's perfectly normal and here is HIMYM backing me up!
I so admire Robyn's pluck the only Canuk at the table and she announces that their October thanksgiving is the real deal without any guile whatsoever. And even though it seemed that Robyn just might have been written out for a bit I'm glad she'll still be there as she's so destined to be with Barney.
Nothing's been mentioned recently about Lily's bad debt shopping, Marshall's new job or the new apartment - have they all gone by the wayside?

Sirius | Nov 20, 2007 3:12:31 AM | #

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The best part of the show for me was when Marshall was singing the song, Robyn and Ted held up a lighter and Bob was holing up his cell phone. Love Bob as the version that Ted saw him and When they said they will look back and see the 5 of them and BOB!!

Ray | Nov 20, 2007 6:46:10 AM | #

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I love the show, but this was one of the less funnier episodes. I hope HIMYM gets better this season. It started out on a good note with guest star Enrique Iglesias.
I think Season 1 was the best. And I also like that it resembles FRIENDS but has its own twist.

M.F. | Nov 20, 2007 8:14:14 AM | #

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OK... did HIMYM lose count of the slaps? Wasn't slap #1 immediately following the ruling? After the Robin Sparkles video, Marshall slaps Barney and says, "That's one."

They didn't show that slap last night - just the one in the bar (which I guess would be #2), and Barney's "play" (Slap #3)... so... shouldn't Slapsgiving have been slap #4?

Confused...

Missing a slap? | Nov 20, 2007 9:41:20 AM | #

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Actually, now that I think about it... I don't even remember #1 - the slap at the bar.

Was that part of the 5 slaps that Marshall was awarded?

Or have I just watched this show too much?

Missing a slap? | Nov 20, 2007 9:57:56 AM | #

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I thought it was a fantastic episode. NPH is the best sitcom actor on TV today, bar none. Bottom 3 of the season? jeez, i thought it was awesome

Matt | Nov 20, 2007 10:00:30 AM | #

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I think the next slap should be for Slappy New Year's. And as for the order of the slaps, the one at the bar was before the five slaps ruling. It was the original premature slap before Barney's premature slaps. The one after the video was the first for the new ruling and the one after Barney's play was number two.

tia | Nov 20, 2007 10:22:59 AM | #

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Thank you.

I wonder why/how the producers got that wrong?

Missing a slap? | Nov 20, 2007 10:24:49 AM | #

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Good episode, though not a favorite of mine. While I enjoyed the angst of Robin and Ted, it should have been the "B" plot with less time devoted to it.

Barney was fantastic in his fear, arrogance, and then post-slappiness. NPH is amazing.

I liked the "C" plot of Lilly and cooking the dinner.

Old Bob was great--and the fact that Robin just laid a kiss on him so happily was funny; where have I seen that actor before?

Tree | Nov 20, 2007 10:29:46 AM | #

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Bob reminded me of Creed from The Office.

Scott | Nov 20, 2007 10:33:50 AM | #

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Orson Bean played Geezer Bob--he's popping up a lot lately, but has been around forever, just like me.

Ginny | Nov 20, 2007 11:10:49 AM | #

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Geezer Bob was also Samantha's old lover from Sex and the City whom she dumped after she caught a glimpse of his wrinkly butt!!

Sirius | Nov 20, 2007 11:30:15 AM | #

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Slap #1 as shown on this episode was during the original slap bet, but before the ruling of Marshall's 5 slaps. The reason they showed this one is (I think) that the producers felt that a Backhand Slap (Which was the Official Slap#1) is seen as Mean Spirited and not "accepable Behavior"

Greg | Nov 20, 2007 11:46:58 AM | #

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I thought it was hilarious! Glad to see that they finally acknowledged that it isn't easy to just be friends again after a year long relationship. I don't think we'll see slap #4 for a while, though. Can we please meet the mother already? Just give us something besides the yellow umbrella. SOMETHING!

Best quote of the episode:

Barney “Relapse five! That’s where we high five, are awkward about it for a few minutes, and then high five again!”

s | Nov 20, 2007 12:07:30 PM | #

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I thought last night was the best this season, and in the top three of all time. I don't know how anyone could really complain about it. It had everything that makes the show great: humor, drama, a lot of character building, slapping.

I go into more detail on my blog but really, this was the best so far this year.

JD | Nov 20, 2007 12:08:03 PM | #

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Orson Bean also appeared in "Being John Malkovich."

Goph | Nov 20, 2007 2:03:04 PM | #

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How could you not mention the song at the end!?!? Magical, purely magical!

Also, I was waiting for Ted and Robin to break. No one can go from a serious relationship to being friends like it is no big deal. And no surprise they slept together... but I loved how they came together in the end. Oh and how this little romantic quibble wasn't the focus of the episode... not that anything could take away from slapsgiving!

Mandy | Nov 20, 2007 3:24:21 PM | #

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The "Relapse Five ..." was great. I was hoping "The Todd" was going to appear.

I'm confused by 1 thing about the slap bet, from what I remember the ruling was "Take 10 slaps now or 5 over the next year" - the year is up. So does that mean that Marshall forfeited his last 2 slaps?

Rishi | Nov 20, 2007 7:22:04 PM | #

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Slapsgiving is my favorite holiday. And while it's true that HIMYM owes a lot to Friends, it's definitely its own species now. More rooted in reality (as much as sitcom can be anyway) than Friends with their odd, pretty people. The HIMYM gang feels like they could totally be your emotionally stunted--yet still awesome--loser friends.

Kincaid_atNight | Nov 20, 2007 10:01:09 PM | #

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I also noticed they didn't mention the Robin Sparkles slap but maybe it was because of the backhand slap because how can you forget the Robin Sparkles slap!!

I think it was either 10 slaps right away or 5 over the course of forever not one year. hahah

Tes | Nov 23, 2007 3:56:06 AM | #

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