'How I Met Your Mother': Revenge of the slap (bet)

Thanksgiving 2009 on "How I Met Your Mother" could have been Lily's greatest Thanksgiving ever. She, as slap bet commissioner, had approved of "Slapsgiving 2: Revenge of the Slap." She had allowed for the bequeathing of a slap to Ted and Robin and stated Barney could be tied to a chair for said slap. Then, her dad showed.

I thought that was great; Chris Elliott is a funny man, but Lily's father clearly has not treated his daughter very well through the years. His obsession with board game creation made him miss various and sundry important moments in her life. I have to side with Marshall on inviting the man to Thanksgiving - so what if he makes incredibly bad games ("Landmine Lunge," which was sitting in the background, was my favorite), the man was (is) Lily's father and as such is deserving of a place at the table for Thanksgiving.

Lily wasn't having any of it, though, and actually opted to leave the D-town apartment rather than having to break bread with her father. I get where she was coming from, and I say the following not just because I disagreed with her, but I think maybe the show shouldn't have gone down that path. There was never a moment when she wasn't going to come back. It never seemed like she'd let Thanksgiving pass without forgiving her father. Had I believed that could have happened I would have been better with the leaving and eventual return/forgiveness. As it stood, however, it was okay but not great.

Perhaps, though, I'm being too harsh. Perhaps the reason that didn't seem like the greatest plot was that the secondary plot of the night, slap number four, was more interesting. Marshall only bequeathed one of his two remaining slaps to Ted and Robin, so the two of them had to decide who was going to get the opportunity to slap Barney right in the face.

Tough call. It was better Lily wasn't there for much of the fight, because as slap bet commissioner she may have been forced to step in and deliver a ruling. How could anyone actually rule on that (even though I'm going to ask you to later, in the poll)? Ted, being Barney's friend longer, deserved the slap. Robin, having dated the man, deserved the slap. What to do?

They both made very strong arguments about who should get to do the slapping, but I'd have to say that the best was Ted's claiming that he still loved Robin in order to get it. He went for the jugular with that one, and had Robin not realized that he was lying, I think it would have put him over the top.

The final solution -- everyone passing on the slap as Barney got more and more agitated until Marshall declared no slap only to deliver the slap of all slaps -- worked well. I might have opted to do no slap at that moment, to allow Marshall to keep the two remaining slaps for later, but I can't begrudge the slap, it was a good slap.

Odds and ends:

• That's dedication, going out and finding Marshall's turkey at the Port Authority. Of course, since it was at the Port Authority, the notion of eating the turkey -- even after it was cooked -- might not have been a good idea.
• Lily's "your dead to me" look, that was awfully reminiscent of Alyson's Wiccan days on "Buffy," wasn't it?
• Marshall videoconferencing into his family's Sunday night dinner is weird.
• Quote of the night to Chris Elliott - "it's not real bile, it's just lead-based paint from China... and horse bile."
• Man, do I want a copy of the Slap Bet board game.

The TV and Film Guy's Reviews - slap e dium.

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Photo credit: CBS