“Slapsgiving”

This weeks episode, “Slapsgiving” hit home right in time for thanksgiving.

The episode starts off with Ted telling his kids on how Robin and him used to have a running joke when they were dating about repeating any kind of army rank in a regular sentence with a salute, but since they broke up, it had died off. Then it leads to Marshall hinting that this thanksgiving is “slapsgiving” (which shows that Barney has no idea how many days are in any given month) and Robin bringing her new boyfriend to meet the group at Maclarens. Robin’s new man Bob is 41, a little older than they are…but not too bad. Ted sees the worst though, and we see Bob as an elderly man the whole episode.

Lily reminds everyone that they are all baking pies at Robin’s house the next night, and when Ted shows up, he is the only one there…Everyone else couldn’t make it. The next day is Thanks-I mean Slaps-giving, and Marshall is making Slapsgiving references the whole day. More importantly though, Ted and Robin both reveal to the others that they had slept together the night before, and that it’s really awkward now; Ted decides to ignore it, but Robin thinks they should talk about it.

Towards the end Lily gets angry at the fact that Marshall is focusing more on “Slapsgiving” than he is on their first Thanksgiving as a married couple, and declares the day as “A day of peace” and that “there will be no slaps today”. Marshall is crushed, but Barney is eccentric. Ted and Robin are forced to talk about the night before, and they come up with a final decision that they shouldn’t be friends anymore after that night. At the dinner table, everything is awkward at first but Marshall gives a speech about how Lily did a wonderful job setting up that years thanksgiving. Then, something happens between Ted and Robin, Bob tells everyone how his thanksgivings at home are a “Major Buzz kill” and they both respond with a salute; showing that they are still indeed friends. The dinner goes surprisingly well after that.

In the end, Barney is rubbing it in Marshall’s face that he can’t slap him by showing everyone Marshall’s “Countdown to nothing”, and Lily tells him to put it away. Barney refuses and keeps on taunting Marshall, then in the last three seconds of the countdown Lily gives Marshall permission to slap and he does, exclaiming “That’s Three!!” afterward like usual. Barney spins around and falls over the couch, breaking the end table. Marshall concludes slapsgiving by rushing over to the piano and busting out in a hilarious song about slapping Barney.

The Good:

• Marshall’s double entendres about slapsgiving
• Ted and Robin remain friends
• The third slap!
• And yes, The song “You Just Got Slapped” !

The Bad:

• Showing Bob as some really old guy (it wasn’t horrible, I just didn’t find it very funny)
• And while Ted and Robin remained friends, they could of put all that into a different episode, it didn’t really fit here.

Final Verdict: I’m going to have to go with…Legen-wait for it-dary! For one reason, and really one reason only…The third slap; in the series, my favorite continuity joke…is the slap bet. So this episode struck a soft spot of comedy in my heart.

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