How I Met Your Mother: ‘Slapsgiving 3: Slappapointment in Slapmarra’

Picture of Segel regretting signing on for a ninth season.

There were more than a few slaps going around in ‘Slapsgiving 3: Slappapointment in Slapmarra.’ Unfortunately, though, several of them were inflicted on myself as the front of my hand kept finding itself raising up towards my eyes and covering them in a facepalm-esque manner. This was a truly painful episode to watch, from a complete lack of plot and character usage to utter lack of execution of a gag that once had so much promise.

As far as the latter goes, I’m really disappointed by the way the writers have gone about Marshall giving the slaps ever since the third one. What made the first slap so great was this ridiculous premise of making a bet that kept escalating until it ended with Barney taking his first slap of five that could be dealt out any place, at any time. My personal favorite was the second slap because it was so unexpected, and deserving, and set the table for what I thought the future slaps will be like.

After the first “Slapsgiving” the gag started seeing diminishing returns, especially since they tried to make every one a spectacle and base an entire episode around it. As cool as it was to see Boyz II Men perform a cover of ‘You Just Got Slapped’ I thought the whole buildup was far too childish to be funny and I wish they had stuck to the original premise where Marshall would catch Barney, and the viewer, off guard. Maybe they can salvage the final slap by making it be a flash-forward where Marshall has built an elaborate “slap room” with his hand prints painted on the wall. With lights flickering Barney wakes up not knowing where he is, shaking and traumatized. Finally, Marshall appears behind him, slowly creeping up to him as the light bounces from his face to Barney’s. He raises up and one final the slap of justice comes down upon Barney’s face. Or, ya know, something like that.

But seriously, last season I would always post in my “other moments of note” section that “at least Barney didn’t have a dog as his wingman,” a point I considered an all-time low for the series. While parts of this episode, like a tree slapping Marshall, came close to this, it was able to avoid the complete stinker label. Hopefully, although I highly doubt it, this will be the last awful episode of the season.

Other moments of note:

• Was it just me or is Jason Segel looking really skinny?
• When was the last time we saw Carl the bartender? I feel like it’s been a while.
• At least Barney didn’t have a dog as his wingman.