Review - How I Met Your Mother Season 5 Episode 9 Slapsgiving 2: Revenge of the Slap

Originals aren't always better than the sequel, and in the case of HIMYM, the sequel certainly stood up to the original. It may not have had an ingenious original concept, but the execution was done well with a great story in between.

After Ted and Robin save Marshall's turkey from the DMV, he decides to give the fourth slap to them. This was all a ploy to lull Barney into a sense of easy. The slap is passed around from person to person, and while any one of them could easily have slapped Barney, they just couldn't take the slap for themselves. Right when Barney is saved, Marshall slaps him to the ground. I suppose it was expected since it was Marshall's slap and he gets so much pleasure in delivering it.

The other story involving Lily and her father played by Chris Elliott had a great blend of comedy and emotion that went nicely with the backdrop of the slap bet. Her father is the typical deadbeat loser who makes hilariously stupid board games that has to move in with his parents. Marshall invites him over for Thanksgiving, but Lily, still traumatized from her childhood has had enough of him. Eventually Lily realizes how important people are and everyone is happy.

I loved the Lily "you're dead to me" scenes since they were funny and a great callback to Alyson Hannigan's days on Buffy when she went berserk in season 6. Ted exclaiming that he still loved Robin had me laughing hard, because we've gone down the road so many times it only could have been a ploy to get the slap.

Score: 9.5/10