That’s four! Can you believe it’s really been two full years since Slap #3? I sure couldn’t. There’s only one remaining, and I’m guessing we’ll have to wait a while for that one too. But I’m moving too fast.
As with “Slapsgiving” two years ago, the slap was only the comedic payoff in an episode where two characters make their peace. In “Slapsgiving,” it was Ted and Robin finally coming to terms with their post-break-up friendship. In “Slapsgiving 2,” it was Lilly and her dad, Mickey (Chris Elliott), who had ignored his daughter for years, pursuing his hilarious dream of creating the next great board game. Lilly finally broke down three years prior, when she gave him her apparently infamous “You’re Dead to Me Look”, which previously had only been reserved for a newspaper stealing neighbor, a bridesmaid who insulted her, and a bodega owner who doesn’t know the difference between decaff and regular. The last straw with her dad? His moving in with his parents forcing them to hold off moving to Florida and sending Lilly’s grandpa back to the steel mill. Yes, Lilly is justified in this, but her anger at her dad really didn’t match up well with the jokes of the three previous looks. If she’d given the other three the death look for little things, she probably would have given it to her dad a long time ago.
Regardless, Mickey shows up for Thanksgiving with his newest board game, “Diseases,” much to Lilly’s surprise. As Marshall tries to calm her down and get her to invite her father in, it comes out that he actually invited Mickey, hoping to get her to reconcile with him. She leaves angry, and it’s not until Marshall realizes how selfish Mickey really is that he goes to get her. But in typical HIMYM fashion, Lilly has realized he’s right, and she returns home and embraces her father.
Now, to the slap! Marshall grants his fourth slap to Ted and Robin after they find his lost turkey at the Port Authority lost and found. They start arguing over who should get the slap, which Barney plays up, realizing he can delay them until sunset, when the gift becomes null. It works for a while as they go back and forth, but finally, Robin gives it to Ted for overcoming a bad year with a good one. Thus starts a very funny chain, as Ted gives it to Robin, Robin to Mickey, and Mickey to Lilly. In the end, Lilly can’t do it either, and Marshall grants Barney amnesty for Thanksgiving. But there’s no way we were going to have a Slapsgiving with no slap, and Marshall lays #4 right across Barney’s face to end the episode.
The slaps were easily the best part of the episode and really redeemed it. Lilly’s relationship and reconciliation with her father wasn’t necessarily a bad story line, but it was poorly executed. It didn’t balance well the normal HIMYM combination of goofiness and heavy character relationships, and in the end, didn’t quite land it. But the Robin-Ted argument with Barney playing it up was classic HIMYM and was absolutely hilarious. The show is really at its best when the characters are involved in some wacky group caper with emotions and character development coming out of that, and the Slap Bet is really the best representation of that. I know there will be more of that sort of thing to come, so I’m not terribly concerned that “Slapsgiving 2″ played the heavy stuff up a bit too much.
Other Notes:
- Slap puns still haven’t gotten old on this show.
- I will buy Slap Bet if they make it a gag gift. No joke.
- Ted saying he still loves Robin for a slap: hilarious.
- “You sonofabeech!”
Michael’s Score: 73
Tangled Up In Wires Grade: B
Michael
ulyssesworkman
awarshauer
First of all, I have to agree that, arguably the funniest moment, was Ted saying that he was still in love with Robin, just as an attempt to lay claim to the slap.
My greatest disappointment: this episode finally laid to rest any speculation that Lily Aldrin’s grandfather is, in fact, U.S. astronaut Buzz Aldrin. He is clearly not. And I am very sad about that.