How I Met Your Mother (TV Series) Slapsgiving 2: Revenge of the Slap (2009) User Reviews

HIMYM is back on track

[simbrab · 8/10 · 2 June 2016]

After the legen- wait for it -dary "The Playbook", HIMYM delivers another fine episode with "Slapsgiving 2". It seems like all the series needed to get back on the right track was Barney and Robin breaking up. Now we can move the plot forward and introduce some new conflicts. This time, Lily's difficult relationship to her father. And how her husband Marshall, who by contrast is quite the family man, deals with it.

Lily's dad, who is played by Chris Elliott, is a nice addition to the group. Lily and Marshall have been treated as a joke earlier this season, so it's nice to see them being treated with some dignity by the writers and going through a real conflict for a change. Who would have thought that a character like Lily has still potential to grow?

While the main plot is rather serious for a sitcom, the side plot focusing on Barney and the continuation of the slap bet provides lots of fun. Barney goes back and forth between being mentally tortured and scared and being a manipulative bastard. What a great performance by Neil Patrick Harris! Marshall decides to yield his fourth slap, so Ted and Robin fight about who gets to slap Barney. And it gets messy. To the point that Ted admits to still being in love with Robin. Whether he was deliberately lying (as assumed by Robin) or accidentally telling a big truth he recently did a good job in hiding is not thoroughly revealed. That certainly makes things interesting for the rest of the season.

Slapsgiving 2: Revenge of the Slap (#5.9)

[ComedyFan2010 · 9/10 · 23 July 2015]

All the conflicts in this Thanksgiving episode make it a very great and funny one.

There is Lily's estranged dad, great selection as Chris Elliott, who is a pretty funny character by himself. And that awesome "you are dead to me" look that Lily has. All the times she used it was just too funny, Marshall definitely couldn't compete with that.

And the slapping! It made it so much more interesting to see who gets to slap. I was actually pretty sure it would be Robin, so I was as surprised as Barney. Them discussing it was a lot of entertaining moments. The slap brought them all closer together.

And the Slap Bet game advertisement at the end was a wonderful idea. All those kids getting slapped!

Great Fun

[slightlymad22 · 8/10 · 13 January 2015]

After a great episode, possibly the best ever, it was inevitable there would be a drop in quality, but it's not that big a drop as both Neil Patrick Harris and Alyson Hannigan nail it in this episode with solid support from Jason Segel, Cobie Smulders and Josh Radnor.

Plot In A Paragraph: Marshall and Lily were hosting Thanksgiving at their house for the first time and Marshall was very excited about having picked the perfect turkey. He was telling Lily all about it when his cab drove away before he could take it out. Marshall was bummed, but Ted and Robin had picked it up from the Port Authority lost and found. Marshall was beyond grateful. So grateful, in fact, that he bequeathed unto them the fourth slap.

I love the running joke of the "Slap Bet"

Bile

[bevo-13678 · 10/10 · 15 June 2020]

I like the bit where he said he wasn't going to slab Barney but he slapped him anyway

Honestly one of the worst episodes of the series.

[monoelm · 1/10 · 28 December 2020]

Somehow the writers of the show were able to take one of the funniest things from season two and turn it into one of the least funny things in the entire series. All of the jokes fall flat in this episode. Everything dealing with slap number four seemed to turn all five main characters into caricatures of themselves. It all culminates in a scene where they are bequeathing the slap to each other in the spirit of the season. I find that part of the episode so insufferable that I have to fast forward through it. The main plot with Lily's dad is equally bad. The line, "Family isn't a right. It's a privilege that has to be earned." is a really sad way to look at the world and seems to encourage holding grudges against people. This episode is one that I'll be skipping on all future series rewatches. One of the worst of the worst.