How I Met Your Mother - Recap: A Slappetite For Destruction
Recap and review of How I Met Your Mother - Season 9 Episode 14 - Slapsgiving 3: Slappointment in Slapmara:
How I Met Your Mother has built a mythology around the Slap Bet, and the remaining slaps Marshall (Jason Segel) still has to give to Barney (Neil Patrick Harris). In this sense, it's in keeping with the absurdity of the show to dedicate an entire episode to closing the loop. Granted, "Slapsgiving 3: Slappointment in Slapmara" doesn't actually bring the slap saga to an end, as Marshall reveals there's still one slap remaining. But I don't really feel like this was an episode that needed to make some sort of larger statement. It's an amusing theme episode that works mostly by going all-in on the escalating ridiculousness of its premise.
Credit: CBS
So Marshall is threatening to deliver the final slap to Barney, but not before regaling him with the tale of his training in the martial art of slapping. As he's telling the tale at McLaren's, the rest of the gang backs him up on the story, despite Barney's objections that, obviously, none of this could possibly be true. It's a fun little frame story that plays as an homage to Kill Bill in its chapter structure, which includes allusions to Pai Mei, and the Five-Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique. It's a very specific reference to base an episode around, given that we're a decade removed from the film's debut, but it still works here even without the context of what the episode is referencing.
Credit: CBS
The story is told in three parts: In the first, Marshall learns of the existence of a master slap instructor from a young boy at a martial arts class. And so he travels to Shanghai to meet with the mysterious master, giving us part one: "Under the Cruel Tutelage of Red Bird". Each of the three masters Marshall encounters is portrayed by one of the gang, with a ridiculous pun name to go with their new character. So in this case, Robin (Cobie Smulders) = Red Bird. There are some terrific bits in this segment, including Red Bird training Marshall using the legendary Slapping Tree, which slaps back. It's a silly concept, but Segel sells it really well with his physical comedy, and Smulders really digs into the role of Red Bird, playing her mentorship completely straight, even when she and Marshall are exchanging lightning-fast slaps at the restaurant (slaps so fast that they've already moved on to other things by the time the slappee even realizes they've been slapped, in yet another great sight gag). But Marshall's training isn't complete, as he must then travel to Slap Mountain, a mountain in the shape of a giant hand (and this is led off with a great play on words with the "Which mountain?" / "No, not Witch Mountain. Slap Mountain!" exchange).
Credit: CBS
"The Punishing Scholarship of White Flower" sees Lily (Alyson Hannigan) in the role of White Flower, and this is the weakest of the three segments, though not for anything the actors fail to do. It's mostly because this is the segment with the thinnest amount of material, as Marshall basically reveals that he made love to White Flower, and that Lily was okay with this. We also learn that whenever someone who hates Barney slaps Marshall, the power of that slap is transferred to his own hand, which prompts Marshall to go around getting slapped by all of Barney's past conquests until his hand glows with the Slap of a Thousand Suns (ridiculous, but it works). He then completed his training in the final segment, "The Some-Might-Call-It-Nitpicky-But-It's-Really-Just-Thorough Schooling of the Calligrapher," in which Ted (Josh Radnor) is The Calligrapher, a sensei who seems far more enamored of his own teachings than his students. Pretentious Ted is always good for a solid laugh, and this is no different, as The Calligrapher basically gives Marshall a bunch of really standard advice on how to give a slap -- but only after Marshall accidentally slaps The Calligrapher's heart out of his chest in a preposterous visual that's all the funnier for the cheap CGI and slow-mo reaction shots. Just great stuff, all-around.
Credit: CBS
And the conclusion is just as solid, with Barney finally preparing for the slap, and Marshall at last delivering it, as Boyz II Men arrive and sing an ode to slaps gone by. Again, I really can't stress enough just how surreal this whole thing is, as it seems to be a largely plotless addition to the larger narrative fabric of the season, but it's entertaining enough that I'm willing to overlook it, since I found myself genuinely laughing at some of the moments here. Is this kind of episode something that would work every week? Absolutely not. But in the midst of a season that's often been focused on tying up loose ends, this was as good a distraction from the main story as any. For what it was, "Slapsgiving 3: Slappointment in Slapmara" was a worthwhile installment.