How I Met Your Mother: Slapsgiving 3: Slappointment in Slapmarra (9x14)

Oh boy. Not so sure what to think of this episode. It had some funny jokes, but it also had a very weak overarching plot. Let's take a look.

Marshall is about to slap Barney, but then Future Ted says there's a back-story to this slap, and we go back a few weeks before the wedding. The gang sits around their table at MacLaren's. Marshall tells Barney that his next slap needs to be especially painful. Barney remarks that he's immune to all of Marshall's tricks by now. So, Marshall tells Barney a story.

Apparently, Marshall learned the art of the "Slap of a Million Exploding Suns," by learning techniques from three different masters. He first goes to Shanghai to learn the "speed" component from Red Bird (played in the story by Robin). He then learns "strength" by going to a mountain in China called Slap Mountain, and trains with White Flower (aka Lily). Finally, he travels to Cleveland and learns "accuracy" from the Calligrapher (Ted). Throughout the telling of the story, Barney keeps interrupting to point out inconsistencies and impossibilities, but all of the other friends continually confirm that Marshall's story is true.

We flash back to Barney's wedding, where Barney runs in fear from Marshall's slap. He goes out to the woods, where Marshall and the others follow him. In slow motion, we see Marshall deliver the slap to Barney. Boyz II Men suddenly appear and sing a beautiful version of "You Just Got Slapped," and Marshall reminds Barney that there's still one slap left.

Okay. Two major major problems with this episode. Ready?

#1 - The Slap Bet should not be the subject of an entire episode. This entire episode was all focused on what should have been a subplot. The funniest Slap Bet moment in the history of this show was when Marshall slapped Barney at the end of that episode where he was torturing them all with his one-man show. See, that was funny. It came out of nowhere, it continued a funny joke from a previous episode, but it didn't overshadow an actual story. This time, literally the entire plot of the episode was this: Marshall slapped Barney. It didn't tell us anything new about the main plot, it didn't advance any of the characters, etc. etc. It was pointless. This episode could be erased and it would make no difference whatsoever. The point is, the Slap Bet is a really funny joke, but it's not funny enough to sustain an entire episode by itself.

#2 - Dressing up white girls in traditional outfits and calling them "Red Bird" and "White Flower" is not okay. It's just NOT. OKAY! I was so mad about this, honestly. There's not much else I can say.

With that said, there were actually a lot of really fun jokes in this episode, which is what makes it hard for me to loath it entirely. First of all, Boyz II Men showing up at the end was awesome. I love them, and so it was a really fun cameo. Secondly, I love the gullible/incredulous Barney. He's both certain Marshall is lying, and a bit worried about the slap all the same. I love how all of the friends back Marshall up and act like his story is totally reasonable. Also, as insulting as the white girls in Chinese garb was, there were some pretty funny jokes with this as well. In particular, I like how both Robin and Lily started off by stating that they were retired and couldn't help Marshall learn to Slap. They say this with sage words and wise gravitas. Then, when Marshall says that the slap is for Barney Stinson, they immediately drop the Sage Master routine and say that they'll totally help him to slap Barney. That was decently humorous.

So, in all, I think the bigger problems with this episode were too big for the smaller things to help much. I'll not be marking this down as one to re-watch.

4/10