The How I Met Your Mother Blog

This is a weekly column where the episodes from seasons one, two, and three will go head to head in a humor cage match. This week, the episode nine’s.

Season 1: Belly Full of Turkey

Ted and Robin are surprised to run into Barney when they volunteer at a homeless shelter on Thanksgiving. Lily is on the brink of freaking out when she goes to Thanksgiving dinner at her future in-laws house.

Personally, this episode always felt a little weak to me. The group was split up, no one was in the normal setting, and the B-plot about Ted looking for volunteer work wasn’t strong. It was funny that Barney was serving mandatory community service but just happened to be awesome at it. Also, that mayonnaise salad Lily made was disgusting. I’m sure that this isn’t the episode of the three that will end up being discussed so let’s move on to the main event.

Season 2: Slap Bet

Ted and Barney discusses their viewpoints on knowing things about women. Barney thinks that the more you know the more likely you are to find a deal breaker. Ted wants to know the deal breakers right away, as Robin refuses to go to the mall to cover her secret.

Slap Bet. Wow, when this episode first aired I thought that it would be the one that brought in a bigger audience for the show and, historically, would be when the show ‘made it’. I think that was true, to a point. Casual HIMYM fans always mention this episode in their favorites. It also had the wonderful Robin Sparkles video which was a truly awesome reveal. For me, this episode was special because the week before it aired I had predicted that Robin had been married at some point before meeting the gang. While not technically correct, it was still cool that I was kind of right.

I loved the dialog in this episode. Ted pestering Robin in bed about the various reasons she might not like malls: “Got arrested in a mall? Found out you were Canadian in a mall? Got mauled in a mall? Trapped under a fake boulder at the mall?” and Robin’s answers to Ted’s inquisition of her wedding details. Also, this episode has what might be the funniest “edgy” line of the show. Barney, having been slapped my Marshall says “Your hand is enormous.” Marshall replies “What do you expect? You’ve seen my penis.”

I didn’t think Season 3 had a chance against this episode, that was until I saw Slapsgiving.

Season 3: Slapsgiving

As Marshall and Lily prepare to host their first Thanksgiving as husband and wife, Barney eyes Marshall’s Slap Bet Countdown Clock website with dread.

This was a great episode. We had the payoff for slapbetcountdown.com and got to see slap #3. The Ted and Robin storyline was as good if not better than the Robin Sparkles secret (which I’m sure will receive some contempt from other viewers). Slapsgiving was more dramatic, more mature. The characters are getting older and its showing. This episode, like Slap Bet, ended in a song performed by one of the characters. Side to side, 80’s music video aside, I think “You Just Got Slapped” beats “Let’s Go to the Mall”.

It’s also important to keep in mind that Slapsgiving could not exist without Slap Bet. In that sense, the success of this episode, a year later, gives even more points to Slap Bet and season 2.

Advantage

The poll shows seasons 2 and 3 in a dead heat. I think it’s too close to call so I’m going to go with a tie. It may be like kissing your sister, but isn’t that better than being a teenage pop star in Canada or getting slapped? What do you think?

Scorecard

	W	L	T
Season 1:	1	5	2
Season 2:	3	2	3
Season 3:	1	5	3

Vote

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