[MUSIC PLAYING]
[GLASS BREAKING]
[GASPING]
[INTERPOSING VOICES]
Over the course of its nine-season run,
How I Met Your Mother proved itself to be a case
study in how a sitcom could quickly become
a victim of its own success.
While the show enjoyed critical and commercial success,
its final season became infamous for a resolution
that disappointed and confused long-time fans.
But the writing was on the wall for this decline
perhaps sooner than fans might have expected,
and it all begins with the story of Slapsgiving.
It's the one day we set aside each year
to gather together and give slaps.
But before we get too far, please
make sure to subscribe in order to stay up to date on all
of our Nerdstalgic videos.
Perhaps the best way to explain the downfall of How
I Met Your Mother is through the saga
of Slapsgiving, a running gag where
the execution over the course of the show
is a microcosm of the show's inability
to provide a satisfying conclusion to its audience.
The story of Slapsgiving truly begins all the way back
in season two, episode nine, "Slap Bet."
What the hell's a slap bet?
Whoever is right gets to slap the other person in the face
as hard as they possibly can but no rings.
In this episode, Barney loses the slap
bet over whether or not Robin was once in an adult film.
After Barney prematurely assumes victory and slaps Marshall,
Marshall is awarded five slaps that
can be doled out from that point on through eternity.
This becomes a running plot point
that continues all the way up to the show's final season,
the slap that represents one of the major storytelling
differences between How I Met Your Mother
and the average sitcom.
Many sitcoms up to this point follow
a cyclical format where characters experience
conflicts that emerge and are resolved
by the end of the episode.
The shows were deliberately designed in such a way
that audiences could tune into any episode
and understand the entire plotline
without any further context about the series.
Of course, this structure was a necessity
in the early days of television where the only way
to see an episode again was to be lucky enough
to catch a rerun at some point in the future.
As the modern age of television moved
into season box sets and bingeable streaming,
the sitcom was able to become more serialized.
How I Met Your Mother in particular
took advantage of this, building the ability
to have callbacks to earlier episodes and plot lines
an integral part of its structure.
The show would even build out its characters history
with flashbacks and references to events
we did not see within the timeline of the series.
Flowed on through, brother.
With its narrative framing device
of each episode being narrated by the future version
of the series protagonist Ted Mosby,
the show could easily slide in references
to old storylines as necessary.
This allowed for multi-season jokes and escalation
of gags such as the slap bet.
While two of Marshall's slaps in the initial bet
were used as throwaway gags, the writers
decided to give the idea of the bet
a greater focus in the season three episode "Slapsgiving."
Well, there, said it again.
Said what?
Slapsgiving.
In the episode, Marshall and Lily
hold Thanksgiving at their apartment for the first time.
Meanwhile, Marshall tortures Barney
with a countdown promising that the night will
end with the first ever Slapsgiving.
The running gag of Barney's psychological torture
over his fear of the slap is a great bit of comedic deflation
for the character.
Oh, God, don't slap me again.
I don't want to get slapped again.
The first two times hurts so bad I don't like it.
I don't like it one bit.
Simultaneously, the episode also continues the progression
of the post-breakup relationship of Robin and Ted,
utilizing the show's serialization to great effect.
Slapsgiving not only adds a great new comedic premise
to the series but also provides the series
with a chance for genuine character development.
This structure continues in the season five
episode "Slapsgiving 2--
Revenge of the Slap."
Once again, the writers find a way to both humorously torture
Barney as well as advance the story of the characters
forward.
Here the series introduces Lily's estranged father,
and the episode ends with the two finding
a sense of reconciliation.
The idea of the slap provides the group
with a tender sense of camaraderie
as they each offer one another the chance
to slap Barney with a heartfelt speech,
ending with Marshall granting Barney a reprieve from the slap
but then slapping him anyway.
That's four.
The writers again use the Slapsgiving episode
to provide both the comedic tension of the promised slap
and satisfying moments of character growth.
In many ways, the use of the slap bet
reflects the conceit of How I Met Your Mother itself.
The slap bet has a clear end goal
of five slaps while also clearly establishing
a structure to these stories whenever they arise.
By comparison, the show's central premise
of a father telling his children the story of,
as the title says, how he met his future wife
provides a perfect framing device for a narrative
as well as a clear end point for the series.
And that kids is how I met your mother.
However, as the show continued on,
the premise extended long past its logical conclusion,
and thus both concepts began to collapse in on themselves.
With the series, the story ended up lasting nine seasons.
One has to imagine the absurdity of a dad
telling his kids a single story that lasts 10 years.
By the same token, the slap bet itself was extended in season 7
almost as if the writers knew they
needed to pad out the possibility of not ending
the bet too soon.
Ultimately though, when it comes to both the story
of how Ted met his future wife or how the slap bet played out,
both come to unsatisfactory and frankly bizarre conclusions.
Up to this point, the Slapsgiving themed episodes
have a clear satisfying structure.
However, the final episode, despite using the Slapsgiving
title, completely ensues the idea
of Thanksgiving being a part of the episode structure entirely.
Instead, the episode opts for a bizarre structure
where Marshall claims he's been training to deliver
the final slap to Barney.
What follows is a series of kung fu film pastiche
vignettes featuring Marshall's training
to deliver Barney's slap.
These sequences contain each of the central characters
as martial arts movie archetypes,
and attempting to upend the expectations of the audience,
the writers of How I Met Your Mother
instead left the viewer completely baffled.
Perhaps the lesson to be learned here
is that it's sometimes OK to fulfill the exact expectations
of your viewers.
When a series like How I Met Your Mother has gone on
for a decade, the desire to break
from formula and convention can be overpowering,
and it can also be very successful.
However, it's important to reflect
on what tropes you're choosing to subvert
and what is the artistic value in that subversion.
Upending expectations just for the sake
of surprising the audience will always
be less satisfying than delivering a cathartic payoff
to years worth of setup even if that catharsis is exactly
what the audience is expecting.
There's a tendency in contemporary storytelling
to always try and be two steps ahead of the audience,
especially since modern audiences are
able to theorize and predict possible plot points at a scale
unlike anything in the history of fandom.
However, an ending that delivers on exactly what the writer
promised, isn't a bad thing.
In fact, it means the writer did their job correctly
by establishing a cohesive structure that logically
reaches its conclusion.
That's all of them.
Wow, wait.
I'm free.
There's a reason why the cliché if it ain't broke,
don't fix it exists in the first place.
The writers of How I Met Your Mother
fell victim to this trap.
Instead of following in the tradition
of prior Slapsgiving-centric episodes,
they made a pretty hollow, bland, and tasteless parody
episode that didn't advance any plot of characterization
at an incredibly late point in the series' final season.
The series had clearly established
a pattern of emotional stakes and character growth
in relation to the slap bet, but rather
than delivering on that promise, the writers
allowed those satisfying elements
to fall by the wayside.
The show's ending follows a similar suit,
focusing more on upending expectations
and delivering on an idea that seemed satisfying
in the mind of the writers but just left
the viewers feeling frustrated.
When creating mass entertainment, especially
comedy, there's a delicate balance
that must be struck between the artist and the audience.
Now sometimes an artist can deliver something
that the audience didn't even realize they wanted,
but there is also the risk of completely alienating
the audience that brought you success in the first place.
The saga of Slapsgiving illustrates how not
to subvert expectations.
Without providing the same level of craft and care,
then surprising your audience won't matter.
All they'll be left with is the unsatisfying feeling
that their investment in the work has been wasted,
a feeling that stings even worse than a slap in the face.
What do you think?
Are the critiques of the final season of How I Met Your Mother
too harsh?
And don't forget to like, comment,
and subscribe to Nerdstalgic.
[MUSIC PLAYING]