The best “Thanksgiving” episodes of How I Met Your Mother
“You just got slapped!”
They’ve been slapping us for years…
Every sitcom has its own way of approaching the holidays. For How I Met Your Mother, which celebrated its 20th anniversary in September, Thanksgiving has always rhymed with Slapsgiving!
Over the course of nine seasons, the writers cooked up five turkey episodes, playing Thanksgiving in their own way. Note also that seasons 2, 4, 8 and 9 completely avoided it: season 2 preferred to introduce James, season 4 the cult Naked Man, season 8 winning the case against Brad and season 9 offering Lin-Manuel Miranda a place on the bus. Here is our Top of the best Thanksgivings from HIMYM.
5. Odd, two, you’ll get it (The Rebound Girl – Season 7, episode 11)
Last special Thanksgiving episode of the series, and the meal takes place on Long Island. Marshall and Lily inherit Lily’s grandparents’ house and wonder if they should start over there. while Ted and Barney show up at dinner with… a baby! The two friends want to adopt together, because their love lives are disastrous. In reality, it is the baby of James and Tom, guests at the party. A meal that Robin doesn’t really want to share. Because she thinks she’s pregnant, and suggests that Barney might be the father. She locks herself in the toilet. And from the next episode, we will discover the sad truth…
4. Slapsgiving 2: Revenge of the Slap – Season 5, Episode 9
The meal this time takes place in Marshall and Lily’s new leaning apartment. The Slap Bet running gag, launched in season 2, returns in force: Marshall offers his fourth “authorized slap” to Ted or Robin. But the two cannot agree. So it’s the surprise dinner guest, aka Mickey, Lily’s father, who gets the gift… after ruining the Thanksgiving meal. But he will also want to offer it to his daughter… who will not give the slap, because she is the official referee of the bet. In short, in the end, it’s Marshall who does it!
3. Blitzgiving (Season 6, Episode 10)
Yet another new location for the celebratory meal, this time held at Zoey (Jennifer Morrison), Ted’s nemesis/lover. And yet another surprise guest: this time, it’s Steve, played by Jorge Garcia (Hurley in Lost) who comes to dinner. But the old college friend is the victim of a curse that he will transmit to others: as soon as he leaves a room, something enormous, legendary or absurd happens. Ted then Barney will be contaminated, destroying their Thanksgiving minute by minute. We also remember the famous menu concocted by Ted the cook: the “TurTurkeyKey”, a turkey stuffed… in an even bigger turkey.
2. Well-Ordered Charity (Belly Full of Turkey – Season 1, Episode 9)
First Thanksgiving, but no traditional dinner with friends. Because Marshall takes Lily back to Minnesota, where she discovers what it really means to marry an Eriksen: XXL family, XXL traditions…potentially XXL babies. She even wonders if she is not pregnant (spoiler: no). Meanwhile, Ted and Robin want to volunteer at a soup kitchen, and come across Barney, the “volunteer of the year”…
1. Slapsgiving – Season 3, Episode 9
Obviously. At this point, How I Met has found its groove, and this episode is one of the most memorable of the entire series. A year after the creation of the brilliant Slap Bet, the third slap falls at the end of a countdown which brings us to the famous “Slapsgiving”. The slap is monumental and punctuated by a wonderful song that you will now have in your head all day long. The one and only Thanksgiving meal to take place in How I met’s apartment is truly the best, by far.
