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How This Became The Worst Episode Of How I Met Your Mother

Mar 22, 2024
Over the course of its nine seasons, How I Met Your Mother proved to be a case study and how a comedy 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 left longtime fans disappointed and confused, but the writing was on the wall for

this

decline, perhaps sooner than fans would have expected and it all begins with the slapping storyline, It's the one day we set aside each year to get together and slap each other, but before it goes too far, be sure to subscribe to stay up to date on all of our nerdstology videos Perhaps the best way to explain the fall of How I Met Your Mother is through the slapping saga, giving a joke-worthy execution throughout the course. of the show is a microcosm of the show's inability to provide a satisfying conclusion to its audience, the slap story actually begins in season two,

episode

nine, slap, what the hell is a slap?
how this became the worst episode of how i met your mother
I bet whoever is right can slap the other person. face as hard as possible but there are no rings in

this

episode

Barney loses the slap bet on whether or not Robin was ever in an adult film after Barney prematurely assumes victory and slaps Marshall receives five slaps that are They can spread from that point throughout eternity, this becomes an ongoing plot point that continues until the final season of the show. The slap bet represents one of the major narrative differences between How I Met Your Mother and

your

average sitcom. Many sitcoms up to this point follow a cyclical format. where characters experience conflicts that emerge and are resolved at the end of the episode, the shows were deliberately designed in such a way that the audience could tune in to any episode and understand the entire plot without any additional context about the series, of course, this structure was an necessity in the early days of television, where the only way to rewatch an episode was to be lucky enough to see a repeat at some point in the future, as the modern era of television moved toward season box sets and the compulsive transmission of comedy.
how this became the worst episode of how i met your mother

More Interesting Facts About,

how this became the worst episode of how i met your mother...

Becoming more serialized How I Met Your Mother in particular took advantage of this construction, the ability to have callbacks to previous episodes and plot lines as an integral part of its structure, the show would even build its character's history with flashbacks and references to events that We did not do. See within the series' timeline with its narrative framing device of each episode narrated by the future version of the series' protagonist, Ted Mosby, the show could easily slip in references to older stories as needed, this allowed multi-season pranks and an escalation of pranks. like the slap, while two of Marshall's spins on the opening bet were used as throwaway gags, the writers decided to give the idea of ​​the bet more focus in the season 3 episode's slaps You Said It Again, you said what slaps are given in the episode.
how this became the worst episode of how i met your mother
Marshall and Lily celebrate Thanksgiving at their apartment for the first time, while Marshall tortures Barney with a countdown, promising that the night will end with the first slaps, giving the joke of Barney's psychological torture due to his fear of death. slap, it's a great comedy. the deflation for the character the first two times hurts so much I don't like it I don't like it one bit simultaneously the episode also continues the progression of Robin and Ted's post-breakup relationship using the show's serialization with big slaps Dar not only adds a great new comedic premise to the series, but also gives the series the opportunity for genuine character development.
how this became the worst episode of how i met your mother
This structure continues in the season 5 episode Slaps Giving 2 Slap Revenge. Once again, the writers find a way to torture both with humor. Barney and advances the characters' story 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 each offers themselves to each other. the opportunity to slap Barney with a heartfelt speech that ends with Marshall granting Barney a reprieve from the slap but then slapping him anyway 4. The writers again use the slapping episode to provide both the comic tension of the promised slap as well as moments satisfying character growth.
In many ways, the use of the slap bet reflects the conceit of How I Met Your Mother. The Slapping Bed has a clear end goal of five slaps while also clearly establishing a structure for these stories whenever they arise compared to the show's central premise of a father telling his children the story of how he met his son. Wife-to-be, as the title says, provides a perfect framing device for a narrative, as well as a clear ending point for the series, and that child is How I Met Your Mother, however, as the show continued. The premise was extended far beyond its logical conclusion and so both concepts began to collapse on themselves with the series.
The story ended up lasting nine seasons. You have to imagine the absurdity of a father telling his children a single story that lasts 10 years in the same way. the slap bet itself was extended in season 7. Almost as if the writers knew they needed to rule out the possibility of not ending the BET too soon, ultimately, when it comes to the story of how Ted met his future wife or how the slap. The bet made reaches unsatisfying and frankly strange conclusions up to this point. The slap-themed episodes have a clear and satisfying structure. However, the final episode, despite using the slapstick title, completely warrants the idea of ​​Thanksgiving being part of the episode's structure entirely, instead of the episode opting for a strange structure where Marshall claims he's been training to deliver the final slap to Barn.
What follows is a series of vignettes from the Kung Fu Prestige movie featuring Marshall's training to slap Barney. These sequences contain each of the central characters like a martial arts film. archetypes and attempting to alter audience expectations, the writers of How I Met Your Mother left the viewer completely bewildered. Perhaps the lesson to be learned here is that sometimes it's okay to meet viewers' exact expectations when a series like How I Met Your Mother has lasted a decade. The desire to break away from formulas and conventions can be overwhelming, and it can also be very successful.
However, it is important to reflect on what tropes you are choosing to subvert and what the artistic value of that subversion is. Changing expectations just to surprise the audience will always be less satisfying than offering a cathartic payoff to years of setup, even if that catharsis is exactly what the audience expects. There is a tendency in contemporary storytelling to always try to be two steps ahead. from the audience, especially since modern audiences are able to theorize and predict possible plot points on a scale unlike anything in the history of fandom; However, an ending that delivers exactly what the writer promised is not a bad thing, in fact, it means the writer did it. does its job correctly by establishing a cohesive structure that logically reaches its conclusion wow, wait I'm free there's a reason the cliche 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 cheat instead of following the tradition of Prior slapping Centric episodes, they made a rather hollow, bland, tasteless parody episode that didn't advance any characterization plot at an incredibly late point in the final season of the show. series that the series had clearly established. a pattern of emotional stakes and character growth in relation to the slap bet, but instead of delivering on that promise, the writers allowed those satisfying elements to fall by the wayside, the show's finale follows a similar suit, focusing more in changing expectations and delivering an idea that seems satisfying in the writers' minds, but simply leaves viewers frustrated When creating mass entertainment, especially comedy, there is a delicate balance that must be struck between the artist and the audience now.
Sometimes an artist can offer something that the audience didn't even realize. they wanted, but there's also the risk of completely alienating the audience that brought them success in the first place. The slapping saga illustrates how not subverting expectations without providing the same level of skill and care, and then shocking

your

audience won't matter at all. What they will be left with is the unsatisfying feeling that their investment in the job has been wasted, a feeling that hurts even worse than a slap. What do you think are the criticisms of the final season of How I Met Your Mother? and don't forget to like, comment and subscribe to nerdstalgic, thank you.

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