[Music] over the course of its Nine Season run How I Met Your Mother proved itself to be a case study and 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 longtime 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 slaps giving 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 nerdstologic videos perhaps the best way to explain the downfall of How I Met Your Mother is Through The Saga of slaps giving a running gag worthy 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 that what the hell's a slap bet whoever's 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 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 bet 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 plot line 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 character's history with flashbacks and references to events we did not see within the timeline of the series 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 slapback while two of Marshall's laps 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 3 episode slaps giving there you said it again said what slaps giving 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 slaps giving the running gag of Barney's psychological torture over his fear of the slap is a great bit of comedic deflation
for the character 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 slaps giving 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 5 episode slaps giving 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 4. the writers again use the slaps giving 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 bed 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 endpoint 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 Pat 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 slaps giving title completely ensures 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 Barn what follows is a series of of Kung Fu film Prestige 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 let the viewer completely baffled perhaps the lesson to be learned here is that it's sometimes okay 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
wow wait I'm free there's a reason why 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 trap instead of following in the tradition of Prior slaps giving 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 seems satisfying in the mind of the writers but just let 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 slap's giving 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 thank you
