As families sit down after stuffing themselves with scrumptious suppers throughout the ultimate week of November, lighthearted entertainment, comparable to How I Met Your Mother, emerges as probably the most sought-after element to accompany them. Ted Mosby‘s nine-season quest to inform his kids about meeting their mother included five Thanksgiving-themed episodes that concurrently manifested the allure of the vacation, personifying it through the gang’s friendship, their penchant for drama, and running gags.
Unlike sitcoms that confine Thanksgiving to dinner tables, How I Met Your Mother used the vacation as a backdrop for the whole lot from psychological torture via slap countdowns to curse-passing shenanigans and family reconciliations. Here’s every HIMYM Thanksgiving episode ranked by IMDb, celebrating the moments when Marshall, Lily, Barney, Robin, and Ted turned Turkey Day into legendary television.
In India, How I Met Your Mother streams on JioHotstar, while in the US, all episodes can be found on Hulu.
1. Season 6, Episode 10: Blitzgiving
- Yr of Release: 2010
- IMDb Rating: 9.0/10
Ted leaves the bar early to arrange for the Thanksgiving feast, replacing Lily because the host. He has full faith in his gimmick, a small turkey stuffed inside a bigger turkey, which he names “turturkeykey,” but nevertheless chases an epic night with the gang. The story introduces one more original gimmick from the How I Met Your Mother creators’ playboy with the Blitz curse, where one person can’t help but miss every exciting event. The phenomenon transmits via Ted’s college friend Steve Henry to Ted, who becomes the personification of FOMO.
Ted watches helplessly as his friends party with each the previous Blitz and his nemesis Zoey, experiencing wild adventures he’ll only hear about secondhand. When Barney gets cocky about avoiding the curse, he inadvertently becomes subject to the identical, leaving moments as salacious as a lady’s dress ripping apart or Zoey in her underwear. The episode also capitalizes on Lost references that resonated when that show was still a cultural phenomenon, only to tie all of it along with Season 6’s primary storyline in the ultimate minutes.
2. Season 3, Episode 9: Slapsgiving
- Yr of Release: 2007
- IMDb Rating: 8.9/10
Marshall and Lily host their first Thanksgiving as a married couple, however the husband is more inquisitive about psychological warfare than turkey. He creates a slap countdown, renames the vacation “Slapsgiving,” and spends the episode terrorizing Barney about when the third installment of their “Slap Bet” deal will land. Ted and Robin confront one another alone for the primary time post-breakup holiday together, because the writers introduce one more iconic running gag, the mock salutes. Meanwhile, Lily unravels within the kitchen as no one helps with dinner, leading her to issue a ruling as slap bet commissioner that temporarily halts the countdown.
The episode’s genius lies in Marshall’s composition of “You Just Got Slapped,” a song that melodizes the extravaganza beyond easy farcical comedy and into something theatrical. Jason Segel’s performance becomes Neil Patrick Harris’s living hell as long-term payoffs from earlier seasons make viewers feel like insiders on shared jokes. Ted and Robin’s awkward attempts at friendship add real emotion, proving Marshall’s faith in Slapsgiving right.
3. Season 5, Episode 9: Slapsgiving 2: Revenge of the Slap
- Yr of Release: 2009
- IMDb Rating: 8.4/10
Marshall gifts his fourth slap to either Ted or Robin, resulting in a civil war over who gets to smack Barney so hard it echoes through the apartment. The slap storyline intersects with Lily’s estranged father, Mickey, arriving unannounced for dinner, forcing Lily to confront her “dead to me” list and a long time of abandonment issues. Mickey’s lifetime of failed board game inventions, particularly the word plays and business reels, introduces comic relief in probably the most original sense possible for a sitcom.
The sequel doesn’t match its predecessor’s innovation but still delivers solid entertainment when watched back-to-back with the unique Slapsgiving. Chris Elliott’s presence as Mickey not only adds emotional complexity to what could’ve been just one other silly episode about hitting Barney, but in addition adds one more recurring character that will introduce viewers for half a decade until the narrator finally divulges how he met his kids’ mother. Lily’s realization that cutting people out over petty things results in regret not only shows significant character growth but in addition spotlights a much-needed message in today’s politically charged climate.
4. Season 1, Episode 9: Belly Filled with Turkey
- Yr of Release: 2005
- IMDb Rating: 7.9/10
On this inaugural Thanksgiving tale, Marshall takes Lily home to Minnesota for the festivities, giving her first real exposure to the Eriksen family. Lily imagines life in St. Cloud and agonizes over potentially birthing supersized Eriksen babies after briefly worrying she is perhaps pregnant, all while contemplating whether she’s got those voluptuous hips. Back in Latest York, Ted and Robin head to a soup kitchen only to find it’s the one night volunteers are overbooked. Their seek for something useful to do leads them to Barney, who’s by some means been named “volunteer of the 12 months.”
This traditional Thanksgiving outing shows characters still settling into themselves just nine episodes into the series. The Eriksen family showdown will surely be explored more effectively in later seasons, and Lily’s pregnancy scare looks like standard sitcom territory. Barney’s volunteer twist is simply part of creating how much of a wild card Harris’s character really is, and why the How I Met Your Mother’s strongest comedic moments can all the time revert back to his unpredictable nature.
5. Season 7, Episode 11: The Rebound Girl
- Yr of Release: 2011
- IMDb Rating: 7.8/10
Marshall and Lily inherit their grandparents’ Long Island home and debate starting a brand new life within the suburbs, while Barney, shaken by his breakup with Nora and Robin’s refusal to finish things with Kevin, latches onto Ted. The 2 impulsively determine they need to adopt a baby together, all while their conversations about parenting go nowhere. Thanksgiving serves mainly because the logistical excuse for everybody to go away Manhattan and arrive in Long Island, with the vacation barely registering beyond getting characters in the identical location.
This episode is usually considered the least impressive of HIMYM’s Thanksgiving offerings and is indeed devoid of a correct Thanksgiving celebration. Nonetheless, greater context shows critics were frustrated with the show’s slow progress toward meeting the mother, with Season 7 starting to indicate slippage in quality. That said, longer side quests in How I Met Your Mother have all the time earned their places like every other sitcom, and impatient viewers may consider giving this one other likelihood.
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