- Marshall warns Barney that the third slap in their "slap bet" will be coming on Thanksgiving night. Meanwhile, Ted and Robin sleep together on the night before Thanksgiving.
- Thanksgiving 2007 is a special one for Lily as the first with Marshall and Lily as Mr. & Mrs. It is also the first with the five friends spending it together, which they hope will become a tradition, except that Robin has invited Bob, the 41-year old she has just started dating. The potential tradition may seem a little different for Robin and Ted as after six months of no longer being a couple, they still haven't gotten to a stage of feeling comfortable with each other in a friends situation. They can't even spend time alone together without that awkward feeling. After they break that awkwardness with an unforeseen act the night before Thanksgiving, they have to come to an understanding about whether they truly are friends or if spending time together now is just a matter of convenience. And Marshall has something extra to be thankful for this Thanksgiving Day. He he renamed this particular Thanksgiving "Slapsgiving". He previously won a bet with Barney allowing him to slap Barney five times. Two slaps have already occurred. But Marshall has set up a countdown clock to when he will provide Barney with slap number three on the middle of Thanksgiving.—Huggo
- The episode begins with Future Ted telling his kids about a private joke he and Robin used to share while they were going out where they would salute whenever another person used a word that sounded like a military rank before another word in a sentence (an example being 'Kernel (Colonel) Stuck In My Teeth'), but since breaking up they simply share awkward looks whenever someone does it. Future Ted also explains that they can no longer spend time alone together.
It is going to be the gang's first Thanksgiving with Marshall and Lily as a married couple. Lily is obsessing over making sure it is perfect, Robin has invited her older boyfriend Bob (Orson Bean), who Ted perceives to be ancient, to Thanksgiving dinner. Bob is 41 yrs old and does snowboarding as a career. Marshall is terrorizing Barney in the days leading up to Barney's third slap (by calling it Slapsgiving), and has even set up a countdown on his computer. When Robin and Ted are the only two members of the group to show up to a night of baking pies (Lily was swamped preparing for Thanksgiving the next day, and Marshall was not helping around the house at all), they notice that they have nothing to talk about when they are together, creating a nagging feeling that they are no longer really friends. Ted tries to get Barney to come, but he was busy hitting on girls at the bar.
When Ted and Robin arrive at Marshall and Lily's apartment for Thanksgiving, Lily is floundering to get the apartment ready for their dinner. Ted and Robin reveal separately (to Marshall and Lily respectively) that they fought while baking, and ended the night by having sex. They narrate that Robin tried to break the ice with cool pie and Egypt facts, but Ted made it ten times worse by referring to how they had sex 7 times on one of the Thanksgivings. Then Robin talks about baking pecan pies for Bob, while hiding it for me, making Ted realize that Robin feels that Ted is jealous of Bob. They fight on this topic. Ted says Bob discovered fire, rode shotgun on the ark and was there at the first thanksgiving. Robin objects to the parade of dubious random women that Ted has been putting in front of her these past few months. They end up hugging and having sex.
Robin and Lily decide that Robin and Ted need to talk about what happened and Ted, Marshall and Barney have decided they must ignore it. Robin and Ted argue again (about who started it) and Lily forces them to talk it out. After the two discuss how weird it is to be around each other they come to the realization that they're not friends, and agree that after the dinner they shouldn't see each other again. Meanwhile, Barney begins to get upset at the notion of another slap. He begs Marshall not to slap him again. Barney wants to leave the house, as nowhere in the rules does it say that he needs to sit through this kind of torture. Following Marshall's relentless taunting of Barney and lack of interest in helping her prepare, Lily declares as Slap Bet Commissioner that no slap would occur on Thanksgiving much to Barney's delight and Marshall's dismay.
In Ted's room, they decide to call it quits after Thanksgiving dinner. They decide not to be friends anymore Everybody sits down for Thanksgiving dinner, and Lily is upset that nobody is taking it very seriously. Robin and Ted exchange sad glances with each other. Marshall speaks and thanks Lily for her hard work in putting together the Thanksgiving. Later, over the dinner Bob uses the phrase 'major buzzkill', causing Ted and Robin to salute without thinking, making them realize there's still a connection between them and they can still be friends. Future Ted tells his kids that he had a great evening with his friends (and Bob), and that's why he takes them to Marshall and Lily's to spend Thanksgiving every year. Barney begins to taunt dismayed Marshall as the countdown enters the last ten seconds. Lily warns him not to but when Barney keeps going regardless, she allows the slap to happen with only three seconds to go. Overjoyed, Marshall slaps Barney immediately, sending him flying across the room before singing "You Just Got Slapped" (a song of his own creation) with everybody.
In the kitchen after dinner, Ted notes there's going to be a 'major clean-up' making everyone unknowingly salute and despair. Marshall asks if this is going to be a regular thing from now on and Robin replies, "That's the general idea," causing another salute.
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