How I Met Your Father season 2 episode 1 recap & review: Cool and Chill

Season 2 of How I Met Your Father sees Sophie continue with her story as Ian returns to her life just as she’s dealing with her feelings for Jesse. The episode is streaming on Hulu.

Recap

Ian surprises Sophie at her gallery show and she says yes to having a drink with him. Valentina pulls her aside and asks her if she’s truly ready for this even though she split up with two guys in 24 hours.

Sid and Hannah realize that their wedding story is lacking excitement since they simply went to the court and got a regular marriage license so they decide to have a grand party at the bar to make up for it.

Jesse shows up to congratulate Sid and Hannah and the awkwardness between him and Sophie leads to them telling everyone that they have decided not to date. Charlie and Valentina also tell everyone that they’re not dating anymore since they want different things in life.

Everyone heads to the bar and Ian invites himself along much to Sophie’s apprehension. Sid gives everyone a job at the party to make the night perfect for Hannah.

Jesse keeps staring at Sophie and Ian chatting and Ellen walks over to him to check if everything is alright. He tells her how he professed his love to Sophie in his sleep before they split up and then he made out with Meredith after agreeing to go on tour with her.

Ellen is more focused on the fact that Jesse is leaving her and going on tour and is really disappointed. The cake that Sid ordered arrives but it turns out to be the wrong order and that leaves him frustrated.

Charlie and Valentina are in Sid’s office looking through their galleries to make a photo montage for the happy couple but as they’re talking, they realize that they’re still physically attracted to each other and make out.

Ian asks Sophie why Jesse keeps staring at them and she makes up the excuse that ever since she took his photo, he’s been dreaming of becoming a model and always flaunts his looks.

She asks Ian to get some drinks and goes over to Jesse to tell him not to make things weird but he says that he’s confused about his feeling and she makes a reference to people from romantic pasts coming into one’s life again.

As she makes her way back to Ian, she runs into a very drunk Drew who is not doing too well after their breakup. Ian walks up to them and Drew introduces Sophie as his ex, and Ian asks Sophie if their breakup was recent because it seems very fresh.

Jesse asks Ellen if he told Sophie about the fact that he made out with Meredith and she says she didn’t. As Sophie notices that Jesse and Drew are walking up to her while she’s with Ian, she tries to cause a distraction by asking Sid and Hannah to have their first dance.

Her distraction doesn’t go according to plan and as soon as things settle down, Jesse confronts her about what she said and she reveals that she saw him kiss Meredith. She also let Drew know that she got with Jesse 24 hours after she dumped him.

She walks out of the bar and Ian follows her. He tells her that he would still like to give it a shot but she says she needs some time to figure out what she wants or doesn’t want in life.

Meanwhile, Jesse talks to Sid about his tour with Meredith and how he feels about Sophie. Ellen finds out that Jesse is only going away for a month and isn’t mad at him anymore.

Charlie and Valentina show up to play the photo montage but midway through it switches to a sex tape they just made in Sid’s office and they hurriedly shut it off.

Sid complains about how the night is ruined and he couldn’t ensure a good story for Hannah but she’s just happy that he loves her so much. Sophie wants the couple to be happy and decides to honor one of Sid’s requests and tells everyone to get up and do the Electric Slide.

She tells Valentina how she went through 3 guys in quick succession and is now doing the Electric Slide at a bar which very much feels like rock bottom but older Sophie tells her son that rock bottom actually came a few months down the road.

She describes a memory of her leaving a worried voicemail for her mother claiming that she might be dating her father as she crashes into a car in front of her. The owner of the car turns out to be Barney Stinson but she says she’ll explain that event later on.

Review

• How I Met Your Father doesn’t have the same kind of charm that its predecessor has but it definitely makes a good go of things. This episode marks an adequate start to a season that has 20 episodes to prove it is worth the effort.
• The laugh tracks have been added after the original recording and they don’t feel very organic. For a feature that doesn’t always hit the mark, the episode would have benefited from avoiding it altogether.
• Having a Barney Stinson cameo without the payoff is a shrewd decision that is bound to keep audiences hooked on what the story behind his appearance will be. Similar to Colbie Smulders’ appearance in the finale of season 1, it is most likely that it will have great emotional significance but might also fail to live up to the hype.

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