Name: How I Met Your Father season 2 episode 4
Director: Pamela Fryman
Released: 2023-02-14T12:00:00

In episode 4 of How I Met Your Father, Sophie and Val reach out to an old friend to feel better about themselves while Ellen gets ready for her first day at work. The episode is streaming on Hulu.

Recap

Sophie and Val help Ellen prepare for her first day at Goliath Market and are generally happy for her until it reminds them how miserable their lives are. They decide to contact “Pathetic Deirdre”, their friend who always seems to be worse off than they are.

Jesse and Meredith are recording a video at Pemberton’s to promote her upcoming tour and Sid is increasingly annoyed whenever he sees them together. He still believes that Meredith doesn’t love Jesse and feels that he deserves better.

Charlie has started dating again and is sending gift baskets to women as a “thank you” for the one-night stand much like Derek Jeter was rumored to do. However, one of the girls he sent a basket to confuses it for an “I like you” basket and admits to liking him as well.

Ellen reaches her office but is spooked out of taking the elevator and chooses to take the stairs. When she realizes that she has to go to the 51st floor, she changes her mind but finds that she’s trapped in the stairwell.

Sophie and Val reach out to Deirdre but she says she cannot meet them because she’s got a book reading. They assume that it’s a sad open mic and choose to attend as well.

When they arrive at the store, they learn that the book reading is dedicated to Deirdre’s hugely popular book. They see her with a complete glow-up and doing well for herself.

Meredith does most of the talking when they record the video and Jesse asks her if they can make another one where he gets to say a few words as well. Ellen finally gets to the 51st floor but the door doesn’t open for her.

She finds a side door that opens but it is a broom closet and when she goes in, the door closes behind her and doesn’t open again. Sophie and Val sit in for the book ready and very quickly realize that the book is about them.

They try to sneak out but knock over a stack of books and reveal themselves to the entire audience. Deirdre calls them to the front and apologizes to them because in her mind, they were the pathetic ones and she used them to feel better about herself.

Charlie has an impromptu date with the girl who shows up and even grows to like her but she’s leaving, a delivery of baskets he ordered shows up and his true intentions for the baskets are revealed. The girl is appalled and tells him off before leaving.

Jesse and Meredith have a disagreement about who took back who in the relationship and Meredith explains that it doesn’t matter who it was, for the sake of the tour she is the main character and he is the handsome love interest.

Sophie and Val explain to Deirdre that they treated her as the pathetic one and belittle all the things she was proud of, causing Deirdre to get angry and lash out at them. The crowd sees her as toxic and turns on her as Sophie and Val leave in a good mood.

Ellen has no choice but to crawl through the vents and reaches the vent overlooking her office right on time for her meeting. She answers the roll call but in her excitement, smacks the vent and falls through into the office.

Jesse accepts the situation between him and Meredith but after she leaves, Sid tells him that he’ll always play second fiddle to her and that she doesn’t truly love him. Jesse is frustrated by what Sid says and leaves.

When Sid gets back to the apartment, Jesse is packing for his trip and when Sid brings up attending the concert at Long Island, he tells him not to show up because he would prefer people who actually support him.

Review

This episode whizzes past thanks to some smooth structuring. The various plotlines are perfectly balanced and the entire episode is casual and entertaining to watch.
“Pathetic Deirdre” is one of those side characters that might make another appearance if this series is given a longer run and she’s a great addition to the quirky roster of characters.
Sophie and Val do come off as horrible people for the way they look down on Deirdre and the older Sophie is well aware of this but being a light-hearted sitcom, one cannot be too critical of the characters or it makes the whole series miserable.