If I am being honest, I didn’t really love How I Met Your Mother. It wasn’t that it was a bad show, it just felt so drawn out, so long, and so out of touch. I know that when it comes down to it – it was a great show for its time, but it wasn’t for me.
However, it made me skeptical when I heart about How I Met Your Father. Would it be the same? Would it be different? I was willing to give it a try because Hilary Duff and Francia Raisa.
It seemed by reading what the show was going to be about was that it would be somewhat the same, “Sophie’s (Hilary Duff) story will take place in 2021, where her and her friends -Jesse (Chris Lowell), Valentina (Francia Raisa), Charlie (Tom Ainsley), Ellen (Tien Tran), and Sid (Suraj Sharma) – are all working on figuring out their lives, falling in love, and navigating it all with the pressures of the world.”
But the truth is it is not. How I Met Your Father is really something that I love. It’s smart, timely, a great cast, and funny. It feels like something new and something we haven’t seen. It’s a mix of paying homage and moving forward with something that feels fresh. It embodies New York. It embodies the complexities of being true to ones self and growth.
I loved the pilot episode so much.
And for a second you forget that anything came before it. This doesn’t feel like a spin-off or a reboot, it stands on its own. It’s a sequel where you didn’t have to watch the original.
THE UBER RIDE
The grown up Sophie is played by Kim Catrall and to be honest, I love it. Sure, I miss her on the Sex and the City reboot, but am also happy that she avoided that shit show.
It’s 2050 and she’s had a few glasses of wine. She calls her son, because she wants to tell him how she met his father. Not just the superficial stuff, but has enough wine to tell the sexy unabridged version.
Sophie was young and optimistic. She saw New York for the beautiful place that it is – full of hope, craziness, and a never ending story. On her way to a Tinder date (which is always scary), she hops in an Uber.
Immediately you feel like Sophie could be you. You want to have the same optimism. You want to feel the way that she does – as if there is something beautiful around every corner.
Never in my life have I had an Uber driver be as nice as Jesse and Sid are, but then again, I have never been as nice to an Uber driver as Sophie was in this car. Jesse is the driver and Sid, he’s hitching a ride. Why? Cause he’s going to propose to his girlfriend.
Sophie asks to charge her phone and Sid continues with his story. He told his girlfriend that they were going to Beyonce, but in reality he’s got his bar filled with the people that mean the most to them.
Look, I will say it. Don’t ever lie to a woman and be like I am gonna take you to Beyonce and don’t. I don’t care what the situation is. Come correct or don’t come at all. Sid doesn’t think that she’ll be disappointed that they won’t be seeing Beyonce, but he is obviously not thinking.
Sophie tells them where she’s going. See, her last Tinder date, he showed up and told her that he was late because he had just had sex. For some reason he thought this was “cute” but well, he was sadly mistaken. I would have knocked his ass out. But that’s just me. This is why I am on Bumble and Hinge. No to Tinder.
For Sophie, she was done with Tinder. She was ready to erase it when she matched with Ian. Oh Ian. His profession seems made up (Marine Biologist) but we know it’s one. Over time, Ian and Sophie can’t stop talking, love speaking to each other, and really want to meet each other.
The thing is that they can’t because Ian is in Australia, so the two make plans to meet up when he gets back. Sophie believes that it is going to be her last first date ever.
We’ve all been there. Feeling as though something is forever, when you don’t really know. But isn’t that the beauty of love and figuring it all out.
The boys don’t see to be the most supportive, but you can tell that Jesse is attracted to her. When they drop her off, he accidentally gives her the wrong phone. I say accident loosely because I believe it could be intentional. And that’s okay. Sometimes you have to have a way to meet up with someone again.
The date is going well, but Ian has to be honest with her – he accepted a job in Australia, but he wanted to make sure he met her. It’s a thing that sucks and even though they try to not let it put a damper on the relationship.
This is why I don’t believe in love. Shit happens.
The two decide that starting a relationship long distance would be a bad thing, so they agree not to even start it. They both want to kiss each other but it’s a bad idea.
THE BEST FRIEND
Sophie returns to her apartment, but excited to see her best friend, who is back from London Fashion Week. And hey who wouldn’t want to meet up with their best friend after they have their heart broken.
Valentina is that friend that we all want. She’s happy, energetic, and wants the best. And Francia plays her perfectly. She is so beautifully fun and full of smiles, I can’t help but think that’s the type of best friend we all deserve.
When Sophie walks in, Valentina wants to focus on her and her date with Ian. She’s so excited for Sophie that it was a good date and even has the jumping for excitement down. But when Sophie tells her that Ian is moving, and they both sit down to talk about it.
But Sophie is the eternal optimist and says that it will be okay, that they can be two single women doing it for themselves. Only one issue with that. Valentina has brought home an Englishman.
Life: 0. Valentina: 1.
Cause yes, we all want a hot dude with a hot accent.
Charlie and Valentina met at fashion week. They met and fell for each other and his family cut him off because he wanted to be with her. They “Meghan Markled” him. I am going to use that term more often for people who get cut off because of love. But back to the story.
And so now Charlie is living with them. Valentina knows that it is fast, but she didn’t want rational things to stand in the way. This makes Sophie realize that she too was letting rational things stand in the way. And she doesn’t want that, so goes to call Ian. Only she has the wrong phone. Jesse gave her Sid’s phone.
THE PROPOSAL
They head to Pemberton’s to get the phone, and everyone thinks it’s Sid walking in. So they all jump out and scream surprise, but it’s not Sid. Jesse tells everyone to hide again.
Charlie can’t stop focusing on how gross the subway is and won’t stop talking about it. He’s hiding with Valentina, when Ellen (Jesse’s sister) crawls out cause she felt awkward continuing to hide. Ellen getting divorced – she moved to NY, reconnect with brother and wants to ask out Kate McKinnon.
Sophie is hiding with Jesse, who tells her to stop peaking. If Sid was in charge of his proposal he would make it perfect. Only he didn’t – cause Sophie recognizes Jesse as a viral video – Mr. Proposal Fail. He proposed to his bandmate, she turned him down and he fell off the stage.
But Sid’s proposal isn’t a fail. When they arrive and he proposed, I kinda tear up. It was beautiful. And hey, she said yes. She wasn’t even made when there was no Beyonce.
Sophie see’s an opening and gets her phone back. She plugs it and talks to Jesse. I love how these two get along. They are just too cute. She tells Jesse that he shouldn’t give up on love, that there is someone out there for him. Someone that he can walk the Brooklyn Bridge with.
Sophie has lived in New York for. along time, but she’s never walked the Brooklyn Bridge. And it got to be so long that she decided that she will wait to be in love to walk the Brooklyn Bridge.
Jesse is like you’re one of those ppl who parents stayed married and believes in soul mates and she’s like something like that. He says for those of us that grew up in the real world it’s not like that.
Phone powers on – Ian sent pic with boarding pass. She realizes he has flight info. Ian has tea recheck. She says she’s gonna go to JFK and tell them they are meant to be.
Hannah (Sid’s fiance) also needs to get to the airport. Jesse is taking them all. Valentina even goes, but mostly cause she doesn’t want to be left alone with Charlie – she thinks she hates him. Charlie is whining like a bitch over New York.
THE SOMEDAY
They go to JFK. Valentina is like dont let it be proposal fail. She rambles. She tells him she wants things to work out with them – it’s hard to find things where it feels easy, and she feels like they could get through the Australia thing. Ian is like I’d love to make it work, but it’d be way too hard. But maybe someday.
Sophie didn’t want to wait for someday. She takes everyone to Brooklyn bridge. Charlie likes the bridge. Valentina is like you don’t have to pretend to like it for me. Valentina tells him she fell for him cause she thought he was brave. She tells him that this city is magic and so is she. Does he want to be part of the magic?
Ellen feels optomistic.
Valentina tells Jesse this will be good for Sophie. He’s like what she’ll be fine – Sophies got her parents magic love story to keep her optimistic. She sets him straight and tells him Sophies mom is a party girl and Dad wasn’t in the picture. The only thing magical about Sophies life is she still believes in love at all.
They go over to Sid and Jesses for drinks. It’s the apartment from How I Met Your Mother.
That’s the night she met their father.
Is it Charlie? Sid? Jesse? Ian? We’re gonna have to watch to find out. Right now my money’s on Jesse, cause that’s who I am.
How I Met Your Father is streaming on Hulu.
