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This week’s episode of Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger’s Hulu Original/ 20th Television romantic comedy-drama sitcom series, How I Met Your Father, revolves around Sophie (Hilary Duff) awaiting a phone call from the gallery about the sale of her photo, all while dealing with the consequences of lying to a client about her work experience. Meanwhile, Ellen (Tien Tran) and Charlie (Tom Ainsley) throw a party, and Jesse (Christopher Lowell), Sid (Suraj Sharma), and Meredith (guest star Leighton Meester) sit through a self-administered round of conflict resolution, which culminates with a revelation of Sid’s long-held secret.
How I Met Your Father Season 2 Episode 2 is titled “Midwife Crisis”. The episode is written by co-executive producers Daniel Libman and Matthew Libman and directed by executive producer Pamela Fryman.
Minor spoilers are ahead for those who have not yet seen the episode.
Analysis
At the center of this week’s episode is the gang’s loyalty to each other and their willingness to go the extra mile for the others’ misadventures, despite the inevitable disaster that almost always lies ahead. As usual, the episode starts out with the gang convening briefly at The Pemberton. This time, Meredith is in tow with Jesse before they disband for their own separate misadventures with each other.
As we have seen in How I Met Your Father Season One, this structure runs through most of the episodes we have seen so far. However, while it has been good for character development on an individual level, it has done very little to improve the group dynamic. Still, before passing too harsh a judgment here, we must remember that the gang, like How I Met Your Father itself, is still in its infancy, as evinced by the significant individual character development in Season One.
With this episode centering primarily around different members’ dealing with conflict that stems from Meredith’s rekindle relationship with Jesse, Season Two promises that more growing pains and trials will further solidify the gang’s friendship and hopefully, break the show out of the established formula of convening at The Pemberton, disbanding, and reconvening at The Pemberton for a kind of obligatory review of each other’s misadventures.
Growing Pains & Bromance
While this episode primarily revolved around the consequences of Sophie’s white lies, the most interesting storyline here was the conflict brewing between Meredith and Sid. Although on the surface the issue Sid has taken with Meredith was rather superficial, a more devastating secret is revealed which could play a significant role in shaping the gang’s dynamic and the overall trajectory of Season Two. Additionally, with the added tension Meredith brings to the group, we can anticipate significant developments on both an individual and collective basis which we did not get to see much of in the previous season.
One of the highlights of this episode is the bromance between Jesse and Sid. This is something that has always existed between the two since Season One but was rarely explored. In that season, each of the two was busy with either their careers or romantic relationships.
However, this episode is not centered around their bromance. Still, it is one of the more interesting male friendships. We also see a male friendship between two old men–Julian and Maury (guest stars Garrett Morris and David Weisenberg, respectively)–who attend a spontaneous apartment party at Ellen and Charlie’s apartment. Although I do not anticipate the depiction of the older men’s friendship and lot in life as Jesse and Sid’s fate, it was great to see how much–or in some cases, how little–male friendships can change over the years.
Final Thoughts on This Week’s How I Met Your Father
Overall, after the “heavy” developments at the end of Season One and the stagnation from the first episode of this season, this week’s episode of How I Met Your Father was a breath of fresh air and promises to send us on a different trajectory this season. It is a trajectory focused more on the overall development of the gang and their platonic relationships with each other. Hopefully, it breaks the established formula and structure of the show thus far with the gang only convening prior to or after their misadventures.
This article was edited by John Tangalin.