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Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger’s Hulu Original/ 20th Television romantic comedy-drama sitcom series, How I Met Your Father, is back with a new 20-episode second season. The Season 2 premiere is titled “Cool and Chill”. The episode is written by executive producers Aptaker and Berger and directed by executive producer Pamela Fryman.
Introduction & Plot Summary
How I Met Your Father (HIMYF) Season 2 kicks off where it had left off over a year ago, which adult Sophie’s (Kim Catrall) unnamed son comments on at the start of this first episode.
Returning to the present, Sophie (Hilary Duff) continues her conversation with Ian (Daniel Augustin), whom she has not seen since she saw him off at the airport in Season One. Sophie, now unattached after breaking it off with Drew (Josh Peck) and Jesse (Christopher Lowell), agrees to resume their relationship where they left off in Season One. The consequences of this decision come to a head at The Pemberton, where Sid (Suraj Sharma) and Hannah (Ashley Reyes) celebrate their elopement, despite several mishaps they are forced to adapt to along the way.
Analysis
There is a kind of circularity to How I Met Your Father that typically makes shows worth revisiting. However, the series is at a stage where the story is still very much underdeveloped and relies on this circularity. Being at this current stage is a risk because returning to the same settings, stories, and characters and development makes for flat and stagnant storytelling. Unfortunately, the writers of HIMYF are unable to circumvent this in this first episode.
Though the writers of HIMYF begin with what was promised in Season One, as a breath of fresh air, or at the least, one more complication to Sophie’s journey was unfortunately short-lived. However, while the overall plot does not spin in any new directions in this show, the potential for it to do so later in the season is present with Meredith’s (Leighton Meester) return to New York. Though she is not featured predominately in this episode, with her return to New York and to Jesse’s life, we see tensions spark between Jesse and Sophie, as well as between Jesse and Sid.
When New People Meet Sophie
With all of this being said and with the show in its second season, we must ask how How I Met Your Father stands apart from its parent series, How I Met Your Mother, and if what has been done to set it apart is working. From broad to narrow let’s start with the overall structure of the show up to this point.
What truly sets HIMYM apart from HIMYF are the systems or settings each gang inhabits. Both shows started with rather open systems, with each gang being incomplete until further on in the show. However, with HIMYM, there are more organic and meaningful introductions to — and interactions with — new people and love interests, each of which added to the story and kept the group dynamic from going stale. This is absent from HIMYF so far, as every love interest Sophie runs across has barely pushed the story along.
The people we have been introduced to so far and the relationships between them and Sophie have not been as notable. More to the point, every one of the female protagonist’s romantic partners comes from her primary, secondary, or tertiary social circles. In fact, none of these outsiders come through to her to further animate and push her along her journey. This is not to say that this won’t happen within this season. After all, we have already seen how the mention of Meredith’s return has sowed the seeds of tension within the group.
Conclusion: Final Thoughts on the How I Met Your Father Season 2 Premiere
While the stagnancy ushered in by the first episode of Season Two is somewhat disappointing, it is too early to pass too harsh of a judgment on How I Met Your Father, as there is still plenty of time for the plot to thicken. What potential this show does have right now is the tension that we see starting to flare in the group with Meredith’s return. Not only will this initiate the usual growing pains we are already expecting the gang to undergo, but it will also make for a more dynamic and nuanced plot.
What I look forward to in this upcoming season is seeing how writers further develop the gang and how the people introduced through either the gangs’ careers or through random encounters further animate the gang’s misadventures and journeys. Such is the case for a familiar character, whose appearance this season may suggest a larger role in Sophie’s story. Stay tuned for that as the second season progresses!
This article was edited by John Tangalin.