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This episode of Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger’s Hulu Original/ 20th Television romantic comedy-drama sitcom series, How I Met Your Father, has the main character group deal with faces of the past.
In this episode of How I Met Your Father, we see Ellen (Tien Tran) travel from Sophie (Hilary Duff) and Valentina’s (Francia Raisa) apartment to her first day at work at Goliath International. For the latter pair, this sets off a chain reaction of self-pity, prompting them to try to make themselves feel better about themselves by hanging out with Deirdre (guest star Eden Sher), whom they perceive as less successful than them only to find that Deirdre has become immensely successful by cultivating a cult personality and capitalizing on her perception of Sophie and Valentina’s lack of personal and professional success.
Meanwhile, at The Pemberton, Sid (Suraj Sharma) and Charlie (Tom Ainsley) tend to customers while Meredith (guest star Leighton Meester) and Jesse (Christopher Lowell) revel in their re-connection and make a video to announce Meredith’s upcoming tour. All the while Sid is brooding over the fact that Meredith does not love Jesse and will only ever use him as a prop for her career and self-esteem which will test the strength of their bromance in the next episode.
How I Met Your Father Season 2 Episode 4 is titled, “Pathetic Deirdre”. The episode is written by co-executive producer Amelie Gillette and directed by executive producer Pamela Fryman.
Minor spoilers are ahead for those who have not yet seen the episode.
Analysis
Let’s take a step back here and look at what drives these individual plotlines forward. On one hand, Sophie, Valentina, and Deidre use each other and capitalize on what they perceive as the other’s lack of success as either a form of self-care or to cultivate a successful cult personality. On the other hand, Sid’s unhappiness stems from the secret he is keeping from Jesse for the sake of their friendship and his friend’s happiness.
Returning to the former’s group, their unhappiness appears to stem from a lack of pride in their work. Since we do not know what Deidre was up to prior to this episode, let’s focus primarily on Sophie and Valentina.
Based on past episodes, we know that both women have suffered professional setbacks and have had to bend over backward and either lie to their clients or employers to either score gigs or avert disaster. With the exception of Sophie, who has had some minor success with her photo being featured at an art gallery and being sold, Valentina’s career is more or less at a standstill.
Based on the pair’s conversation at the start of the episode, the two lack pride in their work because they cannot own the means of their labor. This is especially true for Valentina, as she works in the fashion industry for a man who most likely takes credit for all the work that she does. Sophie has had her brief moment in the sun with the art gallery and the sale of her photo but has since returned to catering to freelance photography and must cater to her clients’ preferences and demands to survive.
Now, if we compare Sophie and Valentina to Sid, his attitude toward his work is in stark contrast. Despite living and working in a capitalist system, he has managed to own the fruits of his labor because he owns The Pemberton and works there with Charlie, who appears to be his sole employee at the moment.
Final Thoughts on How I Met Your Father Season 2 Episode 4
Though How I Met Your Father does not set out to provide social commentary of any kind, at least not in this episode, I found it very interesting that much of what has moved the plot forward in this season (and in the previous one) has been the gang’s attitude about work. Given the incremental rise of unions and the popularization of “anti-work” sentiment, How I Met Your Father‘s writers have done an excellent job in incorporating subtle elements of this within the series without turning the show or any of the individual episodes into didactic mouthpieces for any kind of social or political movement.
The primary plot point is the journey Sophie is undertaking to meet the father of her child along with the gang and their journeys toward finding love and maturation which will come back into focus in the next episode, where fans can expect some significant plot development.
This article was edited by John Tangalin.