How I Met Your Father seems to be off to a great start. Each episode so far has been better and better, aside from episode 4 being a bit of a slide in quality. Episode 5, entitled “The Good Mom”, is exactly as you’d expect: about Sophie’s mom. Obviously How I Met Your Mother explored similar ”parent” episodes, like Ted learning of his mom and dad’s divorce and the beginnings of their relationship basically being a mirror to that of Ted and Robin’s. I do feel that just like before, How I Met Your Father is seemingly borrowing tropes and plots from the original, but adding new spins to make them their own. Episode 5 is a perfect example of this.
While the episode had antics from the rest of the cast, it was obviously focused on Sophie and her relationship with her mom. What started out as what seemed like a traditional happy mother-daughter relationship developed further and further as the episode progressed. As Sophie learns more about her mom, she starts to think back on moments of their life, ultimately getting a clearer picture of what was going on when she was young. The relationship, although only being developed over one episode, truly felt like one of the most developed relationships in the show so far. I hope to see the mother again, as the history there is very interesting to Sophie’s development. I’m glad the other characters had a bit of a light story to the episode, with most of the cast trying to get over their fears, and Valentina being attached to Sophie for the duration of the episode, it really gave Sophie and her mom time to shine.
I always think back to How I Met Your Mother, not for the humor, although funny, but for the emotional moments that truly made the show great. The ones that shook a character to their core. Spoilers for How I Met Your Mother, but Barney and Robin getting engaged, Ted reuniting with Victora, the countdown to Marshall’s dad dying. Those are the moment that made the show stand out. This episode was one of those moments for How I Met Your Father. The episode developed Sophie’s character and made her finally do something for herself, as we learned was hard to do for her when it involved her mom. I absolutely loved the moment she took that leap, and as a result, the moment she shared with Drew at the end. I walked away from the episode with the same smile and reaction as I have had with those favorite episodes of mine from the original show, and that was the moment that this evolved for me from a sitcom recapturing the feel and tone from How I Met Your Mother, to a proper successor that deserves the fan’s attention.
Although having a rough start, I truly feel audiences should give the show another chance at this point if they have dropped off. This episode has me excited for this story to unfold more and more. If they can have a great episode like this in the first half of season 1, and so quickly developing the two characters involved in this moment with Sophie, I can only imagine what is in store for us as more relationships evolve, grow, end, and deepen. Sophie’s love story seems great, although it is early, she is a very easy character to cheer for, similar to how Ted immediately grasped me. Her ability to build with the rest of the cast seamlessly, and have deep and impactful relationships with them, has me clapping for the writers, as well as Hillary Duff for her performance. Although there have been some questionable acting in the show so far, I do find Sophie’s character charming and ultimately a great showing.
I am definitely excited for the future of the show, one good episode is all it takes for a show to start to grow, and I feel like this can be that episode for the show. I hope they can capitalize on that feeling for the second half of the season. There are still so many plot threads currently dangling in front of us with no resolution. I cannot wait for them to be explored. The show is shaping up to be an early favorite of mine for 2022, and if it can keep up with episodes like this, maybe it might stay in my favorites.
