How I Met Your Father season 2 episodes 19 and 20 recap & review

Open Go TV / July 11, 2023 / Reviews

In the final two episodes of How I Met Your Father season 2, a hurricane forces the gang inside, where they have to confront some very serious truths. The episodes are streaming on Hulu.

Episode 19 recap: Shady Parker

A weather report warns that a hurricane is coming to the city, and people must stay indoors to be safe. Sid is worried because Hannah is supposed to arrive that weekend, and she doesn’t like to travel in turbulence.

Jesse and Parker walk into the Pembertons and tell everyone that they’re going to move in together. Jesse invites everyone to his place for one last party there.

Sophie doesn’t take the news too well, and Val tells her to confess to Jesse that she still has feelings for him. Sophie refuses to do that, so Val goes in search of the receipt with the love song that Jesse wrote for her. Val left it in the lost and found, but it isn’t there anymore.

Everyone gets to Sid and Jesse’s place, and rather than a party, they realize that they’re there to help Jesse pack. Sophie tries to be supportive and talks to Parker about her past, but Parker doesn’t want to reveal too much, and Sophie gets suspicious.

She tells Sid that there is something strange about her story, and the two of them decide to try and find out more. Val asks Ellen and Charlie if there took something out of the lost and found, and they deny it but look very guilty while saying it.

Sophie finds a credit card with another man’s name on it, and Sid finds prescription painkillers with another woman’s name on them. They assume that Parker is a con woman and a drug lord.

Sophie invites Drew to the party to find out more about Parker since he hired her and must have done a background check. He tells them that he received a glowing recommendation from the principal at her previous school.

Charlie and Ellen admit that they took something from the lost and found because it would cause too much damage if it was just left out in the open. Val tells them to bring it, but it turns out to be the book on home haircuts and not the receipt.

Sid and Sophie call up Parker’s old school, and as soon as the principal says he doesn’t recognize Parker’s name, they hang up. They finally feel like they’ve got enough evidence and confront Parker with it.

However, they end up being wrong with everything. The principal didn’t recognize her name because he was new, and the credit card and pills belonged to her brother and mother, respectively, as Parker moved to take care of her mother, who was recovering from an accident.

Sid apologizes because he didn’t know how to take the news that Jesse would be moving out so soon, while Sophie says that she just wanted what was best for Jesse.

Parker forgives them and then heads home right before the power goes out in the entire city because of the hurricane.

Episode 20 recap: Okay Fine, It’s a Hurricane

The gang heads over to Pembertons to sit out the storm, and Jesse checks in on Parker, who has made it back home safe but doesn’t have too many rations. Jesse is also still mad at Sophie for accusing his girlfriend of being a drug dealer.

She doesn’t feel like she deserves to be treated so harshly, and Val backs her up. Drew thinks that Sophie is still into him because she randomly invited him to Jesse’s party, so he tries to chat her up.

Charlie is terrified of the storm because of some childhood trauma, and Val offers to help him get through it. Hannah shows up in the middle of the storm because she wants to surprise Sid.

Jesse keeps trying to check on Parker, but the worsening condition of the storm stops him from doing so. Ellen gets a text from Hannah that was meant for her colleague Eli and it talked about a ‘one-time thing’ that she doesn’t want to bring up.

When Ellen asks Hannah about this, Hannah says that they got drunk and kissed. Ellen insists that Hannah tell Sid herself or else she will be forced to. Val keeps Charlie’s mind occupied with silly games and stuff and he soon forgets that he’s in the middle of a storm.

Drew asks Sophie is she’s still into him but when he realizes that she’s still not over Jesse, he brings out the receipt with the love song that he found while looking for something else.

Sophie takes it and confronts Jesse about it which turns into a huge argument where Jesse calls Sophie a coward for not acting on her feelings. Hannah finally tells Sid the truth about her kiss with Eli and initially forgives her for it.

However, when he learns that she rushed back to New York for something she considered just a one-time thing, he asks her what she was actually running from.

Sophie is moping about Jesse and Val gives her that hard truth. She says that, unlike her situation with Charlie, there isn’t a major dealbreaker between Sophie and Jesse so she should go after what she wants.

Sophie goes out looking for Jesse and they meet just outside as Jesse admits that he isn’t over her either. They both express their love for each other and go back into the bar just as Sid walks out of the office looking heartbroken.

Drew and Val end up making out in the supply closet after having a moment with each other and future Sophie tells her son that they did have a relationship which eventually led to Val and Charlie having a child together before revealing a photograph of the family.

Review

This doubleheader is a great way to end the season and in isolation, it is two very strong episodes. A hurricane keeping everyone inside is not an original trope but it is employed here brilliantly.
The series aptly resolves multiple narratives while adequately setting up new ones for the future. Sid and Hannah’s topsy-turvy relationship feels significant, while Jesse and Sophie getting together appears to have a similar journey to Ted and Robin.
The chemistry between all the performers is brilliant. One of the few consistencies of the series is how well the cast works with each other and that is exhibited well in these final episodes.
Parker had an unfortunate end to her involvement but she is an interesting character and it would be interesting if she made appearances in the future.