How I Met Your Father – Season 2 Episode 10 Recap & Review

Age Gaps and Aging

Episode 10 of How I Met Your Father begins with Future Sophie telling her son that while we may think older people have all the answers, they’re usually just as flawed as us.

Sophie had been dating Robert for a few weeks and was totally lovestruck. So lovestruck that she enters the bar and tells the gang about seeing a pigeon on a romantic stroll with a rat. Val muses about how lovestruck she is and Sophie describes all the amazing dates Robert has been taking her on. Jesse takes a jab at him being an older guy and the rest of the group chimes in. Val says Sophie inspired her to widen the age range on her dating app and now she’s met someone.

Even as Sophie tells her friends that Robert will be there soon, they continue with the jokes. Robert enters and joins them, asking what they’re all laughing about. Ellen says they’re laughing about Sophie’s older boyfriend. The truth comes out and everybody is rightfully ashamed. Ellen is surprised at how beautiful Robert is. Charlie’s in awe of his skin and Sid has to pull him away from touching Robert’s cheek. Sophie guides Robert to sit down and tells him that she wants to take him on a date this time — to a quiet night in her apartment.

Ellen asks Jesse if he’s doing okay. He admits he thought this older guy would just be one of Sophie’s phases like when she wore a top hat. Ellen suggests he might die soon but counteracts her own point by musing at how he seems to glow from the inside.

Meanwhile, Robert greets a bald and wrinkled old man as they’re both from the class of ’88. The old man can’t hear him. Sid and Charlie agree that they must age like Robert and not like the old man. When they spot grays in each others’ hair, they begin to panic.

Later, Ellen visits Jesse at his apartment to hang out with him as Rachel is still in Florida. Jesse goes to order pizza for them. At that moment, Rachel calls and reveals that she came back home. But Ellen hears Jesse’s excitement at having pizza with his sister and says she can’t bail on him.

Sid and Charlie continue to freak out about their health and how they will age. They tell themselves to do nothing drastic and stay calm and lo and behold, they’re at a beauty clinic asking the receptionist how they can look young forever.

At her apartment, Sophie lights candles and puts take out salad into a bowl when Val and her new boyfriend enter. Turns out, Val is dating a young college student named Swish. They came to the apartment because they got kicked out of his dorm and he lost his fake id. Sophie says Robert will be here soon and asks her to leave but Val refuses to be kicked out of her own home. Sophie calls her and Swish ridiculous and Val returns the insult. Robert arrives and the four are forced to share the apartment.

A woman introduces Sid and Charlie to a cryotherapy chamber. They go inside and take off their bathrobes. She tells them to sing a song to keep their mind off the pain. They’re confused until the sprays begin and her meaning becomes all too clear.

Chaos ensues in the apartment as Val and Swish dance to loud music and Robert and Sophie try to have dinner and talk over the noise. Ultimately, they shut the music and tell Val and Swish to join them.

Sid and Charlie are told that they need to do the cryotherapy twice a week for it to be effective. They say they want something that can be done twice a year. The woman brings them a tray full of needles.

Jesse comes back to his apartment with the pizza and walks in on Ellen and Rachel having sex in his bedroom. After all the screaming has stopped, Ellen comes out fully clothed and explains that she and Rachel hadn’t seen each other for a long time. Rachel makes a comment about Jesse not using his bed as much and they end up talking about how Jesse hasn’t slept with anyone since Meredith. Jesse insists they all go out immediately so he can find a woman to sleep with — respectfully.

At the apartment, Swish talks about an old film from the late ‘90s that he’s studying. Robert remembers being at the premiere. Val and Sophie end up arguing about whose partner is an oldie and whose is a dumb baby.

An age simulator shows Sid and Charlie how wrinkled and sunken their faces will look when they age. Both of them agree to undergo the needle treatment.

At the bar, Jesse is awkward but Ellen pushes him to go say hi to a cute girl.

Robert says he needs to leave which makes Sophie think that it’s because of Val and Swish. She argues with Val, saying that she’s not serious about Swish. Val says she likes Swish, in fact, she loves him. But ultimately Val admits the truth, being with Swish is fun and gives her an ego boost. Sophie thinks back to all the times she told Robert he was amazing and realises that she is his Swish.

Jesse gets the girl back to his apartment where Sid and Charlie are seated wait with the horrendous consequences of the needles. Sid had an allergic reaction making his face swell up while Charlie’s skin is completely red. In Jesse’s bedroom, the two are about to kiss when the girl finds a bra in his bed. He tries to explain that it’s his sisters but gets tongue tied, makes it weirder than before and then just tells her he’ll call her a cab.

Val tells Sophie that Robert likes her for real. If she wants to test it out, she should try making plans with him for next month and see if he agrees. Sophie tries to do just that by asking him to come with her to concert and showing him the tickets on her phone. But Robert seems bent on going home immediately and gives vague excuses to make the plans later.

When Sophie tries to push it, he exclaims that their late nights have been tiring and he needs to go to bed early or he will collapse. Sophie admits to trying to test his commitment, he confesses that he can’t see what’s on her phone without his reading glasses. He says he doesn’t want to seem too old in front of her. He suggests they spend a weekend next month at his place upstate and Sophie says they should go there on the coming Saturday itself.

Meanwhile, Swish, who had disappeared, turns up with a small bunch of flowers and proposes to Val. Val says yes and tells Sophie he’ll forget it by the next day. Future Sophie tells her son that he didn’t.

The Episode Review

I was a bit concerned about the addition of an older love interest but the series has used a deft hand while dealing with it. The idea of a younger partner as an ego boost was amusing and fits in with a society obsessed with ‘adulting’ as a sign of success.

Val dating a younger man was also a nice mirror to Sophie’s relationship, while simultaneously emphasizing that women can date younger men just as much as the other way round. The star of the episode was definitely John Corbett though, who makes a charming impression as Robert and whose chemistry with Sophie is sweeter than expected.