How I Met Your Father – Season 2 Episode 11 Recap & Review

Changing Tides

Episode 11 of How I Met Your Father begins with Sophie packing for a sexy weekend away at Robert’s country house. She gushes to Val about how happy she is to be with an uncomplicated guy. Future Sophie says she was wrong. Meanwhile, Val is still engaged but insists that Swish will get cold feet soon. Future Sophie says he wouldn’t and we see Swish asking for his grandmother’s engagement ring on the phone.

At the bar, it’s Lost and Found Day which means Charlie brings out the lost and found box and the gang gets to try their luck. He even brings out a lottery ball machine but even though he filled it with Charlies, Jesse gets picked first. Jesse sticks his hand in the box and comes out with a fancy watch. Next is Val who gets a book on cutting your own hair. But Jesse recognises it as his own book and asks for it back. Suspicious about why he wants it this much, Val refuses to do so. Jesse says he challenges her for it. Ellen gets excited thinking about the last challenge — a dance off that won her a police badge.

On a flight to LA, Sid finds himself next to an obnoxious rapper named Lil Toasty who puts his head onto the shoulder of the woman next to him. Sid talks him into switching seats and strikes a conversation with the woman. She’s going to see her partner too and the two discuss the woes of long distance.

At Robert’s country house, Sophie and he get comfortable with food and blankets until Robert mentions going to the Jane’s Addiction concert at the very first Lollapalooza. We see a flashback of little Sophie doing chores while her mother describes the very same concert. The adult Sophie naturally freaks out and asks for pictures of Robert from the concert. He agrees to find one. When a joke makes them both laugh, Robert quips about how they have the same snort, making Sophie even more anxious.

The lost and found day challenge is in full swing at the bar. Jesse and Val will be assembling outfits from the lost and found box, as the crowd watches, and the winner gets the book. Jesse comes out in a leather trench coat and gets an 8 for his Matrix vibes. Val comes out in a janitor’s uniform but sheds it to reveal a shiny, skin-fit dress. Jesse complains about her finding something that fits her perfectly. A flashback shows an old man creepily giving Val a dress he stitched to her exact measurements. Naturally, she gets a 10 and wins. While gloating about winning the book, a piece of paper falls out of it and she gives Jesse a significant look.

Meanwhile, Sid and the woman on his flight continue to bond over their issues with long distance. They talk about time zones and how it’s hard to feel close to their partner. Sid admits this is not how he pictured their first year of marriage.

Robert finds a picture and shows Sophie. To her horror, it’s Robert with his arm around her very own mother. She tells Robert to go downstairs and open another bottle of wine for them while she texts a photo to her mother and asks if Robert is her dad. When she doesn’t respond, Sophie jumps out of the window and drives away in her rental car, only to rear-end the car of Barney Stinson.

Barney greets her by reading out an apology from a written note that expresses remorse for his womanising days to whichever woman is exacting revenge on him. Sophie assures him she isn’t looking for revenge, she’s just having a bad day.

After making a boob joke, Barney finds himself zapped with an electric shock. He explains that he’s wearing an STD, a Shock Therapy Device, that uses electrical shocks to treat his problematic behaviours. When Sophie realizes she couldn’t afford to pay Barney for the damage to his fancy car, he agrees to settle for her twisted tale of lust and daddies.

Jesse takes Val aside and admits that, yes, he did write a love song on a receipt from GAP kids. He tries to play it off as a long time ago but Val reads out the receipt date. He then admits that he still has feelings for Sophie but is trying to move on since she’s with Robert. He asks Val to pretend she never saw it. She agrees.

Sophie finally finishes her story and then sees a text from her mom saying that Robert isn’t her dad. She admits to running away from another great guy. Barney reveals that he didn’t know who his own father was but then he tracked him down. Sophie says she worries he’ll either be a disaster or the best thing that ever happened to her.

Barney says her father probably won’t fix every problem in her life but he could make it better. he then describes his daughter, who was the best thing that happened to him and convinced him to change. He says it makes him happy to see his daughter and his father spend time together now. Also, Sophie’s off the hook for his car.

Just as Sid reached Hannah’s apartment, he sees a notification on his phone. Taylor, the woman from the flight, has started following him. Hannah welcomes him inside and tells him she’s ordered Thai food while Sid doesn’t seem quite as ecstatic.

Robert, who was out searching for Sophie, finally finds her. She confesses to everything. He says that he was on celibacy back then so he and Sophie’s mother didn’t have sex but they did kiss…and do some other stuff. Sophie sees a text from her mother confirming the same thing. They say they can get over this but when they try to kiss, they realise it’s too weird. Sophie tells Robert goodbye.

Sophie enters the bar and tells her friends that she and Robert broke up. She also tells them she’s decided she wants to find her dad. Jesse says they’ll all help her as much as they can. Sophie talks about being single again as Val is engaged. Val insists she’s not really engaged. Meanwhile, Swish is asking someone on the phone about centrepieces. As the gang head out of the bar and Sophie begins to narrate the full story, Val lingers behind and puts the receipt with Jesse’s love song back in the lost and found box.

The Episode Review

As a mid-season finale, this episode left us with some solid plot developments. We now have a hint of Sid straying from Hannah and physical proof of Jesse’s feelings which could find itself in anyone’s hands. Also, Sophie’s decision to find her dad will surely lead to new avenues throughout the season.

Barney and his STD were a great appearance in the show, I love how the writers have dealt with his problematic behaviors to somehow make it woke and funny. His conversation with Sophie was heartfelt and appropriate for her situation, although hearing about his daughter still feels a bit like whiplash considering that terrible HIMYM ending.

I am intrigued by how they’re going to handle Sid’s storyline in the future. As much as I think about it, he and Charlie just don’t feel like potential contenders for the father even though technically they are. But this development does open some doors, either to a potential new partner or to greater insight on long distance relationships and marriage. I’m hoping we get the latter.