How I Met Your Father – Season 2 Episode 4 “Pathetic Deirdre” Recap & Review

 Sophie and Val’s Mean Streak 

For Ellen’s first day at work, episode 4 of How I Met Your Father season 2 starts with Sophie giving her a bottle of green juice. Val fits her out in a sleek, corporate outfit, leaving in a flurry of excitement. Sophie and Val are really happy for her but their smiles fade away as they ponder their own careers. Val suggests they visit Pathetic Deirdre.

Future Sophie admits that this does not look good for them. Deirdre was an old college friend that they would have brunch with whenever they needed an ego boost. Flashbacks show moments during the brunches over the years — Sophie and Val snigger when Deirdre says she’s moving to New Jersey, when she says she goes to bed at nine or when she says she’s writing a book about her life.

Sophie wonders if this is not a good thing to do but Val says it’s fine.

In Sid’s bar, Meredith and Jesse plan to record and publish a video revealing their relationship to Meredith’s fans, otherwise known as M-heads. Sid is annoyed by their cute behaviour and literal nose-rubbing. Charlie tells Sid that he’s started dating again and by dating, he means no-strings-attached sleeping with women. When he grimaces at Jesse and Meredith rubbing noses again, Sid says they have to be supportive.

Ellen lives out her reality star dream as she walks to work and a title track for ‘Rich City Bitch Ellen’ plays in the background. She reaches the office and gets her pass. She wants to go in the elevator with her boss but the guard giving her a pass says she may not want to share that small space with her boss. She opts for the stairs but realises her office is on the 51^st floor. When she turns around to leave she finds the door can’t be opened.

Deirdre can’t meet with Sophie and Val due to her book reading. Assuming she’s talking about an open mic instead, the two women decide to go and watch. At the venue they realise that it is a legitimate book reading for a book that Deirdre actually wrote.

Sophie finds a chapter named Mimosas and Mind Games and realises that the book might be about them. All doubt is cleared when Deirdre begins reading aloud and describes two of her college friends, Sofia and Valerie.

Charlie gets yet another phone number from a girl he slept with and brags to Sid about how he has been sending all the girls a thank you gift basket, in line with his idol Derek Jeter. Sid points out that the thing about Jeter sending out gift baskets was just a rumour.

Jesse offers Meredith a set of bullet points for their video but she prefers to be spontaneous. When they actually start recording, Meredith takes up all the space and doesn’t let Jesse speak. When he points that out, she agrees to record another one. Meanwhile, Courtney, one of the girls Charlie slept with, mistakes his thank you basket for an indication that he likes her.

Ellen climbs the stairs to the 51^st floor only to find the door locked. She finds an open door but it leads to a storage room. When she turns to leave, that door gets locked too. She looks up a the room’s air vent.

Deirdre continues reading from her book, describing each brunch as a lesson in female-to-female cruelty. Sophie agrees that they were mean girls to Deirdre and Val asks if they should go and apologise. They decide to leave instead but end up crashing into a table and toppling a large stack of books down, drawing all the attention to themselves. Deirdre announces that these two women are the women from her book and asks them to come over so they can heal together. Reluctantly, Sophie and Val go over to her but are surprised when she apologises to them. Deirdre says that she was the one who used Sophie and Val to feel better about her own life. They were her pathetic friends.

Charlie says he misjudged Courtney and she’s actually a nice and smart person. Jesse and Meredith record a video in which Meredith insist she took him back. She and Jesse argue about who actually took the other back in their relationship. Sid breaks multiple wine glasses as his frustration at Meredith grows. He tells Charlie he’s convinced she’ll break Jesse’s heart and he’ll have to pick up the pieces.

Deirdre tells Sophie and Val that their struggles were her fuel. Flashbacks show Deirdre bragging about her condo in comparison to their tiny Queens apartment, talking about eating healthy as Sophie and Val gorge on bacon, and talking about her memoir that Val misinterprets as an armoire. Sophie claims that is not what happened and Val shows Deirdre that her contact in their phones was titled Pathetic Deirdre. They argue about who was actually the pathetic one with Sophie ending the argument by saying that at least she and Val have each other. Deirdre gets angry and lashes out at them, making all he readers call her out. They say she’s a fraud and still as toxic as ever. As they confront Deirdre, Sophie and Val decide to go out day drinking.

Ellen crawls through the air vents and sees her meeting happening below. When her boss calls out the attendance, she tries to respond. Ultimately, she falls right through the vent and joins the meeting in her disheveled state.

Jesse asks Meredith in what way was she the one who took him back. Meredith admits it’s not but she says her songs and these videos are not about what actually happened. It’s like a movie where she has to be the main character. Although, Jesse is the handsome love interest. Jesse agrees to use the first video. After Meredith leaves and Jesse is convinced that it wasn’t that big a deal, Sid tells him that Meredith is always going to be the main character and she will always put herself first. He tells Jesse he should be with someone who actually loves him. Jesse gets annoyed and walks away.

Just as Charlie sets another date with Courtney his basket delivery comes through and she figures it all out. Before storming out in anger she also reveals that she slept with Derek Jeter and at least his gift basket had a Birkin Bag.

Jesse packs for his tour with Meredith as Sid enter the apartment and says he’s excited to see him on stage in Long Island. Jesse shuts him down and says he shouldn’t come to the concert as Jesse wants people who actually support him there.

The Episode Review

A light and fun episode with some entertaining plotlines and other average ones; Sophie and Val were a hoot to watch, there’s nothing like a hint of meanness to make a person more interesting. Charlie and his basket antics were somehow perfectly suited to his character and simply hilarious.

Character continues to be the strong suit of this show as they used a simple video to dissect Jesse and Meredith’s relationships and then further test Sid’s friendship with Jesse. Ellen’s story continues to remain in the slapstick area of comedy. It’s not to my personal taste but I can see how others might enjoy it. Overall, a good episode!