How I Met Your Father – Season 2 Episode 5 “Ride or Die” Recap & Review

Meredith and Jesse’s Long Island Concert

Episode 5 of How I Met Your Father opens with Jesse and Meredith being interviewed on a news channel. The two make the perfect lovebirds on screen and talk about how their relationship is going really well. They also mention their excitement for the upcoming Long Island show.

The rest of the gang watches the video in Sid’s apartment, excited for Jesse. Ellen recalls her and Jesse’s band that they formed when they were kids — Sunny D and the Crazy Straw. Charlie says that talking about Jesse is painful for someone in the room. When Sophie insists she’s fine, he reveals he was talking about Sid. Sid also says he’s fine and that he and Jesse will soon get over their little fight.

Val notices that her mother texted Sophie and asks why. Sophie, who adores Val’s parents, says she’s meeting them before Jesse’s concert. The three of them even have a group chat titled Text Appeal.

Future Sophie tells her son that was crazy about Val’s parents. They were sweet, funny, totally in love and very, very hot. But it was a bit difficult being their daughter as they wanted Val to find love as quickly as they did. So, they’d try and set her up with different men over and over again.

Sid tells everyone to enjoy the concert as they leave. Alone in the apartment, he talks to himself and assures himself that he can handle being alone.

Ellen and Charlie reach Jesse’s green room. Charlie tells Ellen about his genius plan to bring Jesse and Sid back together again. Jesse arrives and seems excited about the show. Meredith and her assistant then ask Jesse to pose for another social media post for which he and Meredith pretend to have a candid kiss that gets shot on camera.

At Val’s parent’s house, the gorgeous couple talk about how they sold a house to someone by pretending there was another mystery buyer. When the bell rings, they think it’s another set-up for Val but it turns out to be a set-up for Sophie instead. Val’s parents thought she and Oscar would get along very well.

Sid tries to get Hannah to give him company via video call but she has a surgery to attend. He tells himself he can spend tons of days alone and doesn’t need Jesse when suddenly the doorbell rings. He thinks it’s Jesse but it turns out to be a delivery man who has a basket of cookies for him. It has a note from ‘J’ telling him to come to the concert. But Sid figures out it’s Charlie after he asks the delivery man if the person who ordered it had a British accent.

Sophie gets along with Oscar, which seems to be a thorn in Val’s side. Her parents say that setting him up with Val would have been a waste since she’s clearly not the relationship type. They also think Charlie is not a real person and that Val made him up. In response, she goes out and flirts with Oscar.

Meredith’s assistant shows her and Jesse the visuals for her song Jay Street. They include a lot of clips of Jesse that Meredith took as well as the clip of his failed proposal to her. He has an issue with it but stops himself from saying anything. Ellen notices and tells Charlie that the situation is bad.

Val shows off some sexy dance moves in front of Oscar. Sophie gets mad and takes her aside to confront her. She tells her she’s violating the ride-or-die handbook. Val says this is all because of her insane parents. Sophie says Val’s lucky to have such parents at all. Val insists she has to prove that she’s good enough to her parents even if she has to steal the first guy that Sophie’s felt a spark with since Jesse.

Ellen asks Jesse if he’s okay with having his most painful moment put on screen. He says Meredith has more than enough on her plate already. She then reminds him of a song he wrote when they were kids about a woman who made him feel like life’s a silly dance. Jesse says that song was about their mom but Ellen says the point still stands, he needs to tell Meredith how he really feels if she really is the woman for him.

Val continues flirting with Oscar. Sophie rants to Val’s parents and then storms out to confront Val. The two end up in a fight and the parents break it up by confessing that they did it on purpose. They set Oscar up with Sophie so Val would get jealous and want him for herself. Val then reveals that she and Sophie were also acting.

Future Sophie explains to her son that she hadn’t revealed everything they spoke about earlier. After saying she would steal Oscar, Val came back to Sophie and admitted that she would never choose a man over her. She then realises what her parents have been doing and together they make a plan to get back at them. They even got Oscar involved. Oscar then tells Sophie he had fun and he’ll call her.

Jesse tells Meredith that he doesn’t want the proposal clip to be part of the video but she says it’s important to the song Jay Street and that he’ll get used to it.

Sophie tells Val’s parents they should apologise to Val. They say they are simply worried about her but the two women explain that the world is not as simple as it used to be. Val assures her parents that whatever her life is, she’s fine with it, and she’s not alone because she has Sophie.

Ellen can’t find Jesse just before the concert’s about to begin. Charlie reveals his plan — Sid would get the cookies; want to have them with milk; look for Lactaid pills (which Charlie stole along with Sid’s vape); head to the bodega downstairs where he would see a vibrant male friendship between two men (hired by Charlie); ache for his friendship with Jesse and then head over right away. Ellen is low-key impressed. Sophie and Val arrive just as the band gets on stage. They can’t see Jesse, which is made clear when Meredith tells the crowd that her man walked out on her.

Outside the concert hall, Jesse calls someone. A phone rings nearby and he sees Sid walking towards him. They meet and talk to each other in what Future Sophie calls 2020’s bro-speak. She translates the ‘bro’s, ‘man’s, and ‘dude’s to reveal what they were really saying. Sid apologises for crossing a boundary and tells Jesse he’ll support his relationship. Jesse tells him there’s no need to apologise and that his suspicions were right. Sid says he knows the breakup will be painful anyway. They both agree to start a new, deeper period of their friendship and then hug.

When Charlie takes credit for this, Sid says that he had a cookie but had an allergic reaction to the walnut in them. He couldn’t find his epi-pen and while waiting for the EMTs, realised how dumb it was to die without making up with his best friend. Turn out, what Charlie thought was a vape, was actually an epi-pen. Meanwhile, the two guys he hired are still at the bodega, showing off their abs to each other.

The Episode Review

I think we all knew that Jesse’s Long Island concert was going to be a turning point and the episode really served it up. Once again, HIMYF has managed to balance out light-hearted humour with more meaningful themes. Val’s parents’ worries about her dating life and Jesse’s qualms about the way Meredith treats him, both are handled really well while being nestled within fun, laugh-inducing escapades. Not only were the serious conversations dealt with a gentle hand, but they also came across as authentic and, I’m sure, highly relatable to the audience.

The only thing that I felt was missing was seeing Jesse actually break up with Meredith. A special shout-out to Jesse and Sid’s friendship. This bromance is hitting all the right notes and I am here for it.

A lot of this episode’s humour hit the bull’s eye too. Charlie’s elaborate plan to bring Jesse and Sid back together and its ultimate backfiring made me laugh out loud. Sid and Jesse’s ‘bro-speak’ was another moment that had me in giggles. This has to be one of the funniest episodes so far and since it’s only the fifth, my expectations for the rest are now considerably higher.