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The standalone sequel, How I Met Your Father, to the popular sitcom How I Met Your Mother, premiered today and looks promising.
Created by Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger, the sitcom revolves around Sophie, who sets out to find new friends and look for love in today's world of dating apps. Set in the future, she recounts her dating experiences from 2022 and narrates to her son how she met his father.
It's time to dive in and dissect the Pilot episode of Hulu's How I Met Your Father Season 1.
Note: This article contains spoilers.
'How I Met Your Father' Season 1 Episode 1: Recap & Review
Recap
How I Met Your Father premiered with a flashforward to 2050, where Sophie calls her son to narrate how she met his father, just as how the original sitcom began. Her recollection starts with her 2022 Tinder date with marine biologist Ian.
On the way to her much-awaited date, she meets Jesse, who is her cab driver for the night along with his best friend Sid. An ebullient Sophie shares about her tinder date after every bad one she had been through. Sid then reveals his proposal plans and later, tricking Jesse into confessing that he likes Sophie.
Meanwhile in How I Met Your Father, Sophie finally meets Ian only to get disappointed, not because he failed to embody her interests but because he was permanently moving to Australia for an assignment. The two of them then decide that long-distance was not an option as they barely knew each other.
Sophie then returns to her apartment and is greeted by her roommate Valentina and her new English boyfriend Charlie. Valentina then informs Sophie that Charlie is moving in with them after a fallout with his parents in London.
This motivates Sophie to run after Ian and give long-distance relationship a chance. However, she realizes that her phone was accidentally switched with Sid's.
To get her phone back, Sophie heads over to Sid's bar along with Valentina and Charlie. She then had a short conversation with Jesse and learned that his disbelief in love was due to a brutal and public heartbreak.
After Sid and Hannah get engaged, Sophie gets her phone back and they all leave for the airport. While Sid sees Hannah off, who had to leave due to an emergency at work, Sophie finds Ian just before he was boarding his flight.
She proposes a long-distance relationship idea to him but he rejects her. She then walks over the Brooklyn Bridge with her new friends, something she wanted to do with her soulmate instead.
At the end of the How I Met Your Father episode, everyone heads to Sid's apartment, which is none other than the one Ted and Marshall shared in How I Met Your Mother.
Review
Hulu's brand new sitcom How I Met Your Father is a definite reflection of How I Met Your Mother, or it paints itself to be. The series follows the same multi-camera and laugh-track format, but this time, the opening theme is a female-led cover of the original one.
The pilot episode of the series was directed by Pamela Fryman and written by Isaac Aptaker, Emily Spivey and Elizabeth Berger, along with the creators of HIMYM.
It's the year 2050 and a middle-aged, wine-drunk Sophie has begun her journey of narrating to her son about how she met his father. Beginning with a Tinder date back in 2022, the series soon turns into a comedy of errors, near-romantic encounters, crossed wires and newfound friendships.
Surely, the pilot episode is exactly like the original, not just because of its narrative but also its intriguing departure.
A new start destined for a predictable outcome
Viewers can predict the possible futures not only because the plot is similar but also because of the circumstances shown in the episode. Three out of four of its male characters already have something going for them: Sophie's Tinder date Ian is moving to Australia, Valentina's Charlie has new life adjustments to make and Sid is newly engaged to his girlfriend.
This leaves Jesse as the most likely romantic candidate for Sophie, not to forget he is exactly like HIMYM's Robin. A disillusioned person who does not believe in love, and professionally, he is an Uber driver as well as a musician in the series.
As for Sophie, she is a reflection of HIMYM's Ted, a hopeless romantic who believes in soulmates. These opposite beliefs are what make Sophie and Jesse's dynamic the central fixture of How I Met Your Father.
A host of familiar characters
While Chris Lowell might be a good fit for How I Met Your Father as Jesse, viewers barely got to know anything about him in the first two episodes. This does question how he would fit into Sophie's romantic picture, but if the series really is akin to the original, viewers already know what's bound to happen.
As for Hilary Duff, her wide-eyed glimmering approach feels perfect for Sophie's character, while Francia Raisa's excitable energy matched Valentina's as well in How I Met Your Father.
However, their characters already feel like fully formed people with recognizable personalities, even beyond their punchlines. This leaves very little room for imagination for viewers, and the sitcom has just begun.
Rough beginnings
How I Met Your Father can be considered to be in its building stage right now but what made the pilot episode stand out was its very end. Fans of HIMYM would've recognized Sid's apartment even before he turned the lights on. A confirmation came through for the same when he announced about renting it from the couple.
It is the very apartment that Ted and Marshall shared in the beginning of HIMYM and was later shared by Marshall and Lily, till they decided to move out.
Adding to this nostalgia was a tribute to the late Bob Saget, who was the voice behind the future Ted Mosby in HIMYM. The beloved actor recently passed away under unknown circumstances and How I Met Your Father added a dedication to him before the episode's credits.
All-in-all the the sitcom's premiere was not as legendary as the original but it was definitely amusing.
Catch How I Met Your Father Season 1 Episode 1 streaming on Hulu.
