We’re now one full season into the Hulu original How I Met Your Father, and with season two already being confirmed for twice as many episodes, let’s check out where things stand!
There were plenty of sitcom twists and turns that we had in just ten episodes. We also had some surprising How I Met Your Mother cast cameos that weren’t simply added in for the sake of it, but actually added to the plot. Let’s unpack this first season!
Where We Are in the Love Story
The first season began with Sophie telling her son the story of how she met his father in a gender role reversal from the original (where it’s Ted telling the story to his kids). In another interesting twist, Sophie, played by Kim Cattrall, is the one on camera instead of her kid.
This switch is more interesting than the original, because we actually see her telling the story. Cuts to the kids in the original didn’t add anything to the story, but here we get to see Sophie’s place in the future and the photograph that kicked off her career on the wall. By seeing her place, we are offered more clues into the future. When we saw the kids in the original, it didn’t really tell us anything.
We also know early on that she met the father of her child-to-be that night, so it is one of four people—Jesse, the Uber driver/musician, his roommate Sid (who ends up getting married at the end of the first season), Ian, who she goes on one date with before he leaves the country, or Charlie, who is dating her roommate Valentina, but is single by the end of the season.
By giving us a clue into who the father might be, it adds some interest to the mystery. The original just threw in some random girl at the end, who we had no history with, so – harsh though it sounds – we didn’t really care about her ostensibly sad demise. Since this show shows us the father, even though we don’t know who it is, this idea is executed better.
There were some exciting things happening in the last two episodes, but it felt a bit rushed. This push seems similar to the finale of the original, where so much information is packed into so little time. Both shows kind of failed on this front, but hey, at least the new show is being faithful to the original!
The new show only had 10 episodes, so they were just trying to fit too much into too little time. Things move too quickly in the last couple of episodes, and I wanted the storylines played out better. Maybe in the second season the pacing will be better since they have twice as many episodes to work with. Sophie jumps between men too fast, and the season finale didn’t give us a chance to catch up.
Cameos by HIMYM Alums
Even though we saw the apartment where Ted, Marshall and Lily lived at the beginning of the season, swords and all (it’s now where Jesse and Sid live), there weren’t any other throwbacks to the original until the last few episodes.
The first people to reprise their characters from the original were The Captain and his wife Becky. Since they were the first ones, it was an exciting moment to see. It was disappointing in that The Captain was cheating on her, but it does connect to the current story in an interesting way through his fleet of boats. Their divorce proceedings affect the current characters. Given that it directly affects the plot, this was a creative cameo instead of being just a throwaway.
The most exciting cameo though came in the season finale. After Jesse throws Sophie out of his apartment, she decides to go to the bar downstairs, which is the one they frequented in the original. While there, she meets both Carl (the same bartender from the original series) and Robin.
We see Robin here at the point in her story between her divorce from Barney and the controversial reconnect with Ted. Cobie Smulders effortlessly slips back into the role that she played for so long. A throwback to Robin Sparkles would have been fun, but her being recognized as a famous journalist fits in with her dreams, so that works too. Her advice to Sophie connects back to what she learned about love in the original series—that everything comes down to timing.
I wasn’t so sure about this show at the beginning of the season, but it surprised me. Some of the situations have been over-the-top, such as the characters moving on so fast and Sophie breaking her tooth multiple times, but it works for the sake of comedy.
In the original there were some crazy situations too, such as Ted getting a tramp stamp. Ted’s overall situation was funnier in the original, but How I Met Your Father is still in its infancy, so we’ll see how much it grows, plus the characters are compelling enough to get you invested.
While it’s not on par with the original, no one really expected it to be, and it’s able to stand on the merits of some quality acting and a better introduction to the father. Onward, to season two!
If you’re interested in new shows, check out these Amazon Prime Shows Coming this Year and Netflix’s upcoming Releases.
