Given the reputation of its predecessor, How I Met Your Mother, it’s hard to trust that How I Met Your Father won’t leave fans as upset with its ending. Still, the series is full of potential so far, and considering we care enough to want to know more about the characters, we’re choosing to hope for a little while longer. (My rule for comedies is generally six episodes or an entire season if it’s short enough.)
Starring Hilary Duff, Francia Raisa, Chris Lowell, Suraj Sharma, Tom Ainsley, Tien Tran, and Kim Cattrall, the charming cast, at the very least, promises a good time in the day and age of modern technology and online dating. The thing is, everything about How I Met Your Father is tailor-made to be something I’d personally detest, but as a long-time fan of Duff’s, it’s impossible not to at least give it a try. And frankly, the whole online dating doesn’t bother me as much as I thought it would.
The appeal of the new series ultimately lies in the friendships, which is the same thing that worked beautifully for How I Met Your Mother before those friendships resorted to the mess the ending creates. And with a more inclusive cast, it’s easier to want an even stronger friendship to develop for How I Met Your Father.
The comparisons are impossible not to make given the title, and the utter distrust fans are undoubtedly full of. Still, the intriguing thing is, How I Met Your Father is easy to appreciate. The friendship between Duff’s Sophie and Raisa’s Valentina is excellent, and the boys are all each messed up in a way that could lead to the kind of growth we all want to see.
The first two episodes, which will premiere on Hulu on January 18, are enough to tell us that the show knows where it wants to go while still setting up the mystery behind the father’s identity. Do we, as the audience, already know him, or will this be another situation where he appears in the final season? Judging by chemistry and the sole fact that we all wished we would’ve gotten more chances to get to know Cristin Milioti’s Tracy, here’s to hoping it’s a character we already know in How I Met Your Father.
The series is charming enough to make me care, and with the hopes that showrunners want an original story that’ll stand on its own, it gives us a bit more leeway to trust that this ending won’t mirror another.
For the time being, How I Met Your Father is an entertaining journey that focuses on friendships, characters you’ll want to know more about, and a bar with a prospect. The characters are unique in their own ways, and the representation can be a brilliant facet if it’s followed through with diligence and respect.