How I Met Your Father’s Season 2 Finale Spoilers Ahead
Note from Marvelous Geeks’ Team: With the ongoing WGA strike, it’s imperative that we state we stand in solidarity with all writers asking for better wages and the respect they deserve in this industry. No story comes to fruition without the idea born and nurtured inside a writer’s head. Writers are the beating hearts of everything we love — we stand with and for them.
How I Met Your Father’s two-part season finale is a trope-filled blast from start to finish, despite the first part going to unnecessary lengths to prove why Jesse’s new girlfriend, Parker is toxic. They’re naturally wrong, but these scenes continue to emphasize that the friendship brimming in this show is still its strength. As much as the story is about the father’s identity, the platonic relationships here matter significantly more. Unlike its predecessor, it doesn’t matter who ends up with whom as long as the progressions happen in a way that doesn’t undermine years of development.
Still, for now, How I Met Your Father focuses on telling Sophie and Jesse’s story while it pushes viewers to understand that this relationship deserves a fair chance to blossom. Where one steady arc ends, another begins, and a likely one-time thing leads to the kind of surprise ending that elicits kicking feet up and screaming out of pure joy. How I Met Your Father’s Season 2 finale might just be one of the best episodes yet when it comes to bringing friendships to the forefront.
How I Met Your Father’s Season 2 Finale Cements Its Focus on Friendships
Throughout various little moments in the episode, How I Met Your Father writers emphasize the importance of its core friend group. While I would’ve preferred we stayed away from the “I have feelings for this guy, so his current girlfriend must be shady,” the rest of the arc portrays how far the characters are willing to go for each other. It’s what Sid and Sophie showcase with their twisted form of jealousy. Further, Sophie and Val show they have an advice method called “fluff or tough”—fluffing up the advice or delivering tough love.
The groundwork during the two seasons to show how close these characters are growing is no small feat. They’re good together—better as friends than couples, but still. It’s the scene at the very end that captures how crucial their bonds with one another are when Sid comes out of the room visibly expressing that something’s happened between him and Hannah. While the audience knows what he’s holding onto, his friends don’t; however, immediately moving toward him to show him that they’re there quietly reveals how profoundly they care for each other.
This is why, no matter what happens in romantic relationships, the group’s friendship should take precedence. Having Sophie jump from one relationship to another would never be a good look because none of it would be as causal as Valentina and Drew’s hookup.
Sophie and Jesse’s Moment Is Out of a Romance Novel
Are Sophie and Jesse endgame at this point? It’s hard to trust and say that with 100% certainty, but their moment in How I Met You Father’s Season 2 finale is right out of a romance novel, and it works beautifully to show that they need to give this relationship a fair chance. There’s a lot of fear in both regarding the future. They’re two completely different people at the end of the day who don’t operate similarly. Still, for the time being, they work together. They work because taking a chance on their relationship and embracing their feelings for one another strengthens them as individual characters. It makes them better and bolder and braver because that’s what a solid romance should do at the end of the day.
If How I Met Your Father continues for years, there’s a high chance Sophie and Jesse will break up multiple times. This is the fault of sitcoms and storytelling because, apparently, couples can’t just stay together. (I’ll be happy if I’m proven wrong about this.) Nonetheless, their relationship deserves proper exploration to show viewers how they are as an official couple and how that helps them as individuals. There’s plenty they do to support one another as friends. The role they play in each other’s lives is full of love whether there’s romance involved or not, but this moment could work for them because it’s pretty stinking cute to get a significant love declaration and a kiss in the rain too. Sign me up.
Val and Charlie’s Future Is Secure
(When I tell you all, I screamed when Sophie popped out the photo of Val and Charlie with their son—I screamed!) Charlie and Val are inarguably the best couple on the show. Their story is riveting from beginning to end, allowing the audience to grow alongside them as they learn to understand each other better. It’s why their breakup feels real to us as well because it’s a serious issue that impacts a large majority of couples. And while How I Met Your Father’s Season 2 finale leaves us with the hope that their story will continue, it does so by relying on the longing they’ve felt throughout.
Since their breakup, the show’s sophomore season has been a compelling growth exhibition for them. The separation allowed the audience to understand them individually, apprehending their perspectives better than we would’ve if they had continued to fight. That’s precisely why, though we don’t know how they’ll get to this place where Charlie will be okay with parenting a child, it’s lovely and hopeful to know that at least they’ll be together—they’ll make it to the end.
How I Met Your Father’s Season 2 is far from perfect, but it’s the best display of the narrative structure yet. While it focuses on friendships and unveils issues within relationships, it highlights each character’s strength, allowing the audience more insight into who they’re rooting for. As it dives deep toward relationships and comedic gags, it continues to remind viewers that the cast’s chemistry is something special and worth utilizing further.
Further Thoughts
- “Forever Young” as the ending montage song was a brutal but brilliant choice I’m 100% here for.
- Saddest part is I really adore Hannah. It’s a shame we couldn’t get to know her more.
- Rain episodes could never be disappointing. The tropes featured here were A++.
- STILL SCREAMING ABOUT CHARLIE AND VAL. Might never stop.
- At this point, I don’t care who ends up with whom. I just want this group to always be friends. Period.
Now streaming on Hulu: What are your thoughts on How I Met Your Father’s Season 2 finale? Let us know in the comments below.
First Featured Image Credit: Photo by: Patrick Wymore/Hulu