WARNING: The following contains spoilers for How I Met Your Father, Season 1, Episode 6, “Stacey,” now streaming on Hulu.
“Being in a new relationship is great,” older Sophie says at the beginning of this episode, but as hopeful as that sounds, she follows it up by cautioning that everyone has a past, and back in 2022 technology had a way of bringing that past into the present. Then, we’re at Pemberton’s, with Drew and Sophie, who are joined by Valentina, Ellen and Jesse.
No one seems to find Drew as charming as Sophie does, but that’s probably a good thing. Sid and Hannah arrive to save everyone from Drew’s boring story, and we are reminded that Drew and Hannah went to college together. Hannah is in town so they can check out wedding venues, and they think they’ve found the perfect one. They’re gonna go stay at the place for the weekend, and they can invite two people.
Jesse thinks Sid is asking him, which is embarrassing considering Sid is actually asking Drew and Sophie. Jesse pretends he’s fine and tells the group he’s not perpetually single, he’s started dating someone. Her name is Mia, and he really likes her. It all sounds like a lie.
Charlie brings everyone beers, because he can’t remember what they ordered. There’s some talk about how illegal it is to have him working there, but then Sid gives him his first paycheck anyway, and Charlie announces he’s going to throw a dinner party. It’s hard to focus on that, though, as Hannah calls Sophie by the wrong name, Stacey, as she’s explaining why they can’t make it.
Turns out Stacey is Drew’s ex, and they hung out with Sid and Hannah a lot. Sophie predictably spirals, and Valentina, like the good friend she is, helps by finding her on Instagram. Sophie has enough self-awareness to realize obsessing over this is not what she needs right before she first has sex with Drew. Valentina is shocked they haven’t had sex yet, but she manages a good pep talk, nonetheless.
At Charlie and Ellen’s place, no one has arrived yet, but the dinner party is already off to a bad start. Charlie, as is to be expected, isn’t very good at buying stuff on a budget, and he puts too much pressure on himself to make sure everything goes perfectly.
It won’t, of course, because Jesse’s date, Mia, who is apparently real, looks at Ellen like they’ve been intimately acquainted before, and has issues with Valentina’s leopard print shirt. Ellen begs Mia not to tell Jesse they once had sex, and she agrees after a while. As awkward as that is, the Hannah/Sid and Sophie/Drew party is checking out the possible wedding venue, and Sophie, who has not let the Stacey thing go, sees a picture that makes her believe Drew took Stacey to this same place before.
We get a nice flashback to Sid as a kid, watching movies about New York with his dad, as he discusses why he decided to open his own business. His parents always wanted him to be a doctor, he and Hannah met in med school, but that was never his path. Owning Pemberton’s was.
As the two storylines compete in what spiral is worse, Charlie confesses that this isn’t the first time he’s moved to another country to be with a woman because he wants to prove a point to Valentina – that nobody wants to hear about exes. This causes Mia to confess that she slept with Ellen, because she doesn’t want the relationship with Jesse to start on a lie.
Hannah, meanwhile, is apparently not over Sid making the decision to quit medical school and buy a bar, particularly as it seems he made it without even consulting her. But Sophie always has to win the game of who can make the biggest mess, as she sends Stacey a message, she meant to send Valentina.
At Charlie and Ellen’s place, the entire night turns into therapy hour, which at least benefits everyone. There’s another reference to Jesse possibly wanting to be with Sophie that the show wants us to pretend means nothing, and Jesse and Mia break, while Valentina leaves, as she doesn’t believe she’s different from Charlie’s other conquests.
Sophie and Sid bond over how they both screwed up their nights and help each other see why they just need to talk to their respective partners. Charlie then burns his passport to prove his love – the most Charlie thing to do – and Valentina confesses she loves him.
Things get better for Sid and Hannah too – an apology Kit Kat goes a long way – and Sophie and Drew, as Sophie figures out social media doesn’t always correlate to reality. And she has sex. Which she will, one day, try to tell her kid about.
To follow the adventures of Sophie, Jesse, Valentina, Charlie, Ellen and Sid, the first six episodes of How I Met Your Father are available to stream on Hulu.
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