'How I Met Your Father' Episode 5 Review: Family bonds, therapy and the search for love

The series also subtly teases if Peck's Drew would be the father, but makes no promises yet
Hilary Duff as Sophie and Josh Peck as Drew in 'How I Met Your Father' Episode 6 (Hulu)
Hilary Duff as Sophie and Josh Peck as Drew in 'How I Met Your Father' Episode 6 (Hulu)

Spoilers for 'How I Met Your Father' Episode 5

'How I Met Your Father' takes at least a few episodes to grow on you. The humor isn't always funny. The plotlines aren't always strong. It's not exactly 'How I Met Your Mother' by most stretches, but it is 20 minutes of breezy content that almost always leaves you with a smile. The latest episode sees Sophie's (Hilary Duff) relationship with her mother Lori (Paget Brewster) who has major relationship issues. Her infidelity leaves a deep gash on Sophie although she secretly hopes that her mother would do better and have a better bond with her.

Adding to the comic element is Charlie (Tom Ainsley) who struggles to make a career choice and realizes that psychiatry was something he was good at, considering her took quite a few sessions when he was a kid. He helps Sid (Suraj Sharma) and Jesse (Chris Lowell) fight their bigger fears. The latter does have another meltdown at the scene of the crime (a pub where his failed proposal takes place and the video of which goes viral). Ellen (Tien Tran) sees some sparks fly with Rachel, a neighbor, only to botch that up again.

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The focus is on Sophie as she looks to forge a meaningful relationship with her mother, but realizes she cannot change who her mother is. Her instability with her partner is something Sophie wants to steer clear of in her life and the final minute sees her rush to Drew's (Josh Peck) to catch him on game night — an invite she had earlier turned down to spend time with her mother. The future version (Kim Catrall) explains to her son that she wouldn't have found her dad had she not faced the situation with her mother.

The series also subtly teases if Peck's Drew would be the father as the next scene sees her head off to his house and shares a romantic hug and a kiss. At this stage, we're still torn about who the father is, but if there is that debate between Drew and Jesse, we're still hoping that's the man with the failed proposal. Because, everyone deserves a second chance, right?

'How I Met Your Father' drops with a new episode every Tuesday on Hulu.

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