Here's How "How I Met Your Father" And "How I Met Your Mother" Are The Same — And Very, Very Different
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The first two episodes of the highly anticipated show How I Met Your Father (HIMYF) dropped last week and, in my opinion, they did not disappoint.
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From the perfection and nostalgia that is Hillary Duff as the enigmatic, romantic, and idealistic lead to the much needed diversity of the entire main cast, the first two episodes of this spin-off of the classic How I Met Your Mother (HIMYM) exceeded my expectations.
But, as I'm sure many others were also thinking ahead of the premiere, I was curious to see how the two shows would compare. Given that HIMYF was supposed to basically be a reverse revival of the show, I wondered if they would follow the same style of HIMYM.
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Would it be in the same format of a parent forcing their kids to listen to their long, drawn-out, true love story? Would the main group be the same size with similar characters in similar roles, careers, and even locations?
Having seen all of HIMYM about three or four times at this point (leave me alone, I like comfort shows on repeat), I was on the edge of my seat leading up to the drop of HIMYF. As Ted Mosby, the lead of HIMYM, would say, I have full on lady wood for the original show. As soon as I hit play on the new one, I immediately began to track what was the same and what was different.
Then I figured, if I'm this interested in how the two shows compare so far, there are probably others that want to know, too! While I only had the first two episodes of the new show to go off of, I found tons of little (and big) similarities and almost as many differences. Oftentimes, the two sort of overlapped.
The twists and turns of How I Met Your Mother are intricately planned and fantastically executed. The inside jokes, the game of catch-up the writers force the audience to play throughout, and the background moments that always come back around are part of what made HIMYM so intriguing and wonderful. It seems the team behind HIMYF, which includes the same director from the original show, definitely carried a lot of those traditions over. The show felt familiar, had me laughing, and made me want to continue watching to find out what will happen - just like HIMYM. But at the same time, they made this new show completely, well, new!
Warning: Spoilers below!
The first and most obvious difference is also somewhat of a similarity: the leads!
From the get-go of HIMYM, it's clear that Ted Mosby, the male lead/main character, is very into the idea of finding the love of his life. He's a straight white single guy living in New York City with a solid group of friends but has a genuine and bold romanticism that shapes his personality and outlook on life. He sometimes gets worried that he won't ever find the love of his life and then the next second he thinks he's found her (usually in a hilarious and obscure way) — but he often gets distracted along the way. He's smart, sort of funny, has a good work ethic, and is usually up for an adventure.
Just as in HIMYM, HIMYF starts out by showing us that their lead is incredibly similar in many ways, although she's definitely not meant to be a carbon copy of Ted in female form.
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Sophie, the main character of HIMYF, is a straight white woman living in New York City with a solid friend (compared to a man with an already solid group from the outset like Ted). Similarly to Ted, Sophie is boldly romantic and 1000% sure that the love of her life is out there somewhere.
She lets us know from the top of the first episode that she's been on 87 Tinder dates in the past year alone and that even after all those failures she's still super hopeful about finding her one true love. She's witty, confident (for the most part), resilient, and intelligent. So what if she's a little bit overly optimistic about finding love on a hookup app? She was likable and intriguing from the outset (even though her being played by Hillary Duff meant her character could have been a murderer and we all still would have been enamored).
So now that we've met the leads, let's talk a little bit about how their stories are being told.
I was curious to see who would be playing Hillary Duff's future (present? it's complicated) kids in HIMYF because, as any HIMYM fan knows, Ted's love story is told from the future where he forces his kids to sit and listen to the long, long tale.
How I Met Your Mother's first episode opens on a shot of a brother and sister, brilliantly played by Lyndsey Fonseca and David Henrie, sitting on a couch. The voice of their father, who turns out to be the lead of the show, Ted, begins talking about how he's going to tell them the story of how he met their mother, which ends up heavily centering around his close group of friends. We don't see the narrator at all; we only hear his voice and are quickly made to put together that he's Ted Mosby.
That narrator, voiced by the late and unbelievably talented Bob Saget, will continue to tell the story in this fashion - forcing his kids to sit and listen while he regales every twist and turn of the journey that lead to him meeting their mom. Then, as the story begins, we jump into the past and watch those events unfold, accompanied by frequent voiceovers from the older, narrating Ted.
The big twist that the How I Met Your Father team put on this storytelling style was made clear from the opening shot of episode one: we get to see the narrator, but not the kid being forced to listen to her story.
In HIMYF, we see the older Sophie (played by the fabulous Kim Cattrall) telling her story to her son via video chat, although we never get to see his face. Aside from the very obvious difference here (the flipped shots), the addition of modern technology and the one kid versus the two in HIMYM brings this spin-off into the modern age and makes it feel justttt different enough from the old show.
However, just like in HIMYM, we quickly jump back in time where we join young Sophie on her way to her 88th Tinder date of the year. While the older Sophie's voice carries over a little bit into that scene, it quickly drops away and we don't really hear from her while we're in the past with young Sophie throughout the episodes. For the most part, it cuts to shots of older Sophie for her monologues and tidbits about her long, drawn-out love story that, like Ted's, centers around her group of close friends and dating adventures.
Same but also wildly different: The friend group (and how it comes to be).
Let's start with the iconic group from the original show, How I Met Your Mother. We learn in the first episode that Ted lives with his old college roommate and best friend, Marshall, as well as Marshall's girlfriend (who the pair also met back in college), Lily. Marshall and Lily, played by Jason Segel and Alyson Hannigan, are, like, super in love. Like, over the top, can't keep their hands off each other, in love. In fact, part of the plot of episode one of HIMYM is that Marshall is going to propose (with some help and advice from his BFF, Ted, of course).
Also in episode one, we're introduced to the final member of their little original crew: a guy named Barney (played by Neil Patrick Harris) who gives off the strongest playboy vibes possible.
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He's an intriguing character because he's clearly a professional business person in a suit (who is always asking that Ted suit up if he wants to meet a lady and take her home just like Barney does every single night) but he's also a raunchy, hyper-sexual being.
That overly-flirty behavior is actually what ends up leading to the addition of the "outsider" to the group — a woman named Robin who Barney chats Ted up to before forcing him to talk to her in the bar they're always hanging out in.
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Robin, played by the incomparable Cobie Smulders, ends up becoming part of the main group by the end of episode two of HIMYM after a few... wild events ensue. While Ted manages to get her to go on a date with him in episode one, he quickly screws it up by being overeager and word vomiting that he loves her - on their first date - which totally freaks her out!
To try and remedy it, Ted figures he can make a grand romantic gesture — a keystone of his personality and something we'll see in HIMYF, too.
During the dinner, Robin admired a blue french horn hanging on the wall of the restaurant. With some encouragement from Marshall, Lily, and Barney, Ted decides to go back, steal the french horn, and deliver it to Robin as a token of his love. The whole group jumps in a cab together to Robin's place to help their friend. While it seems to work at first, Ted's romanticism ruins the moment again, and the night ends on an awkward note.
In episode two, Ted throws not one, not two, but three parties in attempt to get Robin to come through so he can try again with her. Spoiler: he fails, and she's not interested in the same things as him, anyway.
But by the end of the episode, they agree to be friends and the rest of the group is excited about their newest member. A solid group is formed from four existing friends and one outsider who started as a potential love interest and it's clear they're all about to embark on a wonderful journey of friendship.
So, does the formation of the group in How I Met Your Father come about in the same way? Definitely not. But there are absolutely similarities in the general storyline of the first two episodes that lead to that formation.
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For starters, our adorable lead, Sophie, lives with her long-time BBF, Valentina, in an apartment in New York (same as Marshall and Ted). But instead of being in a long-term committed relationship with a live-in partner, Valentina shocks her roomie when a nude man that she recently met in London (and brought home with her) pops out from a bedroom. Apparently, the two of them really hit it off and Valentina begs Sophie to let the guy, Charlie, LIVE WITH THEM after knowing him for only a short time.
So it may not be exactly the same as the trio that lives together in HIMYM, but we do have a couple who are super into each other and a single person living together in NYC.
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While I kept expecting to meet the rest of the group, it turns out that the eventual main group/cast of the show was going to form before our eyes in the first two episodes.
To get to her 88th Tinder date, Sophie hops in an Uber with a male driver and his friend riding along in the passenger seat. They chit chat the whole drive while Sophie charges her phone and we learn some details about these guys we're pretty sure are going to become main characters in the show and in the group.
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Sophie tells the guys, Jesse and Sid (roommates just like Ted and Marshall), that even though she's had 87 failed Tinder dates, she's certain this new guy she's going to meet is "the one." They've been talking for weeks and are finally going to meet!
We quickly learn that Jesse is cynical about love but is supportive of his friend, Sid, a bar owner who is madly in love with his long-distance girlfriend. In fact, just like Marshall in HIMYM, part of the plot of episode one of HIMYF is that Sid is going to propose! BIG similarity there for sure.
Then, Sophie's big romantic date falls wayyy short of her expectations: he's a great guy BUT he's moving to Australia that very night. Apparently, he just had to see her before he left.
Forlorn, Sophie heads home, but it doesn't take long for her to decide that she wants to call Australia man and see if he's willing to try long-distance (okay, his name is Ian, I'm just annoyed with him for breaking her heart straight out of the gate). But alas! She accidentally took the wrong phone from the Uber.
Remembering the name of the bar that Sid owns (and where they said they hang out all the time), Sophie, Valentina, and Charlie race over to it to make the phone swap.
Turns out, they accidentally crash (and almost spoil) the surprise proposal/engagement party for Sid and his girlfriend, Hannah. Jesse forces them to hide in the back where Valentina and Charlie meet Jesse's sister, Ellen, who just moved to the city (who will end up being part of the group, too). The surprise goes off without a hitch, Hannah says yes (just like Lily does to Marshall in HIMYM), and Sophie gets her phone back so she can contact Ian.
Upon seeing he's sent her a photo of his boarding with all of his flight information, though, Sophie decides that she needs to go to the airport to make (you guessed it) a grand romantic gesture. And just like the crew supports Ted's in HIMYM, the newly forming crew (Valentina, Charlie, Jesse, Sid, and Ellen) egg her on and even go with her to the airport!
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In a painfully awkward moment witnessed by strangers, Ian says it's not gong to work — just like in HIMYM with Ted and Robin. But unlike how Robin becomes part of the main cast/friend group, Ian leaves for Australia and Sophie's heart is yet again broken.
Episode two of How I Met Your Father is where the hodge-podge group really starts to form. Charlie needs friends in America and Sophie needs a good old-fashioned night on the town to get her mind off Ian, so she and Valentina ask Jesse and Sid to go to a club with them (where Sid has the most fun of them all).
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Awkwardly, Jesse thinks it's a set-up for him and Sophie when it's really a guy friends set up for Sid, Jesse, and Charlie — the truest outsider who needs some "American mates." Valentina and Charlie end up squabbling, Sophie ~almost~ gives Jesse a chance, and the entire crew ends up at Sid's bar at the end of the night.
Sophie clears the air with Jesse, Valentina and Charlie make up, Ellen had a fantastic night unsuccessfully hitting on women, and Sid had a pretty good time despite his fiancee not being there (she had to leave after the proposal to get back to work in LA).
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As episode two draws to a close, the newly formed crew sits together in a bar, laughing, poking fun at one another, and generally bonding over one last drink of the night — just like How I Met Your Mother's episode two ending.
While the gang in How I Met I Your Father is certainly quite different than that of How I Met Your Father, we followed some similar twists and turns along the way. Let's discuss.
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The Leads: Ted and Sophie: charming, a bit dorky, incredibly romantic and hopeful, on the search for love no matter what crosses their paths.
The Best Friends Of The Leads: Marshall and Valentina - long-time friends/roommates of the leads, in passionate relationships, clever, endearing, sometimes make uncomfortable mistakes.
The Grand Gestures: Ted steals artwork from a bistro and throws three parties to try and get the girl that he just met... who he screws it up with and who doesn't think it would work, anyway. Sophie scrambles to the airport chasing a guy she just met... who tells her he doesn't think that it can work before getting on the plane to Australia.
The Proposals: The lead of HIMYM's best friend (Marshall) successfully proposes to his long-time girlfriend during episode one with the help of the lead himself. While the main lead of HIMYF's best friend (Valentina) is no where near being ready for marriage, the enigmatic male character Jesse's best friend, Sid, certainly is, and also successfully proposes during the first episode.
The Setting: The one, the only, New York City. But on that note...
Let's talk about the one gigantic similarity that cannot be ignored (and that, if you've seen both shows, you've probably been waiting for me to bring up): THE APARTMENT.
While the apartment has clearly had some renovations over the years, we discover at the end of episode one of HIMYF that Jesse and Sid got the old apartment of Marshall, Ted, and Lily for a "steal." According to Jesse, they got it from "an old married couple who posted it on the Wesleyan alumni group," which clues us in that Jesse and Sid attended the same college as the old friends and roommates in HIMYM.
SO much of the original show (HIMYM) takes place in that apartment. It was a welcome bit of familiarity when the cast of HIMYF walked in there at the end of episode one, even though it's not the main lead and her BFF living in it.
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From the entryway, to the weird little archway shelf, to the window from the living room to the kitchen, it's 100% the same set/apartment, which Jesse confirmed for us.
They're young, they're hopeless, most of them are in or looking for love in some way or another, and they're going to go on a wild ride for sure.
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As the rest of How I Met Your Father unfolds, I'll undoubtedly have more similarities and differences to share. But thanks to the drop of the first two episodes, we (the audience) can already be pretty confident that we're going to see a lot of overlapping themes played out in a more modern way. From video calls to a truly diverse cast (unlike HIMYM), HIMYF is shaping up to be a delightful spin-off of the beloved old show.
What did you think of the first episodes of HIMYF? Let us know in the comments.
Don’t miss Sam Claflin in the new rom com Book of Love from BuzzFeed Studios, coming to Amazon Prime Video February 4th and Sky Cinema February 12th.
