How I Met Your Father – Out of Sync

By: Gladys Luna

Future Sophie (Kim Cattrall) explains to her son that there was a time when people just couldn’t live without their phones and that is how we are taken back down to that moment at Pemberton’s when the gang are sitting at their usual spot at the bar except this time they are not exactly interacting with each other given that they all are stick to their phones. Ellen (Tien Tran) makes evident that she hasn’t been dealing well with her breakup and she has been stalking Rachel (Aby James) through her social media questioning every movement she makes and wondering if she is already seeing someone else. On the other hand, Val (Francia Raísa) seems to be wrapped up by a quiz trying to figure out which Power Ranger she is (spoiler alert, she doesn’t like the outcome). By seeing this Sophie (Hilary Duff) addresses the elephant in the room and brings a suggestion to the table which is to challenge her friends to spend a full day without using their phones. Everyone agree except for Val whose phone is practically ripped away from her hands by her friend. Later that day, Sophie meets with Val at their apartment and proudly shows her first paycheck and since she does not have a phone she decides to go make the deposit directly at the bank and invites her friend over. While Sophie appears to be excited by the phone detox Val looks completely the opposite as she does not know how to act like a person anymore. Sophie suggests her to focus her attention on her surroundings as a way to help her with her withdrawal symptoms and that is when they casually spot none other than Lance Bass (Himself) and Joey Fatone (Himself) from NSYNC. Both women try to hide their excitement while watching them. By the time they realize it both men are walking straight to the exit of the bank so the friends quickly come up with a plan to talk to them and decide to throw a pen to the floor in front of them as a way to draw the men’s attention so they have to stop and pick up to give it back to them. The four of them start a casual conversation and at the end both women are invited to a party at a Baloney Factory. Now the men have left the bank Sophie and Val cannot hide their excitement any longer but soon that enthusiasm is replaced by concern when they are aware that they don’t know where the factory is located and they don’t have their phones to look for the address. Therefore, they decide to go for an old school solution which is to go to the library.

Meanwhile, at Ellen and Charlie’s (Tom Ainsley) apartment he is trying to help his friend to take her mind off of Rachel but so far he hasn’t exactly succeeded as his friend is glued to the door watching how Rachel has received a package that she is dying to know what has in it. Charlie manages to take her away from it and makes sure to cover with tape every single space that Ellen could use to spy on her ex. At a restaurant Jesse (Christopher Lowell) is finally having a date with Parker (Meaghan Rath), one of his colleagues, who was introduced in a prior episode. The woman thanks Jesse for taking her to a vegetarian restaurant and as a way to make some conversation she begins to tell him some facts about climate change – something that the man admits, for himself, that he knows nothing about and plans to disappear for a moment to Google about it. However, he then remembers that he does not have his phone with him so he starts to get nervous about it. At that moment the waiter (Joseph Salazar) shows up and while he is reading the menu for them Jesse cannot stop thinking about different ways to impress his date. He decides to order all of the main dishes including a bottle of champagne and that puts him at ease until he recalls that his credit card was in his phone case. Therefore, now he has no idea how he is going to pay for the dinner. Back at Ellen and Charlie’s spa day both friends are trying to relax but it seems that it has only been working for him since the woman cannot keep her mind off of Rachel. As a way to distract her pal, Ellen suggests for him to practice sensory deprivation. She covers his eyes and ears and then she escapes through the window to go get her phone. Unfortunately, on her way out she breaks a gas pipe but since she is in a hurry she doesn’t pay the slightest attention to it.

At the library Sophie has managed to find a book about the meat factories in New York but then she is surprised to discover that getting to the right one might take them a lifetime. This Val mad since she believes that her chance to make out with her teen idol, Lance Bass, will be lost. Sophieexplains that even if they make it to the party that won’t be possible since Lance is married to a man so her chances are none to zero. Val is now even more upset than before and decides to break the pact she was forced to make earlier that day and leaves the place in a haste followed by Sophie.

At the restaurant Jesse is getting more nervous by the hour so he asks for the place phone and tries to call any of his friends. However, he notices that he doesn’t know anyone’s number so the next thing he thinks is to explain everything that happened to Parker and borrow some money from her. He’ll then pay her back as soon as he gets his phone; however, he regrets it immediately. In a desperate attempt he decides to flee the place and go get his phone. Meanwhile, at Pemberton’s Ellen and Val are begging Sid (Suraj Sharma) to give them their phones back, but he says that unless it is an emergency he won’t return any phone. He asks each one of them their reasons for wanting their phone and Ellen says that she needs to know what Rachel is doing so she won’t miss a thing about her. Her request is denied so she leaves angrily out of there. Val says that her and Sophie were invited to a party by Lance and Joey from NSYNC and if she had her phone she would have figured out the address by now. Lucky for them Sid knows the address by heart since he is a fan of meat. Also, he tells them that he is a huge fan of the band too, something that surprises both of his friends. He reminds them that he has already told them about it, but unfortunately they were so busy staring at their phones that they didn’t pay any attention to him. The three of them leave in search for the factory and close the bar and just a few minutes later, Jesse appears trying to get in but sadly, it’s too late for him. Back at the restaurant the food keeps coming for Parker who looks sad and disappointed to have been left alone without any further explanation. The woman decides to leave the place but then Jesse shows up and explains why he left her for so long. Parker completely understands and as a way to help him avoid paying for dinner she comes with the idea of pulling a hair out of a woman sitting on the table next to them and putting it on her plate and then complaining about it to the waiter. Back at the factory Val and Sophie realize that it is very likely that blinded by the whole phone detox they have mistaken Lance and Joey for another completely different guys and are disappointed. Then, Val recognizes someone in the crowd that happens to be Ian (Daniel Augustin), Sophie’s ex. He notices them and goes to talk to Sophie. A woman named Kiana (Efrangeliz Medina) shows up and the man introduces her as his girlfriend. This makes Sophie to feel oddly uncomfortable and she decides to leave them alone.

Later that night Ellen goes back to her place, but before she enters the building she realizes that the police is there. She is informed that there was a gas leak so they had to evacuate the building but Charlie is nowhere to be seen so she assumes that he must have not heard anything about the evacuation and decides to go save him which she does. Saving Charlie makes her realize that she was so blinded by her desperation to get her ex back that she almost loses a dear friend and decides to put an end to her misery. At the factory, Sophie and Val come clean to each other about what they’re actually feeling right now and Sophie confesses that she was using her phone to stalk Ian so that’s why she needed a break from it while Val says that she was using it to do the opposite and hide from the aching thought that she might never find someone as good as Charlie so, it seems that after all, the phone detox experiment has worked and it did help them to reconnect. It’s finally midnight so everyone gets their phones back and soon they are set on the mood they were before then, while Sophie is looking at her media, she sees a story from Lance and Joey and confirmed that they had actually met them and they were in fact waiting for them just at a different factory.