How I Met Your Father – Ride or Die

By: Gladys Luna

Jesse (Christopher Lowell) and Meredith (Leighton Meester) attend to a local TV show to be interviewed by Sandy Rivers (Alexis Denisof) and to happily announce about their upcoming tour and give an update on their relationship. As expected, Jesse barely gets the chance to talk as his girlfriend hoards all the attention.

In the meantime, at Sid (Suraj Sharma) and Jesse’s apartment, the gang watch the show feeling happy for their friend knowing everything he went through to be where he is right now. Sadly, and unknown to them, it seems that their recent apparition in the show appears to be an arrangement set by Meredith’s PR team that thought this might add up to the promotion of the tour.

Watching Jesse makes Ellen (Tien Tran) extremely excited for him as she considers her brother to be a complete celebrity now. Charlie (Tom Ainsley) notices that Sid is still uncomfortable on how things ended between him and Jesse before he went on tour and mentions that watching him on TV might be painful for a certain “someone” and Sophie (Hilary Duff) is quick to think that he is referring to her but Charlie corrects her instantly. Sid lets them know that despite the situation, he is alright and he is confident that he and Jesse would be able to make amends soon. While all of this happens, Val (Francia Raísa) realizes that her mother has sent a text message to Sophie and definitely wants to know why to what Sophie confesses that she has agreed to meet them before Jesse’s concert. Val also learns that they even have a group chat where she has not been invited to. It seems that Sophie has a better relationship with Val’s parents than the one her friend has herself. Future Sophie (Kim Cattrall) comes to the scene as she explains to her son how much she loved her friends’ parents and how they used to do everything in their power to help Val find something nearly as equal as what they had since they had been together for a long time and very much in love with each other. In that regards, they were obsessed trying to set her up with practically every single guy they could, something that end up pushing Val away from them.

The gang finally leaves for the concert and Sid is left alone at his apartment as he has decided not to go following Jesse’s recommendation. Ellen and Charlie hurry up to meet Jesse backstage they decide to tell her about his elaborate plan to bring the two friends back together. Later on, Jesse finally meets with Ellen and they recall the band they used to have when they were younger but unfortunately their conversation is soon interrupted by Meredith as she asks him to pose with her in a candid video for a social media promotion. The woman is determined to use their newly reconciliation to promote her music at all costs.

At Val’s parents’ house Juan (Mark Consuelos) and Raquel (Constance Marie) are sharing the recent sale they made on a house and suddenly the doorbell rings revealing a man named Oscar (Victor Rasuk) at the door something that makes Val immediately believe that her parents are trying to set her up again. However, much to her surprise, this time the set up was actually planned for Sophie. It seems that after many fail attempts, Val’s parents had given up on the idea that they might find someone for her since she does not seem to be the relationship type of person. They even have their doubts about Charlie’s existence, since they never met him, they believe their daughter made him up just to pretend she has been in an actual relationship. Sophie and Oscar connect very quickly and as a way to prove she can actually be as good as her friend Val decides to flirt with him.

Back to Sid where he tries to convince Hannah (Ashley Reyes) to keep him company but the woman tells him she needs to get some sleep before performing her next surgery so she bails on him. Sid has been accustomed to have his friend around so much that now he is not so sure how to deal with himself. The doorbell rings and a Delivery Man (Erik Estrada Loaiza) shows up carrying a basket of cookies for him and a card where he is asked to attend the concert signed by “Jesse.” Sid immediately realizes that this must be something planned by Charlie.

Val feels jealous watching her friend and Oscar together and decides to compete against her for his affection. Sophie gets tired of her friend’s attempts to meddle on her date and decides to confront her. The argument between the two leads to an encounter of epic proportions where Sophie even mentions to her friend that she should not violate the “Ride or Die” handbook. Val’s parents feel so guilty for watching them fight. They break up the argument between the two by confessing that the whole set up was a plan they created only to make Val realize on what she is missing by not having a serious relationship. However, unfortunately for them, the story takes a very interesting turn that they didn’t see it coming as it is revealed to them that the two women have also played them since they learned early on about the plan they had. Val reassures them that she is happy with her current status and that someday she will find her own way so they should not be concerned at all.

Back to the concert, Jesse and Meredith are told they need to approve the video that will be played during their hit song “J Street.” Among the material chosen for that purpose the video of Jesse’s failed proposal to her can be found. The man is evidently uncomfortable by the choice of using that video but decides to keep his comments for himself something that doesn’t go unnoticed by Ellen and Charlie. His sister talks to him to find out if he is alright and to convince him to speak his mind. He says he doesn’t want to add any burden to his girlfriend’s plate. His sister assures him that if the singer is the right woman for him, then he should be able to tell her the truth. Later on Jesse finally gets the courage to speak to Meredith and admits that he is not happy with her decision of adding the proposal video to their clip. He opens his heart to the woman but she shows no empathy towards him by saying it is necessary to keep it and completely refuses to change it.

Sophie talks to Val’s parents and asks them to apologize to their daughter but they tell them that their intentions where good and they were just concern about their daughter but the two women make them realize that things are not the way they used to be and Val makes them understand that she will never be alone since she has Sophie. At the concert Ellen is looking for Jesse but the man has just disappeared. Charlie still hopes for his neat plan to reunite Jesse and Sid would actually work and soon the man will be there. Sophie and Val arrive to the concert but are surprised that Jesse is not there next to Meredith. Soon they learn from Meredith that Charlie walked out on her much to everyone’s surprise.

Jesse is standing outside the concert hall when he decides to make a call; the phone he calls to starts ringing near him and it is revealed that Sid has actually decide to show up and now he’s there walking toward his friend. Future Sophie tells her son that they talked and solve their situation referring to that encounter as “2020’s Bro-speak.” Back to that moment we see Sid apologize to Jesse for crossing some boundaries and also tell him that he’ll support him no matter what. However, Jesse tells him that there is no need to do that as he was right from the very first moment and tells him about the breakup. They finally decide to leave everything behind and share a hug. Charlie takes the credit for their reconciliation as he believes that everything he did had actually worked and has brought them to this moment but then Sid corrects him by saying that in reality what he did had the opposite result to the point that he nearly died. This was what actually made him realize how dumb it would be to die without having made up with his best friend and that’s what led him there.