How I Met Your Father – Universal Therapy

By: Gladys Luna

The episode picks up on the inevitable aftermath of Jesse (Christopher Lowell) and Meredith’s (Leighton Meester) breakup as well as the blossoming relationship between Sophie (Hilary Duff) and Oscar (Victor Rasuk). This opens for a future Sophie (Kim Cattrall) telling her son about that time when she had to get creative in order to have free therapy. Back to the past where Jesse, Charlie (Tom Ainsley), Val (Francia Raísa) and Ellen (Tien Tran) are happily sharing a moment together playing drinking games when Sophie, who is returning from her date with Oscar, joins them. She lets them know about something very particular that happened at her dinner and that left her with a very uneasy feeling. She then reveals that everything was going well at her date until she kissed Oscar and noticed something in his chest that turned out to be a giant diamond necklace something that Sophie considers it could be a huge dealbreaker in their dynamic. The woman says she does not know whether if to confront him or not, but then Ellen states that when in doubt she always goes to her therapist, Dr. Dominguez (Rose Abdoo) for advice. It is something that Sophie believes it could be useful for her as well, so she asks her friend to bring this topic to her therapist on her behalf. Ellen does not seem so sure to do it at first and tries to explain that in her recent sessions she has been working on her need to please people. Therefore, she wouldn’t like to break the track on that but Sophie selfishly ignores her making the woman to end up agreeing with her request.

Sid (Suraj Sharma) returns from his trip to California where he went to see his wife, Hannah (Ashley Reyes), and is faced with something unbelievable happening at his bar. It seems Charlie has been tricked into buying a large number of rosé wine cases that now he does not know what to do with. And, to make matters worse, it has a horrible taste.

At Val’s work the woman is losing her mind over the amount of work that she has to deal with for the current week. Surprisingly, she sees Jesse enter the room saying that his new temporary job agency has sent him there. Val realizes that they sent him in response to the assistant vacancy she requested. She is also amazed to find out that he is unemployed to which he explains that he had to quit his job as a teacher when he decided to go on tour with Meredith. However, since that didn’t work as planned, now he has to find a job and he can’t return to teaching because that would mean to have to face Drew (Josh Peck) with whom he didn’t exactly ended up in very good terms. Val sympathizes with his situation and welcomes him with open arms as her new assistant. Right in that moment the woman’s boss, Fred (Dan Bucatinsky), has one of his typical tantrum episodes. Val asks Jesse if he is still sure about working with them but the man says that he has no other choice.

Ellen attends her therapy session and, although she truly wants to continue working on her issues, she is compelled to take Sophie’s place and expose the “diamond situation” as though it was her own. Later, she meets with Sophie and provides feedback about what the Dr. Dominguez had said confessing that Sophie’s reaction to Oscar’s necklace was nothing more than just her fear of having feelings for someone, getting closer to him and ending up being hurt which resonates hardly on Sophie who decides to go in search of Oscar and face the situation. The woman seems to be pleased with the therapist’s comments. Charlie and Sid believe that if she is so good that maybe she can offer some advice on what to do with all the wine cases. Ellen suggests they try to sell the product by promoting it under a celebrity name, which brings them to the conclusion of labeling after “Judge Judy” (herself).

Later on, Sophie meets with Oscar and he confesses the reason why he has the necklace. He says his mother passed a few months ago and, in an attempt to have her close to him, he decided to turn her ashes into the diamond he is wearing. This leaves the woman even more confused than she was before. Sophie goes back to Ellen asking her to bring some new questions about her relationship to her therapist. Ellen agrees to do it one more time. Once again, based on the feedback she is given, Sophie faces Oscar and shares her thoughts influenced by what the therapist has said about his mother passing. It is something that makes him reconsider continuing to wear the necklace and actually takes it off. This subtle change seems to have an important impact in the couples’ sex dynamic that worries Sophie.

In the meantime, Ellen’s idea about changing the branding of the wine has been a complete success as it is selling very fast and the social media promotion is working so well. It has even brought Judge Judy, herself, to the bar’s door. Charlie and Sid are mesmerized by having her there as she shares a brief conversation with both men about how they got to the idea of selling the wine as if it were hers. After realizing how well it has been received, she decides to make her move taking all the wine cases left with her.

Back to Val and Jesse, after having a terrible encounter with her boss Fred that lets her with a bad feeling, Jesse shows up saying that some clients have complained about the service they offered. The man is new to the agency, so he has made some mistakes that Val is not willing to tolerate. She ends up behaving poorly towards him just like her boss does and treating Jesse just as bad to the point where she almost responds with physical violence against him. Val is brought to her senses, and she is really disconcerted about her own behavior and the idea that she might just become another version of her actual boss terrifies her. She apologizes to Jesse and now, they both wonder about what to do to prevent from this situation to be repeated which brings them to Ellen and her therapist. Jesse and Val ask the woman to help them and find a possible solution for them with Dr. Dominguez. Soon after Sophie joins them bringing more of her issues about Oscar’s necklace and asking to be assisted as well. Ellen ends up cornered in her own apartment, loaded with a lot of requests and once again she accepts to help them saying this will be the last time she does it.

At the bar Ellen meets with part of the gang after she returns from her therapy session and passes Dr. Dominguez comments to each one of her friends; however, none of them is convinced by the woman’s notes that are so filled with nothing but the truth. Sophie asks Ellen to go back to Dr. Dominguez and inquire about another solution. Sadly, Ellen confesses that the doctor found out what she was doing for them and has decided to drop her as a patient.

Charlie and Sid are surprised to see how Judge Judy has managed to create a full campaign to promote the wine as they are watching a video of her. Jesse, Val and Sophie show up at Ellen’s apartment and tell her that they have convinced her therapist to give her another chance and she has accepted to have her again as a patient. Jesse confesses that she helped him and now he has gotten back his job as a teacher and things between him and Drew have been solved. Val seems to have had received the help she needed as well, as she found the courage to face her boss and in the same way he does with his team something that, surprisingly as it sounds, got her a promotion as a Junior Stylist. On the other hand, apparently things didn’t work as good for Sophie since she admits that when she was about to have sex with Oscar she came clean on how she believed his performance had improved when he was wearing his mother’s necklace. This doesn’t suit him well, making him to break up with her right on the spot. Still, to this day, Sophie believes that the necklace gave Oscar magical powers.