If there’s one thing that Barney really could relate to, it’s the idea that Sophie might have been dating her father. Robert was quite oblivious to that possibility, and it feels like a subject that probably should have come to light much earlier in their relationship. But Sophie and her friends aren’t great planners who actually think about the future, as evidenced by Valentina’s detached attitude to the engagement she’s just pretending isn’t a real thing. I do think that Barney’s guest appearance was appropriate in size and not too distracting, and the fact that he travels with a long list of the potential things he could have done to legitimize someone hitting him with a car - plus his new shock therapy triggered by his many inappropriate comments - is a fun coda to his generally overactive character on the original series. He also inspired Sophie to look for her dad, which is sure to be an interesting journey that will yield surprising results somehow. Jesse is clearly still very much into Sophie, and after Valentina won back that love poem, she set things in motion for Sophie to find it sometime down the road. The other big relationship development that we’ll have to wait two months for an update on is one that involves Sid and Hannah, who may not be destined for each other after all if Sid and his seatmate, played by Caitlin Thompson from “This Is Us,” turn out to be a better fit based on the circumstances of life.
