Sumith Prasad
The eighth episode of Hulu’s sitcom ‘How I Met Your Father’ season 2, titled ‘Rewardishment,’ revolves around Sophie’s inability to drive. Her gang asks her to learn to drive, only for her to respond that she can never accomplish the same. The group starts to talk about things they couldn’t succeed in accomplishing despite putting in their effort. Sid proposes trying their to best achieve the same in forty-eight hours with the support of one another and the gang agrees. The entertaining episode ends with personal revelations and feats of emotional strength. If you are up for a detailed take on the same, you are at the right place! SPOILERS AHEAD.
How I Met Your Father Season 2 Episode 8 Recap
‘Rewardishment’ begins with Sophie’s friends discussing her inability to drive despite being a “grown-up” after a terrible cab experience. As the discussion progresses, each member of the gang reveals how they weren’t able to accomplish one thing in their life regardless of the effort they had put in to achieve the same. Valentina joins her best friend to reveal that she cannot drive either. Ellen tells the group how she always fails to express her anger towards her colleague Rhonda, who intrudes into her personal and professional space. Charlie reveals that he cannot shave on his own and that Ellen is the one who does the same for him.
Sid reveals that he cannot chug a beer despite being a bar owner and has to sip the same to drink it. Jesse joins his friends and tells them that he cannot do vertical hooping. Realizing that he and his friends have one thing each to accomplish in their lives, Sid proposes “rewardishment.” He adds that the gang should accomplish their tasks in forty-eight hours to earn the “reward” of a mega sleepover and avoid the “punishment” of drinking from the nasty drinking mat filled with drippings. Sophie and Valentina go to a driving school, only for the former to realize that the latter has a vision condition.
Valentina tells Sophie how she doesn’t like glasses but she changes her goal to use contact lenses despite her reservation to put anything on her eyes. Charlie tries to learn to shave by shaving one of his legs, only to injure himself. Sid and Jesse fail miserably in their tasks as well. Sophie’s driving education comes to a stop when her instructor suffers from a heart attack. Ellen fails to confront Rhonda, even when the latter brings a pet snake to their office.
How I Met Your Father Season 2 Episode 8 Ending: Will Sophie and Jesse Get Back Together?
When Sophie’s driving instructor suffers from a heart attack, Jesse teaches her to drive. After the class, they sit and talk about Jesse’s obsession with hooping as a child, only for him to show Sophie a video of what he wants to achieve. While Sophie is looking at Jesse’s phone, he receives a notification from a dating app, which unsettles her. Jesse apologizes to her although he is free to date whoever he wants since he isn’t in a relationship with the latter anymore. The awkward incident makes it clear that Sophie and Jesse haven’t completely moved on from each other.
As far as Sophie is concerned, she is still not sure whether it is the right time to give a second chance to her and Jesse’s togetherness. Sophie hasn’t completely resolved her commitment issues and patterns, which makes her not pursue a relationship with Jesse. She has broken up with him once because of the same and she cannot risk doing it again by prematurely reuniting with him. Sophie is aware of how sensitive Jesse is and she may only want to get back together with him when she is outrightly certain about her ability to maintain a commitment.
Jesse, on the other hand, may want to respect Sophie’s decision to not date. Considering his apology to Sophie for getting back to dating apps, it is clear that he has feelings for her. But Jesse may not want to stay single all the while Sophie tries to resolve her concerns. It is not easy for him to wait for Sophie when there isn’t any surety that they will reunite. But the relationships Jesse may form with others to get distracted from Sophie are not expected to last long. As long as he cannot completely move on from his ex-girlfriend, any new relationship is destined to fail even before they get formed.
Thus, Sophie may not need to panic about Jesse trying to get into a new romantic relationship. If she succeeds in bringing changes to her relationship pattern and resolving commitment issues, they may get back together. Sophie and Jesse have always succeeded in understanding each other better than anyone, which acts as the foundation of their companionship. Such a foundation is expected to hold them together but only when the time is right.
Does the Gang Complete Their Tasks?
Yes, the gang completes their task. After injuring himself while learning to shave, Charlie ends up in a hospital. He realizes that he may learn the same better if he is not scared about wounding himself, which leads him to a fellow patient awaiting his surgery. Charlie shaves the man’s chest region confidently, without the fear of injury, and succeeds in learning to do the same. He also helps Sid to complete his task by mixing pepper juice in the latter’s drink. Sid drinks the same and struggles to deal with the heat, only for Charlie to keep a mug of beer in front of his boss. Sid unintentionally chugs the beer to subside the heat and finishes his task.
Charlie also puts contact lenses in Valentina’s eyes with the same hand he used to handle pepper. She overcomes the fear of disturbing her eyes but in the worst possible way, only to start putting contacts on her own. Ellen brings Jesse to her office to practice confrontations, only for Rhonda’s pet snake to bite her brother. As a protective sister who loves and cares for Jesse immensely, Ellen explodes in front of Rhonda and confronts her about her actions, which results in the fulfillment of her task as well. Jesse teaches Sophie to drive very calmly so that the latter can drive without inhibition. Since Jesse always offers a safe and comfortable space for Sophie, the latter takes advantage of the same and trusts her new instructor to drive confidently.
Even when all his friends manage to complete their tasks, Jesse fails to do vertical hooping. He tells Sophie that he always failed to do it because his mother didn’t show up during his vertical hooping performance on stage, which made it traumatic and a reminder of the lack of people who support him. Sophie then makes him realize that their gang is nothing short of a family that always supports him, which leads him to finish the task. However, the gang completes the tasks ten minutes past the forty-eight-hour mark. They drink drippings from the drinking mat rather than looking for excuses the same way they didn’t look for excuses to finish their tasks, only to end up suffering from bacterial meningitis.
Read More: Did Leighton Meester’s Meredith Leave How I Met Your Father?
