The first episode of season two picks up where the end of the season one finale left off, with Sophie reuniting with Ian (Daniel Augustin) as she tries to move on from Jesse, who's still harboring feelings for his ex Meredith (Leighton Meester). Sophie also only recently broke up with Drew (Josh Peck). When the gang find out Sid (Suraj Sharma) and Hannah (Ashley Reyes) eloped, they throw them an impromptu reception at the bar, where all three of Sophie's love interests cause drama and she loses all of them — seemingly for good.
"I blew it with three guys in 48 hours, and now I'm doing the Electric Slide," Sophie tells Valentina. "I think this is my rock bottom." But then the show cuts to older Sophie, played by Kim Cattrall. "I was wrong," she tells her son. "Rock bottom wouldn't come until later that year."
The show cuts to younger Sophie in her car on the phone; it's raining. "Mom, please call me back," she says. "I think I'm dating my dad." Fans will remember that Sophie's mom is a free spirit, and she never knew her dad. She hangs up, only to crash into another car.
She gets out to survey the damage, and the driver of the other car gets out. It's none other than Barney Stinson. "Dude!" he says, and the bumper of his car falls off.
We cut back to the future. "Wait," Sophie's son, off-camera, says. "Who's that?"
"We'll get there soon enough," she teases.
Fans finally learn the context of this scene in episode 11, the midseason finale. Sophie rear-ends Barney, who, we learn, is trying to reform from his previous womanizing ways. He assumes Sophie is a woman he's wronged who's out for revenge. She tells him he isn't and previews the drama she's found herself in — worrying that her boyfriend, Robert (John Corbett), is her dad. Barney tells her that if the story is interesting enough, he won't make her pay for the car's damage.
The story is interesting enough, but more importantly Barney and Sophie bond over the fact that they grew up without fathers. Barney tells Sophie about connecting with his dad as an adult (played by John Lithgow in "How I Met Your Mother") and how it brings him so much joy to see his dad play with Barney's daughter now. The conversation helps Sophie decide that she does want to seek out her dad after all.
