How I Met Your Father season 1 episode 4 recap: Dirty Thirty

This article contains SPOILERS for How I Met Your Father season 1 episode 4.

Ahead of her 30th birthday weekend, Sophie tries to change her whole persona to be classier in this week’s episode of How I Met Your Father season 1.

Catch up on everything from the last episode here!

The fourth episode of How I Met Your Father season 1 begins with Future Sophie talking about what it is like turning the big three-zero. This leads to present-day Sophie at Pemberton’s with everyone on the precipice of experiencing her 30th birthday weekend. Tonight, she is going out with Drew at a fancy restaurant, and tomorrow night, Valentina is throwing a party in their apartment, themed around the music video for “Dirrty” by Christina Aguilera.

How I Met Your Father season 1 episode 4: Sophie’s last-minute change

Ellen and Jesse explain their divided past with their parents and divorces when they say this will be the first party they have been at together since Ellen’s fifth birthday party. Drew’s apparent adulting and maturity pairs beautifully with all of Sophie’s close friends to set up the party for her. Here, there are jokes about Sid’s “mangagement ring” and how Ellen doesn’t know how to properly swipe a MetroCard. Charlie and Valentina have a much-needed discussion about the status of their relationship, where Charlie finds out he does not have to be exclusive to the woman he gave up family wealth for or use the term “girlfriend,” which he takes some umbrage with.

When Sophie is on her bourgeois date with Drew, she realizes he is a “real” adult who orders French wine by saying the years and has the responsibility levels to love and take care of a rescue dog. The date goes by in the blink of an eye. At the end of the night, Drew breaks societal norms by asking Sophie out on a second date the next night, so she invites him to her birthday party. Because of his classy ambiance, Sophie changes everything in the eleventh hour to make this party much more mature and sophisticated, much to everyone’s dismay. The night starts with some heating issues occurring by the faux book nook, and that goes well with some people still showing up in Xtina costumes.

How I Met Your Father season 1 episode 4: Charlie and Valentina get spicy

As the party gets going, Sid’s mangagement ring gets mistaken for a purity ring, Drew asks Sophie about books she bought hours ago to look smart, and Jesse tries to be a wingbro for Ellen. After Sophie finds out her appetizers are either gross or not cooked properly, she sends the siblings to the store to buy some classy apps. On this walk, Ellen finally snaps on her brother that he has no idea who she really is because of all their time apart growing up, like allergies and her former job. She is worried that her idealized version of an older brother she has had since their parents got divorced might never come to fruition.

After Charlie tries to make Valentina jealous by talking to another woman in her eyesight, he tries to throw it in her face and make his complicated partner jealous. In actuality, however, Valentina enjoyed seeing a woman try to be with Charlie because she knows the other woman has no chance with Charlie as long she is interested in him. Charlie is very much on the same page and enjoys it just as much as her.

How I Met Your Father season 1 episode 4: Ellen and Jesse are honest

Drew tries fixing some things in Sophie’s apartment only to touch a scolding pipe, the same one that broke at the start of the night which led to the heating issues. As Sophie tries to tend to Drew’s burn in her bathroom, the shower curtain falls to reveal Valentina and Charlie being intimate. Embarrassed by her supposed self-perceived inferiority compared to Drew, Sophie storms out of the bathroom.

On their way back to the party, Ellen and Jesse finally talk openly about how their adolescence was hard on both of them since they were apart for so long. Ellen realizes that her older brother was only nine years old when their parents separated, admonishing all of the blame she put on Jesse all these years. In her bathroom, Valentina explains that she associated monogamy with growing up and being boring, which is why she was scared to commit to Charlie, but she then announces she is ready to give it a try with her guy from across the pond because it just feels right with him.

How I Met Your Father season 1 episode 4: Sophie is perfect the way she is

On the roof of the apartment building, Drew comes up to console the embarrassed Sophie. She comes clean to this mature man, and he does not go running away. He admits that, sure, he is mature, but sometimes he has regretted that he didn’t have crazier nights as an adult. However, he also acknowledges that tonight he had a great night, and it felt like a night he would have wanted to experience. The two bond over their love for “Dirrty” by singing it together, something Sophie would have known if she didn’t try to impress Drew and change the party.

The episode ends with Charlie and Valentina leaving the bathroom to find all of the men and women they flirted with tonight. As they let all the beautiful singles down with the announcement the two of them are exclusive, the singles share that the party’s bartender (Sid) has been the nicest and most respectable person there tonight. Valentina and Charlie agree to never tell Sid.

What do you think about Valentina being vulnerable with Charlie? How do you think Drew will fare with Sophie being unsophisticated so often? Let us know your answers and all your thoughts in the comments below!

Stream the new episode of How I Met Your Father Season 1 next Tuesday, only on Hulu!