“HIMYF” Season 2 Is Jam-Packed With Cameos, Including an Iconic “HIMYM” Character

The first episode of season two picks up at the end of the season one finale, 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). She also only recently broke up with Drew (Josh Peck). When the gang finds 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 (Francia Raisa). “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 will have to wait to find out just what Barney’s role will be. But we do know Cattrall’s “Sex in the City” costar John Corbett is going to appear in the new season as Sophie’s love interest. If there’s a likely candidate for Sophie’s boyfriend-dad, it’s him.

Episode two of “How I Met Your Father” sees Sophie facing a new problem: she’s a major liar. And her most recent lie was to her neighbor Shayla (Meghan Trainor), who’s pregnant and about to give birth. Sophie, needing money, lied to Shayla and told her that she had photographed tons of at-home births before. It would just be a little white lie, if Shayla didn’t go into labor sans midwife and need Sophie to inflate her birthing pool and deliver her baby. Sophie eventually comes clean, but she and Valentina get it done and Shayla gives birth at home.

The singer’s cameo as a pregnant woman in this episode, released Jan. 31, is a fun coincidence, since a day earlier, Trainor announced that she’s expecting her second child with husband Daryl Sabara.

Alexis Denisof’s Sandy Rivers is the major second “HIMYM” callback of the season. In the original show, Sandy is a news anchor alongside Robin. In the last season of that show, we find out that Sandy eventually ends up disgraced and forced to do news out of Russia. In episode five of “HIMYF,” he’s on his downward descent and has been demoted to the entertainment desk, where he interviews Jesse and Meredith.

Mark Consuelos and Constance Marie join “HIMYF” for episode five as Valentina’s parents, Juan and Raquel. Marie, of course, is a sitcom heavyweight thanks to her tenure on “George Lopez” in the aughts. Consuelos, meanwhile, just made headlines because he’s joining his wife Kelly Ripa on “Live” now that Ryan Seacrest is leaving the talk show.

In the episode, Valentina and Sophie visit Juan and Raquel who live on Long Island. Every time the friends see Val’s parents, they try to set Val up with a guy, but this time they try to set up Sophie. They add that Val isn’t good enough for the person they’ve picked. Val and Sophie figure out this is a ruse to trick Val into wanting to be with this guy, so they stage a fake, friendship-ending fight to get her parents to admit the truth.

Hilariously, we also find out that Val’s parents don’t think her ex Charlie (Tom Ainsley) really exists.