How I Met Your Father season 1, episode 8 review

Last week, I discussed how How I Met Your Father has done a bad job of portraying Sophie's enthusiasm for photography, and while more grounding in that would strengthen this week's episode, it does a much better job of exploring that aspect of her personality. Mostly because "The Perfect Shot" gets to the heart of the matter when it comes to the nature and compromises of creative labor, as well as how the people in your life can make or break it.

The huge setup involves an awards presentation ("the Oscars of public school"), which, like most of the other characters who aren't Sophie or Jesse, takes a secondary place. The former is now preoccupied with locating what she believes to be her gallery submission, but she also need emergency dental care.

The dentist's office, as well as the dentist himself, is possibly the show's single most amusing situation/character thus far. However, in the waiting area, they come across an elderly writer who dates his struggle for publication all the way back to Ronald Reagan.

This is terrible to hear, not only for the struggling photographer, but also for Jesse, who declines a full-time teaching position because he still believes he can make it despite having spent all of his money on recording. He has no idea that Meredith, his ex-girlfriend, has realized his own goal and has returned to town to tell him about it. She tells Sid and Ellen after waiting for him to show up, but they wait to tell Jesse.

The conclusion

This all leads to Sophie realizing that Drew thinks her artistic dreams are nothing more than a pipe dream, so she breaks up with him (see, I'm not saying he's completely wrong based on what we've seen of Sophie's work).

Drew has never been a real romantic potential for Sophie, but rather an obstruction to her falling in love with the one man who believes in her goal, as far as emotional experiences go. It all boils down to one emotional truth: locate the individuals in your life who are willing to help you achieve your goals. Sophie and Jesse eventually kiss after eight episodes. And it's a fantastic kiss!