Nick (Clark Gregg) is introducing himself to a stunned Sophie (Hilary Duff), because he believes that he is her dad. Stunned, Sophie wants to know how he knew, to which Nick responds that he had a camera outside of his shop and saw her rehearsing for when she planned to introduce herself.
Charlie (Tom Ainsley) offers them a drink but the two agree to meet for lunch the next day. The next day Jesse (Christopher Lowell) enters the bar very coyly, and while Charlie gets him a beer, he is wondering what is up with Jesse. Looking for a wingman for the night, Jesse asks Charlie if he wants to join him later that night at a new bar.
Val (Francia Raisa) joins Jesse and Charlie, as well as Ellen and Sid (Tien Tran and Suraj Sharma) announcing good news. It turns out her fiancé Swish (Michael Cimino) is cheating on her, and while the friends aren’t sure to congratulate her, Val is very excited by the news because she can’t wait to break up with him.
Later that night Jesse and Charlie hit the new bar, and while everyone responds to Charlie’s accent, Jesse is not a hit with the ladies. Sophie returns to Pemberton’s and tells Sid all about her lunch with her dad. It was not a success. Sid tells her that she can’t expect to bond with her dad after one meeting. Sophie plans a pop-up night for her dad’s hot dog restaurant at the bar, to help drum up business for the restaurant.
At the bar, Jesse is not impressed by Charlie hogging all the women because of his accent. Charlie agrees to pretend to be American while Jesse speaks with an English accent. Ellen and Val attend a fancy open house. Val realizes that the apartment they are in belongs to a wealthy socialite. Ellen suggests they go and try on the socialite’s famous hats.
Nick is unloading his materials for the pop up at the bar, and Sophie is eager to help her dad. Jesse and Charlie are excited for another date with the women they met at the bar. Sadly, they both must maintain their fake accents, and that leaves Charlie wondering if he is going to have to choose between his true love and his voice. (Insert the synergistic Little Mermaid joke.)
Val and Ellen are raiding socialite Missy’s closet, when she storms in. Missy (Kyle Richards) is angry by the invasion of her privacy. Kicked out, Ellen and Val flee the apartment. The hot dog pop up is a huge success as Sophie and Nick work side by side to fill the orders.
Ellen and Val are thrilled with their pics from Missy’s apartment. While recollecting the expensive clothes they tried on, Val realizes that she has lost the engagement ring that Swish gave her. Val convinces Ellen to go back to the apartment.
Jesse and Charlie start their night off with their dates, and attempt to change their accents by telling their dates that they were practicing for a play. Since the play was cancelled, they no longer need to keep the accents. The girls accept the explanation but as Jesse and Charlie continue to tell their story, their dates want them to do a scene from the play.
Sophie is celebrating the success of the hot dog night, when the Polish King of Hot Dogs enters the bar and tells Nick that this was his territory and that he can’t sell meat on his territory. Confused, Nick sits Sophie down and explains everything. Apparently, the hot dog business has a brutal history, and the five hot dog families carved up the city to stop the fighting and Nick and Sophie crossed into the wrong territory. Nick thinks he can buy the Polish King off, but the pop-up days are over. (I think there is more going on here.)
Jesse and Charlie are starting to act out their play and they fail miserably. Charlie can’t go through with it and tells the truth, only to learn that the girls were a part of a bachelorette party, and they never thought they would see the two guys again.
Val and Francia return to Missy’s. Val notices that Missy is wearing her ring and refuses to give it back. Sophie plans to confront the Polish Hot Dog King to tell him to leave her dad alone. Sid joins Sophie and when she encounters the Polish Hot Dog King she learns that there is no such thing as the Polish Hot Dog King, in fact the person who attempted to shake down her dad, is her cousin Jake who was doing the bit as a favor to Nick.
Threatening to expose Missy for wearing counterfeit shoes, Val demands her ring back. Back at Pemberton’s, Sophie tells Nick that she knows the truth. He tells her that he is sorry for the sideshow. Nick doesn’t want to continue the pop-up business. Nick also tells Sophie that they don’t need a thing to be in each other’s lives. Nick tells her that he didn’t want to hurt her feelings, and Sophie realizes that they both make up elaborate lies to avoid having tough conversations.
It turns out that Swish is not having an affair, he is secretly planning his and Val’s engagement party for next week.
Episode Rating: B+
I like the development of finding Sophie’s dad, and not playing out the truth for long. Clark Gregg and Hilary Duff are excellent, and Gregg has a certain relaxed tone to his character that makes him very likable in the dad role.
Val needs to get with the program and break up with Swish. Why is this dragging on for so long?
Hannah? Hello Hannah, are you coming back? Where is Ashley Reyes? There is no mention of her, and I don’t want to lose this character. Please bring her back.
I like the side stories with Jesse and Charlie and Ellen and Val. But lets give Suraj Sharma more to do.