Star Trek: Discovery 4x13 "Coming Home" Review

It's time for the season finale! I was so excited to see how this season would wrap up, and I don't feel disappointed in the slightest.

Right away, we get to see Tilly! I knew she was going to make another appearance this season, and since this was the finale, it was inevitable that she'd be in this episode. But it was exciting nonetheless. She's helping Earth evacuate, which I love. Since she's not with Discovery, it's great seeing her still play a significant role in what's happening.

T'Rina tries to link with the Ten-C telepathically despite doing so with an unknown species being dangerous. It does hurt her, but they learn that the Ten-C think of each other as one unit instead of individuals. Even after finishing the episode, I'm not entirely clear on what exactly the Ten-C are or how they're connected. We see them, but I have a lot of questions about what exactly we were seeing and how they operate.

Discovery is still stuck in the sphere, and they make the decision to use the spore drive to get them out even though it means destroying it and a decades-long journey back home. I had a feeling they wouldn't actually have to take a decade, but it was still a great way to add tension in an already tension-filled episode.

Meanwhile, on Book's ship, Book and Reno are trying to break free and overpower Tarka. They manage to do it, but it turns out that not even Tarka can stop the system. Book sends Reno back to Discovery, and tells Michael that he loves her in an emotional scene. I'm still very happy that Reno got to play an important role at the end of the season.

Ndoye tries to make things right by potentially sacrificing herself to stop the DMA.

When the evacuation of Earth is ceased, Tilly chooses to stay with the admiral. They talk about their lives, and Tilly talks about being happy with her life. It really was so great to see her again, and I really hope this isn't the last time. This episode made me desperately want her to come back to Discovery all over again.

Eventually, Tarka does relent and ends up breaking down as he seems to realize that he's been in the wrong. I still don't feel much sympathy for him, and I suppose the show itself doesn't either as he's the only character who actually winds up dead by the end of the episode. And I'm fine with that.

After Ndoye successfully stops Tarka's ship, they have a breakthrough with the Ten-C as well where the Ten-C finally realize that their indviduals and not one. This breakthrough actually seems to happen rather quickly if the entire concept of individuals was unknown to the Ten-C before their encounter with the Federation. It seems like it would take longer for you to get a concept that was entirely unknown to your entire species before that, but sure, I can go with it.

When everyone else goes down to Ten-C's planet to see them, Culber stays with Stamets and Adira on Discovery, saying that he wants to be with his family. It was a pretty simple moment, but I absolutely loved it.

In the end, communication with the Ten-C is successful. At first, they just want to move the DMA, but Book is adamant about them stopping using it all together. They agree though they're worried about being vulnerable. I really loved this whole scene, and I'm curious if the Ten-C will continue to talk to the Federation or not.

They also use the DMA to create a wormhole that allows Discovery to travel back without it taking decades, which (again) wasn't surprising. I am curious about what will happen now that Discovery no longer has a spore drive though, and I'm going to hazard a guess that it connects to that short that included Zora.

At the end of the episode, once Discovery is back at Earth, Tilly is reunited with the crew, and this was the part of the episode where I cried. I was completely fine until then, but I just broke when Tilly and Michael saw each other.

We get a bit of a summary about things happening at the end of the episode. Culber and Stamets are going on a vacation to Puerto Rico, which was a cute scene. Ni'Var and Earth both rejoin the Federation, which is awesome. We even get a cameo from Stacey Abrams playing United Earth's president. That was fun, though I must admit that her acting felt a little stiff. Still, it's exciting to know Earth is in the Federation again.

In some ways, this ending felt like an ending to the series, but Discovery has (thankfully) been renewed for a fifth season. I'm curious what will happen next. I'm expecting it to continue to link the series to that short that was released that plagues my thoughts now, and I definitely expect them to address what will happen now that the spore drive was destroyed. I'll be anxiously waiting to find out.

How I Met Your Mother 1x10 "Timing is Everything" Review

This week's episode of How I Met Your Father is also the season finale, which I didn't realize. It's still strange to me when shows have that short of seasons, particularly a sitcom where the episodes themselves are also short. But this being the finale made me even more curious about what would happen.

We start off the episode with the captain and his divorce again. Thanks to the internet, I now remember that the captain was actually in How I Met Your Mother. I highly doubt I would have realized that if other people hadn't pointed it out. That at least gave me a bit more context about why he had shown up out of nowhere before I started this episode, but I'll save talking about him more until the end of this review, since that's when the dots are finally connected in the episode too.

Jesse does show up, which I'm thankful for just from the standpoint of him not being a total jerk. Thankfully, he did reject Meredith, so he wasn't just showing up to reject Sophie either. For a while, it seemed like things were going well and that the two of them would end the season as a couple. That didn't happen, but I want to talk about all the other couples before I react to that.

Sid and Hannah do quite a bit of arguing in this episode, both about being long distance and the wedding. At first, I thought they'd be broken up by the end of the episode, but that's not what happens. Instead, they end up eloping. That's not what I expected at all, but I'm still suspicious about their chances of working out long term since they'll still be long distance and were already arguing about that. But we'll see. I am more optimistic about them working out than I was before.

Ellen picks up a random stray cat and tries to make it her emotional support animal, but the cat hates her. Lo and behold, the cat actually belongs to Rachel, who has begun moving in across the hall. I knew we'd see Rachel again, and she's actually giving Ellen a second chance quicker than I expected. I'm exciting to see where things go for them. Though Rachel's cat hating Ellen is sure to create some laughs.

Meanwhile, we learn that Charlie was upset because Valentina wants kids and he doesn't. This leads to them breaking up by the end of the episode. This really got to me more than I was expecting it to. I like that reason behind their break up because it feels very really and isn't something that gets brought up that often on television. I'm very curious about what their relationship will be like in the future. It feels like their romantic relationship has already been a bit all over the place in this season.

Back to Jesse and Sophie: Jesse ends up saying that he loves Sophie in his sleep, which freaks Sophie out. I'm not surprised by them going their separate ways. I was much more surprised to see Robin! But it was a good surprise.

Ironically, this ups Jesse's chances of being the father in my eyes, but who knows. I'm still suspicious of everyone.

It took me a ridiculously long time to fit together the connection between the captain's boat and Ian, but seeing Ian again was a nice surprise! I'd kind of been ignoring his chances of being the father because I didn't expect to see him again in this season, but I'm curious where this is going to go! Considering Sophie's comment about it taking a long time for her and the father to get together this, ironically, makes me think Ian isn't likely to be the father, but I wonder how big of a role he'll play in season two, and I'm excited to hopefully learn more about him.

Star Trek: Discovery 4x12 "Species Ten-C" Review

We learn a lot in this episode, and it had me on the edge of my seat for the whole time. I'm really excited to talk about it.

At the start of the episode, species Ten-C isn't responding to Discovery's message or even showing any signs of knowing that they're out there.

Zora also thinks that something is off from the beginning, but she can't tell what that is because Tarka and Book have disguised themselves. It's frustrating to watch them slowly work towards that answer the whole episode when you know how urgent it is that they figure it out.

Discovery send some DOTs to the hyperfield, but the hyperfield displays even more technology when it sucks the DOTs back in and refuses to let them go. Quickly, it takes Discovery (and Book and Tarka) as well.

Reno watches Tarka closely while everything is happening. I love seeing her suspicious of him because, after watching Book trust him for so many episodes, it feels validating to see someone else feel the same way I do about him. I really, really appreciated her playing a significant role in this episode.

Unsurprisingly, she also realizes that Tarka is going to get them all killed. It's not even remotely surprising, and I'm still so frustrated that Book didn't see that earlier. Reno mentions emotions blinding people to what's obvious, and sure, that's true. But in this case, it seems a little too far to be entirely realistic.

Thankfully, Reno does get through to Book, who confronts Tarka. It ends up going bad for him when Tarka beats him up and locks him up with Reno. He says something about how Book's one of only two real friends he's ever had, and Reno makes a comment about him having a funny way of showing it, once again voicing exactly what I'm thinking. I really appreciated having her in these scenes because I think it made them easier to watch.

They have their first contact with Ten-C, though we don't get to see them up close or anything like that. The species excretes hydrocarbons like those found on their planet, which does indeed seem to be their language, and they give the others flashing lights that are the key to decoding it. They're able to turn it into a mathematical equation with Zora's help and essentially use math to communicate with the other species. METI even gets a shoutout from Michael, which I thought was kind of funny.

Ten-C end up sending a shuttle for the president, T'Rina, Michael, and Saru. I really enjoyed watching them work out how to communicate with the Ten-C once they were there, though I'm not entirely sure why they needed to do it on the shuttle instead of on Discovery. I'd buy it being a way to make sure they're not a danger, but they beamed them back once Book and Tarka broke free instead of keeping them hostage or something, so that doesn't seem to be the case.

It's been a while since a cliffhanger has gotten me like this one has. I'm so frustrated with Tarka but also hopeful that things will work out in the end. Here's hoping.

How I Met Your Father 1x09 "Jay Street" Review

There was a lot packed into this episode that I want to talk about. After quite a few episodes that were fine but didn't leave me with much to say, this one left me with a lot of thoughts.

Before we get to what felt like the "real" episode, though, we get a clip of some guy having an affair and his wife walking in on him and his affair partner. Sophie's son interrupts this story to ask why she's telling him this, and Sophie claims it will be relevant later. However, it never becomes relevant in this episode, so I have no idea what this scene is establishing. It seems odd to just stick it early in an episode and then bring it up later in a different episode. I don't know if this is something we'll hear about in the next episode or if we're supposed to remember this later down the line.

Valentina and Sid have a mutual freak out over Sophie and Jesse having kissed, and they tell everyone else what happened despite Sophie and Jesse wanting them to keep it quiet. They go so far as to talk about them having kids, and Sid mentions having "shipped" them, which isn't a term that I'm ever going to get used to hearing on television.

Honestly, the conversation about Sophie and Jesse having kids one day makes me think even more that Jesse isn't the father. It just seems too obvious at this point.

It turns out that Sophie and Drew hadn't broken up last episode, and I'm glad the fact that Sophie cheating was mentioned and not completely glossed over like I was a little worried it would be. A few of the characters dismiss it because she's breaking up with Drew that day, and she does actually do so after struggling due to Drew's parents being there.

Meanwhile, most of the cast is at the bar because Charlie has planned a Friends Soccer Day, which doesn't go too well since no one pays attention to the soccer. In the end, it turns out that Charlie is homesick. Valentina tries to cheer him up by decorating the apartment with superficially British stuff, and they hug, but Charlie's face during that scene seems to hint that the situation isn't actually resolved.

Considering Charlie is part of the main cast, I don't think he's going back to England any time soon, so I'm curious what's going to happen with him (and Valentina) next. Or maybe he will go back and then he'll end up coming back not long after.

Hannah is in this episode again! I continue to be amazed by how often she can travel to New York considering how busy she's supposed to be.

She and Sid fight again in this episode, so that cements my belief that they're going to break up soon. Especially when she mentions that they might have to be long distance for even longer as she's considering staying in California.

While Sophie is dealing with breaking up with Drew, Jesse goes to see Meredith after he hears her song. Meredith says she wants to get back together, and we don't know Jesse's answer yet. We only know that he's late to the dinner with Sophie. We don't know if he'll stand her up entirely. 

I truly don't have any idea how this will go. I could see it either way. I'm hoping that, if he does get back together with Meredith, he doesn't blow Sophie off entirely and there's at least a phone call or something where he explains things to her, but we'll see, I guess.

As future Sophie is walking away, we see that she has the picture of Jesse that she took on her wall. On the one hand, that could be a sign that he's the father, but I think it's just as likely that it's there because that picture got her into the gallery and that jumpstarted her career. Plus, even if Jesse is the father, I do think they'll be good friends at the end of the series. So while I think the picture is there to make us suspicious, I don't necessarily think it's a sign he's the father. I mean, he could be, but the picture doesn't make it any more or less likely in my mind.

At this point, I'm more interested in whether or not Jesse is showing up at that restaurant or not in the next episode than I am what the picture means.

Star Trek: Discovery 4x11 "Rosetta" Review

By the start of this episode, Discovery has gotten closer to communicating with Species Ten-C, but they still have to get inside the hyperfield that the species has built around themselves. In the meantime, they're near a former gas giant that they believe is the species' home planet, and they make the decision to go down to investigate and hopefully find something that will help them communicate with Ten-C once they meet them.

While Discovery tries to find something on the planet, Book and Tarka make plans to hitch a ride on Discovery to make it through the hyperfield, which includes them going on Discovery themselves to execute their plan. It's actually kind of creepy how easy it apparently is for people to sneak onto the ship. I know Book knows the ship well and Tark is a genius, but that still raises a few security issues...

While on Discovery, Book and Tarka overhear General Ndoye talking to President T'Rina and learn that she's frustrated with the plan of going down to the planet instead of immediately talking to Ten-C. Book convinces Tarka to bring her in on the plan, which they do, but she insists that it be a back up plan only. Book agrees to that, but I have this sneaking suspicion that Tarka won't and will jump in and ruin things again.

Honestly, I'm frustrated that Book still trusts him at all after everything that's happened. It doesn't sit well with me.

While they're doing that, the crew on the surface of the planet finds some bones that have me extremely curious what this species is going to look like, and they also start hallucinating. It turns out that they've found Ten-C's pheromones (essentially), and those pheromones convey what their emotions were even after a long time has passed. It's...interesting. Honestly, it feels a little weird, but okay. Michael refers to it as their Rosetta Stone, which I figured was coming when I saw that the episode was titled "Rosetta."

While they're on the planet, Detmer makes a reference to having attended PTSD therapy, which I greatly appreciate after her mental health storyline seemed to have just been dropped for a long time.

Adira also admits to admiring Detmer in this episode, which was cute. It reminded me of when Stamets mentioned Adira looking up to Tilly earlier in the season, but of course, Tilly's not currently on Discovery (and I miss her). I guess it makes sense that Adira would find someone else to look up to since they're young compared to the rest of the crew.

On an exciting note, Reno's in this episode! It feels like ages since we've seen her, so I was happy to have her pop up. I enjoyed her interactions with Adira and how she gave them advice as well. Plus, Tarka takes her captive, so I'm hoping that means she's in the next episode as well.

Towards the end of the episode, they theorize that Ten-C built the hyperfield to protect themselves after their planet was destroyed, and yeah, that makes sense. I'm very curious to meet these people at this point, so I really hope that we do actually get to see them in the next episode.

How I Met Your Father 1x08 "The Perfect Shot" Review

This episode continues the trend of name dropping as many celebrities as it can within an episode. I'm pretty tired of it, especially when it comes to any scene involving Valentina's job. Did How I Met Your Mother name drop this often? I know it did sometimes, and it's possible it was this bad and I just don't remember it. But this feels really excessive, and boy, is it probably going to date the show in just a few years.

We meet Meredith in this episode. Technically, we've seen her before in the infamous video of Jesse proposing, but now we actually get to know her a bit. Sid obviously has a negative opinion of her, and I can see his point of view from how she's portrayed in this episode, but I could also see her becoming more sympathetic if we were given more time with her. As someone who strongly believes public proposals are a bad idea unless the person you're proposing to has said they're okay with it, I completely understand her feeling like she was put on the spot and saying no. And I do think it was Jesse's fault for doing that as a surprise. I actually hope that's dealt with more in the future, and it doesn't just continue to be portrayed as if we should be sympathetic for Jesse.

Anyway, it turns out that Meredith has gotten a record deal, and her single is going to be about Jesse. Jesse doesn't actually learn that in this episode, but I'm guessing he will. We also don't know what the song is like yet, but I have a feeling that is going to play a role in a future episode, and I'm curious about what direction that will go in. I'm hoping maybe it'll take a step towards making Meredith less of a villain, since she'll be expressing her own feelings in the song.

This episode also expands on comments Valentina made last time about her hating her job. It turns out that her job is even worse than what I imagined. Her boss has a doll, so he can insult her while claiming he's not actually doing so. It's crazy to believe that Valentina was putting up with this at work without venting to Sophie about it at all. That had to have been hard to take, and I hope something happens where she's able to get a new job or, at the very least, things change with her current one.

Throughout the episode, Sophie is struggling to find the perfect picture to send to the woman from last time. Her and Jesse both talk about being struggling artists, and Sophie gets worried that she'll never make it. Jesse encourages her, but later in the episode, she and Drew fight about it. I like that this potential end to their relationship relates back to the initial conflict of Drew being more "put together" than Sophie. Sophie being an artist doesn't mean she's immature or less put together, but Drew's belief that her dream isn't serious does make sense with the way he seems more serious about life. It feels like a very natural end to the relationship, though I was honestly expecting them to stay together a bit longer than that.

All Sophie says is that they had a fight, but I'm assuming they broke up considering she kisses Jesse at the end of the episode. Either that or they're going to break up pretty soon.

If I remember correctly, Sophie just told her son an episode or two ago that we had a long way to go before she got with his dad, so the fact Jesse and Sophie have already kissed really makes me think he's not the dad. (I'm extremely suspicious of Sid at this point to be honest.) This episode was the first one that made me feel even a little invested in them potentially though, as I liked the way they bonded over being artists. I don't know. We'll see how it goes.

Book Review: A Black Women's History of the United States by Daina Ramey Berry and Kali Nicole Gross

Published: February 4, 2020
Publisher: Beacon Press
Received: purchased
Read from January 8 to February 24, 2022

Synopsis from Goodreads:

A vibrant and empowering history that emphasizes the perspectives and stories of African American women to show how they are--and have always been--instrumental in shaping our country

In centering Black women's stories, two award-winning historians seek both to empower African American women and to show their allies that Black women's unique ability to make their own communities while combatting centuries of oppression is an essential component in our continued resistance to systemic racism and sexism. Daina Ramey Berry and Kali Nicole Gross offer an examination and celebration of Black womanhood, beginning with the first African women who arrived in what became the United States to African American women of today.

A Black Women's History of the United States reaches far beyond a single narrative to showcase Black women's lives in all their fraught complexities. Berry and Gross prioritize many voices: enslaved women, freedwomen, religious leaders, artists, queer women, activists, and women who lived outside the law. The result is a starting point for exploring Black women's history and a testament to the beauty, richness, rhythm, tragedy, heartbreak, rage, and enduring love that abounds in the spirit of Black women in communities throughout the nation.

Review:

A Black Women's History of the United States is the fifth book in the ReVisioning American History series that aims to look at US history through perspectives that have historically been overlooked. This one, as is obvious from the title, is about the history of Black women in the US.

Each chapter starts by profiling a Black woman from the period that the chapter focuses on. I really liked this structure. The authors didn't focus on Black women who everyone's heard of. Instead, I learned about a lot of remarkable women for the first time, and their stories helped personalize that era of history before we delved deeper into the chapter and learned more about it.

I really appreciated such a deep dive into history centered on Black women. There were parts of the book that I had heard before, but a lot of it was new information. I've never read a book that was entirely focused just on the history of Black women, and I really appreciated being able to read about it so in-depth.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn more about US history, especially in ways that it's long been overlooked.

How I Met Your Father 1x07 "Rivka Rebel"

In this episode, Sophie meets with a gallery owner who she admires, but instead of being asked to be in her gallery, the woman wants her to take pictures at her daughter's bat mitzvah. The daughter ends up being an influencer who is difficult to work with. It was kind of painful seeing the daughter portrayed as a caricature essentially.

I liked Valentina finally opening up to Sophie about her job not being all that great. They both seem to come into contact with an impressive amount of celebrities though.

There were so many celebrities name dropped in this episode that it felt excessive.

Meanwhile, Charlie is settling into his job as a bartender, and he loves it. Until he gets a 1-star review on Yelp, and then he becomes very concerned about fixing it. In the end, it turns out to have been Ellen, and they have a cute scene together where he makes it up to her by writing a positive Yelp review. They're probably my favorite relationship on the show so far. I love their friendship!

Sid opens up to Jesse about feeling stressed about wedding planning because he wants to have two weddings, including one in India, but he doesn't know how to tell Hannah. He eventually does, and things go well. Still, I have a feeling that Hannah and Sid are going to break up. I think it's just all the struggles they seem to have gone through in just seven episodes and the distance between them.

Overall, I liked this episode. Charlie and Ellen's storyline was my favorite. While I found Charlie annoying at first, the traits I found annoying aren't as prominent anymore, and he's really grown on me as a character. I hope that continues.

Star Trek: Discovery 4x10 "The Galactic Barrier" Review

This episode starts with a meeting about what to do next. They've made first contact, but they still don't have a way to directly communicate with the unknown species.

We learn early on that Bryce isn't going on the mission with them. I'm not sure if that means we'll be seeing less of him in the future, too, or if this is just for this episode. It feels like more and more of the crew are leaving, and while I do get it, that's sad. Supposedly, we are going to see Tilly again (and Saru didn't leave for as long as I thought he would), but it's still sad to potentially lose some of the cast.

On the bright side, Adira is back after also leaving for a bit! I missed them, and they have an absolutely adorable scene with Stamets in this episode that I loved.

T'Rina ends up coming along on the mission, and we get more development on her and Saru's relationship. I'm still pretty neutral about this. I don't have many feelings about them one way or another. I keep hoping that I'll become more enthusiastic about it, but that hasn't happened yet.

This episode gives us a long look at Tarka's backstory. I appreciate getting to see it as I half expected that the whole story he'd fed Book was a lie, but I don't feel any more sympathetic towards him than I did before. I get that he was friends with the guy and wants to reach him again, but that part of the episode wasn't emotionally powerful enough for me to sympathize with how desperate Tarka is.

Right before Discovery leaves the galactic barrier, they get a message that the DMA is in the path of Earth and Ni'Var. It's bad news, and honestly, I hadn't seen that coming, though in hindsight it seems like an obvious move on the writers' part. I feel pretty confident that they'll save the day before the planets are destroyed, but I am excited for the tension it'll create.

Overall, I enjoyed this episode. Immediately after watching it, I went searching for fan theories about what happens next. I don't do that often with Discovery, but I was curious about what everyone is thinking. I'm not going to go into detail about what I read, but it did make me feel even more curious about the coming episodes.