How I Met Your Father Review: 2x03 "The Reset Button"

 This video is largely focused around dates, but first, we get an interesting tidbit from future Sophie. She tells her son that she will have kissed all her friends by the time she's 40. That's not largely surprising considering that the show will want to keep everyone guessing about who the father is, but it's interesting nonetheless.

She also refers to Ellen as Aunt Ellen when talking to her son. That doesn't really mean anything. Ted's referred to Lily and Robin as their aunts in How I Met Your Mother, so Sophie's son could be doing the same even if Ellen isn't technically his aunt, but it's interesting all the same. (Something about his "Even Aunt Ellen?" when it could just have been "Even Aunt Valentina?" does strike me as a bit curious though.)

Towards the start of the episode, Valentina invites herself along on a date with Ellen and Rachel. Valentina's date ends up being a man with an emoji for a face who doesn't talk the whole time, which was a bit amusing.

Valentina and Rachel fight before then bonding over talking about Ellen's flaws, which I didn't love. It's pretty cruel to start going on about how annoyed someone makes you like that. She and Rachel haven't even been together that long, so the fact that she's talking about Ellen like that to her friend didn't feel so great. 

Towards the end of the episode, Sophie also mentions that Rachel, Ellen, and Valentina would never hang out as a trio again. That makes me think Ellen and Rachel aren't going to hang out again. If Rachel was sticking around for a while, I don't think the show would make such a definitive statement, since who knows what would end up happening in the future. I'm kind of hoping the way Rachel talks about Ellen will be part of what leads to their break up.

Meanwhile, Charlie finds a date because he's jealous of Valentina. He recruits Hannah and Sid to come with him, and they spend the entire time trying to get airline miles off of the date, which Hannah does end up successfully doing.

The date goes disastrously for Charlie, and it doesn't seem like he'll go on a date again anytime soon. When Sophie and Valentina are talking, Valentina even declares that she and Charlie will be together one day and that she's not worried about him finding someone. However, he does, in fact, meet someone who I assume will be significant at the end of the episode.

I do think that the show will eventually pair Valentina and Charlie together, even if it's not happening right now, but I'm curious to see how this new relationship for Charlie goes.

While all their friends are on dates, Sophie and Jesse have dinner with the couple who bought Sophie's picture. Jesse is worried about them being rich people, but it turns out that the bigger problem is that the husband is some kind of men's rights influencer person. I'm kind of surprised the show went there. Of course, everything is played as comedy, but I have to say that the wife in this episode is just really sad. I'm assuming we'll never see her again, but I sure hope that somewhere out there in fictional land she gets some help.

They do end up giving Sophie and Jesse the picture back, which is great, but Sophie ends up losing the picture when a taxi drives off with it. Somehow, she'll apparently get it back, but I feel like that's a story that won't come for a while.

Book Review: Network Effect (Murderbot Diaries #5) by Martha Wells

Published: May 5, 2020
Publisher: Tor.com
Received: Christmas present
Read from January 15 to February 4, 2023
Synopsis from Goodreads:

Murderbot returns in its highly anticipated, first, full-length standalone novel.

You know that feeling when you’re at work, and you’ve had enough of people, and then the boss walks in with yet another job that needs to be done right this second or the world will end, but all you want to do is go home and binge your favorite shows? And you're a sentient murder machine programmed for destruction? Congratulations, you're Murderbot.

Come for the pew-pew space battles, stay for the most relatable A.I. you’ll read this century.

—

I’m usually alone in my head, and that’s where 90 plus percent of my problems are.

When Murderbot's human associates (not friends, never friends) are captured and another not-friend from its past requires urgent assistance, Murderbot must choose between inertia and drastic action.

Drastic action it is, then.

Review:

Network Effect is the fifth installment of The Murderbot Diaries (if you don't count the short stories), but it's the first novel. I was interested to see how that would change things. The novellas are quick reads where everything happens too fast to be dwelled on for long. Sure enough, the novel did give the story time to really dig deeper than it had before.

While I loved the novellas, the length of the novel did have me fully sucked into the story in a way that novellas didn't manage. By the second half of the book, I didn't want to put it down. I spent the entire time trying to work out all the answers, and it was one of those satisfying books where I didn't completely figure it out until Murderbot did. But once I did figure it out, everything snapped into place.

I'm also more attached to the characters than I was before, and that's saying something. The novel brought the return of all of my favorite characters from the series, from Dr. Mensah to ART. We even get to see a number of them interact with each other for the first time, which was so much fun! 

ART in particular felt more fleshed out in the novel than in the previous novella it appeared in. We learn a lot more about it and what it's capable of. Murderbot, too, goes through more character development in this book than possibly all the previous novellas combined (though there absolutely was character development in the novellas). There was just so much in this novel that I don't think could have been done in a novella, and I loved every second of it.

What I want to say next will involve spoilers, so stop reading here if you don't want to see.

Along with seeing old characters, we also meet some new ones. We meet ART's crew, who all seem lovely. But the character I'm move intrigued by is a SecUnit whose governor module Murderbot 2.0 helps override.

This was something that I was curious to see, so I was very excited. I can easily imagine how confused they are. While I have no idea what they'll do next, I'm hoping we see them again at some point.

The ending had me on the edge of my seat wanting to know what happens next. I'd love another story that centers around ART, and it sounds like we could definitely be getting that. At the same time, I'd miss the Preservation characters just like Murderbot would. I wish there was a way for them to all be in every story, but obviously, I recognize that that's not going to happen.

I still have one novella that's out, but from what I understand it's a prequel that takes place before the novel. So we still have to wait and see about what comes next for Murderbot technically.

How I Met Your Father Review: 2x02 "Midwife Crisis"

 A lot of this episode centers around Meredith. Sophie meets her for the first time, and there's a lot of tension between her and Sid.

During season one, I talked about having complicated feelings towards Meredith. She gets a lot of flak for rejecting Jesse's proposal that I don't think is warranted. That scenario is the exact reason why you shouldn't propose publicly unless it's something that you've already discussed. I hate the idea that she should have said yes just to spare Jesse's feelings or something.

Now, in season two, we're continuing to learn about more legitimate reasons not to like her, and I just wish that the proposal wasn't presented as the first sign that Meredith wasn't a great person when that one really wasn't her fault.

Sid is refusing to get along with Meredith, and he makes a big deal about her eating his burrito once. At the end of the episode, we find out that the real problem is actually that he heard she faked being sick to avoid going to Jesse's recital, which seemed rather obvious from the beginning.

I'm actually a little frustrated that Sid doesn't mention it. That absolutely feels like something you should tell your best friend. I get not wanting to hurt Jesse's feelings, but him not knowing the full story will only make things worse in the long run.

Ellen's love life seems to be going a little better than Jesse's. She and Charlie throw a party to try to get Rachel to talk to Ellen. It seems like it's been a disaster, but then it turns out that they've both just been nervous about talking to the other. I thought they were cute this episode, and I thought it was hilarous that Charlie and everyone at the party was listening in on them agreeing to a date.

While all of that is happening, Sophie is meant to take pictures of a home birth. When the midwife gets stuck on a tram, Sophie and Valentina end up having to deliver the baby. It seems to get Sophie and Valentina on a high, and Sophie is even more excited when, at the very end of the episode, she learns that her photo sold.

I'm curious to see what happens now that the photo has sold and what it means for Sophie's story.

How I Met Your Father Review: 2x01 "Cool and Chill"

I'll be honest with you, I almost didn't realize that How I Met Your Father's season two started this week. It was by chance that I saw (or heard) and ad for it while listening to Spotify. I definitely would have realized eventually though.

While I did enjoy season one well enough, I wasn't eagerly awaiting season two, but I am invested enough that I'm going to keep watching until the end, whenever that may be.

The episode starts off with Sophie agreeing to go on a date with Ian, but she lies to him that she has nothing going on romantically, which goes disastrously wrong. By the end of the episode, Ian has left, and it seems like he might not be coming back. At least not any time soon. I am curious about that. It feels like a let down to have him show up at the end of the last season as a cliffhanger and then immediately have him gone after the first episode. But I guess we'll see.

Drew also shows up at the bar, and he is by far the funniest character in this episode I think. I'm curious how much he'll be around this season.

Most of the episode takes place at Sid's bar where they're throwing a wedding party for Sid and Hannah. The newlyweds are absolutely adorable in this episode. I'm scared of potential drama coming up for them later, but I've started hoping that they're the series Lily and Marshall and will be fine.

At the end of the episode, we get a flash forward to later in the season. Sophie is frantically calling her mom saying that she thinks she was on a date with her dad, and she winds up hitting Barney's car. We got a Robin cameo last season, but I really wasn't expecting that. I've seen speculation of Barney being Sophie's dad, and I could see it. (Though it means she wasn't actually on a date with her dad, which would be a good thing.)

I'm really curious to see how that will play out. That's probably what I'm most interested in seeing at this point.

Book Review: This Winter by Alice Oseman

Published: November 5, 2015
Publisher: HarperCollin's Children's Books
Received: purchased
Read on January 15, 2023
Synopsis from Goodreads:

A short story, based on characters from Solitaire – praised as ‘The Catcher in the Rye for the digital age’ The Times

I used to think that difficult was better than boring, but I know better now…

I’m not going to think about the past few months, about Charlie and me, and all of the sad. I’m going to block it all out. Just for today.

"Happy Christmas, " I say.

The festive season isn't always happy for Tori and her brother Charlie. And this year's going to be harder than most.

Review:

This Winter is the second novella set within the same world as Solitaire and Heartstopper. It takes place over the Christmas before the Solitaire novel and during the timeline of the Heartstopper comics/graphic novels.

The story is told in three points of view: Tori's, Charlie's, and Oliver's. It was nice getting to see all three of the Spring siblings' view of the day. While we get Tori's point of view in Solitaire and Charlie's in Heartstopper and Nick and Charlie, it's the only book I'm aware of where Oliver gets his own part, which is completely understandable considering how young he is. It was somehow both heartwarming and sad how Oliver managed to both be oblivious to a lot of what was going on and also very perceptive at the same time.

Honestly, both Tori and Charlie talk a lot about how they can't believe they're related to Oliver because he's so much more cheerful than them, but a lot of that does seem to be his age. Not that I'm wishing depression on Oliver when he's older or anything, but he does have a pretty typical outlook on life for a kid his age.

Oliver's POV was a good place to end the story because, despite when it takes place, This Winter does not have the overly cheerful tone you typically expect with Christmas stories. Neither Tori or Charlie are in particularly good places, something that's not remotely shocking to anyone who reads Solitaire or Heartstopper before picking This Winter up.

Despite that, This Winter does manage to have that hopeful tone that Alice Oseman is really good at even when bad things are happening in a story. While things aren't easy, you know they will be okay.

I really enjoyed getting a look at the Spring siblings' relationship with each other. We do get that to a certain extent in Solitaire and Heartstopper, but it was a particularly big focus in This Winter, and it was nice to see. I also really loved Nick's family's reaction to meeting Charlie.

This was a quick read that I loved.