How I Met Your Father 1x01 "Pilot" Review

After years of talk, the How I Met Your Mother spinoff is here, and it was inevitable that I'd watch it. I was late to the game on HIMYM. I watched most of the show in the span of a year during my freshman year in college and finished it right in time to watch the last season of the show as it aired. I was one of the countless people who hated the ending. All these years later, and it's still my most hated finale ever. It soured me on the show so much that I haven't re-watched an episode since. I've seen bits a pieces when it happened to be on TV, but even that's only happened a few times because I don't watch live TV.

Despite that, I used to enjoy HIMYM enough that I wanted to give How I Met Your Father a shot. If for no other reason than to see what they do with it. Actually, that's a lie. That's not the only reason I want to watch.

Another reason I was curious to watch is because Hilary Duff plays the main character, Sophie. I was a big fan of Hilary Duff in elementary/middle school. I watched Lizzie McGuire, and after that, my friends and I listened to her music constantly. We were big enough fans that everyone in our class knew about it. Despite that, I haven't paid much attention to what she's doing in a good fifteen years. I've seen her in things here or there, but I know she's been in other shows that I just haven't bothered watching.

The combination of both having watched HIMYM and having been a Hilary Duff fan did make me more interested in the show though. Based off the first episode alone, I like the cast so far. The only other actor I'm familiar with is Francia Raisa (though I only saw her in parts of The Secret Life of an American Teenager when my sister watched it), but I thought everyone did a good job in the pilot.

I was not expecting a random posh British dude to be part of the main cast, but I guess that'll be interesting too.

One of several ways that this show is different from HIMYM so far is that, in the scenes set in the future, we see Sophie instead of her son. This makes a lot of sense. HIMYM definitely felt constrained only being able to use pre-recorded footage of the child actors reacting to stuff, since the actors aged over the years of the show. That's less of a concern with an adult actor, and the fact that Sophie is telling the story over a video call makes not seeing his face feel natural even.

Of course, Sophie's son seems older than Ted's kids were, so aging might not even have been as big a deal if we did see him, but I still think it's a good decision.

The show feels current with Sophie going on a Tinder date and taking an Uber. Jesse's backstory is even that he went viral for a failed proposal to his girlfriend. None of that would have happened in How I Met Your Mother.

That being said, the show's definitely taking place in a fictional, idealized version of 2022, since there's not a single mention of the pandemic. Ian even goes on a business trip and then moves to Australia despite Australia having had some of the strictest border control measures. After the past couple of years, it's pretty bizarre to have the characters repeatedly state that it's 2022 with no mention of what everyone's been going through in the "real world" since 2020.

If everything else about this episode wasn't enough to make me suspicious that Jesse is the "father," then him swearing that he'd never get married did. He seems to be similar to Ted while he and Sophie seem to be in a similar position to Ted and Robin, and even though Robin wasn't the mother in HIMYM, I feel like the disaster of the HIMYM finale means that they're going to handle that differently this time around.

At the end of this episode, we're told that we've already met the father, which only makes me more suspicious that it's Jesse. It seems like How I Met Your Father might have learned from its predecessor that being able to develop a relationship over time will give it more power than showing seasons' worth of relationships and then suddenly adding a new one to the story and expecting it to have the same impact.

That being said, it might not be Jesse. It might be one of the other guys in the episode, and I'd be interested in seeing if the show could do a good job pulling off a twist like that. (Though, depending on how the show goes, it might feel like less of a twist by the time it happened.)

One thing that will be interesting is how the characters are referred to in the "future" scenes. In HIMYM, Ted referred to Lily and Robin both as his kids' "aunts" throughout the series, so it was pretty clear that they weren't the mother. This time around, though, we know someone in the show is the father but not who. So I'm guessing no one will be referred to as "uncle" because it would ruin the surprise. Future Sophie will probably refer to everyone by name, but anytime the kid refers to "dad," they can't make it too obvious who he's referring to. And if he calls any of the male characters by their name, then they're probably not the father. So I wonder if he just won't directly refer to anyone at all. It'll be interesting to see how that goes.

That didn't really occur to me until I sat down to write this post, though, so now I'm wondering if he said anything that could have been a clue. But I'm guessing he didn't.

We get a dash of nostalgia for the old series when we learn that Jesse and Sid are living in Ted, Marshall, and Lily's old apartment. I really like this. I'm not sure how much time we'll be spending in each place yet, but since Sophie's the main character, I expect her apartment will be the main hub, and I like that it doesn't have ties to the old series. But the old apartment is also still there, and we'll get to see it.

Overall, I enjoyed this first episode even more than I expected I would. There are downsides to the format of HIMYM that I'm sure this spinoff will have to deal with too, but there are ways that I think it learned from HIMYM. I'm curious to see where the story goes, but I also can't say that I have that high of expectations overall. I expect it to be enjoyable, but I'm not holding out for anything groundbreaking or amazing.

The Book of Boba Fett "Chapter 5: Return of the Mandalorian" Review

I don't know at this point. I really just don't know... This show keeps baffling me even more with each episode.

This one started with a surprise: We're following the Mandalorian this episode, not Boba Fett. We get to see a bit of what he's been up to since The Mandalorian season finale, including him using the Darksaber. I'm not going to lie, it was kind of a relief to see him because I find him a more interesting character than Boba Fett.

We get some background information about Mando's sect and the Great Purge. It's great information, but I don't understand why we're learning it in The Book of Boba Fett instead of The Mandalorian. I mentioned before that Boba Fett getting his suit back was so vague that you'd probably have to watch The Mandalorian to get what's going on, and this episode increased my feeling that you essentially have to watch both shows to get what's happening. (What happens when people watch these shows in the future? Will they have to be told which seasons of each to watch between each other instead of watching one all the way through and then watching the other?)

Mando has the armorer forge a weapon for Grogu. He's clearly still attached despite giving Grogu to Luke. He plans to deliver it, so I'm curious whether this means we'll be seeing Grogu in the future. (Are we going to see Luke too? Because there's only so much of CGI Luke that I can take.) I'm not even sure if this is a hint about the next season of The Mandalorian or about the future of The Book of Boba Fett at this point because I have no idea what's happening.

Mando reveals to the armorer that he removed his helmet, and he's told that he's no longer a Mandalorian. This is obviously a big deal for him. (Once again, it's amazing how much emotion we get when he has a mask on.) I'm baffled about this being in The Book of Boba Fett instead of The Mandalorian! It's such a big moment for him as a character. Why isn't it in his own show?

In between the heavy stuff, we do get a lot of humor. Quite a bit more than in previous episodes of The Book of Boba Fett. I didn't realize how much that was missing until now. There's Mando having to remove his weapons to get on a ship and a kid staring at him on said ship. Those moments added a bit of fun to the episode that wasn't necessarily in earlier episodes.

This episode also contains a blast from the past as we see the ship that Anakin piloted on Naboo during Phantom Menace, and apparently, we'll be seeing a lot more of it since it's Mando's now. It's another "why isn't this happening in The Mandalorian?" moment. However, it does lead to a funny scene of Mando getting pulled over for speeding.

In the last scene, the episode finally ties in more to the show's actual storyline when Fennec Shand appears and asks Mando to help Boba Fett. He agrees to but says he needs to visit someone first (with that someone supposedly being Grogu). I have no idea what this means for the Mandalorian's chances for appearing in The Book of Boba Fett again this season or for what will happen in the next season of The Mandalorian.

Like I said at the start, I'm more baffled by this show with every episode. I genuinely don't know what to expect next, but the bafflement is probably doing a good job of keeping me hooked actually.

The Book of Boba Fett "Chapter 4: The Gathering Storm" Review

In episode four, the two timelines we've been seeing for the first three episodes finally connect. I'm happy to have a better idea of how much time was separating the two stories and how it all fits together. It does feel strange, though, because I thought Boba Fett wanting revenge for the Tuskens' deaths had something to do with the "present" of the show, and instead, he seems to have gotten his revenge in this episode. Now I'm even more confused about why we had those flashbacks.

Some moments in this episode were originally from The Mandalorian, such as Fennec Shand being rescued in the desert. We see Boba Fett taking her to have her body modified in order to save her life. While we knew that he saved her, I think this is the first time we learned about the modifications. I appreciated learning a bit more about her, even though it wasn't much.

We see her agree to stay with Boba Fett after he gets his ship back, and there are some hints about her backstory that might be interesting, such as why she seems eager to stay with Boba Fett (though she tries to play it off). I hope we continue to learn more about her because she could be a very interesting character if they continue developing her story.

In an effort to get his armor back, Boba Fett goes looking in the sarlacc pit. Of course, we know that it's not there because we've seen what happened to his armor in The Mandalorian. We also don't see him actually get the armor back in this episode, which makes a certain amount of sense considering that story is in The Mandalorian, but I do think that a viewer would be confused if they watched this episode without having watched The Mandalorian. There has to be some people out there who are in that position, so it feels strange to not explain more to how he actually got the armor back after we see the failure at the sarlacc pit.

In the "present," Boba Fett gathers the planet's other leaders and gets them to agree to be neutral in his conflict with the Pykes. We get a lot of ominous talk about a war brewing, which I assume will be our main focus instead of whatever we were getting with the flashbacks before.

At this point, I'm still not as invested in The Book of Boba Fett as I am The Mandalorian. I'm very confused about where the story is going, especially after all those flashbacks that seem to have little to no impact over what's going to happen going forward. I'm still going to stick it out and see where things go, but I'm not sure I would if this weren't Star Wars. We'll see if things change now that it looks like the episodes won't have flashbacks anymore.

The Book of Boba Fett "Chapter 3: The Streets of Mos Espa" Review

I came to write my review of episode 4 only to realize that this was still sitting here as a draft. I guess I never hit the publish button despite thinking I had, so here's this, which has just been sitting here written for a week!

We're three episodes in now, and the plot seems to be heating up.

Boba Fett gains some new "workers" in this episode. (I honestly don't know how else to refer to them.) They don't say much in this episode, which seems to be a theme with the people he's surrounding himself with. I'm curious about how much we'll actually learn about them as time goes on.

Jabba's twin cousins offer Boba Fett with a gift and say that they're leaving because they don't want war. So, for now at least, it seems like they're not going to be the biggest threat. I do wonder if they'll return later on though, since they were introduced and then only stuck around for two episodes.

We find out that the mayor is apparently working with the Pykes, so the mayor himself might not be the biggest threat either.

This episode also only gives us a quick flashback to the past where we see the Tuskens' village destroyed, which might be a hint to Boba Fett's current motivations. I'm also curious if that means we've seen the last of the flashbacks and are now going to "stick" to the present. I suppose we'll see in the next episode.

Book Review: Whose Names are Unknown by Sanora Babb

Published: January 1, 2004
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
Received: purchased through Life's Library
Read from July 19. 2021 to January 9, 2022

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Originally written and slated for publication in 1939, this long-forgotten masterpiece was shelved by Random House when The Grapes of Wrath met with wide acclaim. In the belief that Steinbeck already adequately explored the subject matter, Babb's lyrical novel about a farm family's relentless struggle to survive in both Depression-era Oklahoma and in the California migrant labor camps gathered dust for decades.

Rescued from obscurity by the University of Oklahoma Press, the members of the poor but proud Dunne family and their circle of equally determined friends provide another legitimate glimpse into life on the dust-plagued prairies of the Southwest and in the fertile, but bitterly disappointing, orchards and vineyards of the so-called promised land. Babb, a native of Oklahoma's arid panhandle and a volunteer with the Farm Security Administration in Depression-era California, brings an insider's knowledge and immediacy to this authentically compelling narrative. A slightly less political, more female-oriented, companion piece to The Grapes of Wrath.

Review:

Whose Names are Unknown was one of the Life's Library picks for 2021. The novel was meant to be published in 1939, but when The Grapes of Wrath was published, it was decided that the book was too similar, and it never went to print. It wasn't until 2004, right before Babb's death, that the University of Oklahoma Press finally published the book.

As I haven't read The Grapes of Wrath, I can't judge how similar the two books are, though I admit that it does seem strange to me that two books that focus on something so large in US history would be too similar to exist at the same time does seem strange to me.

The novel focuses on a family during the Great Depression. At the start of the novel, they're living in the Oklahoma panhandle struggling to survive despite frequent dust storms. Later on in the novel, they travel to California to find work.

While I'm not sure exactly how many years the novel covers, we're with the characters for what felt like a long time, and I enjoyed getting to see the same characters for that long. When the family leaves for California, they also leave their neighbors behind, and we don't get to hear much about those characters again, which was sad after spending so much time with them. The characters were the best part of the book for me. I felt very attached and wanted to help them somehow.

This book is far from a quick read. It took me about six months to finish, but that's not because it's long. The only plot the book has is a family trying to survive. While I was very drawn into the family's struggles, it wasn't a story where I was on the edge of my seat and desperately needed to keep reading to see what happened next. My experience felt much more contemplative, and I was comfortable reading it in small doses over a longer period of time instead of flying through it.

The ending of the book is also ambiguous. There's no real closure. At the end of the story, they're still in the midst of the Great Depression, and the characters don't know how they'll survive. You get the sense that it'll be more of the same for a while. That made the characters' suffering feel even more real because there was no easy fix to it.

I did enjoy this book as a slower read. If you want something faster paced, it probably won't be for you, but if a slower book isn't a problem for you, I recommend picking it up.