The Weekender, September 26, 2026: A Girl, Taken

So if you're paying attention, you know what happened in Episode 16 when it dropped Thursday. There was this, which was one of my favorite microdramas of this season...

Thanks a lot, Peyton.

Amber wasn't kidnapped, exactly, or at least not in the legal sense. You can't technically kidnap a robot - like Detective Bradshaw and the desk sergeant said, it's a stolen property case.

But that's not how it feels to Oscar, and it's my guess that's not how it feels to the reader, either. Because Amber doesn't feel like a robot.

Tell that to the cops.

But Amber's personality is not a robot personality. She's made herself more than that, which definitely has effects - on Oscar, and on everybody around her.

And the key part of this creates the irony. Amber's personality - her de facto personhood - is that she's a caregiver. She takes care of Erica, Oscar, Caroline, Katie... if she'd let her. All of a sudden, now it's Amber who needs saving.

So who did this? I'm sure you have ideas. But there are lots of potential villains here, you know. I'm not going to list them for you. Some yield easier fixes than others.

And here's what I can tell you about what comes next: nothing.

I know, I know. But Episode 17 is coming on Tuesday, so hold your horses.