The first stage in Operation Emotion is to get Alex to feel sadness. Ava picks out two sad movies and knocks on Alex’s door. He answers but claims that he is about to go on a date, which causes a strange feeling within Ava’s stomach that she is reluctant to name as jealousy. Ava’s weak reasoning behind her movie night idea raises Alex’s suspicions, and he cancels his date to spend the evening with Ava. While Ava feels guilty that Alex cancels his date for her sake, it also pleases her.

When Alex doesn’t shed a tear at the first movie, Ava jokingly runs her hand along his back to check for a control panel, claiming that he “must be a robot” (69). Alex grabs Ava’s arm and spins her around, warning her against playing with him. They get into a heated discussion on optimism versus pessimism, with Ava positing many reasons to prove that optimism is a good trait. The argument causes Alex to smile and say, “Those rose-tinted glasses look good on you, Sunshine” (71). The scene marks the first time that Alex uses “Sunshine” as a nickname for Ava. Alex then makes a comment that Ava misconstrues to be a