This reboot performed differently…
I got a timer telling it me it was doing something (which made me happy). The boot-up time was less than 2 minutes (made me somewhat happy, but interested into knowing why it wasn’t less than 1 minute.). All in all, a better boot process (and hopeful instead of frustrating):
However… when I went back to click the little icon in the corner to see what the delay was, I found myself back at this screen… and waiting… and waiting… and waiting (and still waiting… more to come if I ever get past this screen):