I invoked the update process from 2.1.3.128 to the version of 2.1.4 posted as of August 26. It did the download and then started to apply the update. This process has usually taken about 5 or 10 minutes. It has been over two hours in the applying update screen.
My question is what, if anything, can I do at this point to recover and avoid bricking the HE?
Go to port 8081, click on "Restore Previous Version" and select the latest version there. That should be step one, not the reboot process if you are stuck at applying update.