Could not stand Henry this episode.

[wewerecursed]

I honestly think the line was kind of funny, mostly because it’s the snarky type of thing Regina would say…and come on, some of her was bound to rub off. That said, I agree the line was out of place, and just didn’t make any sense in the situation. Keep in mind though, Henry spoke HORRIBLY to Regina before the curse broke. Yes, she was the evil queen, yes, he didn’t feel like she loved him, but at the time she was still his mom and he was always very disrespectful. In his eleven year old mind, he may feel like treating Emma like Regina if she’s going to act like her. At least, I think that’s what the writers were getting at, but just tried too hard to sneak a disrespectful snap in there somewhere.

I hope they don’t keep the grudge going long, because Henry will have to realize that Emma made a mistake, and she’s sorry, and it’s not the same thing as the way he was treated by Regina.

[lilred]

I guess I excuse a lot with this character since he is a child. More often then not, I think Henry comes off as unrealistically mature (especially in the first season) It really makes more sense that he’s a bit erratic and off in his judgement – and is going to learn and grow from these short comings by the end of the series. But that’s probably just me being hopeful.

That being said, yes: it wasn’t the best line. Might even be the worst of the episode. And the delivery and abrupt cutting seemed jarringly mean spirited – and then the next minute we’re back to Henry wondering what to call Rumpel and have shifted the tone acting like that comment to Emma never happened…

More so, I really wish an adult present had called him on it. Could have been a nice moment for ‘papa Bae’ to be showcased – would have even loved everyone being caught off guard is Rumpel stole the moment by telling him to ‘mind his mother’. I think the reactions of Neal, Emma, and Henry could have saved the moment and maybe have the line feel less forced.

[schmacky]

Perhaps the writers felt that if another adult told Henry to mind his manners then it would feel like Henry isn’t justified in still being upset with Emma. I would rather have had them make Henry just completely ignore Emma than that stupid pizza line. Kids are big on the silent treatment so to me it would have felt much more natural for him to do that to her.

[laurieanne]

I am so glad that someone brought this up today. It’s been bothering me because I don’t know many adults who would let a line like that go by without saying something in the way of correction. It bothers me that Emma is just taking it. I know she hasn’t been an official mom for very long (same excuse for Neal) but she isn’t spineless either. I’m not sure why Neal would be mad at Emma for not telling him about Henry – how exactly was she supposed to do that? He is the one who left her. I think it will have to be Neal to tell Henry the exact circumstances about his and Emma’s breakup. I don’t think Emma will do it.

I am coping with this by watching Season 1 episodes and remembering how Henry used to be.

[Phee]

@AntBee wrote:

While I do think it was awkward that he said that because he appeared to be okay by the end of last week’s episode, since only a day at most has passed since he first found out about Neal, I give him a pass for now.

I know the timing with this show is weird because things happen so quickly for the characters on the show, but we don’t really get a sense of that too often imo. Like with Regina’s attempt at redeeming herself, although it lasted a good part of this season, it actually only lasted a very short time in Storybrooke time, definitely no more than two months.

So I give him a break for now since he’s only had a short amount of time to adjust, and Neal hasn’t had any time to adjust at all to being a father figure yet either to correct him. Right now he’s more of a cool uncle type, and while I think he wants to be a father in Henry’s life, it’s hard for him to do that right away. Plus, he’s still mad at Emma for keeping Henry a secret from him. She should be mad at him, but emotions aren’t rational, so for now I cut father and son slack.

WORD to all of this! Nealfire has known the kid for all of 24 hours, so he can’t take on the father role yet and put him in his place. It’s a delicate situation, and Nealfire has to tread carefully, because as we’ve seen him say, the line of effed up parent/child relations has to end here. Henry currently dislikes his mother, but he still has his father to rely on. If Nealfire snaps at Henry and takes Emma’s side, then the kid will feel completely alienated, which wouldn’t be good for his currently fragile emotional state. Nealfire knows what it’s like to feel abandoned and alone, with no parental figure on your side. He doesn’t wanna put Henry in that situation.

It also didn’t bother me that Henry then went to cheerily ask Rumple about calling him grandpa right after his snarky comment to Emma. He’s mad at Emma, he wants her to feel on the outer, and being friendly to Rumple and Nealfire will rub salt into her wound. Obviously that’s not a nice thing to do, but he’s a kid, who just found out that his mother, who he trusted, has been lying to him about something major like his father having been dead. This isn’t just some little white lie. His father was out there, alive, and he never would have known because Emma told him he was dead. That is a major lie, and frankly I don’t blame him for putting it on par with the lies Regina told him.

I’m willing to give the kid some leeway and some time to process it all and work through and express his initial anger. Like I said, it’s only been about 24 hours. Imagine you’re an 11 year old kid, and your mother had told you that your father was dead, and then you find out she’d lied about it when you suddenly come face to face with him. I know I sure as hell wouldn’t be too happy with my mother if I were in Henry’s shoes.

I do think he’s been written a bit inconsistently at times this season, but in this particular case, I think his actions fit the situation just right.

[Myril]

Oh. My. Goodness. The child is acting irrational, how could that be?!? An 11 year old boy acting inmature, who would expect that, it’s so not real!

Sorry for being snarky. But you should have known me as kid and teenager, this is a moderate and somewhat grown-up version of me here. 😉

And no, not talking about the acting but how Henry is behaving.

@Phee wrote:

It also didn’t bother me that Henry then went to cheerily ask Rumple about calling him grandpa right after his snarky comment to Emma. He’s mad at Emma, he wants her to feel on the outer, and being friendly to Rumple and Nealfire will rub salt into her wound. Obviously that’s not a nice thing to do, but he’s a kid, who just found out that his mother, who he trusted, has been lying to him about something major like his father having been dead. This isn’t just some little white lie. His father was out there, alive, and he never would have known because Emma told him he was dead. That is a major lie, and frankly I don’t blame him for putting it on par with the lies Regina told him.

I’m willing to give the kid some leeway and some time to process it all and work through and express his initial anger. Like I said, it’s only been about 24 hours. Imagine you’re an 11 year old kid, and your mother had told you that your father was dead, and then you find out she’d lied about it when you suddenly come face to face with him. I know I sure as hell wouldn’t be too happy with my mother if I were in Henry’s shoes.

Exactly.

More. At this moment, from Henry’s perspective it feels like a major betrayal of trust. Not just that it questions his trust in Emma, it questions as well Emma’s trust in him. She didn’t trust Henry to be able to handle that is father was alive, and was a thief, not a good guy, no knight in shinning armor, no hero, but someone who disappointed and hurt Emma. Emma didn’t share that with Henry, hadn’t the trust, that she could rely on him in this. You know what can hurt those who love you as much as letting them down? Not trusting them that they are able to understand and stick by you no matter what.

Think Henry will understand someday, will forgive, but it will gnaw on him for a while.

@WeWereCursed! wrote:

I honestly think the line was kind of funny, mostly because it’s the snarky type of thing Regina would say…and come on, some of her was bound to rub off.

Yes, and Henry was snarky before.

Not the most funny line ever, not the most brilliant writing, but I found it okay. (And it was no apple pie, uhm, turnover)

@LaurieAnne wrote:

I am so glad that someone brought this up today. It’s been bothering me because I don’t know many adults who would let a line like that go by without saying something in the way of correction. It bothers me that Emma is just taking it. I know she hasn’t been an official mom for very long (same excuse for Neal) but she isn’t spineless either. I’m not sure why Neal would be mad at Emma for not telling him about Henry – how exactly was she supposed to do that? He is the one who left her. I think it will have to be Neal to tell Henry the exact circumstances about his and Emma’s breakup. I don’t think Emma will do it.

I am coping with this by watching Season 1 episodes and remembering how Henry used to be.

Actually it makes me like Emma even more. Respect to her, she doesn’t try even to defend herself but takes that Henry is angry, as much as it obviously does pain her, but she seems to accept that he has every right to be angry for a while. That is so not spineless. Emma lied, no matter what good reasons she had or told herself she had or might be accepted here as good reasons, Emma lied to Henry about something so important as who his dad is.

¯\_(?????? ?)_/¯

[wewerecursed]

@myril wrote:

Actually it makes me like Emma even more. Respect to her, she doesn’t try even to defend herself but takes that Henry is angry, as much as it obviously does pain her, but she seems to accept that he has every right to be angry for a while. That is so not spineless. Emma lied, no matter what good reasons she had or told herself she had or might be accepted here as good reasons, Emma lied to Henry about something so important as who his dad is.

Lying was definitely wrong, but Emma made a mistake. It happens. It doesn’t excuse a child being disrespectful. The fact that Henry has a right to be angry doesn’t make his remark okay. Other than the lie Emma has done nothing that doesn’t deserve his complete respect. Also, Emma has to be afraid her son is going to hop on a bus the second he’s not totally pleased with her? Yeah, Regina was a crappy mother, and the reason he wasn’t properly punished for running away to Boston was because who could blame him? (I still hope Mary Margaret or someone explained to him what a dangerous thing to do that was!) But regardless of the poor kid’s insane life right now, his multiple parental roles seriously need to set some boundaries!

I’m glad Emma isn’t making any kind of excuses to Henry, I love that she just flat out said she was thinking of herself. But when she told Henry that, she’d known him for all of what, a couple of weeks? She didn’t know him well enough to know that he wouldn’t be totally devastated by the knowledge of what his father did or who he was. Just prior to that, the kid found out he was born in prison, something that was very embarrassing to her. Also at that point Emma felt like she was just trying to etch out a spot in his life. She wasn’t his “mom” yet. I’m not saying that all of that excuses lying, but I probably would have lied too.

Maybe once they’re home Grampa Charming will set him straight. 🙂

[schmacky]

Whether or not the show goes with this.. it’s my headcanon that when Emma originally told the lie it was seriously for Henry’s benefit. She wasn’t lying for herself, but for him. Let’s not forget that they’d only known each other a few weeks/months.. And let’s not forget that Emma thought he was a seriously disturbed kid who had a hard time differentiating reality and fantasy. So much so that within this same conversation he was convinced that her roommate was really her mother. A child who had a bad relationship with his adopted mother, a kid who had no friends, and was idolizing the crap out of her. And just a week or so before he asks about his father, he found out that his super hero mom actually was in prison and that’s where he was born. The kid was crying out for a hero and she wasn’t that hero. He needed one. And so here he was asking about his dad and she didn’t want to tell him his father was a liar, thief, and bad guy that sent her to prison. This kid needs a hero. So, she gave him one.

I think it wasn’t until Emma met up with Neal again that she continued the lie for selfish reasons.

[lilred]

This kid needs a hero. So, she gave him one.

This was what I believe from True North on – that Emma was giving him someone to believe in. Yes, she may have been bitter. And feared Henry trying to track Neal down (or not want him to face what she did, since it seems she’d been trying to track him down for awhile as well..that the guy is untraceable, in my headcanon at least.)

But there is a reason Emma made him a noble guy who died saving others. She had to know how a child will leech onto whatever story they can conduct or are told about the parent they’ll never meet and this fireman was what Emma wanted Henry to carry around and be inspired by.

[Slurpeez]

Yes, Emma made a mistake, and she apologized for it. She probably felt like she didn’t have a leg to stand on in that moment. I certainly wouldn’t feel like a good mother if my son caught me in a blatant huge lie. If anything, I’d expect for my child to be angry at me. Also, Neal may not know yet how to handle the situation correctly having only been a father for all of a day. Plus, let’s face it, Neal is angry at himself for leaving Emma alone to take the fall and never even knowing about his son. He probably swore he’d never leave his son like his father did him, and here he’s been absent for all of Henry’s life. He doesn’t want to add to his list of grievances in his son’s mind after just discovering he is a dad. Also, Rumple certainly isn’t one to point the finger, since he is the one ultimatley responsible for the curse. (Though arguably, if it weren’t for Rumple creating he curse, Neal and Emma never would’ve met and Henry never would have been born, but I digress). Someone should have corrected him, but none of the adults present were really in a good position to do it then right then and there. Plus, Henry’s old enough not to be lectured like a small child who throws a tantrum.

I think Henry’s disrespect is born out of anger and also emerging hormones. He’s not just a “kid” anymore. He’s a pre-teen on the cusp of adolescence. He’s bound to be a bit moody. Plus, if I were in his shoes, I’d be mad as heck, too. Does he need to be corrected at some point? Yes. At this very moment? Give the kid some room to cool down first, and then let Neal talk to him, man to man, so as not to make Henry feel babied and humiliated in front of Mom. Henry needs to learn from his father and forgive him for leaving Emma, and then learn to forgive Emma when he hears what really happened to her.

As for a hero, I think having Neal be Peter Pan would be pretty epic for Henry. The kid already thinks it’s amazing his dad is also from the Enchanted Forest. Just wait until he realizes his dad can fly!

"That’s how you know you’ve really got a home. When you leave it, there’s this feeling that you can’t shake. You just miss it." Neal Cassidy

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