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The one character I really cannot stand is Henry. In the S1 I didn’t mind him in the beginning, but as this season has gone on I have started to hate him more day by day. I think it might be how he just left Regina and is now part of the Charming gang. I feel for Regina in that department. Dh even cannot stand him.
I like Regina but killing an entire town is making me dislike her. If it turns out she killed Kurt I think she will be equal to Henry. I just don’t like senseless killing on this show. King George did the same thing to Gus and ruined Cinderella for me. All I could see was Gus being slaughtered by a horrible man. 😥
[adrotate group="5"]The things that gets me about Henry in S2 has sort of been lampshaded by Gold. People have judged her (perhaps rightfully) very harshly for slipping back in to magic use etc and not making good on her efforts to change her ways. However, even I (an admitted Gold fan with a take-it-or-leave-it opinion of Regina) was *shocked* at the way the characters reacted after the portal incident.
Regina and Gold combine magic to block the portal, which would have killed Emma and Snow. Regina’s actions open the portal, save their lives and allow the family to be reunited. When Emma lands, Henry runs to give her a hug and immediately prepares to leave with her. I know that he missed her. I know that they risked a lot to contact them. However he looks at Regina with surprise that she might expect anything in return (genuine thanks, a hug, an “I love you”) and there isn’t even a moment where he (or anyone else) seems to think maybe he should give her the time of day.
After everything, people judge Regina very harshly for using magic, but Gold all but escapes judgement! Emma more or less tells him, “Well, I understand, and it’s *you* and that’s more or less what we expect”. She’s not even angry for a moment. Talk about a karma houdini! It’s really no wonder that Regina tries to hard to exact revenge on him later in the show.
It’s sort of hard to distinguish is this just character-turned-plot-device or are the writers really just trying to make us feel for Regina. I think it’s the latter since Gold goes ahead and says “One day they might invite you to dinner”, so I think that all of this is a very conscious decision. I don’t think that the good guys really gave Regina much of a chance in this situation. It’s no wonder that even when she knew what Cora was doing and how she was manipulating the family Charming she still sided with her mother. She’d already had unprompted evidence of how they would behave, so learning the murder was staged etc didn’t really change anything.
Geez Henry, throw the lady a bone!
"Nothing is easier than to denounce the evildoer; nothing is more difficult than to understand him."
I didn’t mind Henry in The Evil Queen but I didn’t like him in Lady of the Lake or Welcome to Storybrooke. He’s a child so there’s good reason why the adults want him out of the way somewhere safe or may not tell him everything that’s going on. Yet he takes it upon himself to do something stupid and nearly gets himself killed. He is in danger of becoming the Scrappy Doo of Once upon a Time.
Henry needs to let Regina know where she stands. He toys with her emotions and, as much as I dislike Regina for what she did to Belle, it’s not fair on her. At least when Rumple messes up, Bae and Belle let him know he’s behaved unacceptably and he has chance to make amends for his wrongdoing. They don’t contantly offer him then take away their affection which is what Henry does to Regina.
In We are Both, Regina did the right thing and let Henry go home with Charming. She really wanted Henry to stay with her and could have forced him to if she wanted but she didn’t. How did Henry reward her? In Lady of the Lake, he offered to spend time with her, something he knew she wanted, but it was all a trick so that he could steal her keys.
In Queen of Hearts, Rumple blocked the portal so Emma and Snow couldn’t get through without being killed. Regina unblocked it, at great risk to herself and despite having tried to get rid of Emma and Snow throughout season 1. She could have just left the portal in place and let Snow and Emma die, she didn’t. How did Henry reward her? He completely blanked her and didn’t at least offer her to come to dinner.
Regina just wants Henry’s love and, although he claims he does love her, he has a funny way of showing it. Henry is punishing Regina for doing something good, and he wonders why she turned to dark magic.
All magic comes with a price!
Keeper of FelixOkay, I am starting to understand the reasons behind the hate for Henry, but again, he’s a kid. and kids sometimes do mean things, even when they don’t mean to. so in that way, I feel like some of the hate is misguided.
@PriceofMagic wrote:
He is in danger of becoming the Scrappy Doo of Once upon a Time.
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I wouldn’t made that connection before, but you know who Henry does remind me of? Nathan from Heroes.
where it becomes this thing, that he’s in danger of dying every season. it happened with Nathan every season until the writers finally realized, okay, we need to be serious about this for once and actually killed him. and Nathan continually flip-flopped between good and evil every season until he died, trying to redeem himself.. Not that I want to see Henry die. It’s never good a thing to see on TV, or anywhere in general.
but back to my original point, he’s a kid. and in that regard, I feel like the hate is misguided.
I don’t hate Henry, but I think the comparison to Scrappy Doo is apt.Although Scrappy was a later addition that did nothing for his show, so maybe it’s not quite accurate.
That being said- I know that children are often inconsistent in the way that they act and I’m not saying that a kid can’t have the capacity for cruelty, but Henry has been a very particular and single minded individual. He has lived and breathed nothing else besides the pursuit of goodness, whether it be breaking a curse or uniting a family. He vehemently rejects the notion of his family even *talking* about doing something he thinks is un hero-like. So it seems unfair by his standards (even though he is a child and even though he is often manipulated by adults) for him to be so…wishy washy with Regina. You’re very right, PriceofMagic, he needs to let Regina know where she stands.
Edit: Just want to double clarify, I just think of this as character/behavior critique, not hate. Every person has room to improve and grow, especially children. Maybe we’ll see Henry come to realize that he hasn’t been be best “good guy” he could be.
"Nothing is easier than to denounce the evildoer; nothing is more difficult than to understand him."
@obisgirl wrote:
but back to my original point, he’s a kid. and in that regard, I feel like the hate is misguided.
I think with Henry, and with any child character on TV, it is a fine line to walk in terms of likability.
Child characters are often portrayed as being cute, and there is nothing worse than a kid trying to be cute when it is not naturally cute. Henry is now at that age when he is no longer cute.
Child characters are often portrayed as being naive, however sometimes that naivete can come across as pure stupidity. Henry trying to blow up magic with dynamite, really?
Child characters are often portrayed as always trying to help and yet making the situation worse when it would’ve benefitted everyone for them to stay out of it. Henry sneaking into Regina’s vault to nose around almost got him killed by poisonous snakes.
Angst- Child characters provide angst but too much angst makes the audience wish the character would stop whining.
I thought it was great acting by Jared Gilmore when Regina did the memory spell on Henry, and I liked how Henry was helping Emma search Neal’s room. If Henry behaved more like he did in The Evil Queen and less like a brat like he did in Lady of the Lake, I would find him a more likable character in general.
All magic comes with a price!
Keeper of Felix@PriceofMagic wrote:
I thought it was great acting by Jared Gilmore when Regina did the memory spell on Henry, and I liked how Henry was helping Emma search Neal’s room. If Henry behaved more like he did in The Evil Queen and less like a brat like he did in Lady of the Lake, I would find him a more likable character in general.
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I wouldn’t hate on Henry for his actions. If you want to hate Henry for his actions and some of the mean comments he makes, just remember, the writers are responsible for that. They write this stuff.
I still think it’s too early to hate Henry. He’s a kid, who can be mean, he can be nice but also, he’s a kid.
Nobody is contesting the fact that Henry is a child and that children can’t really be held to the same expectations as adults. But being a child doesn’t make you blameless. Children can and do make mistakes, and Henry has made several- and that isn’t by accident, the writers have chosen for that to happen because it is a part of their story. However, I don’t think it’s beyond the realm of expectation to say that he needs to be called out on his behavior (perhaps by one of the adults who care about him so much, except they’re all wrapped up in their own things) otherwise he’s never going to learn from his mistakes. This isn’t hate, this is just a hope that a character will change and grow, especially in a show that is full of people who are constantly learning and developing. Being a kid isn’t a free pass to do whatever and not learn from it.
Henry isn’t a real kid, obviously. He is a child character the writers have created within their story. So it’s probably about time that they had him learn a few things. We aren’t talking about real people, so when I say something like “I wish that Whale would do ____,” or “I hate that Ruby decided to ____”, it’s not quite the same as if I was talking about real people. What I’m really saying is “If this had been a real person I would have been disappointed if they behaved that way” and “I would have made other choices, there were other options” and even “I don’t agree with the way the writers handled this character, I think this was a missed opportunity”. This is why we are in a “which characters” thread, not a “which people” thread. We all know that these characters (as real and wonderful as they seem to us at times) are tools the creators and writers are using to tell a story, but it’s interesting to discuss how they are being used and whether we think it’s effective.
"Nothing is easier than to denounce the evildoer; nothing is more difficult than to understand him."
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