Last night's nonsensical yet entertaining series finale of Harper's Island was riddled with questions — just not the one I expected to have racing through Read the full post.
Jul 12
2009
02:48 PM ET
'Harper's Island' finale recap: I now pronounce you man and...knife!
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Henry being the killer wasn’t the biggest surprise. It was pretty obvious from JD’s death scene. He had way too much blood on him and just happened to be there. The end motive was just a bit far fetched though. 20 plus people who had been close to him needed to die so he could spend his life with Abby on Harpers island and who just happens to be his half sister. Um okay. And his switch to being a Psycho because he felt a connection to Wakefield was weak. I did enjoy this series even if it wasn’t the most brilliant writing. I really liked the 13 episode series premise. I think its a perfect scenario for the summer and I hope networks take the chance again with this premise.
It was “you never should have dogged Trish”–my husband says this means that Sully went after her, presumably before she was with Henry but who the heck knows!
Well I liked it, but in these horror movies the killer usually has a nonsense motive, though I had hope Henry was planning the murders to somehow get control of his bride’s family’s fortune. That said, Christopher Gorham (henry) and the guy who played Jimmy are AMAZING and deserve more television work!
I think that the whole Henry becomes obsessed with Abbey thing was ridiculous
What happened to the rest of the people who lived on the island?
I was wondering exactly the same thing!! I mean, yes, an island is small but there had to be at the very least a few hundred people living on the island and there’s no way Wakefield and Henry would’ve had time to kill them all…
I totally agree with all those ridiculous plot developments. I have another one. How does every single person on that Island know how to shoot a gun? I could invite my 20 closest friends, and maybe 3 of them would know how to shoot a gun. Also, what was wrong with the characters’ minds? They kept splitting up down in the tunnels, when they know for a fact that there’s a killer down there. I was really mad at Madison. She was incredibly stupid. She lied to Abby about her father kidnapping her, and she didn’t tell anyone about the other person down in the tunnels! What is wrong with her!!?? I thought that the saddest death was the one of Danny, also the Chloe/Phony English Dr. deaths were quite sad. I think Sully was very stupid to not get off the Island when he had the chance. The entire time he was all “I really hate this Island…” yet he doesn’t go with Shea and devil child! The writers were doing a great job, up until the last 3 or 4 episodes, when the plot “thickened” with drama.
In regards to your gun comment, I have a few points of contention.
1. A child could figure out how to shoot a shotgun (which most of them were using). It’s not exactly a difficult weapon to figure out.
2. Hardly any of the people who were using the guns knew how to use them (not only were they holding them incorrectly, but they managed to miss Wakefield by huge margins each time they shot at him).
3. You must not live around that area. I live in Western Washington and if I invited 20 people, they’d all know how to shoot a gun.
Who is the actor who plays Jimmy? He is HOT!!! I was so happy that he survived and that he and Abby got back together at the end. Lucky for mousy Abby she has the 2 hottest guys in Wash. state wanting her!!
They all took ferries off the island after Wellingtons murder and the discovery of the dead minister. The wedding party stayed behind to get the creepy brat back. So Henry’s plan had a few flaws, lol. The locals would have just came back afterwards and they wouldnt be alone on the island
Henry = cutest psychotic killer ever!
I agree with all the ridiculous plot developments (especially the one about the screwdriver in Henry’s foot, What was she thinking!?). The ending was so unbelievable. I was very disappointed with the reason Henry gave for slaughtering all his “friends” and helping the mass murderer Wakefield. Also, how can every person in that wedding party know how to shoot a gun? I could invite 30 of my closest friends; maybe 3 of them know how to shoot a gun. Another thing that got me shouting at the TV; the tunnels and the “let’s split up” idea. Utterly stupid. Almost all of the characters had something wrong with their heads. The only people I was sad to see murdered were Dr. Fake English Accent, Chloe, and Danny. All the others did something stupid to deserve it. Madison the devil child; she has issues. She lied to Abby about who took her, AND she didn’t tell anyone about the other person in the tunnels until it’s too late. Basically, I was very upset with the ending. Maybe they should try again.
“Dr Fake Engish Accent”! Adam Campbell who played Cal is actually english – I love how you yanks don’t realise when brits are playing americans and when they play themselves you think they are american!!
Although the finale was not as great as I expected, I was very glad that Jimmy was not the accomplice. That would have been way too obvious and I feared that the writers would have done the whole “audience thinks its too obvious, so they won’t really expect it” thing. And sadly, I never expected it would be Henry so I was surprised. I was hoping it would have been someone a bit more unexpected like Trish and they had written some great backstory as to why she did it. But I agree with everyone who said they wished they saw flashbacks of how Henry committed the murders. The show really lost credibility with me when Wakefield ended up being involved. But overall, I loved the show. And I would watch another series just like it. I think with the audience waiting so long to find out who the killer was (13+ weeks), everyone was bound to be a little disappointed. It’s not like a movie where you find out in two hours.
I thought Henry said, “you never should have dumped Trish” and just assumed he meant that Sully had maybe dated her before Henry? And since Sully didn’t know Henry was trying to ‘get’ Abby, he could’ve thought the murders had to do with Trish?
idk ..
I agree about bringing Wakefield back. It was so obvious and cheesy we weren’t expecting it. I mean, is there no originality anymore?!
And about Henry’s maliciousness. Being adopted by a “loser” family isn’t going to make you a psychopath, even if you find out you were adopted. Kids find out they’re adopted every day and don’t do that.
I agree with some other comments; I couldn’t believe Maggie and Beth lived longer than JD.
I really loved the concept, and the miniseries mystery idea. However, it was hard to find out what was on like what time frame. So maybe next time they could do it by hour, or day? Because they wear the same clothes pretty much through all the show so I had no real concept of time.
I thought Henry said, “you never should have dumped Trish” and just assumed he meant that Sully had maybe dated her before Henry? And since Sully didn’t know Henry was trying to ‘get’ Abby, he could’ve thought the murders had to do with Trish?
idk ..
I agree about bringing Wakefield back. It was so obvious and cheesy we weren’t expecting it. I mean, is there no originality anymore?!
And about Henry’s maliciousness. Being adopted by a “loser” family isn’t going to make you a psychopath, even if you find out you were adopted. Kids find out they’re adopted every day and don’t do that.
I agree with some other comments; I couldn’t believe Maggie and Beth lived longer than JD.
I really loved the concept, and the miniseries mystery idea. However, it was hard to find out what was on like what time frame. So maybe next time they could do it by hour, or day? Because they wear the same clothes pretty much through all the show so I had no real concept of time.
I think he said: You never should have dummped Trish. As in they had dated in high school and then Henery swooped in once they broke up.
actually, i’m a lil bit disappointed. I thought it was gonna be a classic Agatha type, but it only turned out to be one of the American horror cliche. Henry had too much alibis for so many deaths while some of the murders could not be committed by Wakefield alone. Like kidnapped Beth cut into two, both Henry and John were to big to do it in the tunnel. And in ep11, I know the writer dilerately set Chloe and Cal for the dramatical stuff, but how can they just stand still and watch others being killed. to many puzzles left unsolved…