Loveday Writing

We then shift to the clearing on May 24^th 2006, Clare’s 18^th birthday. Clare wants to mark the occasion by having sex with Henry (41 years old) for the first time, but Henry doesn’t want to as he feels he’d be cheating on “current Clare”. When he tells her that they’ll be apart for two years and he doesn’t want her to save herself for him, she has a brief flashback to Jason raping her two years earlier. He tells her he doesn’t want to be her first, he wants to be her last.

We then go forward a year, Clare is 19 years old and has slept with the 32-year-old Gomez. As Clare tries to get Gomez to leave, he asks her how she and Charisse can afford their huge apartment, Clare tells him that the building is scheduled to be demolished in three months, however she got a tip when she was a kid (from Henry) that the plans will change and it’ll stick around for 20 years. He then asks who Henry is, as she kept saying his name as she slept. She tells him that he’s her lover.

Gomez keeps questioning Clare about Henry, as he thought she was a lesbian due to not dating any men and eventually declares that he loves her. Clare harshly tells him that she’ll only ever love Henry and that she was drunk and hates herself for sleeping with him. When Gomez leaves, he goes drinking at bar. After he leaves the bar, he hears Ingrid and a 27-year-old Henry fighting, with Ingrid yelling at Henry to stop following her. Gomez intervenes telling Henry to walk away, Henry jokingly asks Gomez if he’s threatening him and he confirms he is. Henry walks away.

On another night, Charisse and Claire are talking about Gomez. Charisse tells Clare that she thinks Gomez is into her and that he thinks she’s a lesbian. Clare jokingly admits to being a lesbian and tells Charisse she’s beautiful. Charisse briefly tells Clare that she feels she’s a lesbian and kisses her. Clare gently lets her down, but they end up sleeping together anyway.

We then go back to Clare’s 18^th birthday, where Henry lets it slip that he never actually proposed to her. Henry then admits he doesn’t want to have sex in the clearing with her as it’s the place where he saw her grow up and is afraid he groomed her. But Clare points out that she hit on him and then orders him to propose. He does, she takes her dress off and they have sex. Afterwards, Henry writes Clare a note and he hears her crying over the fact that she won’t see him for two years and he’ll be with other women during that time, moments later Henry leaves.

After leaving Clare in the clearing, Henry arrives at Clare’s apartment, bringing the scenes from the beginning full circle. Clare and 28-year-old Henry hide 41-year-old Henry in Clare’s bedroom. Gomez keeps coming in and asking if Clare’s okay and Older Henry reveals to Younger Henry that Gomez will eventually become his best friend. Ingrid then arrives, finding out about the dinner after listening to Henry’s voicemail messages. Both Henrys decide to explain everything to Gomez and Charisse, with the Older Henry salvaging Clare and Charisse’s attempt at cooking dinner. Both Henrys tell everyone that sometimes explaining is the only option.

Throughout the dinner, Gomez and Charisse simultaneously accept Henry’s condition but also struggle to get their heads around it. Older Henry gives Gomez stock tips, as well as a note asking him to help Younger Henry as he’ll need him. Meanwhile, Ingrid is antagonistic towards Clare due to jealousy, culminating in her pointing out to Clare that she’s in love with Older Henry not Younger, “current” Henry. She also asks Older Henry if she’s dead in the future. He doesn’t give her a precise date, but tells her she doesn’t have very long, although tries to keep it vague by saying that no-one has that long in life, mentioning that he has never seen himself older than 42. Henry leaves briefly after comforting Ingrid, Ingrid leaves in anger and fear moments later.

When Clare puts the blanket Older Henry was wearing back on her bed, Younger Henry asks if she’s okay. She asks if she’ll see him again, referring to Older Henry. He tells her she will but she’ll have to wait a bit for him, and gives him a hug, with the reveal that the note Older Henry left her at 18 asked her to have mercy for his younger self. Older Henry returns home to 33-year-old Clare.

Overall while I felt this was a solid episode in itself, in comparison to the others, I think it was the weakest of the season so far. I believe this is due to the fact that this is the episode that deviated the most from the source material. Ingrid crashing the dinner between Henry, Clare, Gomez and Charisse never happened, and I’m questioning whether the writers will be combining more of Gomez’s, Charisse’s and Ingrid’s scenes from the novel into the TV series. Also, Charisse and Clare never slept together in the book, although Gomez and Clare did. Despite the deviation, I appreciated the first appearances of Gomez, Charisse and Ingrid.

There are only two more episodes left of the first season and there’s still no word if there will be a second season. If the blurbs on Google are anything to go by (as well as the promo for next week’s episode), next week’s episode will focus on Henry meeting Clare’s family as well as his developing friendship with Gomez, and the finale will focus on Henry and Clare’s wedding and the relationship Henry has with his father.

Stray Observations:

-This episode depicts events from pages 127-134 and 402-420 of the novel.

-Ingrid describes 41-year-old Henry as “George Clooney in a blanket”.

-The list of stock tips Older Henry gives Gomez is as follows: Netflix, bitcoin, surgical masks (a subtle reference to the then-impending COVID-19 pandemic), palladium, Broadcom, MXTS, TransDigm, Novanta, and Abiomed (I’m not sure how accurate these names are, the handwriting was hard to make out and I tried my best with Googling them).

Best one liners and interactions:

• “I didn’t choose Henry and Henry didn’t choose me, we just happened to each other in the wrong order.” (Clare on camera)
• “I’m only Library Boy when I’m fighting crime.” “What are your superpowers?” “Ah, the Dewey Decimal System and speed shelving, doesn’t always have the desired effect in a bank robbery, but I live in hope.” (Henry-Charisse-Henry on the ‘Library Boy’ nickname Gomez has given him)
• “I just met her friends and they hate me already, this is really not a good moment for there to be two of me.” (28-year-old Henry to 41-year-old Henry via the intercom in Clare’s apartment)
• “Are you correcting me on what I’m going to think?” (18-year-old Clare to 41-year-old Henry on her older self)
• “Jesus Christ! Control yourself! Worst date ever, someone else is having my erection!” (28-year-old Henry to 41-year-old Henry as the Older Henry and Clare are hugging)
• “What happens now?” “Dinner.” “What happens at dinner?” “Everybody tells the truth.” “Even me?” “Twice.” (28-year-old Henry and 41-year-old Henry going back and forth when Ingrid arrives at Clare’s apartment and Clare invites her to stay for dinner)
• “I love him.” “You don’t seem very happy about that.” (Ingrid-Clare on Henry)
• “Love over time is death or loss, those are your only two exits.” (41-year-old Henry to Ingrid)
• “Does the sight of your own naked body offend you?” “It depresses me, what went wrong?” (41-year-old Henry to 28-year-old Henry)
• “Don’t spoil the memory of the good days with the regret that they’re over.” (41-year-old Henry to Ingrid)