As the 4th episode of The Time Traveler’s Wife begins, Clare Abshire (Rose Leslie) says she didn’t choose Henry and he didn’t choose her. They just happened to each other in the wrong order. Henry (Theo James) says everyone always talks about needing agency, but there is no agency when falling in love. As Henry arrives outside, Charisse (Natasha Lopez) checks out Clare’s dish which looks nothing like the picture with the recipe. Clare and Henry ask the interviewer whether their relationship came together like they planned. Henry claims decisions take you so you have to hold tight and call it a plan. Gomez (Desmin Borges) tells Henry to keep coming up the stairs. Charisse believes Clare likes him since she is cooking for him. Clare admits it is messed up with her and Henry because they sometimes know what is coming.

Once Henry reaches the apartment, he is greeted by Gomez. Henry says you sometimes meet someone who already hates you and you don’t know why. He goes inside where he is introduced to Charisse too. Gomez doesn’t like Henry very much but agrees to get him a beer from the fridge anyway. Clare shows Henry the meal which she calls a work in progress. Henry tries to help with the meal while Clare and Gomez go for the door. Charisse tells Henry that Clare never said he could cook or that he exists. Gomez catches up with Clare to say he has seen that guy before. Henry and Clare tell the interviewer what it can be like to know things in advance. Charisse tries to find out how long Henry and Clare have been seeing one another although Henry calls that a complicated question. Gomez returns and calls him library boy for the 50th time.

Clare interrupts to ask Henry to come with her for a minute. 41-year-old Henry is outside wanting to talk to 28-year-old Henry who is inside. Young Henry doesn’t think it would be a good time because Clare’s friends already hate him, but 41-year-old Henry is coming to dinner anyway. After the intro, Clare meets with Henry at their favorite spot near her home. She reminds him it is May 24, 2006 so it is her 18th birthday. 41-year-old Henry is hesitant to sit with her because she is 18 and he is married to an older Clare. Henry made rules to himself when this first started and he isn’t going to break them. She is surprised he doesn’t remember that this is their 152nd meeting over 12 years and the last time they’ll meet for a while. Henry confesses they won’t see one another for roughly two years until she meets a younger Henry who gets a fright.

He encourages her to live her life and be with people because the 26-year-old version of Henry isn’t saving himself for her. She remembers what happened with Jason (Spencer House). She wanted Henry to be her first, but he doesn’t want to be hers. Instead, he wants to be her last. He urges her to just let it happen. Clare claims he has never kissed her although Henry has kissed her a million times. She kisses him. A 19-year-old Clare finds herself in bed with Gomez and tells him he has to get up. He has to go because Charisse is coming back. Gomez catches up with her while she cries moments later. When he asks how they can afford this place, Clare claims it is getting demolished in three months. The plans are going to change so it’ll still be here in 20 years. A distraught Clare asks him to stop talking. She admits she is crying because of what they just did to Charisse.

She betrayed her best friend with her other best friend. Gomez only seems to care that she isn’t upset about his performance. Clare explains she was drunk, she hates herself, and this will never happen again. Gomez says he thought she was a lesbian before asking about the Henry she keeps calling for in her sleep. Clare calls Henry her lover. He thought she was alone. Clare mockingly says he took pity on her the moment his girlfriend was in Boston. Gomez says he loves Charisse, but he loves her more. Clare says she is going to tell him the truth and it is a great deal worse. She loves Henry more than she could ever love him or anyone else. When he asks where Henry is, Clare claims he’ll be back in about a year.

They argue about her waiting for him. Clare suggests she is a heck of a woman for waiting for Henry, but Gomez says she didn’t wait for him because they slept together. He admits that came out of his mouth before he thought it through. Clare argues that they shouldn’t talk about this again and everything will be fine the next time he sees her. Gomez hits the bar so he can have a few drinks. When he leaves, he calls Clare to ask her not to listen to his prior messages because he was emotional. He tells her Henry must be special and he looks forward to meeting him. Ingrid (Chelsea Frei) and Henry argue nearby. Gomez stops Henry and convinces him to stop following Ingrid. Henry relents, flips them off, and leaves. Clare and Charisse talk about Gomez.

Clare believes Gomez loves Charisse who believes otherwise. She says she is a lesbian and Charisse is a beautiful woman. Charisse feels the same way. She kisses Clare. She stops Charisse and asks what that was. Charise begins apologizing although Clare insists it is fine. Clare says Gomez is her best friend, Charisse is her best friend, and she doesn’t want to betray one of her best friends. This is a voluntary dry spell for Clare who doesn’t want to make her life any more complicated. 41-year-old Henry stops kissing Clare so he can stick to his rules. Clare doesn’t care about his rules and wants to have sex while they still have the chance. He says it is this place where he watched her grow up and where he taught her French verbs and checkers. He goes on to call it grooming so he can’t do it here. She asks whether he ever proposed to her.

Henry explains they knew it was going to happen because it was inevitable. Clare is adamant that she isn’t going to marry him unless he proposes. She doesn’t think there will ever be a better time or place than the spot where she groomed him. Henry agrees to propose, but Clare argues you wouldn’t buy a car without a test drive. She takes off her dress. They wake up together later. Henry gets up and writes something in Clare’s notebook. Clare begins crying because she isn’t going to see him again for two years. She has decided on the question he asked earlier. Before he can get her answer, he disappears. Henry jumps times and has to run from the police. Clare finds the page that Henry hid in her notebook. In the present, Henry shows up at Clare’s apartment and learns another Henry is already there.

They go inside Clare’s bedroom as older Henry tries to get some clothes. Clare wonders if it is odd for them since they should remember everything they’re going to say, but older Henry doesn’t remember everything. Henry and Henry begin arguing before older Henry remembers that Gomez is about to enter the room. He goes to check on Clare who insists everything is fine. Older Henry calls him an a-hole leading Gomez to believe it was the other Henry. Once he leaves to get the door, Henry tells his younger self that Gomez is his best friend even though he has the hots for Clare. Older Henry apologizes for what is about to happen. Ingrid bursts through the door as Clare suggests they can double date. Ingrid asks older Henry how she is doing in the future. She suggests she has known about the time traveling longer than Clare.

When Ingrid finds out that Clare knew since she was six, she says that is gross. As Ingrid and Clare go for drinks, older Henry warns the other Henry that everyone tells the truth at dinner. Ingrid learns that Clare is rich. She reveals she learned about the apartment by listening to Henry’s voicemail messages and recommends Clare do the same. Clare says Henry told her that they were about to split up and they don’t have much in common. Ingrid thinks he is wrong. She knows him. Although Clare says she doesn’t seem very happy about that, Ingrid didn’t know it was an option. When Gomez comes in, he tells Ingrid they know each other and it’ll come back to her. Younger Henry interrupts to tell them he is cooking.

They don’t believe him until he opens the door and proves that his older self is cooking. Henry says sometimes explaining is the best option. They show everyone the scars on their head and explain they got it when their mother died. Gomez believes they’re clones, but Henry tells him that they’re time travelers. Older Henry says there is something wrong with his DNA that causes him to get thrown around like a hot potato. While they try to explain how everything works, Gomez and the others look confused. Clare says Henry was never one person when she met him. Instead, he was a river that flowed all around. The only way to survive that was to become a rock. Older Henry asks for a pen while the others talk about Back to the Future and Quantum Leap.

Gomez tries to convince them that they could solve crimes, but Henry isn’t sure about that. Older Henry gives Gomez stock tips before he asks for them. He says he and Clare try to stick to lottery numbers to fun their rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle. Charisse and Clare ask why they don’t try to prevent disasters like train wrecks. Ingrid says he can barely look after himself and Clare wants him to get out there and save everyone else. She tells Clare to wake up. Henry is sure Clare knows he isn’t a superhero. Ingrid believes that is why she doesn’t like him very much. Older Henry gives Gomez a note asking him to help younger Henry as the argument between Clare and Ingrid continues. Ingrid says Clare loved the older Henry while she loved the real Henry.

Ingrid asks older Henry if she is dead because the way he keeps looking at her makes her think so. Older Henry says he doesn’t like talking about the future. He only tells her that everyone is dead in the future. She asks how it happened while Henry looks at the scars on her wrist. Ingrid believes she deserves to know. Henry says he is 41 and has never seen himself older than 42. That may mean that he finds a cure for time travel or he just didn’t run quickly enough. He is sorry for everything but argues that knowing is not a right. Knowing can be hell. He goes on to say that she doesn’t have very long, but nobody does. Young Henry says they’ll live like they’re going to live forever. Older Henry says they’ll only be wrong once. They had some good times and will get to keep those. He goes on to say it is going to be over sooner than they think before he disappears.

Gomez begins freaking out after older Henry disappears. Ingrid curses them and leaves. Young Henry tries to change the subject to dessert before Clare goes to another room to put up the blanket. When Henry gets back to Clare, he tells her he knows she has been lying to him about their first time. On that day, Clare looks at the paper Henry left. It says “Have mercy”. Clare asks Henry whether she’ll see older Henry again. He believes she will although she might have to wait a bit. She hugs him and says that was mercy. 18-year-old Clare leaves the meeting place knowing it’ll be a while before she sees Henry again.

 

The Time Traveler’s Wife Review

Although The Time Traveler’s Wife has always been a little difficult to follow, this one felt particularly messy. The episode jumped around a bit too much even though it still wasn’t bad overall. It is a bit odd to continue touching on the grooming topic so often despite the criticism the show initially received. Of course, viewers who’ve made it this far into the show have likely already overlooked that aspect of the story.

The last portion of the episode brought the emotions and drama with the revelation involving Ingrid. Overall, this was a decent episode that could’ve been tightened up a bit. It scores a 6.5 out of 10. Recaps of The Time Traveler’s Wife can be found on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support our work at this link.