MovieChat Forums > The Good Son (1993) Discussion > Why did Henry go from being smart and th...

Why did Henry go from being smart and then turned into an idiot later?

posted 8 years ago by RynoII
14 replies | jump to latest

Basically when the mother accuses him taking the rubber ducky without telling her he had it, she asks Henry how he got it. He says he took it cause he wanted something to remember Richard by. He then asks if he could please have it back.

The mother says no.

Now the smart thing for Henry to do would have been just be okay with it and let the mother have it, in order to derail suspicions away from him. He could just act all innocent about it, say he was sorry and let the mother have it. Act all sorry and cool about it.

But instead he decides to fight her for it as hard as he can and goes crazy nuts on her. Why? He was really smart up into this point, and then turns into an emotionally unstable idiot all of a sudden.

It seems the writers did this cause they had no idea how to get the mother to turn around, so they had to turn the villain into a idiot, so he could have his downfall, so to speak.

Unless I am wrong?

[–] whitespirit26 8 years ago

Because all psychopaths have a limit and Henry is very competitive. He resented his brother from the start because of the attention he got and the ducky.

[–] RynoII 8 years ago

But Henry was able to be a smart psycho the whole time, hiding his true self from everyone. Now just because of this, he suddenly snaps. I just didn't buy it at all.

[–] whitespirit26 8 years ago

Rhoda did the same thing in The Bad Seed. These are kids after all. Plus, this was after Henry's frustration with his cousin and his sister, and now his mom discovered what he'd been hiding for years.

[–] RynoII 8 years ago

I haven't seen The Bad Seed. Maybe, I guess, I just thought that he could have easily talked his way out of it.

[–] whitespirit26 8 years ago

Out of suspicion? Possibly. Out of losing the ducky, no. And that was the focal point for him at the time. I think we're supposed to be surprised by his reaction, showing just how deeply he stakes his claim on things.

[–] RynoII 8 years ago

Why did he want the ducky so bad? Even if his Mom is suspicious she doesn't have enough proof in her own mind. If the son goes psycho on her, than that will increase her suspicions more. Isn't keep her suspicion lower much more important than the ducky?

I mean Henry starts off as a smart killer. A person who considers himself a mastermind. Why would a true mastermind throw everything a way to keep the duck? Basically he is never going to get to kill anyone else, if he holds onto the duck. The duck is not important compared to the rest of his goal. Why doesn't he realize this?

[–] fallen_anakin 8 years ago

Freaking out over the duck and yelling Give it to me was weird. I remember asking my dad when I was young why he freaked out and my dad said because he wanted the duck. The thing is I understand if he was freaking out over an object that would be understandable as being important to him. I could see him having objects like that. In the movie the bad seed Rhoda definitely had objects she not only wanted but would kill to have. She freaked out and physically fought a boy and killed him for a penmanship medal. She simply wanted the medal. Now in the case here with Henry a 12 year old boy is not going to want to possess a ducky. I do wonder if it had importance to him a few years before(they never say how long ago he killed his brother) when he killed his brother. Or maybe out of spite he just did not want his mother to have it after he died because it was a connection to the brother. Henry had a mean little mind. Also think about the fact he through it in the well. Do you think he did this ultimately because it was possible evidence to his crime and an explanation to why he freaked out about the duck? Or did he just hate the idea of her having it because he is a little fu$$ and got rid of it entirely?

The scary clown doll is hiding under my bed.

[–] Mulletor (533) 7 years ago

The well is where Henry tossed everything as if it would never be heard from again.

[–] Wint3rFir3 (7176) 7 years ago

Just my guess, but I reckon he wanted the duck so bad because it was his first trophy from his first kill. I don't know why, but this seems a common pattern with serial killers - to keep a possession belonging to their victims. It was proof of what he had done and gotten away with and, more importantly, what he could do get away with in future. Kind of like a beacon of confidence, spurring him onto bigger and badder actions. When he himself realized how much power it had over him, he tossed it.

[–] Stringey (260) 7 years ago

I am thinking he threw it in the well either for two reasons. It was proof of his possible connection to the murder of his brother so if he got rid of it there was only the moms story. I actually like my second possibility better. He knew how much that duck meant to his mom now that her son was dead. He just simply did not want her to have it because it meant a lot to her. He was a little ass hole.

[–] Wint3rFir3 (7176) 7 years ago

Maybe. Or maybe he hated what it represented - it was a symbol of how, even in death, he would never compare or win against his brother for his mother's affection/attention.

[–] Stringey (260) 7 years ago

I know we did not get any background info on whether or not his mom favored the younger brother but I intend to believe the mom did not favor the younger brother. I believe Henry was just a evil selfish little bastard that hated having other siblings around to interfere with him getting all the attention. Basically the background story is up for interpretation to the imagination of the viewer. I find the idea more creepy that Henry's mom was basically as good as she could be to Henry and his other siblings. And despite given the best Henry's whole problem was that he just did not want to have to deal with siblings. The answer for why that is was basically he was a sociopath. If Mark never visited and altered the course of things I am sure Henry would have succeeded at some point in killing off his sister too.

[–] [deleted] 7 years ago

[deleted]

[–] juli18807 (71) 4 years ago

He’s also still a child, so maybe that was meant to remind us of that fact?