Time Traveler’s Wife Secretly Explains Why Henry Can’t Control His Power

This article contains spoilers for The Time Traveler’s Wife episode 2.

The Time Traveler’s Wife seems to suggest Henry has no control over his time travel – but in reality that may be because of PTSD. Time travel is only a theoretical science, and as a result precious few franchises handle it consistently. In truth, time travel is usually more of a plot device to allow for interesting character arcs. HBO’s The Time Traveler’s Wife, based on the best-selling debut novel by Audrey Niffenegger, is an unusual example in that time travel allows for a unique romance.

Time travel in The Time Traveler’s Wife is viewed through an experiential lens rather than a theoretical one. The story stars a couple, Henry and Clare, who are brought together because of Henry’s apparently uncontrollable time travel. Clare first meets Henry when she is just a child, and she forms her identity around him, knowing from an early age that he is the one she is destined to marry. For Henry, the relationship really begins when he’s 28 years old and Clare bursts into his life declaring herself to be his future wife. This creates a strange, problematic relationship in which neither ever really chooses the other – they simply embrace their destinies.

Related: The Time Traveler’s Wife Cast, Character, & Changes Guide

It’s easy to focus on the problematic relationships in The Time Traveler’s Wife, and thus accept everything said about time travel at face value. In reality, though, the story suggests a lot of Henry’s beliefs about his power (or curse) are perhaps incorrect. It’s entirely possible that time travel would be controllable – were it not for his own PTSD. Here’s why this theory fits so neatly with the facts of the story.

Henry’s Daughter Can Time Travel

Most of Henry’s unexpected journeys take him back to the past, but there are actually a few occasions where he jumps to the future. In Niffenegger’s novel The Time Traveler’s Wife, this is how he first learns he and Clare are destined to have a daughter together, Alba. Crucially, the book reveals that Alba inherits her father’s state of “chrono-impairment.” Henry is able to train her in the skills she will need to survive before his own death, helping her learn how to pick locks, steal clothes, and defend herself if she is attacked because she has just appeared somewhere naked. At first glance, then, Alba’s time travel is similar to Henry’s in The Time Traveler’s Wife; but the book subtly hints there is an important difference. Unlike Henry, she has a degree of control over her powers, and is able to choose destinations at will. The Time Traveler’s Wife episode 2 appears to suggest the TV show is taking the same approach as the book. If chrono-impairment is indeed a genetic condition, then it doesn’t make sense for Alba to be able to control it when her father cannot.

Henry’s Power Can Actually Be Controlled

Henry has developed his own understanding of time travel based around his experiences. He believes certain key moments exert a sort of gravitational pull upon a time traveler, drawing him to them; that is why he has experienced his mother Annette’s death so many times. Though he does not know it, it is also why he keeps being drawn to the woods near the clearing by Clare’s house; this is the place where he will die. But, while there is certainly a degree of truth to this interpretation, it doesn’t fully explain how his powers work.

The first time Henry’s powers activated, they simply took him back to a museum – a place he’d been longing to return to. What’s more, many moments in his past – particularly in terms of his relationship with Clare – only become important precisely because a future version has traveled back to give the couple advice. All this suggests Henry really should be able to control his powers, in a similar way to Alba; he may have developed control if not for a personal tragedy Henry suffered.

Related: The Time Traveler’s Wife Must Avoid Steven Moffat’s Story Problem

Henry’s Time Travel Is Experienced By PTSD

Henry’s first experience of time travel was a benign one, but his second occurred when he was caught up in the horrific car accident that killed his mother. HBO’s The Time Traveler’s Wife faithfully follows the book, in which a Corvette crashed into the back of his mother’s car – with the impact shoving her vehicle into the back of a pickup truck. “When we hit it, a large sheet of steel flew off the back of the truck, came through our windshield, and decapitated my mother,” Henry explained to Clare. He would have been killed as well had he not time traveled out, naked, leaving his clothes behind and confusing the authorities when they rescued him.

It’s quite possible Henry is unknowingly struggling to deal with complex PTSD, a result of this child experience. PTSD in childhood affects the development of the brain, usually meaning the amygdala instinctively triggers the flight, fright or freeze response in the face of any potential threat. Trauma survivors often experience a number of symptoms: they may re-experience or relive memories as flashbacks, they may feel cut off from others and struggle to regulate their emotions, and they may well turn to substance abuse. Henry’s time travel looks to parallel complex PTSD in a fascinating way, with his power triggering at an unconscious level whenever he faces a moment of stress – his body essentially choosing to flee the potential threat. His time travel means he has revisited his trauma countless times, viewing his mother’s death from every possible angle. Interestingly, The Time Traveler’s Wife has changed the book by presenting Henry as even less well-adjusted; Clare faces a greater degree of difficulty getting him to open up, which would fit in with complex PTSD. There are even hints of alcohol abuse as a coping strategy, albeit an unwise one given alcohol can trigger his powers.

It is possible, then, that Henry’s inability to control his time travel is actually an aspect of his PTSD. This would explain why Henry cannot control his powers at all, while his daughter Alba appears destined to learn much finer control than her father. It would also mean the end of The Time Traveler’s Wife is even more tragic, because Henry never recovers from his trauma; episode 2 showed a 42-year-old Henry visiting his mother’s funeral, re-experiencing that trauma all over again, and in the book Henry dies at age 43. Ultimately, it seems Henry will never overcome his trauma in The Time Traveler’s Wife.

More: Does The Time Traveler’s Wife Steal Plots From Doctor Who?

New episodes of The Time Traveler’s Wife air on HBO Sundays at 9PM EST and release on HBO Max afterward. Subscribe to HBO Max here.

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