Henry Grubstick
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| Henry Grubstick | |
|---|---|
| First appearance | The Lyin', the Watch and the Wardrobe |
| Last appearance | Jump |
| Created by | Silvio Horta |
| Portrayed by | Christopher Gorham |
| Information | |
| Gender | Male |
| Age | 25 (est.) |
| Occupation | Accountant |
| Spouse(s) | Betty Suarez (girlfriend, possible fiancée) Charlotte "Charlie" (ex-girlfriend) |
| Children | Nathan 'Nate' Grubstick |
Henry Grubstick[1] is a fictional character in the American drama series Ugly Betty. He is played by Christopher Gorham. Henry's character is equivalent to Nicolás in Betty la Fea. Nicolás was Betty's childhood best friend but do not have a romantic relationship as she sees him as her brother, since they are very close. Henry and Nicolás have similar features. They are both tall, have dark brown hair, and wear square glasses. It is known that Grubstick has Dutch ancestry, due to the episode "Betty's Wait Problem", so that Grubstick is a Dutch-American. The name "Grubstick" is stated to be Dutch for "He who gives the fairest prices for his bricks" (Note that in reality, Grubstick does not make any sense at all in Dutch).
[edit] Background
Henry is an accountant on the 3rd floor for Meade Publications who catches Betty's eye. Although he was introduced in "The Lyin', the Watch and the Wardrobe," his first appearance was in the much delayed episode "Swag," which aired January 4, 2007 as an extended flashback.
Henry, who hails from Tucson, Arizona, is a bit of a bookworm with an excellent memory for facts and figures. He often sprinkles such facts in his conversations with Betty, followed by the statement "It's just something I know." Betty and Henry appear to mutually share an attraction, and they seem to be heading towards a relationship. However, Betty abruptly leaves the Christmas party after misunderstanding a situation where a model forces a kiss on Henry. This drives Betty back to her ex-boyfriend, Walter. When Henry calls after the party, he was intercepted by Betty's sister, Hilda. Knowing that his attraction to Betty will doom her relationship with Walter, Hilda "loses" Henry's message.
As the first half of season one ends, Betty finds herself in a romantic dilemma: She still has feelings for Henry even as she tries to work things out with Walter. Betty continues to avoid Henry, but learns Henry's "kiss" with the model was not his fault. During the episode "I'm Coming Out," Betty is busy with organizing Fashion Week for MODE and she re-encounters Henry for the first time since the Christmas party. After Hilda further interferes with them conversing, Henry eventually asks Betty why she never returned his call. She discovers that Henry called to see Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Hilda purposely "lost" the message.
The two resume talking, and unaware that Betty is back with Walter, in the episode "Brothers," Henry asks Betty on a date to see the musical Wicked, but Betty affirms "just as friends." That night, Walter tells Betty that he accepted a management position in Maryland, and the two break up. At the same time, Henry was seen at Betty's desk at MODE with a gift, a Wicked shirt with a note that read: "Can't wait, green girl!" But, the following morning, Henry confessed to Betty that he had a surprise visit from his ex-girlfriend from Tucson, Charlie, who wanted to reconciliate their relationship, not knowing that Betty and Walter had broken up. He gave her the Wicked tickets, apologizing, and left Betty broken-hearted.
The following week in the episode Derailed, Henry is surprised when he finds Betty and his now official girlfriend, Charlie, talking in the lunch room. He later thanks Betty for inviting Charlie to a party and he's confident that Betty does not feel anything for him; that is until Betty calls him over to a downtown subway station and finds out that she lost track of Charlie intentionally. He then questions Betty as to why she did it and finds out her true feelings for him. Just at the moment when Henry and Betty were about to kiss, Charlie appears back with a smile on her face saying: "It was fate that separated us Betty" and also states that she will stay in NY indefinitely.
In Secretaries' Day, a semi-conscious Henry told Betty that he loved her. In the following episode, A Tree Grows in Guadalajara Betty believes she sees Henry in Mexico. She follows the apparition and discovers her grandmother's house. Her grandmother, mistaking Betty for her mother Rosa, encourages her to fight for her love. Betty resolves to fight for Henry.
In the Season 1 finale, Charlie declares that she is pregnant, and Henry opts to go with her to Tucson after a long, tearful goodbye with Betty. However, Charlie had been cheating on him with Dr. Farkas for 2 months, and therefore the baby could possibly not be his.
The Season 2 premiere, "How Betty Got Her Grieve Back", ends with Henry getting off a bus in New York City. He tells Betty (in the following episode that he has returned to Meade because he needs the benefits for his child-to-be and that there were no job offers in Tucson. However, in "Family/Affair", Christina tells him the truth about Charlie's infidelity. Henry shows up at Betty's house intoxicated from wine coolers and declaring his love for her. Betty is hesitant to resume her romance with him, and they agree to wait. Henry, after some time, finally calls Charlie and she confesses everything. They agree that he should take a paternity test.
Henry, as Betty's request, tutors a grieving Justin in Algebra. Justin's self-admitted "bad-ass" behavior, and Henry's inability to manage him, agitate Henry greatly. Confused, Betty asks him why; he responds that it is because he is about to be a father and revealing he is the father of Charlie's baby. Betty asks him to leave, and any hope for their relationship reaches a screeching halt.
Episode 2.05 "A League of Their Own" begins with Betty attempting to land a date with an online suitor and trying to avoid Henry completely. The date, however, goes sour and Henry, conveniently spying on Betty's date, cheers her up and takes her out to dinner. The dinner is awkward to say the least and two are mistaken for a couple preparing for an engagement! A woman from another table cries out, "He's proposing!". This is the last straw Betty can stand and she promptly leaves the restaurant, running home.
Things between Betty and Henry seem to be at their very worst, until Betty emerges from her home after shutting the door in Henry's face and they share a kiss. A kiss that affirms their relationship can't be stopped under any circumstance.
Episode 2.06 "Something Wicked This Way Comes" Betty's family is concerned for her loneliness, Christina is unaware, and Daniel threatened to fire Henry. Betty, using her usual "good judgment", decides to keep their romance a secret.
Inconspicuously, Henry and Betty continue to date and go to a showing of the Broadway hit, Wicked because they couldn’t the year before. However, Daniel and Gio give the pair a hard time and their date is an utter disaster; from a fight in the lobby via illicit text messages to actually stopping a live performance.
As Betty continues to feel like her heart is in the wrong place by lying to everyone she cares about, she decides to call the night off. Henry is upset about keeping their relationship a secret and explains that Betty won’t be the only one getting their heart broken.
Their first date was a nightmare and Betty returns to her home, crying on Hilda’s shoulder. However, after Hilda gives her some sisterly advice, Betty knocks on Henry’s apartment door and the pair reconcile.
In the next episode, Betty's father discovers that Betty has been sneaking into Henry's apartment in secret and after a family fight, she leaves. Planning to move out, Henry tells her that she can move in with him and the two start living together, immediately discouraged as they realize that in a matter of months Henry will have to move back to father his child. Henry convinces Betty to reconcile with her father, as Ignacio will still be there for Betty after Henry leaves.
Following this, things between Betty and Henry seem to be going splendidly, with a flamboyant display of flirting between them occurring frequently. Henry pretends to be infatuated with the weekend receptionist, L'Amanda, in order for Betty to sneak into her office to obtain Bradford Meade's will.
Things start to get shaky when Henry walks into the Suarez residence seeing Gio dancing with Betty, and apparently having a good time. Back at Henry's apartment, Betty tries to replicate Gio's description of how he would theoretically treat the "woman he loved" in the short time they had left together, and Henry only gets frustrated. He tries to go along with what Betty wants, which includes Betty attempting to eat ice cream off of Henry's stomach with scalding chocolate sauce, and Latin dancing. At the dance club Henry becomes very defensive with Gio trying to impress Betty and Hilda, Henry's sleeve catches on fire and he storms out. Later, he comes back while Betty tries to call him, and starts dancing out on the floor. Betty appreciates that Henry tried to make an effort, and they leave the club. However, in another episode, Henry's competitive side is brought up again, when he jealously challenges Gio to see how many phone numbers they can collect form women. He also tells Betty that he is uncomfortable about her relationship with Gio, Betty responds by saying that she'll stop seeing Gio. Although she continues to see him and lies about it to Henry, when he finds out, after an incident where he accidentally ended up punching Gio, he says that she can be friends with whomever she wants and they seem to be still strong. However, when a heavily-pregnant Charlie shows up in New York, she constantly tries to interfere in their relationship and ruin their dates by pretending to be ill, coming home early and generally demanding Henry's presence. She later tells Betty that it was because it was so difficult seeing the man she loved in love with someone else. The tension in Henry and Betty's relationship over his impending departure seemed to have been taken care of when Henry proposed that instead they stay "together forever", flying back and forth to each other. While Betty was initially thrilled by the idea, when she saw Henry holding his newborn son after Charlie goes into labour at a baby shower Betty had thrown to try and bond with her, she cries as she sees it as the end of the relationship after advice from Claire Meade and Ignacio.
This does not prove to be the case when Henry comes back and pops the question to Betty, who already was asked by Gio to go to Rome. Betty's decision was not revealed. Although, Christopher Gorham, who portrays Henry, revealed that once production of Ugly Betty moves to New York, he won't be making the move.[2]
