Headscratchers / Harper's Island

• No, seriously, who broke the fine china set? ... and why?
  • This Troper is pretty sure it was Madison, to be malicious.
    • She looked like she was being honest when she said she wasn't the one who did it though.
    • I always assumed it was Wakefield to help discredit Madison in case she let slip who her new friend was, it doesn't really make much sense within his plan but there are a lot of holes in that anyway
• Did the stripper survive?
  • Yes, when the FBI spoke to Shea in the middle of episode 13, they said there were a couple of islanders who survived.
  • I like to imagine that she went on to have many exciting adventures with the old lady Jimmy helped out with her groceries.
    • The above theory may actually have credence to it, as Stacy the Stripper, Old Lady Julia, Doc Campbell and Karina the Psychic all survived as per Word of God. Perhaps they all teamed up to bust serial killers wherever they encountered them.
• Why were Kelly's eyes dyed red?
  • Not sure, but I think it was to lead Sheriff Mills to the red-eyed figurine and the newspapers articles beneath it.
• So they explained what the money was for, but why did Marty have a gun?
  • It's possible he was just shady like that.
  • Probably for protection... though it didn't help him much.
• Right - would the killer's plan have worked?
  • Considering all of the townsfolk evacuated, and anyone left there was be presumed dead. With Jimmy being coerced into signing a confession, and Abby trapped on the island, it seemed pretty concrete.
• How did the killer manage to kidnap Chloe out of that church, when she was standing less than five feet away from the group, without anyone seeing anything?
  • Not sure about the kidnapping itself - perhaps Chloe went off to investigate as she was the curious type. Regarding objects appearing in front of the doors, could it be Henry buying his father a bit more time?
  • Everyone else had their backs turned, while Chloe was shown (in a brief but clear shot) to be facing the opposite direction from the others, presumably looking at Wakefield. It wasn't a huge church, if she wasn't struggling (she may have been too surprised) the kidnapper wouldn't need more than a few seconds to get her out of sight.
• Why don't they just shoot Wakefield? I mean, come on, they have goddamn shotguns, he has a knife, and the guy just comes to taunt or ramble expositions to them more times that I bother to count. Half of the cast would've stayed alive if they would had just pulled the trigger instead of dicking around.
  • Almost none of them have any real history with guns, besides Henry and possibly Trish. Plus Shotguns don't have a really long range, and those that would have been good at guns sort of have the handicap of being terrified, hungry, stressed, and exhausted from being awake for several days straight. Movies make learning how to aim a gun properly for newbies look way too easy. Not to mention they had a very small amount of bullets and they all ran out of ammo quick.
    • And whenever they tried, they missed terribly.
• So, was JD Henry's actual brother, or was only Henry adopted?
  • JD was either 21 or 23 (continuity issue), making him younger than Abby (25) so he couldn't be the child of Sarah Mills or John Wakefield. It's often the case that, after a supposedly infertile couple adopt a child and stop trying to conceive, they conceive naturally anyway. So this probably happened to the Dunns.
  • Or he could be adopted too from a different pair of biological parents and not be blood related to anyone in the show.
  • Considering Uncle Marty was seen chugging a few pills in the first episode, and JD has a lot of problems solved through heavy medication, it actually would have made more sense if Henry actually had been blood related to them. Crazy runs in their family it seems.
• Doesn't it seem like we could have avoided this if Henry just told Abby how he felt?
  • Crazy people don't really think logically.
  • Also, that wouldn't have gotten him what he wanted: Henry didn't just want Abby; he wanted the two of them together on Harper's Island with no one else around.
• Thomas makes a big deal about getting Hunter on the island, trying to set him and Trish back up and eager as he thinks Hunter is a better pick. But just before Hunter leaves, Thomas shows up and is cold to the man and basically telling him to get lost. Why the about face?
  • A deleted scene on the show's DVD explains it: Katherine shows Thomas a file she got on Hunter exposing that his "golden pick" for Trish is bankrupt as his family has disowned him for using his money for various criminal schemes, making Thomas realize Trish is better off without Hunter after all.
• Where was Richard the morning before the rehearsal and why did he lie about it? He apparently wasn't with Madison, and Catherine seemed to be telling the truth when she said he wasn't with her. Since he wasn't busy setting up the murder, what was he doing?
  • Richard gave the impression of being shady in more ways than shown. Maybe he was sleeping with some local, or looking for drugs, or trying to get a gift for Catherine (although one would think, with the last, that he could have just said he was shopping for Shea).