History YMMV / HarpersIsland

* EvilIsSexy: [[spoiler: Henry]], but of course, to the point where many fans vilified him based on that alone.
** Weirdly, some fans also think this of Wakefield.

* SlowPacedBeginning: The first four episodes are quite a slog through an extended DevelopingDoomedCharacters. Then everyone finally realizes that people are being killed and things pick up considerably. Note that for the people watching at the time, this meant spending ''an entire month'' waiting for these people to get their asses in gear.

** [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Shane Pierce]]. Some fans liked his redemption storyline and found him to be hilariously douchey, particularly towards the end of the show. Others found him to be an unbearable, unlikeable JerkAss who [[AssholeVictim deserved to die]]. Though even most in the latter group [[spoiler: felt sympathetic towards him when he pulled his HeroicSacrifice (see AlasPoorScrappy above)]].

* [[IdiotPlot Idiot Subplot]]: The bag of money that the groomsmen find and their efforts to keep it result [[spoiler:in a nervous Booth being sent into the woods in the middle of the night to bury the money and carrying a gun he's clearly unfamiliar with. For good measure, Malcolm follows him and surprises him. Booth shoots himself in the leg out of fright and dies.]] No one in this sub-plot has any intelligence!
** To top it all off [[spoiler: Henry planted the money there for them to find it just to see what insanity would ensue amongst each other, as he was going to kill them all anyway.]]

* SugarWiki/SheReallyCanAct: Creator/KatieCassidy's performance as Trish was well-received, after several past roles which received less favorable attention.

* SpecialEffectsFailure: [[spoiler: Henry's death]]. After a huge number of well-executed death scenes with convincing blood and gore, it seems a shame that the very last of them [[spoiler: failed to actually create a convincing impalement effect. It's painfully clear from the awkward angle that for the shot with the blade protruding from his back, it just held under his arm, not stuck in his chest.]]

* ShockingSwerve: [[spoiler: Kelly's eyes being dyed red]] in the third episode proves to be just a distraction for the viewers and doesn't actually have any impact on the story at all, even though it was supposed to implicate Kelly's tattoo artist boyfriend Shane.
** Along with all the scenes of Madison and the fortune teller giving prophecies of supernatural doom.

* FanPreferredCouple: A bizarre number of fans ship [[spoiler:Henry/Abby]].

** Katherine/Hunter is also popular in fanfiction.
** Lucy/Sully is also popular, though the two never interact on screen.

** For a long time many fans believed Maggie and Wakefield were lovers...
** Kelly/Wakefield is another of the weird ones.

* BrokenAesop: [[spoiler: There's quite a bit of discussion about whether Abby is to blame for the murders when it turns out Wakefield could be her father or the Sheriff could be the murderer. The sympathetic characters generally come around to agree that Abby's parentage has no bearing on if she's a good person or not. Then it turns out Henry is Wakefield's kid and being a serial killer is in the blood after all.]]

* EnsembleDarkhorse: Due to the large cast but very [[SpotlightStealingSquad narrow character focus]] just about everyone is this. Some examples include [[NerdsAreSexy Joel Booth]], [[SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan Beth Barrington]], [[TokenBlackFriend Danny Brooks]], [[LifeOfTheParty Uncle Marty]], [[TheBartender Nikki Bolton]] and [[{{Socialite}} Lucy Daramour]].

** Of the main characters, Chloe and Cal tend to be amongst the most popular for their overall cuteness as a couple and being the PluckyComicRelief

** [[spoiler: Cole.]] plenty of interesting characters died at their peak but he takes the cake.
** [[spoiler:Sully]] had the episode before his death seem to set him up to do something great and instead he's murdered early on when he could have been a focus of the episode.
** [[spoiler: Lucy and Kelly]] die in the second episode after getting some nice focus and plot involvement which could have at least been drawn out. Killing one for the episodes death toll might have been necesarry but both feels like overkill.
** Nikki for her status as Abby and Henry's old friend not getting as much focus as it could have.

** CluelessDeputy Lillis could have had some arc or importance in the second half of the season [[spoiler: Instead he vanishes for several episodes then is KilledOffscreen]].

* BrokenAesop: [[spoiler: There's quite a bit of discussion about whether Abby is to blame for the murders when it turns out Wakefield could be her father or the Sheriff could be the murderer. The sympathetic characters generally come around to agree that Abby's parentage has no bearing on if she's a good person or not. [[FamilyUnfriendlyAesop Then it turns out Henry is Wakefield's kid and being a serial killer is in the blood after all]].]]

* {{Fanon}}: Ask the fan base and you'll find that [[spoiler:Abby was unconscious for three days, Henry meant for JD to survive locked up in the jail cell and Henry deliberately gave his middle initial as "W" on the wedding invitations to stand for "Wakefield" (his middle name is established as "James" in episode 13), despite this last one being a production error.]]

* EnsembleDarkhorse: Due to the large cast but very [[SpotlightStealingSquad narrow character focus]] just about everyone is this. Some examples include [[NerdsAreSexy Joel Booth]], [[SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan Beth Barrington]], [[BlackBestFriend Danny Brooks]], [[LifeOfTheParty Uncle Marty]], [[TheBartender Nikki Bolton]] and [[{{Socialite}} Lucy Daramour]].

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: [[spoiler: Cole.]]
** To a lesser degree, due to the vast amount of great acting and good CharacterDevelopment it's easy to feel this way about most of the characters, especially the last few to die [[spoiler: like Cal, Chloe, Trish and Sully]]., ones who impressed during their DeathInTheLimelight [[spoiler: Lucy, Kelly, JD, Booth, and Uncle Marty]]., Nikki for her status as Abby and the others old friend not getting as much focus as it could have, and RedShirt characters who made a decent enough impression [[spoiler: like Deputy Lillis and Beth]].

* * [[SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct He/She Really Can Act]]: Katie Cassidy's performance as Trish was well-received, after several past roles which received less favorable attention.

* EnsembleDarkhorse: Due to the large cast but very [[SpotlightStealingSquad narrow character focus]] just about everyone is this. Some examples include [[NerdsAreSexy Joel Booth]], [[SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan Beth Barrington]], [[BlackBestFriend Danny Brooks]], [[LifeOfTheParty Uncle Marty]], and [[TheBartender Nikki Bolton]].

* MoralEventHorizon: In retrospect, this happened in ''Gurgle'' when [[spoiler: Henry kept Beth, Danny, Sully Cal and Chloe from leaving for the ferry to help look for Madison. By doing so, he doomedthem to die when them leaving wouldn’t have hurt his plan at all, they’d all been good friends to him -although he did have a grudge against Sully- and he saw how scared and unnerved they already were by everything that had happened]].

** To a lesser degree, it's easy to feel this way about a lot of characters, especially the last few to die [[spoiler: like Trish and Sully]]., ones who impressed during their DeathInTheLimelight [[spoiler: Lucy and Kelly]]., Nikki for her status as Abby and the others old friend not getting as much focus as it could have, and RedShirt characters who made a decent enough impression [[spoiler: like Deputy Lillis and Beth]].

** Trish is one as well. Not only does she [[spoiler: watch her dad die horribly in front of her]], but in the end, [[spoiler: she's murdered by the one man she loved the most and trusted with her life after he used their entire engagement as a means to get a different girl to fall in love with him.]]

* EnsembleDarkhorse: Due to the large cast but very [[SpotlightStealingSquad narrow character focus]] just about everyone is this. Some examples include [[NerdsAreSexy Joel Booth]], [[SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan Beth Barrington]], [[BlackBestFriend Danny Brooks]] [[LifeOfTheParty Uncle Marty]], and [[TheBartender Nikki Bolton]].

** Kelly is another. Loses her mother in the 2001 murder spree, suffers [[DomesticAbuser abusive boyfriend]] Shane and sees John Wakefield alive. [[CassandraTruth No one believes her]], [[spoiler:which is how he gets away with it for a long time. She is hanged by him before anyone realizes she wasn't mad.]]