History YMMV / HarpersIsland

* {{Woobie}}: JD is a genuine one. A mentally-troubled and bullied [[LonersAreFreaks loner]] whose parents died in the back story, who everyone thinks is dangerous and who is blamed for all the murders. He is finally murdered [[spoiler:by his adoptive brother Henry]] and refuses to speak to protect Abby. WordOfGod says [[spoiler:Henry murdered their parents too]].
** 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]], of course, [[spoiler:which is how he gets away with it for a long time. She is hanged by him before anyone realises she wasn't mad.]]

* AlasPoorVillain: [[spoiler:Henry's death was purposefully made extremely sad.]]
-->[[spoiler:'''Henry''': Abby... but I love you...]]

* ShallowLoveInterest: Jimmy for Abby.
** Contestable. He's got indifferent parents in backstory and an [[OddFriendship unlikely]] but genuine friendship with Shane. He [[spoiler: saved Abby from Wakefield seven years ago]] but never mentioned it because he doesn't want her to think she owes him, flew off the rails badly enough after Abby left that Sheriff Mills decided to personally keep a close eye on him, and eventually became good friends with the sheriff to the point of [[FirstNameBasis calling him "Charlie"]]. As characters on this show go, that's quite a bit of development; at worst, he'd be a SatelliteCharacter because most of his scenes involve Abby.

** To a lot of fans, [[spoiler:Henry]] came across [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds quite sympathetically]].

* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: [[spoiler: Henry, who actually comes across as more deluded than evil.]]
** YMMV ''a lot'' on this.

* TheScrappy: Madison and her mother Shea. [[spoiler:Incredibly, they both live because ExecutiveMeddling stated that the writers couldn't kill a child.]]

** Shane is just written as so unrealistically mean, especially in the second episode, that every person this troper has watched the episode with laugh at his lines.
--> Shane: "Boohoo, John Wakefield killed my mommy! Get over it!"

* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: [[spoiler: Henry, who actually comes across as more deluded than evil.]]

** Actually in one of the deleted scenes Abby implies that she slept with Sully...

* CrowningMomentOfAwesome: "You can't have me."

** Contestable. He's got indifferent parents in backstory and an[[OddFriendship unlikely]] but genuine friendship with Shane. He [[spoiler: saved Abby from Wakefield seven years ago]] but never mentioned it because he doesn't want her to think she owes him, flew off the rails badly enough after Abby left that Sheriff Mills decided to personally keep a close eye on him, and eventually became good friends with the sheriff to the point of [[FirstNameBasis calling him "Charlie"]]. As characters on this show go, that's quite a bit of development; at worst, he'd be a SatelliteCharacter because most of his scenes involve Abby.

* MemeticMutation: Among fans: "Who the hell is Beth?!"

* UnfortunateImplications: Your father's an insane serial killer? Bad news: you'll turn out the same way, whether you like it or not.

* {{Narm}}: This season contains comedy deaths, after comedy deaths, after comedy deaths.
** Shane is just written as so unrealistically mean, especially in the second episode, that every person this troper has watched the episode with laugh at his lines.
--> Shane: "Boohoo, John Wakefield killed my mommy! Get over it!"

* TearJerker: Sure, it's a murder mystery and there's enough death to go around, but you have to admit you hated the killer a little more when [[spoiler: Cal and Chloe died.]]

* TearJerker: Sure, it's a murder mystery and there's enough death to go around, but you have to admit you hated the killer a little more when [[spoiler: Cal and Chloe died.]]
* DarthWiki/{{Wallbanger}}: The killer [[spoiler: was going to marry a ludicrously hot, rich and likable girl and ruins everything because of a killing spree motivated by 1) a crush with a childhood friend which he loved since they were both children; 2) some vague revenge plot because people didn't tell him he had been adopted and was actually the son of a serial killer. Ooookay... Yeah, one can simply say that he was "crazy" - and indeed he was - but that's kind of a cheap solution for an Agatha Christie-like mystery.]]

* WallBanger: The killer [[spoiler: was going to marry a ludicrously hot, rich and likable girl and ruins everything because of a killing spree motivated by 1) a crush with a childhood friend which he loved since they were both children; 2) some vague revenge plot because people didn't tell him he had been adopted and was actually the son of a serial killer. Ooookay... Yeah, one can simply say that he was "crazy" - and indeed he was - but that's kind of a cheap solution for an Agatha Christie-like mystery.]]

** JD's character seems to have been designed to cause this.

* WhatAnIdiot: The cast meets Wakefield on several occations and he spends every time dawdling in front of them for few minutes. What do our heroes do? [[WhyDontYaJustShootHim Shoot him?]] Capture him and take him to the police? No...they stand there and do nothing and if they ever manage the pull the trigger, they eiher waste the bullets with senseless shots or miss him. Even if he stands 15 feet away, they still miss him! For crying out loud: You don't need to have the intelligence of Albert Einstein to point a barrel of a gun to a chest of man and pull the fricking trigger!