As I've been watching Season 1 on DVD and watching season 2 live, I've been watching this father-son dynamic.

Henry is a bit of an a$$. Maybe more than a bit. In the present he seems to have a secret pride in his son, but still exposes Shawn to his gruff, unfeeling, dispassionate facade.

Even in the past, Henry seems like a guys that wants to harden his son at an early age. Luckily, show never allows it, though he still seeks his father's approval.

I recently watched the episdode, in season one, regarding the Civil War re-enactors. Shawn beams when he finds the bullet, hoping his father will show approval, but Shawn's deception about the watch kills the moment when Henry storms off saying, rudely, that he may have found the bullet, but he still hasn't found the killer.

So, Henry is a competitive man's man, who show's no feeling, and would probably blast his son for making a bad paly in any game, but in the present the two seems to be reaching out to each other in subtle ways.

Don't get me wrong, I love Corbin in this character, but the father son dynamic is a subplot of the entire series.

What is your take on this father-son relationship?

I think you said it perfectly!

I don't have TOO much to say about this, but I really like the dynamic they have between the 2. Watching their relationship as the show goes on it really cool.

I think that when Shawn was growing up, Henry saw a lot of potential in him and was determined to mold that potential (and keep Shawn out of trouble and from getting himself killed as much as possible) and he also saw a lot of himself in Shawn. A lot of parents try to live vicriously through their kids, it seems to happen especially with fathers and sons. Some dads just look at their sons and they see themselves, sometimes so much that they tend to forget that the child is another person altogether. I think that Henry's micro managing of Shawn as a kid was in large part because deep down he was thinking how he himself could have been a better cop, like maybe if he had started training from diapers. A lot of it was also, like I said, keeping Shawn out of trouble and alive, too, because Shawn, as a very intelligent and extremely impulsive kid could get into some pretty creative and potentially dangerous situations, not to mention things like Henry's efforts to curb Shawn's gambling habits before they could take root and become a real problem that would be harder to stop later on. Mostly I think that Henry had good intentions, he was just a bit heavy handed sometimes. Sometimes, with Shawn, I'm sure heavy handed was the only thing that worked.

If you take a moment to imagine what Shawn might have ended up like if he had a dad more like the ones that are way too frequent today; either they are completely absent from their kids lives altogether, or they see them but mostly ignore them and just let them do whatever they want to do as long as they don't have to deal with them. A smart kid like Shawn could have found all sorts of trouble to get into! If Henry hadn't been there to drill into him that gambling is a very bad idea to get into because no matter how good you are, there's always someone better, and with gambling, you also have dangerous people, so even if you win at the table, they might be angry enough to eliminate their competition.

I think he went too far in deciding that Shawn was gonna be a cop, without considering that maybe Shawn wanted to be something else, and I think it is too much of him to expect Shawn to always do everything he wants to do in the way that he wants him to do it, because it's Shawn's life and he is entitled to live it the way he wants to. But as we often see, even as a kid, Shawn had a strong enough sense of self to handle it and he always did what was right in the end, only he did it his way. And while that drove Henry crazy, and I think still does, Henry is also secretly proud of him and glad for it. I don't think Henry would have been as proud of a son who did fold and do everything exactly as he was told. He'd much rather have a kid who can and does think for himself and doesn't allow himself to be bullied or pushed into doing what someone else wants. In fact, it's possible that this could be exactly why Henry was such a hard ass all the time when Shawn was a kid, because he knew that the best way to get Shawn to think for himself and learn to exert his own will was to constantly challenge him on it. I notice that Henry always allowed Shawn to argue with him, to state his view of things without interrupting him and without telling him not to talk back like a lot of parents do. By allowing Shawn to debate with him, he's allowing him to think for himself, validate (or try to) his POV, and then explaining to him the flaws in his logic and showing him the big picture. He's teaching him that he can state his opinions and speak up for himself, and giving him the goal to work towards; eventually *winning* an argument with Henry by providing proof of the superiority of his POV. And he's managed to do that occasionally, which has got to be pretty sweet. But he can also concede a point and let go of an argument that's not sound which I find very admirable. We've seen him do it in last night's episode when he and Gus were arguing about why they were late, and we saw it in Around The Stretch Comes Murder, though I can't remember the exact context, but I do remember he said to Gus, "Fair point," when they were debating something. Henry listened to Shawn as a kid, and he listens to him now, just that as a child, unsurprisingly, a lot of Shawn's arguments were flawed.

Henry is an excellent dad! He loves Sean and helps Sean even when what Sean is doing goes against every fiber of his being. Henry wanted Sean to follow in his footsteps, but Sean didn't do it. Not only did he not become a cop...he didn't become anything. He just bounced around, doing menial jobs.

It is no wonder that Henry has been perpetually frustrated with Sean. Here he has this very bright son who he taught to be so very observant...and he's done nothing with his life.

Now he's proud of Sean - his son is doing something and sticking with it. But, Sean is not standing on his own two feet. He's still scamming his dad into helping him, which kind of pisses Henry off. And Sean is still a kid in many ways - not a man - or maybe just a very different person who doesn't fit Henry's "real man" mold ...so he's still frustrated with him.

And Henry sometimes does things that are anti-Henry, like taking a bubble bath, that drive Sean batty. I loved that he said it was OK because John Wayne took a bath in Rio Bravo. I laughed my butt off. (John Wayne, though, was not in a big tub with bubble bath, but it still worked - if John Wayne can take a bath, so can Henry. Sean sees his dad in a mold and is thrown when he doesn't fit it, too.

I love Henry as Mr. Frustrated Gruffy Guy. And I like it when they throw in a little anti-Henry to make Sean say, "what the heck?!"

I wonder about Sean's mom. Where is she? We know she divorced Henry, but where did she go? Does Sean ever talk to her? I suppose it doesn't matter much. And we can find out some time, if they find a good person to play Sean's mom. But who? Who could have been a good mom for Sean, a good wife for Henry - but still have divorced Henry? Things that make you go Hmmmm....

Henry trained Shawn to be ultraobservant to be a great cop, but Shawn rebelled. I mean, how many dads arrest their sons to teach them a lesson? Every one heard of tough love, but arresting your own son for stealing a car to impress a girl? Henry told Shawn never to gamble, but he went to the race track and betted on horses. He even went to other people's houses to play poker. Gambling, and drinking (although it has not been mention this season; but Shawn did say to Henry in "Game, Set, Murder": Sleeping one off?) didn't help Henry's marriage.



I love seeing James and Corbin interact with one other. It will be interesting to see who they cast as Shawn's mother, Henry's wife.