#voila the explanation to canon bi henry higgins???

[wheresurboytonighthelookslikeenj]

henry higgins started out as a nice lil secondary character in the first season of murdoch mysteries

and he was cute, and he was funny, but pushed to the background usually, just a joke and a helping hand when needed. but they kept pairing him with george, they became the best of friends, and we saw more and more of henry, and he was fun, he was stupid and jerky at times but he was loyal and he did what was right and he loved his friends, and he loved george the most because they were best friends!! they were so worried when the other was hurt!!! and they did everything together!!!

and in those ways henry's so believable and loveable, and for that i love him.

then in season 11 he got together with ruth! and they were silly and ditzy and sweet and perfect for each other, and they got married, and even when ruth lost her fortune henry loved her, which proved that he was marrying her for her and not her money and all that sappy stuff, and they had a baby and she's so cute and i love her and henry!!!!!! and you can even see the effects of fatherhood on him, he becomes more competent with police work, he worries, he cares!!!

then in december i started this fic, and george was the main character, and the ship is henry/george, because why not? i see it, they love each other they're best friends. and i got really invested in my fic. it was beautiful, an amazing idea about one of my favourite musicals and i loved it so much. and i ended up shipping henry/george more than i initially had.

because i loved my fic. and i loved henry.

it's not a big tag on ao3. 33 works as of the time of writing this. i read through all the ones i could tolerate. it's kind of funny, because george and henry were that genre of ships that you know isn't canon, that you know will never be canon, but they're such good friends, they're so close, they're so lovely that you can't help but keep in the back of your mind. they're not the "it's canon (if not only in our hearts)" ship, they're the "it's a lovely idea" ship. because murdoch mysteries is not a show known for its queer rep, this show's queer rep is terrible and there was no way henry and george could be canon. i imagined they loved each other. that was enough.

but. episode 13 of season 15 happens. sigmund freud (FREUD OF ALL PEOPLE) comes to the station house and reads henry's letter to george and asks about it. henry says what it is, and freud says "your lover's name is george?" and henry's like no george is my friend and freud: "you like to say his name don't you" HHHHHHHH??? freud is a dick and an idiot but that's so fucking romantic? and then at the end of the episode??? he tells brackenreid and watts about it like a joke and brax is like "even a broken clock..." and watts just stares,,,,

like what the fuck man. this little constable, who used to be just this tiny kid who made jokes and could hardly pull anything off alone without messing it up, just played for laughs, ends up with this amazing arc, he loves his friends, he loves his wife, he loves his daughter...

and he loves george.

and it's so weird, because... i got into murdoch mysteries in december of 2020, watching the episodes all out of order as reruns aired on my cable provider, because my friends already really liked and recommended it. they informed me beforehand that emily is canonically bi, and watts is canonically gay.

i know second/third hand that when llewellyn watts was comfirmed as gay in early 2020, the fandom collectively lost their minds. because watts had always been incredibly queercoded, and watts being gay was just confirmation of what the fandom had already decided, already known to be true.

but that wasn't the case for henry. no one shipping henry and george would really have gone as far to think "this is canon". but. the show acknowledged that henry loves george.

and it makes sense. it makes all the sense in the world. henry loves george. henry loves george. it doesn't even invalidate other canon relationships; henry loves ruth, he loves their daughter, and george loves effie newsome. but henry loves george.

and so i was propelled into a state of wonder and disbelief. (did i somehow manifest this with my fic?) why does this affect me as much as it does? why does this secondary tiny constable being canonically implied to love his best friend break me as much as it does?

it was at this moment that i realized that henry higgins-newsome was my favourite character.

this stupid show that hardly knew what it was doing made me care about the comic relief more than any of the main cast. they made this secondary tiny constable important. and canonically bisexual. maybe it's my own little happiness over unsignificant people being significant, and discovering yourself, and happy endings. and i love henry for that. so i say canon bi henry higgins??? to let everyone know.

tl;dr

[ID: A version of the "clever thoughts" meme, with a speech bubble coming from the mouth of an outline of the side view of a head. an arrow points from the text inside the head towards the mouth.

the text inside the speech bubble reads, in italics: "canon bi henry higgins???"

the text inside the head reads: "henry higgins-newsome is a side character originally intended for comic relief in a show that hardly ever treats its side characters with the respect they deserve, yet he somehow ended up complex and loveable and that means so much to me."

End ID]

#voila the explanation to canon bi henry higgins??? #this is... 900 words #i formatted it so it's readable you're welcome #murdoch mysteries #what's henry's character tag #henry higgins #henry higgins-newsome #if anyone says anything it's on sight because this is genuine rambling #i love him so much #also i made the image id myself! coolio! #idk if it's very good so lmk if i could make some improvements #canon bi henry higgins???