HENRY GRUBSTICK

'Henry Grubstick'^[1] is a fictional character in the American dramedy series ''Ugly Betty''. He is played by Christopher Gorham.

Contents

Background

Trivia

Notes

Background

Henry is an accountant on the 3rd floor for Meade Publications who catches Betty's eye. Although he was introduced in "The Lyin', the Watch and the Wardrobe," his first appearance was in the much delayed episode "Swag," which aired January 4, 2007 as an extended flashback.
Henry, who hails from Tucson, Arizona, is a bit of a bookworm with an excellent memory for facts and figures. He can often be heard saying, "It's just something I know." He springs that wealth of knowledge on Betty, who's charmed whenever Henry is around, indicating that she might have found her true soulmate. In the episode "Fake Plastic Snow," this was affirmed when Betty had a dream in which Henry kissed her and it left her flustered all day; she had a chance to make that dream a reality at the office Christmas party, but Betty ran away after misunderstanding a situation where a model forced a kiss on Henry first. This drove Betty back to Walter, though her attraction to Henry is clearly stronger. When Henry called after the party to explain what really happened, he was impeded by Betty's sister, Hilda.
As the first half of season one ends, Betty finds herself in a romantic dilemma: She still has feelings for Henry even as she tries to work things out with Walter. Knowing that his attraction to Betty will doom her relationship with Walter, Hilda "loses" Henry's message so to make sure that he doesn't confuse Betty any further.
After the Christmas party, Betty did her best to avoid Henry, but later learned in the episode "In or Out" that Henry's "kiss" with the model (who happens to be Daniel Meade's ex, Aerin) was not his fault, as he did not instigate it. During the episode "I'm Coming Out," Betty is busy with organizing Fashion Week for ''MODE'' and she re-encounters Henry for the first time since the Christmas party, but when Henry attempts to ask Betty a question (considering the party), he is interrupted by Hilda (this after he introduces himself to Hilda and when he remembers talking to her on the phone, Hilda dragged Betty away so she wouldn't find out about what she did). Betty later discovers that Henry attempted to call her after the party to see ''Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer'' and Hilda purposely "lost" the message; Betty's response was "To be an only child" and went after Hilda by firing her at Fashion Week because of it.
The relationship between Walter and Betty is remains a dilemma between her "crush" on Henry and, in the episode "Brothers," Henry asks Betty on a date to see the musical ''Wicked'', but Betty affirms "just as friends." That night, Walter tells Betty that he accepted a management position in Maryland, and the two break up. At the same time, Henry was seen at Betty's desk at ''MODE'' with a gift, a ''Wicked'' shirt with a note that read: "Can't wait, green girl!" But, the following morning, Henry confessed to Betty that he had a surprise visit from his ex-girlfriend from Tucson, Charlie, who wanted to reconciliate their relationship, not knowing that Betty and Walter had broken up. He gave her the ''Wicked'' tickets, apologizing, and left Betty broken-hearted.
The following week in the episode Derailed, Henry is surprised when he finds Betty and his now official girlfriend, Charlie, talking in the lunch room. He later thanks Betty for inviting Charlie to a party and he's confident that Betty does not feel anything for him; that is until Betty calls him over to a downtown subway station and finds out that she lost track of Charlie intentionally. He then questions Betty as to why she did it and finds out her true feelings for him. Just at the moment when Henry and Betty were about to kiss, Charlie appears back with a smile on her face saying: "It was fate that separated us Betty" and also states that she will stay in NY indefinitely.
In Secretaries' Day, a semi-conscious Henry told Betty that he loved her. In the following episode, ''A Tree Grows in Guadalajara'' Betty believes she sees Henry in Mexico. She follows the apparition and discovers her grandmother's house. Her grandmother, mistaking Betty for her mother Rosa, encourages her to fight for her love. Betty resolves to fight for Henry.
In the season 1 finale, Charlie declares that she is pregnant, and Henry opts to go with her to Tucson after a long, tearful goodbye with Betty. However, Charlie had been cheating on him with Dr. Farkas for 2 months, and therefore the baby could possibly not be his.

Trivia

Henry's character is equivalent to Nicolas in Betty la Fea. Nicolas is Betty's childhood best friend. However, Nicolas and Betty do not have a romantic relationship. Betty sees Nicolas as her brother, since they are very close.
Henry and Nicolas have similar features. They are both tall, have dark brown hair, and wear square glasses.

Notes

1. From ABC.go.com