I suppose her name is just one more detail to accentuate how she is different. I mean, she is an outsider, and if her name was Lucy, for example , maybe it would not fit as well as Henrietta. But I really liked this show. I thought it would be some other silly, predictable, boring tv show, but it was pretty good. What I liked was the character development, and plot pacing. Now looking forward for season 2.

@teix said:

I suppose her name is just one more detail to accentuate how she is different. I mean, she is an outsider, and if her name was Lucy, for example , maybe it would not fit as well as Henrietta. But I really liked this show. I thought it would be some other silly, predictable, boring tv show, but it was pretty good. What I liked was the character development, and plot pacing. Now looking forward for season 2.

I finished the rest of the series and it was okay, but I still found Henry to be kind of a jerk, constantly pushing people away until she needs their help and never truly apologizing for her bad behavior, but the show was okay enough for me to continue.

What's truly funny is that I started watching Cloak and Dagger which also involves a snarky selfish blonde girl and teleporting but I've only seen 3 episodes so I can't tell if it's better or worse than Pulse, but Henry and Tandy are clearly cut from the same teenage girl angst cloth.

I tried Cloak and Dagger. Didn't take. Episode 3 with the "dream walk" thing was when I decided to call it. I had a similar issue with Legion, in the episode they walk around looking for the monk. The issue being: too much style and no substance.

I liked the character development in Impulse. Season 2 should be more fast paced and grounded.

I think Henry is alright.

Agree, Henry is alright. cswood probably forgot how it was to be a teenager, it's not an age to be able to think clearly and rationally. There are a lot of hormones and emotions, especially when she is coming from broken family thinking her father that she clearly loved as a child abandoned her. Me personally, I did like her. I think her behavior is plausible and acceptable in her situation. Of course there are exaggerations for dramatic purposes, I can see how she can come out as annoying for some people. At the end though she kinda started to accept the system as she got friends and family, I guess the more she will understand what she can do the less annoying she will become, once she starts enjoying her life a bit. Looking forward for the second season.

Cloak and Dagger - I watched few episodes as well, but I won't continue. I think it's a bit too childish for me, as oppose to Impulse that targets more adult audience.

Legion - absolutely love it, it's very experimental and like nothing else on TV. The style is the substance, the visuals are the purpose of experience. Don't always want to see same shows by the same formula over and over again. It's different, it looks awesome, it's weird and alienating. Love it.

@D-magic said:

Agree, Henry is alright. cswood probably forgot how it was to be a teenager, it's not an age to be able to think clearly and rationally. There are a lot of hormones and emotions, especially when she is coming from broken family thinking her father that she clearly loved as a child abandoned her.

That's not a good excuse for me. Teenagers are largely a-holes, sure, but if I'm watching a fictional character I don't want to follow an a-hole.

Spider-Man, for example, is a teenager and he risks his life to save strangers. I like selflessness in my main characters when they have superpowers unless it's Deadpool or someone like that.

So, going back to Henry.

I was thinking about character development in this show. If you look at each character's journey through season 1, I think they were setting up multi-dimensional roles for the actors. I mean, all characters have more than one side here, and is not just "this is the good guy, and this is the bad guy" type of thing.

Henry for example. I didn't like her right away, and she is not the "strong and independent" type right off the bat. But by the last couple episodes she is getting there, and she was much more likable, I think.

Then there's Jenna. Her character had a lot of time spent on development and getting to know her. For example, when they go to see Townes at his house and we meet his sister, there is a look between the sister and Jenna, and later at the bowling alley Jenna sees "whats her name" kissing a girl. So there something there, right? But they didn't jump at it right away, we went through the other story line with the boyfriend. You see what I mean?

Finally, there is Clay Boone. First they show us Clay as the typical jock a-hole, which sure, he is, but the writers play some mind game with us where by the end Clay is not just an a-hole, but also kind of not.

I hope the writers continue like this on season 2 and don't go to the other typical superpowers type of thing.

PS: (can i post links here?) Here are two links related to "Female characters with male names".

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GenderblenderName https://www.thewrap.com/star-trek-discovery-female-lead-mans-name/

For anyone who read the original Jumper book, this reminded me a lot of that (if it had been written with a female protagonist). The book's main character Davy came from an even more dysfunctional home and just like Henry also had a near-rape trigger his first jump. They took the title of the third Jumper novel Impulse for this show. The characters and story are completely different though. Henry is not the child of David and Millie, like the girl from the book. This is set in the world of the 2008 Jumper movie - but the shadow organization hunting them appears to be forcibly recruiting the jumpers instead of trying to kill them off. They borrowed a few elements from the second book, Reflex, regarding the implants used to keep a teleport under control while not actually blocking their ability, which is what makes them useful. That hunter guy needs a shot of some compound every so often to stay alive. That's his leash. He does what he's told and they keep him supplied. If not ...

I found the characters to be mostly believable. Henry is a lot like other teenagers who move around so frequently there's no real stability in their lives. They shut themselves off to other people - why bother making friends and getting involved in stuff if you're going to be gone in a few months, and somewhere else a few months later, and yet another place a few months after that? But Henry starts making connections and drops her guard as the show goes on. Even most of the "bad guy" characters here have layers of complexity like real human beings. The setup for season 2 looks like there's going to be more jumper and evil organization (whoever they are) stuff than we saw this season. That'll be good, as long as they don't forsake character development or turn the show into a standard superhero franchise.