‘When Calls The Heart’ Look Back At My Favorite Characters – Henry Gowen. What can I say about Henry Gowen? This man had been the constant villain that you somehow ended up rooting for. He’s a conundrum.
Beautifully portrayed by Martin Cummins, Henry has been in ‘When Calls The Heart’ since the first episode. In the beginning, he was absolutely the bad guy. He was the one who was in charge of the mine when it collapsed, killing over 40 men from Hope Valley.
He’s a complicated guy. He was a company man who always put himself ahead of the townspeople. He was a corrupt mayor. He has cheated and abused power and yet, yet, as the seasons progressed, we like him. We root for him.
Henry had a constant yin to his yang in the first 5 seasons. That would be Abigail Stanton. Say what you will, but I miss Abigail. She was portrayed by Lori Loughlin. I will have another article about Abigail another time. I liked her a lot and she will be included in my Favorite Characters. But I digress, Abigail and Henry had a strong relationship. They fought each other at almost every turn but there was an underlying respect in the later years.
Henry has often made mention to her, even after she left town in Season 6. He was the original backer of her Abigail’s Cafe. Again, he abused his power there but Abigail made it work.
In the first season, Henry, as the head of the Mine company, attempts to evict all the widows to move new miners in. Abigail gathers the widows and convinces Henry to allow them to mine in order to save their homes. Elizabeth helps come up with a legal loophole to stop the eviction and allow the women to not work the mine and keep their homes. Henry puts a stop to this by lying about paint supplies. With the help of other townspeople and children, the women meet the deadline and save their homes, thwarting Henry.
From there, Gowen makes a deal with Abigail to open the cafe and split the profits 50/50. The deal also includes that she moves out of the row home and into the building that houses the cafe. Gowen seems to be romantically interested to which Abigail puts an end to. She’s not interested.
He eventually has a romantic relationship with Nora Avery, Bill’s ex-wife. This didn’t last long but it happened.
Henry ended up Mayor for a time with Dottie Ramsey as his secretary. Of course, he abused his power and made poor judgements. He was accused of stealing town funds for his personal gain.
Gowen ends up being unable to serve as mayor because of his legal troubles. Abigail becomes mayor for a time. Henry schemes to be reinstated but it doesn’t last long. He’s arrested again and makes a deal for a lighter sentence. When Abigail’s adopted son, Cody, is deathly ill and in need of an appendectomy, Henry begs to stay in Hope Valley before being transferred to stand trial. He wants to know if Cody is ok. Abigail has a tender moment with Henry before he leaves after Cody is on the mend.
Henry ends up working for Lee Coulter’s former partner’s widow and rival in the saw mill business. He finds out that he was wanted due to his criminal past. This competing saw company is wanting Henry to steal client information from Lee’s company. He agrees and steals it. We later find out that he was working with Bill Avery in order to stop Eleanor Roberts. She is arrested for stealing business property. Lee, who is thrilled, offers Henry a promotion as a thank you.
In a super tender story, during the Christmas special of Season 6, a little orphan girl named Millie is in town. She keeps coming up to Henry with a book. She wants him to read it. We find out from her sister that he reminds them of their father. Henry wins our hearts a little more.
When we see that a letter from the mining company comes to light signed by Mr. Smith, we know that Henry wrote to the mining company. He was raising concerns about the safety of the mine. The concerns were brushed off by the company and we know what happened. The mine disaster caused the death of 47 men. The guilt has never left Henry. The guilt has weighed Henry down for all these years. This combined with losing Abigail, he is a shell of his former self.
Henry ends up owning and running Gowen Petroleum. Lucas is his business partner. Lucas and Henry end up in battles when Lucas wants to see the books and Henry won’t give them up. Henry’s son Christopher, that we didn’t know about, comes to town. Lucas ends up taking over the oil company and we find out he is responsible for bringing Christopher to town. Henry ends up leaving Hope Valley for a time at the end of Season 8.
Season 9, Henry comes back and just as unhappy as ever. Lucas wants to bring in an investor to grow Gowen Petroleum. This doesn’t sit well with Henry when he finds out it’s Jerome Smith. The same Mr. J. Smith that ignored Henry’s warning about the mine safety. Lucas was not aware of this when Fiona brought Mr. Smith in as an investor. Mr. Smith and his other investor, Arthur Gilchrist, cause all kinds of trouble. Henry is double crossed by them.
They have intentions of reopening the mine. Henry is furious. He knows that that mine cannot be made safe. He takes matters into his own hands. He blows up the mine with “every stick of dynamite” he could get his hands on. The townspeople regard Henry as a hero for doing this. Henry is arrested again. He asks for Joseph. Henry tells Joseph that he doesn’t know how to pray and asks the pastor to teach him. He does. Henry feels like a weight has lifted off of him.
Lucas arranges to get the charges against Henry dropped. Henry is very angry at this. He wants his chance to atone and gain more peace. Because of the explosion, there is a hot spring in Hope Valley. This is great for the town, as it brings in tourists.
Joseph and Bill tell Henry that he’s been given community service. Henry tells them that they are terrible liars but that he will do it anyway. He starts working with horses and in the park. Elizabeth asks him to help the children of her school build planter boxes for their plants.
Henry sees Elizabeth have a panic attack about Nathan being in danger. He sees her relief when Nathan is back and safe. Henry tries to talk to Elizabeth about this but she denies it and walks away.
Henry is fixing something at the Coulter Lumber/Valley Voice office. Rosemary needs to run an errand and asks Henry to babysit newborn daughter, Goldie. When Rosemary and Lee return, they see a tender moment between Henry and Goldie. This prompts them to ask Henry to be the baby’s godfather. He says no but Elizabeth talks to him and he accepts. Henry Gowen is Goldie Coulter’s Godfather. Who saw that coming back in the earlier season? Not me!
Season 10 ended with Henry leaving Hope Valley and arriving at home with A. Stanton on the mailbox. Henry went to visit Abigail. Season 11 starts and we see Henry stop by to see the recovering Governor Lucas. Lucas asks him to work for him and Henry turns him down. Henry ended back up in Hope Valley. We saw him tending to plants behind the Cafe, that is now owned by The Canfields.
Just where Henry is going, we don’t know. But boy have we enjoyed this ride. Kudos for the amazing storytelling we have seen in this character and beautiful portrayal by Martin Cummins. Furthermore, this story brings a sense of hope. Hope that no matter what, redemption is always possible.