Warning: This article contains spoilers for The Time Traveler’s Wife episode 4 and discussion of suicide.,The Time Traveler’s Wife episode 4 introduced Ingrid, Henry’s girlfriend before Claire, but foreshadowed her tragic suicide. Based on the best-selling debut novel by Audrey Niffenegger, The Time Traveler’s Wife is one of the strangest love stories in fiction – one in which the protagonists have been brought together by time travel. There is a sense in which neither character ever truly chose to love the other; Clare first met Henry when she was just six years old, while in Henry’s timeline she burst onto the scene telling his 28-year-old self she was destined to be his wife.,The Time Traveler’s Wife episode 4 finally explored one major complication; the fact that 28-year-old Henry already had a girlfriend, Ingrid, although their relationship was tempestuous to say the least. Ingrid heard an answer message Clare had left on Henry’s apartment phone, and interrupted a dinner that was already going wrong; Clare had planned to introduce Henry to her best friends, and didn’t reckon on two versions of Henry turning up due to time travel. Dinner was a strange affair, building to a rather shocking climax in which future Henry revealed Ingrid didn’t have long to live. This is the disturbing thing about a time traveler’s experience of time; sometimes they know too much.,,The Time Traveler’s Wife episode 4 clearly signposted that Ingrid had both self-harming and suicidal tendencies, with Henry’s old flame immediately guessing one of her attempts would be successful. This foreshadows one of the most disturbing arcs in Niffenegger’s novel, where Ingrid became depressed because she had lost Henry to Clare, and made several attempts to kill herself; Gomez told Henry about these, but he didn’t intervene. In the end, a future Henry time-traveled back to Ingrid’s apartment and she took her own life in front of his eyes.,The conversation in The Time Traveler’s Wife is a disturbing one. Henry believes history cannot be changed, and from his perspective he is reliving a tragedy from years ago, one that affected him profoundly – there’s clear affection in his eyes as he speaks to Ingrid. But for Ingrid, his words serve to set her future in stone, telling her she will soon be successful in taking her own life. She can even say for certain Henry will move on, because she knows she’s just had dinner with his future wife. There’s a fascinating parallel with Henry’s attempt to persuade Clare her life is not set in tracks in episode 3, and his initial decision to lie to her and pretend he is not her husband.,It’s quite possible the HBO TV show will move on from Ingrid now, considering the storyline resolved just as future Henry clearly considers Ingrid simply to be a part of his past. While The Time Traveler’s Wife is a faithful adaptation of the book, it has been organized in thematic order, with each episode feeling relatively self-contained. Ingrid has made her appearance, her fate has been clearly signposted, and that may be enough for The Time Traveler’s Wife.,