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'The Time Traveler's Wife': Viewers are aghast after Henry has oral sex with his 16-year-old self

The cringe-worthy 'selfcest' scene in episode 2 of the new HBO drama left viewers 'disturbed' and 'haunted'

The tale of Clare (Rose Leslie) and her partner, Henry (Theo James), who has a genetic ailment that permits him to time travel, is told in 'The Time Traveler's Wife.' Audrey Niffenegger's 2003 novel of the same name inspired the HBO series.

In the adaptation's second episode, Henry explains to Clare how his father discovered his extraordinary abilities. The scene then turns into an embarrassing flashback of Henry (Brian Altemus), 16, getting oral sex from his adolescent self after traveling back in time. Their astonished father discovers the two versions of Henry nude in bed. Viewers were baffled by the cringe-worthy scene, which Audrey Niffenegger had initially detailed in her best-selling novel.

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The sex scene featured in Sunday's second episode, as well as the original novel, left viewers of HBO's adaptation of 'The Time Traveler's Wife' "disturbed" and "haunted." In a flashback sequence, a 16-year-old Henry is using his gifts to travel back in time and perform oral sex on himself when his dad walks in and discovers both versions of his son nude and in bed together. One Decider critic termed it “the most baffling blow-job scene” in the history of television. “I can’t quite put my finger on why the scene is so disturbing, but it will haunt me for the rest of my goddamn life,” Meghan O'Keefe wrote.

The scene was also a major topic of discussion on Twitter, where it was dubbed 'selfcest,' a slang term for sexual intercourse with a different version of oneself. A fan took to Twitter and wrote: "The Time Traveler's Wife is truly wild. Just straight up jumping from an incredibly depressing scene to "Of course I time travelled to s*ck myself o*f, wouldn't you?"

Many romance novel enthusiasts stated they didn't recall the scene being in the book, claiming they must have blacked it out. One of them wrote: "Look, I know it’s been about 10 years since I read the Time Traveler’s Wife but I feel like I would have remembered Henry DeTamble having gay sex with himself and getting caught by his dad?!? #TimeTravelersWife"

Others argued that the portrayal was in the book, and they hadn't had the luxury of forgetting it: "I’m enjoying the HBO version of Audrey Niffenegger’s THE TIME TRAVELER’S WIFE. Also I’m glad they didn’t chicken out like the movie: they actually put the “I time-travelled a few months back and gave myself a blowjob” scene from the book!"

The scene was cut from the 2009 film adaptation of The Time Traveler's Wife, starring Rachel McAdams and Eric Bana as Clare and Henry, and several fans were relieved to see it included in the TV adaptation.

Another viewer questioned why the showrunners included the scene in the first place: "henry is a time traveler and he was talking with claire (his wife) about how his dad figured out he’s a time traveler and it flashed back to when henry was 16. idk why they would even write selfcest into the show but i guess younger henry experimented with himself. dis cos tan"

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