When it comes to popular culture phenomena, it’s hard to think of a series quite as successful as Harry Potter. After all, it managed to spawn not just books but also movies, video games, and merchandise of almost every conceivable variety. Obviously, a lot of this has to do with the power and potency of Harry’s various story arcs.
However, while many of these are quite moving and deftly created by Rowling, it has to be said that there are also a few of them that are just not that great and end up taxing the patience of the reader and viewer far more than they should.
Best: Parseltongue and Finding the Chamber
This series seems to do best when it has some sort of enigma at the center of the story, and that’s quite true of the arc in which Harry has to discover the Chamber of Secrets.
It’s such an important moment, both because it allows him to develop as a character--including the realization that he can speak Parseltongue (one of the many ways he sometimes acts like a Slytherin)--but also because it sets the stage for how evil and powerful Voldemort will become in the later installments of the series.
Worst: The Cho Chang Romance
It was probably inevitable that, at some point, Harry was going to find himself falling in love with someone. Unfortunately, it was pretty clear from the very beginning that there wasn’t going to be a lot of magic with Cho Chang and that, in the end, he was going to end up with someone else.
Fans were probably happy that he ended up with Ginny, which makes one wonder why they even bothered spending so much time developing what turned out to be a failed romance.
Best: Journeying with Dumbledore to Procure the Locket
One of Harry’s most steadfast allies and mentors was aged wizard Dumbledore, who always tried to do the best that he could to protect Harry. Though they shared many story arcs, one of the most exciting, and successful (in terms of narrative) was when they attempted to find the locket in which Voldemort had stored part of his soul.
Their frightening confrontation with the Inferi, and the ultimate futility of this entire quest (since the locket is a fake), make for a rousing and very tragic story arc.
Worst: The Wizengamot Trial
Even though they’re supposed to be the leaders of the Wizarding World, it has to be said that the Ministry of Magic is pretty terrible, particularly under the leadership of Cornelius Fudge.
Who could ever forget when they put Harry on trial for underage use of magic? While that was bad enough, it’s not a great story arc, particularly since the issue of such use of magic isn’t really referenced again and so seems to be little more than a convenient plot device.
Best: The Triwizard Tournament
The Triwizard Tournament is one of the most important events to happen in both the books and the movies, and it makes for a very rousing story, particularly since Harry has to solve several mysteries in order to end up winning. At the same time, it’s also the most tragic, since it ends up with the death of Cedric through no fault of his own.
It’s brilliantly executed throughout, and the movie, whatever its flaws, does manage to capture the adrenaline rush of the Tournament.
Worst: Hiding in the Woods
Once it’s revealed that the locket is a fake and Dumbledore has been slain by Snape, Harry, Ron, and Hermione decide to leave school and attempt to destroy the rest of the Horcruxes.
This leads to them spending quite a lot of the last book and movies hiding in the woods. This must have seemed like a necessary move in the story, but it has to be said that it gets more than a little tedious watching three teens flounder their way in the woods trying to avoid being captured.
Best: The Opposition to Umbridge
The casting of Imelda Staunton as the cruel and malicious Dolores Umbridge was truly an inspired bit of casting since she managed to capture just how sickeningly sweet and absolutely awful this woman was.
Both the movie and book versions of Order of the Phoenix allow the reader to feel how absolutely unjust it is that she is given so much control over the students of Hogwarts, and they both allow for a moment of joy and exhilaration when she is at last defeated and the school returned to the control of Dumbledore.
Worst: The Pensieve and Failing to Learn Occlumency
Harry might be the hero of this story, but it has to be said that he can be quite an arrogant little jerk sometimes, and it can at times be a little difficult to like him.
Take, for example, his inability to learn Occlumency from Snape (one of the series' most overrated and underrated characters), which was almost entirely the result of his stubborn dislike of the other man. What’s more, his snooping in the Pensieve, and the revelations it gave about the way his father treated Snape, doesn’t really show him in a very good light, either.
Best: Running From the Hogwarts Letters
Though the series would later take some rather dark turns in terms of the stories that it told, sometimes it’s fun to go back and recall just how hilariously the very beginning unfolded.
Who doesn’t chuckle, after all, thinking about the ways in which the Dursleys, particularly Uncle Vernon, desperately tried to avoid the letters from Hogwarts, only to be thwarted and defeated at every turn? It was a moment of levity that wasn’t soon forgotten.
Worst: Harry Potter and the Curse of Teenage Angst
Given that Harry moves into young adulthood during the course of the series, it makes a lot of sense that the books and the movies would focus on the various types of teenage angst that most young people endure.
It has to be said, though, that both of them tend to lean into it a bit too much, and there are several points where one can’t help but wish that the series would just move on from that to focus on other things that aren’t so a chore to watch and/or read.