HAVEN |
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Audrey Parker - Emily Rose Duke Crocker - Eric Balfour Nathan Wournos - Lucas Bryant Dave Teagues - John Dunsworth Vince Teagues - Richard Donat 
OTHER SEASONS Season 1 Season 3 Season 4 Season 5 OTHER ODD PLACES Eureka Roswell Point Pleasant Eastwick
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A TALE OF TWO AUDREYSAudrey is faced with a woman who claims to be her and has the FBI badge and the memories to prove it. At the same time, the biblical plagues of Egypt are descending on the town. HAVEN returns with a fairly standard storyline that is spiced up with the promised arcs of the doppelganger story and the appearance of Duke's ex-wife. It's entertaining and well-played, but also a bit formulaic TopFEAR AND LOATHINGPeople are seeing their worst nightmares and the only link seems to be a young man. At the same time, Nathan has rediscovered the sense of touch. Replace worst nightmares with Egyptian plagues and you have essentially the same storyline as the last episode and many others. Something is going wrong and the police have to chase the various instances until they work out who is the troubled person and deal with it. There aren't a lot of surprises and the outcome is pretty obvious as soon as the full picture is made clear. TopLOVE MACHINEMachines in Haven are coming to life and working with each other to kill people. The link is a handyman who has fixed them at some time in the recent past. The story of the machines is initially intriguing and does have some 'interesting' death scenes, but it soon reverts to type and is predictable enough. What is more interesting is the apparent end of the doppelganger arc that sees the real Audrey Parker finding something that wipes her memory clean. It’s surprisingly abrupt, but there must surely be more of that to come TopSPARKS AND RECREATIONThe Mayor of Haven was 'troubled', but in his case everyone who got near him loved him. He gets electrocuted and his son, who immediately inherits his 'attraction' becomes the main suspect. This episode sticks to the HAVEN template slavishly and is therefore a lot less interesting than it might have been. For once it is the subplot of Duke and his ex-wife looking for clues to his death and the tattooed man that provides what interest there is. TopROOTSAudrey, Duke and their respective dates end up trapped in a barn when the roots of a forest come alive and attack a wedding party. Someone in the group is troubled and the only way out would appear to resolve a decades old feud between two families. This is the usual stuff from HAVEN with only the identity of the troubled and nature of the threat changed. The titular roots vary from nicely rendered and threatening to dodgy CGI whilst the background to the feud and, most especially its resolution, isn't all that believable. Audrey starts a relationship that might take the show in a different direction, but otherwise this a very average episode. TopAUDREY PARKER'S DAY OFFA child dies in a hit and run collision. Then the day resets, allowing Audrey a chance to save the child, but in changing things she sees Duke become the victim. When the day resets again, she wonders if she can save both of them without anyone else dying. HAVEN does GROUNDHOG DAY, but the change from the usual format is welcome despite its unoriginality. Emily Rose gets to emote more than usual as she sees the men in her life die and come back to life and the resolution of the mystery is suitably heroic and tragic. TopTHE TIDES THAT BINDA man is found drowned and his son is being held by the grandparents against his mother's will. The Reverend is determined to deal with the cult led by the grandparents, but there are forces at work that put the children of the community at risk. The opening scene of this episode is quite shocking, but as matters progress it becomes a nice variation on the HAVEN theme. The plot isn't about identifying who is troubled, but dealing with the consequences of their problem. Some of the shady Reverend's history is revealed and more is learned about both who is working with whom and why Duke is destined to die at the hands of a man with a tattoo. TopFRIEND OR FOEA cowardly banker is afflicted by evil copies of himself that do bad things. Audrey, a copy of sorts herself, tries to reach the latest one in the hope of saving a young boy's life. The idea at the heart of this episode is a pretty good one, but it doesn't sustain the full running time. This means that there is a lot of running around an abandoned hotel wondering what is around the next corner. Only when Audrey finally engages the copy in debate about going beyond memory does it show any real point to it and come alive. TopLOCKDOWNThere's a new chief of police and he doesn't know about the Troubles. He is therefore not equipped to deal with a sudden virulent outbreak of death and orders everyone quarantined. Seige situations are, by their very nature, tense affairs and adding a horrible disease into the mix ought to ramp that up, but it's just another standard set up in which the good guys are locked in with someone who's troubled and have to work out who it is. There are snipers outside with no clear explanation as to who sent them or what their agenda is and the only shock or surprise is the fate of Duke's wife. TopWHO, WHAT, WHERE, WENDIGO?There's a boy in the woods being chased by a killer, so Nathan and Audrey go in after him, along with the boy's father. The Reverend shows up determined to kill whoever is responsible without worrying about the rights and wrongs of it. There is an awful lot of walking around in the woods being scared by shadows and sharing small character moments between friends in this episode, but it doesn't amount to very much until shortly before the end when a sudden chain of events changes the game once more. It might all have been so much more powerful had the conflict between the Reverend and the two law enforcement officers been heightened, but as it is the event is a small highlight in the very low key tone of the show. Top |
