Leave it to “Haven” to throw a completely unexpected wrench into fan expectation. With the war between the mundanes and the Troubled escalating to almost ridiculous degrees, to the point where armed civil war felt like it was right around the corner, the writers toss in a curve ball. And they managed to toss in some neat thematic work in the process, which is always a nice touch.
When some cursed individuals seem to be killing innocents in the middle of a nearly forest, Nathan and Audrey have to pull together a team to find, rescue, and manage the aforementioned Troubled before the Reverend’s personal lynch mob gets their hands on them. And since we’re talking about three young women with a taste for human flesh, it’s not a clear cut situation.
The wendigos represent humanity at its most basic and primitive: trying to maintain a veneer of civilization while fighting an instinctual bloodlust. This is balanced, for most of the episode, against the Reverend and his posse. For all that they talk about protecting the town from evil and such, they seem to be ready to kill any and all “cursed” individuals that they encounter. And that includes Nathan, and by extension, Audrey.
Complicating matters is Duke and his allegiance. Duke takes great pains to convince Audrey that he is working with the Reverend for the sole purpose of figuring out what his father intended him to do in Haven when the Troubles returned. Duke is actually rather desperate to make this point clear, especially when not-so-veiled threats against her and Nathan are made.
All of this is designed to make the point that the Reverend and his people have lost any semblance of the moral high ground. The audience is lead, quite correctly, to see how the Reverend has lost perspective, right down to the moment when he’s willing to stab a young woman to death, despite the fact that she has let him go and surrendered to his mercy. At which point Audrey shoots him dead center in the chest, killing him.
The rest of the episode is all about the realization that Audrey could have simply wounded the Reverend, but instead, she chose to take out the leader of the opposing camp. Audrey’s justification is no better or different than the Reverend’s endless screed: that killing the enemy serves the greater good.
Beyond taking away the one major antagonist on the show at the moment, this is likely to have severe consequences. On a broad level, Reverend Driscoll had enough support in the town to control the police department and carry out his plans with little or no resistance from the non-Troubled. And that support came with considerable religious fervor. There is a good chance that his death will make him a martyr, leading to more violence in the long run.
Meanwhile, we already knew that the Troubled had a secret society willing to take any necessary measure to protect their own. Now it seems that Audrey has decided that she’s not willing to be caught in the middle; she’s chosen a side. All these recent events pretty much leave Haven, as a town, without anyone to stop a full-out war from erupting.
On a more personal level, Audrey’s decision left Duke without a means of getting his answers, and her attitude was remarkably dismissive of his concerns. Could this be another source of friction within the core group? Something tells me that the last few episodes of the season will be all about exploring the relationships strained by Audrey’s choice, as well as the ramifications to the town.
Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 2/4
Final Rating: 8/10
