Contributor: J.M.
Written by Shernold Edwards
Directed by Paul Fox
Any series that functions on as short of a season as “Haven” does requires the writers to continuously move the story forward and shake up the status quo. Particularly with the large changes with the introductions of Tommy, Jordan and Claire, and the plot issue of the Hunter, there was bound to be a push to readdress the tenuous equilibrium that has been established. All of the plot points drop rather nicely together, discovering the identity of the Colorado Kid while dealing with a Troubled whose relationship with her sister could only in the most generous manner be described as “troubled”. However, the execution leaves something rather significant to be desired.
The story was basically split in two, with Duke and Audrey flying off to Colorado to discover the identity of the Colorado Kid and Nate and Tommy back in Haven trying to track down the Troubled who keeps killing and bringing them back to life. The two storylines get about equal treatment, but there’s a distinct sloppiness about the Haven story. Claudia Black’s guest character nails the controlling sister role, but there are some limitations and uncertainties about her Trouble and the lack of development and execution with this part of the story. They speak about her not being able to handle more than one death a day, that to do so would be dangerous, without laying out the consequences. There’s also the odd constraint about rising again at sunset, and whether or not she needs to be touching them at sunset which the opening scene disproves, but seems to come into question later. There were some puzzling choices taken with this storyline that really brought the episode down.
As far as Audrey and Duke, that plot felt far more organic and genuine in terms of where the characters were coming from, particularly Audrey’s very genuine reaction to discovering she has three weeks to ‘live.’ Thanks to some clever thinking they were able to discover the identity of the Colorado Kid: Audrey’s son. Or rather, Sarah’s child. That revelation honestly left something to be desired.
Taking the long view, I’m concerned how the writers will wrap up these mysteries and try and answer the questions they bring up. Overall, it fits into the season’s general lack of focus, split between the Bolt Gun Killer (terrible serial killer name, though) and resolving issues with the Troubled. Compared to last season with the Rev (amazing how quickly that storyline disappeared without a trace?), this season has been a bit scattered and it hasn’t helped the plot. The writers, for me at least, haven’t built a strong enough case for why the Colorado Kid is important to the Troubled and Audrey’s apparent reincarnations.
Ultimately, this episode was a disappointing one; struggling to fuse the two disparate plots and the results of a less-tightly plotted show beginning to show. While the season looks to be ramping up and I have faith in the writers to put on an extra layer of polish to help deal with the cracks, this season looks like it won’t surpass the high standards set by season 2.
Score: 7/10