Haven 4.09 Review: Who Are You?

Anyone that has yet to watch Friday night’s episode of Haven, titled ‘William’, then now would be your last chance to do without the threat of spoilers. For this is not a spoiler free blog. THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS! You’ve been warned.

This week’s episode, for the most part, I was really happy with. This is more of the Haven that I’ve grown to love. There was more mythology thrown into this week and more mystery that is part of what this series spouted out from. And by the way it’s been set up, I’m beyond excited for next week, when a wish causes Haven to have never had the Troubles to begin with.

But back to this week’s episode, I was really surprised by Adam Copeland’s performance as Dwight this week, he was actually good. Not much overacting, his big eyes fit perfect in the frenzied scenes, and him being held captive was actually enjoyable to watch. Maybe this guy has a chance at being a good actor after all.

The performance I most loved this week was Colin Ferguson’s go as William. He was beyond convincing as the amnesiac character, and then to turn into this seemingly evil character at the end was just a completely well done one-eighty.  While I love Eric Balfour as Duke week in and week out, as well as Emily Rose’s performance as Audrey, Ferguson took the cake this week, and I expect to see more of this from him as the season – possibly series – progresses. It makes me want to go and actually restart and finish the series Eureka, which maybe I’ll do after I’m done rewatching Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel in order.

Other things to note about this week’s episode, the one lackey may have been the big brute, but it was his more intellectual, glasses wearing co-lackey that was the creepier of the two. Also, they’re really making Jennifer seem far too important for my liking. Maybe it’s my jealousy rearing its ugly head that she’s taking too much time away from Audrey, but while I am interesting in learning her heritage and what her connection is to the Barn, the fact that she did have a connection to it and is just being introduced to us this season is a problem to me. Look, I wouldn’t have minded her so much if Duke and her had started off more as friends, and then slowly progressed to being in a relationship as he slowly got over Audrey, but the fact that he was still in love with Audrey at the beginning of this season is my problem, because I haven’t been able to see that as easily anymore. It’s like it was just written out.

A few questions about this series going forward, one being who is William really? Has he been in the Barn all this time? Is he in love with who Audrey originally was? What was it that caused her to need to go in the Barn in the first place? Can the Troubles be destroyed? How long have they been around for? Will we ever see the original personality Audrey was? What does the spark between William and Audrey do? What did it cause her to see? How long was she out for her? I am a really curious person, as a creative myself, so I expect most, if not all, of these questions to be answered before this series ends. I can wait for them to be answered eventually, but I do need answers or I’ll go crazy with wonder.

All in all, while this series does have its shortcomings the whole mythology and planning behind it was brilliant. With this episode, I’m actually excited again to watch this series week in and week out. I’m just saddened by the fact there’s only about four episodes left for this season, but I’ll savour them as much as possible.

My rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Best Lines:

“I’m the guy here, okay? I’m supposed to be the one who gets close, then pushes you away and freaks out. You’re kind of throwing me off here.” – Duke relates to an infected Jennifer.

“That guy has some serious jealousy issues.” – A seemingly amnesiac William mutters to Audrey, regarding Nathan.

“I can’t believe you actually tased me.” – Duke bewilderingly says to Dwight.

“Somebody really needs to take that thing away from him.” Duke states, concerning Dwight’s handling of the Taser.

All right, that’s me all caught up. Check back in tomorrow for my reviews of Once Upon A Time and Revenge. I’m off to go try and work on my pilot episode, and possibly watch Home Alone afterwards – only forty-five days until Christmas (P.S. I love Christmas)!

Haven 4.04 Review: Making a Leap of Faith

I’m going to keep this quick, all those that have yet to watch this past Friday’s episode of Haven, titled ‘Lost and Found’, or are simply not caught up at all and are hoping to do so without spoilers, then now would be the time to leave. As with all my reviews, there is always the chance that sensitive information is included below. To reiterate, THIS BLOG MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS! You’ve been warned.

This week’s episode of Haven was quite well done. While it began with the usual case-of-the-week pertaining to the Troubles that Nathan, and this season Dwight, has to solve, the tension of finding Audrey finally came to it’s conclusion. The only problem is, she’s not Audrey anymore.

The way this episode was written, I really felt the tension of desperately trying to find Audrey this episode. Nathan had grown as impatient as the rest of the Troubled people, especially those in the Guard, so it definitely was time for Audrey to come out. And just the way she came out, and who she’s come out as, helps to heighten all the questions that still need to be answered regarding this series

But let’s get back to the beginning of this episode. The Trouble-of-the-week turned out to be this man having to come to terms with the fact being unable to have kids was his fault, and in the process his Trouble started and Douen (yes, that’s how you spell it, I looked it up) began luring children out to the woods. While this Trouble-of-the-week thing is tad bit old at this point, I did find the picture of one of those Douen being frighteningly creepy. It got my heart racing a bit, and I’m a horror movie buff.

The one other thing this weekly Trouble helped shine the light on was children, and the idea of where Audrey and Nathan’s son went. He basically says he caused his death, in a way, giving us a more concrete answer to what happened to him, the Colorado kid. But I’m curious, is he actually dead, or does Nathan just think he’s dead. He did, after all, go back into the barn, thus saving his life in the process, as Audrey did, so did he somehow manage to get out. Because honestly, couldn’t his wound be healed by modern medicine? Also, could William possibly be the son? He has to be someone.

One other thing I liked about this episode was the interactions between Duke and Jennifer. While they keep seeming to go back and forth between whether they’re going to pair them up or not, they were pleasantly just being friendly this episode. Duke having to calm Jennifer down and distract her so she could hear Audrey in the barn was rather comical. The yoga fail, the hilarious comfortable way she sat for meditating, and being hung upside down from the higher level of Duke’s boat were hilarious, in a quieter kind of way.

The best thing, though, about this episode was the complete lack of Duke’s brother, whose name I forget at the moment because I can’t stand the guy (I could look it up, but – again – I can’t stand the guy). He is such a pointless addition to this season, where Duke already has Jennifer to interact with, and now a new alter ego of Audrey’s. The character was written in to stay and terribly, and I was just fantastically happy to not to have to deal with him this episode, where we finally find Audrey again.

A few notes concerning the episode. Nathan looked amazing in that leather jacket, he should always wear it. Also, Duke should really cut his hair. Like Sam in Supernatural, it’s far too long, and not necessary for the story, so stop being so damn lazy and just do it already. It’s fine up in a bun, but he shouldn’t need to do that. And can I also just comment on the final scene in the episode? The whole build up to Audrey, and the anticipation of her being able to end the Troubles for good, and she doesn’t even remember who she is. That was amazing.

I have a few questions stemming from this episode that I haven’t already addressed. What was up with the in-between? I’m guessing from Dave’s reaction to the door, it contains a fair amount of supernatural mojo, but I’m curious to know more about it. Also, similarly, what was up with that ripple? Did the door just let out a whole lot of paranormal they won’t be able to handle, or at least used to? I’m sure as the season progresses, these will be answered somewhat, but the questions can still be asked. Also, why was Audrey the stopper for the Troubles? Who was she originally? One last question, while I completely expected it, William explained to Audrey/Lexie that she’d come out as the person she most wanted to be, being that she was Lexie at the time, that would be the person she’d most want to be. So my question is, how had she forgotten being Audrey so quickly? She’s in the barn for twenty-seven years every time before this, so how was this persona crafter so readily? Was it a rainy-day persona?

My rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Best Lines:

“The time travelling barn that turned ten seconds into six months for me, that barn?” – Duke asks Nathan ludicrously.

“Seventeen … Lives, Jordan, not just messes.” – Nathan says, having counted up all the lives he is at fault for, by killing Agent Howard.

“Yes, that’s why they call it a leap of faith.” – William dryly tells Lexie (Audrey).

I’m off to watch Once Upon A Time now… Then it’s Revenge and nothing more until tomorrow night.