Firstly: Yay!!! Haven is back!!!!
Secondly: Aaah! Everything has changed!
Yes, the first episode of season four sees a massive
upheaval in our beloved troubled little town in Maine. Nathan is no longer
Chief, Audrey is nowhere to be seen and Duke’s in a seal tank in Boston (as you
do).
The episode opens with Duke in his watery predicament and
sees him arrested, put in cuffs (again!) and taken to a psych hospital.
Fortunately for us though, one thing that hasn’t changed is Duke’s humour and
he immediately comes out with such charming gems as:
Policeman: Are you saying you got
Amnesia or something?
Duke: No. Maybe. Yes? Which
answer’s gonna get you to uncuff me?
And:
Policeman: Identity theft,
trespassing…
Duke:
But it was just a fish tank!
Even more changes are afoot as a nurse tells Duke that ‘his
sister’ Audrey is here to see him (intake of breath!). However he is greeted
not by our favourite Haven gal but by a new, super adorable, slightly goofy
brunette by the name of Jennifer Mason. Jennifer reveals that she hears voices
in her head and those voices are of Duke, Nathan, Audrey and Howard from the
last scenes of season 3! (Dun dun duuun! This is totally significant in some
way!) Duke tells her about Haven, in the process coming out with the
mega-charming (sarcasm engaged) line ‘we call them troubled, and I think that’s
what you are’ (nice Duke, nice). She agrees to help and flashes her boobs at an
orderly to make good their escape, i.e. let Duke-ifer shipping commence now!
Duke and Jennifer, with the help of good old Dave (what does
“two words: Oprah Winfrey” mean?!?!), track down Nathan who is allowing himself
to be beaten up by a biker gang for cash… so not emotionally broken and
punishing himself at all then. Seriously though it’s pretty horrible to see
Nathan like this, his self-esteem is rock-bottom and it’s clear that without
Audrey he’s barely even a shadow of his former self. What does he need? That’s
right, an adorable, wonderful, good long hug-out with Duke. Easily my favourite
moment of the episode. Especially in that it’s preceded by Duke informing
Jennifer that he and Nathan “have a complicated relationship”.
Obviously Nathan gets straight to the point and asks the
question we’re all asking, where the heck is Audrey?! (only in a more polite
and Nathan-y way) and we’re rewarded with a pretty cheesy but fun cut to a bar
where we find a barmaid who looks weirdly like Jordan (I don’t think this
actually has significance, she just looks a lot like Jordan) and, yes, Audrey.
Only she’s now the sassy, highlighted, nose-studded and quite fabulously named
bartender Lexie DeWitt!!! Well, it is Haven, people! Lexie sasses around the
bar serving screaming orgasms until a familiar looking handsome fella with a
charming pearly grin saunters in: it’s Colin Ferguson! Or ‘uhh William’ as he
tells Lexie/Audrey. Seriously girl, do not trust guys who have to pause before
giving you their name! He does have a cute smile though and he saves
Lexie/Audrey from a mysterious and creepy, glasses-wearing, gun-wielding
psycho!
Back to Jennifer, Duke and Nathan as they set off for Haven
but not before Nathan fills us in with the info that the guard want him dead
for destroying the barn. He’s not wrong because as soon as the three pull into
the town they are immediately stopped by a gun-toting Jordan and a posse of
Guard members. They’re joined by Mr Guard himself, Vince, as well as Dave and
the newly appointed Chief Dwight who’s got selfless heroism down to a tee as he
removes his bullet-proof vest and informs Jordan that because of his
bullet-magnet trouble the only person she’ll hit if she tries to shoot Nathan
is him, and who’d want to hurt Sasquatch?!
Some of the significance of Jennifer’s voices-in-her-head
trouble is revealed as she tells everyone assembled that she ‘overheard’
another way for the troubles to end. Audrey has to kill the person she loves
the most. Nathan believes this is him and apparently deludedly believes that he
can convince Audrey to kill him (does he know her at all?!) and says that he’s come
back to Haven to find her so that this Nathan-killing can go ahead. The Guard
grudgingly accept that as long as Nathan is going to die anyway this is an ok
plan. Duke sends Jennifer off to The Gull to get some food and rest as Chief
Dwight suddenly remembers that actual life-threatening trouble stuff is
happening in Haven right now (which I have thus far omitted from this
recap/review because Duke/Jennifer/Nathan/Lexie is way more exciting than a
tornado in a bookshop which apparently a lot of Haven redshirts frequent).
Actually the trouble of the week in this episode is a blast
from the past, in fact from the very first episode of Haven, with Marian
Caldwell’s weather trouble returning. It’s interesting that they chose to go
back to the beginning with this and the mirroring really highlights the changes
this season, with Audrey who resolved Marian’s problems the first time no
longer in the picture. The first episode was all about Marian and Conrad’s love
for each other and in this episode, significantly, Conrad has died, sending
Marian into a literally destructive spiral of grief. This clearly echoes
Nathan’s behaviour after losing Audrey and his speech about dealing with
letting people go reinforces this as well as being the emotional crux of the
episode and persuading Marian to let go herself and stop her trouble from
destroying the town.
This was a great opening to the season and seems to be
setting a fantastic direction for the next episodes which the closing scenes serve
to set up. Duke goes to join Jennifer at The Gull but despite expecting it to
be closed up finds it open and taken over by his brother (!!!), his shocked
face when greeted by his sibling tells us that there is much to be revealed
about the relationship between these two. Also, kinda weirdly, I’m already defensive of
Duke-ifer and hoping there won’t be any triangles with his brother. The last
scene of the episode takes us back to Lexie/Audrey and ‘uhh William’ as he
drops the bomb that creepy glasses-wearing, gun-wielding guy came to stop him
from telling her secrets about herself such as she is not Lexie DeWitt, she is
someone else entirely and that, forebodingly, unless she lets him help her
remember lots of people could die!!! That’s Haven, folks!
Notes: ‘Uhh William’ doesn’t actually point the gun at
psycho glasses guy, he just lets him run away, could they have been working
together?
Best line: Duke “yes, I am a criminal, but one with a heart
of gold!”
Awful title pun: The title of the episode, ‘Fallout’, refers
to the repercussions of destroying the barn but also seems to be a pretty bad
pun as Duke says himself he’s “fallen out of the barn”. Terrible! But also
kinda cute.
Soundtrack: The gorgeous song which plays as Marian lets go
of her dead partner and Nathan rejoins the police force is Lighthouse by Patrick
Watson.
P.S. Sorry this review was a little late, it should be much
sooner after the next episode.
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