Haven - Enter Sandman - Review - Lucas Bryant's Directorial Debut!

'Enter Sandman' was one of the better episodes of Haven in recent memory. Wait, Haven? Why did I just say Haven? What is Haven? Why do I remember something I don't remember? Seriously though, this episode marks the directorial debut of Nathan himself, Lucas Bryant, and he did a fine job in his first gig.

What made this episode a standout, however, were the guest actors. The titular Sandman aka Henry was a fantastic antagonist. He reminded me of Vincent D'Onofrio's Kingpin from Daredevil with that whispery, menacing voice. There was also a tad bit of sympathy for both villains with their parental issues and all, and empathy always makes for a superb villain. I did not realize while watching the episode that the actor portraying the Sandman was Rossif Sutherland, the son of the legendary Donald Sutherland, that explains it. Rossif really brought this character to life.

We also saw the return of Seth from The Dark Seekers. He had always been one of the more better liked recurring characters on Haven and his interaction with Duke was one of the highlights of this episode. Also, good riddance that Halley is gone, she was sucking the life out of this show. Hopefully, she does not return further down the road, but it seems her arc is not yet done.

The main story revolved around the Sandman trapping people in his own fantasy world. It is actually quite pleasant for all the people he put in stasis, that is if they accept it and basically be his puppet. Unfortunately for people like Grayson, Rigley, the unnamed woman, and possibly others, they were given a quick death after realizing something was wrong. Him being able to kill at the flick of a thought made the issue that much more urgent and his trouble more troublesome, though we know Audrey will never die.

In this episode we saw some intense confrontations between Dwight and the Sandman in the real world. Dwight's intimidation style of talking proved unsuccessful as Henry is the one with the power. Neither does Charlotte, who ends up falling victim to Henry's stasis. However, after Audrey disovers Grayson's death, she begins to suspect something is up; and in what is a very powerful moment, especially for Naudrey fans, Nathan gets through to Audrey, whispering to her by her bedside, which brings up all the sweet memories of them together. Audrey would eventually do her thing and make Henry see the error of his ways under the altar. This is followed by some neat direction by Mr. Bryant as we see Henry, all left alone, as his world falls apart around him.

Elsewhere, we find out Seth's memory has also been wiped clean of all things Haven as Duke tried to prod his mind. Seth would eventually remember the mermen and rougarou on his own and his memories would come back to him, before eventually losing it again. What is going on!? The sub-plot concludes with Duke not giving up on Seth as he persuades the Dark Seeker to drive him towards North Carolina to find a man who can "remove the black tar of evil from your soul," probably the character William Shatner will play. The dialogue between Duke and Seth provides some much needed humor to the show, so I am all for Seth sticking around for the time being.

Overall, this was a strong episode. It looks like Naudrey and Charlight will have that much more of a stronger bond between them after The Sandman ordeal, which will be important when whoever or whatever this Croatoan is makes his prescence known.

What did you guys think! Leave your comments below!

About the Author - Kollin Lore

Kollin is an entertainment writer and a film and television, in particular genre TV, freak having grown up during the 90s and early 2000s a dedicated fan of Buffy and Angel. Current shows like Person of Interest, Supernatural, Ripper Street, Penny Dreadful, Grimm, The Blacklist, Game of Thrones, and dozens of other shows are currently occupying Kollin’s nightly hours. His reviews for Into the Badlands and The Expanse will be coming this fall!

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