(Hi everyone! Sorry for the delay – I’ve had technical difficulties and travel preventing me from watching things in a timely manner. Should be caught up soon.)
In Haven‘s “When the Bough Breaks,” billed as the first hour of the season finale, a particularly bad Trouble brings Audrey’s standoff with William to a head as Jennifer and company rush to figure out how to use the book to get rid of William forever.
The Trouble of the week, associated with the Harker family, comes with its own little rhyme: “Never let a Harker cry, lest near or far people die.” Since the Trouble usually manifests at puberty, Harker children are taught not to cry, but William triggers the Trouble in infant Aaron, who obviously cannot control his crying. William’s goal, of course, is to make Audrey create more Troubles in order to stop this one; he hopes that in doing so she’ll remember how much she likes creating Troubles and the person he thinks she is. Audrey tries to hide William’s claims from Nathan, but I love that Nathan can tell that something’s up, and that Audrey finally confides in him. Duke figures out the gist of what’s going on as well, and the two guys have opposite reactions, which is interesting: Nathan encourages Audrey to just do what she has to do, as he has faith that creating Troubles won’t break her or turn her into her previous self, while Duke urges her not to, because he doesn’t want it to hurt her. They’re both very caring but wildly different responses.
Audrey holds out as long as she can, even telling William that she’s decided to kill the baby to stop him from killing others – but William says he’ll activate all the Harkers if Audrey doesn’t give someone a Trouble. And now we find out exactly how (William claims) Troubles are created: the take intention, proper choice of person, and some of that black goo on the hand of the person causing the Trouble. Audrey first tries to give a silence Trouble to the baby’s almost-deaf stepgrandfather, and though something happens, it doesn’t work correctly. William wants her to keep trying until she gets it right, but while Audrey insists that doing it just made her feel terrible, Duke can tell that she felt her original self and liked it, so he wants her to stop trying. Audrey confesses that causing the Trouble gave her a terrible jolt of evil, but some part of her liked it.
The baby’s father Ben has another solution: if Duke kills him, it will save Aaron and all other Harkers from the crying Trouble. Jennifer tries to talk Duke out of it, but he’s insistent, and asks Audrey to re-Trouble him. They reason it will be easier for her to get this one right, since she knows Duke and his Trouble so well, than it would be to keep trying to cause helpful Troubles in others. Poor Duke. He never wants to be the hero, but here he is, again, volunteering. “Are we doing this?” “Yeah, we’re doing this.” Aaand – the episode ends. Pre-finale cliffhanger!
Meanwhile, Jennifer and the Teagues are trying to figure out the mysterious book, which seems to be sending her on a quest for the “heart of Haven.” The Guard symbol on the book has started fading in and out – and it’s synchronized with Vince’s tattoo, which is doing the same thing. But Vince reveals that it’s not really a tattoo – it’s a birthmark that firstborn Teagues have (and Dave is adopted). Vince’s birthmark moves like a compass when the book is close, and they realize that it’s always pointing toward the lighthouse. When they go to the lighthouse, Jennifer sees a trap door the others don’t, and when they investigate they discover that they need four people to summon the door that will hopefully send William away.
Other thoughts:
- I love Gloria, and it was interesting to see her brought directly into a Trouble of the week. And I loved her family’s perspective: that the Crocker Trouble was a blessing because it saved their family.
- Another sign of William and Audrey’s connection, or at least similarity: Nathan can feel William’s touch, too.
- Audrey to William: “Come any closer and I’ll punch you in the face. It’ll be worth my own black eye.” Hee.
(Image courtesy of Syfy.)