This week on Haven: everything is terrible. Again. Still. Whatever. “Chemistry” was the penultimate episode of this half of the season, so it’s well past time for me to stop saying that I don’t like the season so far but I hope it’s all leading somewhere good. At this point, the finale would have to be amazing for me to overlook how much I’ve disliked almost everything about this season so far.
So. Ugh. Okay. I’m not sure I can bring myself to do a play-by-play here, but let’s hit the big points, and then I’ll say a little more about why this show is just not working for me at this point. We pick up with Duke and Mara’s morning after — Duke wants to go after the Aether, and Mara’s still claiming she wants to help him. Does he believe her? “I mean, I have to, right?” “You don’t have to. You do.” Does he? I don’t know. I think he wants to. Mara has him so far under her spell that when she is apparently kidnapped, he loses it, even as Gloria tries to talk some sense into him: “Is Mara really worth tanking all your other friendships?” NO. This all leads to Duke and Nathan pulling guns on each other, which was terrible, but at least Duke had a moment of honesty: “I needed you.” Nathan: “What, you gonna hit me? Really? She means that much to you?” And … yes. Duke knocks him out, and I hate everything. Of course, Mara was behind the Aether theft and her own kidnapping and never really cared about Duke at all. As expected. But she did successfully manipulate his emotions to push him over the edge to the next level of … whatever he is, which now involves accidentally giving people Troubles just by touching them. So that’s, um, troubling.
Vince is suspicious of Charlotte (who isn’t really with the CDC), but Nathan wants Charlotte to be good because she might help Audrey, who’s getting sicker, and Charlotte is suspicious of Audrey (and pretty much everyone). Dwight wants Charlotte to be good because he likes her, and tells her about Duke. (They do kiss, which was one of the relatively few things I liked about the episode.) While trying to figure out who Charlotte really is, Vince and Audrey discover that she has a ring just like Sarah/Audrey’s … and Charlotte says that’s because everyone in the family has one. The big reveal: she claims to be Audrey/Mara/etc.’s mother.
And that’s an interesting reveal! It really is. But the show has burned through so much of my good will getting there that I’m not sure I can really bring myself to care. Mythology is interesting, but for me, that’s always been a secondary factor with this show; the main things that attracted me to it from the start were the characters, especially the central trio, and the dynamics between those characters. The past few seasons have spent a lot of time not letting Audrey be Audrey, and now that Audrey is back, Duke is estranged on pretty flimsy grounds. Sure, the plot is interesting enough, but I don’t actually enjoy watching it at this point. I’m starting to think that the show I thought I was watching — and loved — is not the one that the writers were intending to make. And that’s fine. It happens. It’s sad, but it happens. I’m not sure where to go from here. Do I spend my time making myself write about a show I’m just disliking most of the time? Do you even want to read that? Do I really want to give up this far in? I guess we’ll see what the midseason finale is like — I’ll definitely write about that — and go from there.
Other favorite lines and stray thoughts:
- “What did you think we were going to do, have brunch? Crosswords in bed?”
- “Let your cute boyfriend take care of you.” There’s been worse advice.
- “This is purely a business call.” “Coffee is the official beverage of business.”
- “Duke’s complicated.” You don’t say.
- “I don’t have to explain myself to you, Nathan.” “I’m a cop and you just picked a lock, so yeah, you do.”
- Gloria has an old flame at the Pentagon!
- “How’s your head?” “Ever heard of the Troubles? I can’t feel it.”
- “I’m not afraid of toes.” “You’re afraid of abandonment.”
- “Parker. I can feel her.”
(Image courtesy of Syfy.)