Haven‘s “Enter Sandman,” which aired on Syfy and Showcase last week, opened with what seemed to be exactly what I didn’t want: Audrey in some sort of alternate universe, this time a fancy socialite wedding. My notes say, and I quote, “OH FOR GOD’S SAKE.” I’ve said every week, I think, that one of the main things I want from this season is for Audrey to STAY AUDREY, and I feared we were losing her again so quickly — but I actually wound up being okay with how the episode handled it.
Audrey is, of course, in the dream world created by Henry, the Sandman — and he’s the groom. Audrey is the only one who has treated him like a person, he says, and so he wants to keep her forever — and if she marries him in the dream world, she has to stay there, for … some reason that’s never entirely explained. That just made me realize one of my problems with this show – it takes its mythology so seriously but a lot of the time it just doesn’t really hold up. You can have one or the other, show! Nathan, Dwight, and Charlotte devote their efforts to getting Audrey back, but if they kill Henry, everyone in stasis/the dream world will die too. And Henry shows just how serious he is by killing people in the dream world — and they do die in the real world.
Nathan, Dwight, and Charlotte attack Henry from three different angles. Charlotte’s is the most dramatic: she tries to talk/seduce Henry into putting her into the dream world with Audrey, though he sees through her and so takes away her memories and makes her Audrey’s maid of honor. Grayson (the deaf man from the previous episode) is there too, as Henry’s best man, and Charlotte and Grayson realize things are wrong and figure out that they don’t belong there must more quickly than Audrey does. I think this is because Henry’s imagination and energy are strained trying to do so much at once, and so he focuses on Audrey and makes her experience the most real. Unfortunately, Henry realizes Grayson is on to him and kills him.
Nathan stays with Audrey and keeps talking — and his voice eventually does break through to her, in flashes. “It’s you and me. We’re the heroes.” “I love you. You fought so hard to be who you are.” Aww. Meanwhile, Dwight tries to figure out Henry’s deal and talk him down in the way Audrey usually does with the Troubled. He figures out that Henry was a lonely orphan who lived in his imaginary world, which eventually became real. And making Henry think about this, I think, makes a newspaper with coverage of the crash that killed his parents appear in the dream world for Audrey to see — and the newspaper also happens to have a picture of Nathan in a police-related story, which finally makes Audrey remember everything and manage to talk Henry down.
Charlotte and Audrey make it back safely when the dream world collapses — but so do all the “banished” people, right? How is that going to go? Audrey says she’s back because Nathan never let her go. “Is that your way of telling me you need some space?” “Don’t you dare.” Awww. Please, show, just let these two finish out the season on solid ground. They and the audience deserve that after all this time. When she returns, Charlotte kisses Dwight, and — sure! More kissing for everyone! And Charlotte and Audrey have some nice mother/daughter moments, and declare that they are going to end the Troubles together.
Duke’s story continues to be interesting but separate from everyone else’s, and I continue to have mixed feelings about that. Darkside Seeker Seth Byrne shows up at the scene of the shipping container incident, where, by the way, Hailie just seems to be gone, at least for now. Seth, of course, remembers nothing of Haven or Duke and assumes Duke is some kind of superfan stalker. Interestingly, Duke can see Seth’s footage from Haven, but to Seth it just looks like snow. Eventually Duke talks Seth into remembering everything, and Seth wants to go back to Haven, but Duke doesn’t. “I don’t think you’re done with Haven. I don’t,” Seth tells him, but they compromise on setting off for North Carolina to find a man who claims he can remove the “black tar of evil” from people – a.k.a. aether?! Except! As soon as he steps away from Duke, Seth forgets everything again. Luckily, Duke is nothing if not good at being persistent and annoying, so he talks Seth into going to NC anyway, planning to make him recover his memories again en route.
(Image courtesy of Syfy.)