(First, a note: According to the Syfy site, this episode was called “Shot in the Dark.” My DVR listings had it as “Monster’s Ball,” as does IMDb. So whichever title you’re looking for . . . yes, that’s the episode we’re talking about.)
Friday’s episode of Haven used an interesting framing device that makes perfect sense for both the show and the channel: Haven is visited by duo Seth and Anderson, who call themselves Darkside Seekers and make videos of their hunt for the supernatural. While they’re independent – basically vloggers, I think – I loved this riff on Syfy’s ghost-hunting shows. (At one point Duke refers to Real Bigfoot Housewives, which made me giggle.) They come in as antagonists, suspicious of the conspiracy between Haven PD and the Herald to cover things up – which, fair – but it turns out they’re basically decent people with their own connection to Haven: Seth’s family summered there when he was a child, during the last Troubles, and he saw one of his friends taken by a man who appeared from the sea. Trying to find something that would explain this has become the focus of his life, but once he realizes that innocent people are in danger and the cops are really trying to help, he helps with the investigation and promises not to expose them. Aww.
The monster that the Seekers chase to Haven appears to be a rougarou killing people who were born in Haven Hospital on June 12, 1981, which is when the last Troubles began, and the investigation takes on heightened intensity when Duke tells Nathan and Dwight that that’s Jennifer’s birthdate (and this probably, somehow, explains her connection to the barn). But it turns out that it’s not actually a monster – the Seekers’ video exposes the fact that the “monster” is made up of William’s mysterious black goo orbs. The whole group winds up in a showdown with the orb monster at a warehouse, where Jennifer happens to have in her purse the book that Audrey gave Howard: she found it in the box of her family’s things. When Jennifer holds the book – but not when anyone else does – it gives off a weird electrical signature that registers on the Seekers’ equipment. Jennifer somehow manages to use the book to destroy the orb monster (or at least turn it back into its component goo), after which she sees a Guard symbol glowing on the cover that is invisible to anyone but her. And when she opens the book this time, there’s a mysterious glowing message inside that suggests that Jennifer is the one who can summon the door and send William through it. Intriguing.
Of course, amidst all of this week’s Trouble, there’s plenty still going on from last week. When the episode starts, both Audrey and William are in the hospital awaiting surgery, and the doctor is not really buying Nathan’s claim that there’s no actual bullet in Audrey’s wound because he dug it out. They’re all trying to come to terms with how the link means they can’t kill William without killing Audrey – Nathan’s all for just keeping him sedated forever. After Audrey sends the others off to solve the Trouble of the week, she confesses to Vince what William told her about causing the Troubles, but Vince completely disbelieves this and insists, again, that the Teagues know nothing about William. Audrey and William both wind up healing completely and miraculously, and William escapes the hospital.
Nathan is, understandably, pretty messed up about the whole Audrey and William situation: “Every day, I wake up and I think today’s the day I’m going to lose her.” He’s both worried for Audrey’s safety – “I don’t know if I know how to protect her anymore.” – and worried about what exactly her connection with William means – “How can I compete with him?” Duke – Duke! – tries to be supportive and convince him that, in a romantic sense if not a safety sense, he has nothing to worry about: “He doesn’t know Audrey. You know Audrey.” Aww. He’s come so far.
Other points of interest:
- There are a few fun nods to the alternate versions of people from last week: when Audrey’s trying to get Nathan to go solve the Trouble instead of sitting by her hospital bed, she points out that he can’t perform the surgery, and later one of the Seekers says to Duke: “Are you playing bad cop today, Mr. Ponytail?”
- On finding files in the cloud: Nathan: “Jennifer can do that?” Dwight: “As far as I can tell, everyone younger than me can do that.” Heh.
- I’m loving Duke and Jennifer’s relationship, and the way it lets Duke and Nathan work together without being rivals. “You’re only coming if you can keep it together.” “If anything happens to her I’m going to kill somebody.”
- Jennifer has some great lines this episode. “I don’t want the magic beeping book. You should keep it.” “How do you feel about dating Hermione?”
(Image courtesy of Syfy.)