Haven: Spotlight

Haven‘s saga of Mara continued last night with “Spotlight,” but first, a very good question that was raised in the comments last week: What the heck happened to Vickie? Wasn’t she in Nathan’s truck? Where did she go? Did I miss something?

So, anyway. Nathan’s pretending Mara’s missing, but he’s actually on the run with her, hoping that he can … get Audrey to come back and Mara to go away, I guess? I get that he doesn’t want to hand Mara over to torture or death if Audrey’s still inside her — which seems to be real and not a trick, I guess — but does he have an actual plan for getting Audrey back? Keeping Audrey at the surface by talking to her is one thing, but so far as we know, I don’t think he even has a theory for how to make Mara actually go away forever. So that was frustrating for me. This whole thing is frustrating, really.

Nathan and Mara end up at Nathan’s dad’s secret … hunting shack? … and Mara promptly starts trying to seduce Nathan because … she’s bored and he’s hot? No, I assume because she wants to a) get the aether, b) get him on her side, and/or c) make sure he’s in a vulnerable place to increase her odds of escaping, overpowering him, etc. There are some adorable flashbacks to Audrey and Nathan at the shack — Mara has all of Audrey’s memories, after all — and Nathan gives in to the point of kissing Mara. Stop it, Nathan. Luckily, he listens to me and stops. She does, however, manage to get the aether. And she realizes that having Audrey’s memories gives her another way to try to get to Nathan: her knowledge of Audrey’s feelings. “Do you ever just wonder if she loved you as much as you loved her?” “No.” I’m really impressed that he resisted there.

Audrey resurfaces when Nathan is talking to her while Mara’s asleep, and tells him that treating Mara like Audrey is the only way to keep her, Audrey, from being totally overpowered. So, of course, he makes pancakes. Perfect. “Don’t you cook anything else?” And his blueberry syrup option is very Mainey. Mara is hilariously unimpressed, and Nathan absolutely does not care: “I’m going to give you a Trouble that makes your heart explode inside of your chest.” “Maple it is.” I’m glad that some of this was funny, but I’m still not buying into the whole thing, since as I keep saying my favorite part of this show is Audrey, Nathan, and Duke interacting, and that requires Audrey. And Mara isn’t consistently interesting enough to me to make up for it.

I do like that Duke is the one who knows what Nathan’s up to, and that even though he doesn’t actually believe that Audrey’s still there, he gives Nathan 24 hours to work through things. In the meantime, he’s involved in the Trouble of the week, in which his friend Jody is absorbing the light around her and compressing it into beams that burn things and kill people, including her sister. I loved Duke’s interactions with Jody and her daughter Charlotte — he’s almost given up pretending he’s this terrible guy — and the way he tries to convince Charlotte that her mother’s Trouble isn’t her fault definitely suggests that he’s going through some of the same thoughts regarding Jennifer. (I miss Jennifer.) Duke’s also getting sick, as he has everyone’s Troubles building up inside him.

Duke finally tracks Nathan and Mara down, and is rather displeased when he finds them: “What is this? You two look like you’re on your honeymoon!” But Mara gets to Duke by promising to help him activate a Trouble that won’t hurt anyone, in order to let out some of the Trouble pressure making him sick. And I have no idea why he believes her, but I guess he’s desperate. She says she needs a list of the Troubles the Crockers have ended, and sends Nathan to dig up Duke’s grandfather’s book — is she trying to get the book? Or just to get Nathan out of the way? We don’t find out, as once Nathan is gone and Mara is reminding Duke of his kiss with Audrey, Dwight arrives, having followed Duke.

Other favorite lines and stray thoughts:

  • “You filthy liar.” “I’m kinda with her on that.”
  • Did Duke bury Jennifer alone?? Nathan!!! This is not how you treat your BFF, regardless of what you’re going through.
  • I loved Duke’s symbolic hair-cutting. So sad, and yet such a relief that his hair will be better now.
  • “I’m not camping.”
  • No one knows about Nathan’s dad’s place (except maybe Duke)? Really?
  • Eeyore!
  • “A lot of people need Audrey. No one needs you.”
  • “When it comes to Audrey, Nathan is incapable of making a good decision.”
  • “Don’t worry. Just the usual. Somebody needs a favor.” I love that this is now the usual for Duke.

Did you like this episode? Next week: “Much Ado About Mara.”

(Image courtesy of Syfy.)

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