This is the review of Haven season 3 finale ‘Thank for all the memories’ of Haven, it was aired yesterday back to back with the previous episode because of the terrible shooting in the US at the end of the last. Haven now has with Warehouse 13 pretty much a level playing field on the Syfy Channel after we learned that Alphas has been canceled after two seasons. A third show called ‘Continuum’ has recently started airing on Syfy but another production company is behind it (Showcase). With the scarcity of sci-fi shows on Syfy I am pleased to say that season 4 of Haven has been confirmed and will probably start airing sometime in the autumn of this year.
As for the plot of ‘Thanks for the Memories’…
Nathan and Duke find Audrey missing from her apartment and know that Arla Cogan has kidnapped her. They decide she has taken her to Kick-Em Jenny Neck, to the site where the barn was last seen (Love Machine), so they go off to Kick’Em Jenny Neck. Out on the Neck Audrey and Arla come upon Agent Howard who is bird watching. He wants to talk to Audrey and convinces Arla to go and meet her husband, James in town. He explains that he is Audrey’s “ride”, he drops her off and when the time is right he picks her up again. He shows her the barn in the distance and tells her that the Troubles will stop for twenty-seven years when she decides to go into the barn. But she doesn’t want to go in because Audrey will die and she will become someone else. He tells her to go and figure out a way to stay, but, while she tries to stay, the sky is starting to fall and will continue until Haven is destroyed. Nathan and Duke arrive while Howard and the barn disappear. A meteor falls and destroys the lighthouse. Audrey says she has to find James, as he knows how to end the Troubles.
In town Vince has Dave tied up in the trunk of his car when Dwight arrives. Dave had knocked him out and let Arla go and so Vince says he’s dangerous. Dwight says to let him out as he leaves. Vince doesn’t. Audrey, Nathan and Duke search for Arla and James. In a hotel James is sick and Arla is looking after him. James thinks his mother, Lucy/Sarah, had tried to kill him. Duke rings Arla on Claire’s phone to tell her to bring James and meet him, for he will arrange to get Audrey, who can take James back into the barn, so that he can get better. Dwight lets Dave out of the trunk and Dave tells him that Vince wants Audrey to go back into the barn, but he thinks they should deal with the situation, break the cycle and truly end the Troubles. Duke helps Arla bring James to the barn and they are soon joined by Audrey and Nathan. Arla discovers that Duke wasn’t helping her, but getting James to Audrey. Audrey figures that the barn won’t leave until she is ready to go. In the confusion James goes into the barn with Audrey and Nathan in pursuit. Inside, the space is enormous with corridors fading away in the distance. Nathan can feel again, for apparently Troubles don’t operate inside. He says that if the barn were destroyed the Troubles could be ended. They are transported back to 1955 and see Vince, Dave and Sarah arrive to blow up the barn, but with no effect. They have been shown one of Sarah’s memories by Agent Howard that indicates blowing up the barn wouldn’t work. Nathan doubts the memory, so Howard shows another memory he couldn’t doubt and he and Audrey witness Sarah making out with Nathan. Back in the barn, Nathan, separated from Audrey, finds James and tells him he is James’s father. James explains that his own death was the only thing that could keep Lucy out of the barn. The day James was about to leave Haven someone bashed him in the head and Arla found out it was Lucy. As Audrey approaches, James disappears. Outside, as Duke guards Arla, they are surprised by Jordan and the Guard. Nathan explains to Audrey that James thinks killing him will end the Troubles, so they have to find him and figure out what to do. Audrey summons Howard to show them James, but James will only trust Arla and wants to see her.
On their way to the barn Dave and Dwight catch up with Vince and convince him they have to stop the Troubles once and for all, so Vince goes to the barn and tells the Guard to leave. Vince has been their boss all along. He explains to Duke that he had prevented the Guard from killing him. Audrey comes out and brings Arla inside. Because Troubles have no effect, James sees Arla’s mask, discovers what she has done and is horrified. Arla, knowing she has lost him attempts to stab Audrey, but James intervenes, taking the stabbing himself. Audrey turns the blade on her and goes to James, telling Nathan to take Arla outside to prevent her from being restored. James tells Audrey that Lucy said killing someone she loved was the only way to end the Troubles for ever. He asks her who she loves now. Howard appears and Audrey asks him why she belongs in the barn. He explains that the barn is like an amplifier for her. When she is in it the Troubles are nullified, but after twenty-seven years her energy is depleted, the Troubles come back and she has to go out and “recharge” with love. He answers her questions that she is human, that she is not Troubled, that it seems she is being punished because she is supposed to kill the person she loves, and that there are only two ways out now, one is the temporary solution, the other permanent. She goes to say goodbye to the people outside. Nathan finds it too difficult, but Audrey flees into the barn, so Nathan threatens to kill Howard. Jordan comes round the barn and shoots him. Nathan responds by shooting Howard. She shoots again and as Nathan goes down Duke grabs his gun and finishes her. The barn starts rupturing with light, as does the body of Howard, which soon disappears. Arla’s body is sucked into the barn. The wounded Nathan tells Duke to go and save Audrey, so he races into disappearing barn. It vanishes and Nathan is left by himself calling for Audrey.
Conclusion; the second half of season 3 doesn’t quite live up to the first half and this final episode of the season is an example of that.
The revelation of the who the bolt-gun killer is and what their motivation is for killing so many people somehow doesn’t live up to the emotional highs of the pursuit that Nathan and Audrey started to undercover the identity of said killer. Likewise some other revelations about Audrey being a sort of ‘troubles’ shock breaker seems to fall a little bit flat as does Howard’s part in it all. The revelation that Vince is the actual leader of the ‘guard’ was a surprise and a pleasant one, one that gives this season a very high reviewing quality. The love-triangle between Audrey, Nathan and Duke was a bit boring and convoluted and not something I care to see again.
I also hope the character of Jordan (Kate Kelton) isn’t dead, as she was shot in the gut and in the shoulder I am rather hopeful that she will make an appearance in the fourth season. Otherwise I think that this show has a problem with female characters as they are definitely in the minority now that doctor Claire Callahan has been confirmed dead.
Looking back at season 3 I think Haven has definitely grown, it’s first season had too many episodes that just missed the mark while the second season was better but lacked major developments with it’s mythology. Season 3 brings a little bit of Lost to Haven when it comes to the mysticism, I say a little bit because this show certainly doesn’t reach the same level of drama and mystery as that of Lost but there is potential. Overall, this show lacks some important character development with our trio of lead characters being a bit bland in my taste.
Score; 8 / 10.
Source; www.syfy.com/haven
like your review. This episode made me feel like i’d read the first few chapters of a good book and then got a look at the last chapter and i’m not sure i want to see the middle. Why they chose to cram so much into the final, i don’t know, the characters seemed to move like robots from one reaction to another, missed opportunity for character development. I don’t want to see the triangle any more either but with the whole ‘recharging with love’ theme i have a bad feeling this will not only continue but become more convoluted. There is a dearth of female characters and i hope Jordan returns. Female characters who do senseless things for love (Evi Crocker, Arla Cogan) are becoming too common in Haven. A little backstory on Claire would have made us think she wasnt there just to be killed off.
You’re right. This show has a problem with female characters, as well as characters that aren’t white. Every single female character that’s not Audrey that joins the team ends up dead. Every non-white character that joins the team ends up dead. There’s so much stuff I love about this show, but the fact that they can’t seem to keep women or non-white characters around has me ready to give it up.