There’s a serial killer running around and Haven is losing power at a time when Team Haven are dealing with a Darkness Trouble.
The second half of Haven’s season 5 double episode return skips ahead two weeks. That means it’s been two weeks since Duke left town, leaving his newly created Troubled People behind. Team Haven are dealing with a Darkness Trouble that flays people alive. Coupled with that the power is going out all over Haven, hence the episode title Power.
Everyone is taking shelter in an elementary school where they are provided with rations to help them through the night. It’s also a good opportunity to get people to register their troubles. The most important hand-outs are a flashlight and 3 batteries. If the school loses power the flashlights will keep them from getting killed by the thing going bump in the dark.
With all the townsfolk gathered in one place, it was easy to play spot the ethnic minority and there were quite a few in this episode. As someone who has watched the first four seasons of Haven at least six times so far (I love this show a lot), let me say that I’ve not had a problem with the lack of diversity in this small coastal town. But since minorities have been used so sparingly since the series began, my brain keeps sending out alarm bells every time one takes centre stage. With the two cops from episode 14, and now the two alleged bad elements in this episode, I have whiplash. The producers have clearly made an effort to be inclusive this season so I’m going to say no more about the previous lack.
So, two of Haven’s new ethnic casting – a black guy and a Samoan/Hawaiian looking guy (last time, I promise) appear to be stealing more batteries for themselves. When Nathan gives chase the black redshirt runs down to the school basement and is shredded when he goes into a dark space. That’s one mean Trouble. It turns out he hadn’t stolen anything though. Harsh.
Deciding that the town can’t afford any bad elements if they are to survive Dwight announces that “bad elements” will be banished and The Guard will no longer help them. Not everyone in the room agrees with him when he passes sentences on the guy who stole the batteries. Without help and protection, the Darkness Trouble will shred him for sure.
It turns out though that Dwight doesn’t actually have the stomach for death. Vince lets Audrey into a little secret: Dwight hasn’t actually banished anyone. He is secretly keeping the “bad elements” hidden in a room where someone with a Slumber Trouble is keeping them in a dreamless sleep. They don’t need to eat or drink so that saves on resources and of course, they can’t hurt anyone, which is the point of prison.
What I didn’t understand is why Audrey insisted that Vince tell everyone what was going on and why she was playing advocate for the Slumber Troubled guy, offering to get him out if he didn’t want to be there. In the past, Audrey has shown that she would do anything, including getting Duke to kill people to save the many, so this new side of her is confusing. Vince shut her down by telling her that without the fear of banishment there would be anarchy.
When the power in the school is threatened Audrey is quite happy to use the lady with the Reflective Vanity Trouble and the kid with the Glow Trouble to light up the room. Does that mean she’s the only one who’s allowed to have a ‘needs must’ attitude to using Troubled people?
Nathan’s mission
Nathan is given a kamikaze mission to restore power to the grid. Having no clue how to do this he brings a small team that includes an engineer who does know what he’s doing, Charlotte, who knows science and Kira Fletcher, the girl with the Electric Trouble. She’s Nathan’s plan B should anything happen. Dave has joined the team so he can pump Charlotte for information.
To get to the power plant they need to pass through a zone of the town they have dubbed Trouble Ally. There’s a very angry invisible person down there who kills people. Naturally, the engineer is redshirted leaving Charlotte and Kira to come up with a solution to fix the grid.
Feeling like a fifth wheel Nathan goes on a side mission to find William’s aether stash as Charlotte let on that she might be able to end the troubles with it. Having supplied enough power to the grid to the point where it overloads, Kira tags along with him for backup. Armed with Seth the Ghost Hunter’s rougarou detector they head to William’s hideout.
I found Kira’s conversation about being happier in Haven with all that is going on rather than miserable in Venice intriguing. What well-adjusted person would rather face all of Haven’s weirdness than be away in some romantic city? Based on that conversation when Nathan returns to the school and reports that Kira is dead, I didn’t believe him.
Kira left behind a fiancé, Tony, that to my suspicious mind probably has some dark secret. Dark enough for Kira to prefer the lowlights of Haven and scary enough for her to fake her own death. I could be reading too much into this but only time will tell.
Duke’s still on walkabout
Duke spent the last two weeks as a mechanic until his boss decides his lack of background information makes him more trouble than an ex-con. When he reaches out to an old friend named Monty, he learns from his daughter Hayley that her dad has skipped town with a debt that she is now expected to pay. Duke says he’ll get her the money.
We were given an inkling in the previous episode that Haven might be erased from existence and it’s confirmed when Duke’s bank tell him they don’t have a branch in Haven because they’ve never heard of the town. So if Haven doesn’t exist then his bank account doesn’t exist which means he’s unable to help Haley.
Luckily for us, Haley has a Trouble that is triggered when Duke’s boss tries to kill her. With no money and no job and a young Troubled person to protect maybe Duke will find his arse back in Haven where he belongs. Fingers crossed.
Trouble log
- In this episode we learned that there have been three other deaths in the last two weeks with the same black eyes as the redshirt from the previous episode. The No Marks Killer (because he leaves no marks, get it) has been busy.
- Nathan has a ring like Audrey and Charlotte’s that belonged to the Chief. Lucy gave it to him. Charlotte said it was her husbands who passed a long time ago. I’m at the point where I’m looking for meaning in everything so for me, passed doesn’t mean dead right now. Is the character William Shatner is due to play Charlotte’s husband?
- Charlotte tells Dave he is a hafling: half human, half whatever Charlotte and Audrey are but she never actually says what they are. We know they come from beyond the void and that their special rings help to pull them through the void safely but clearly they aren’t human. I hope we find out what they are.
There are only 11 more episodes to go and William Shatner is scheduled to appear in six of them, something tells me he’s not going to show up any time soon, which is fine because the Croatoan mystery has yet to be solved and I’m hoping he’s not the No Marks Killer.
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