What is causing the troubles? Who is Audrey? What caused the divide between Nathan and Duke? We got very little in terms of big picture answers in these episodes. If I was watching them week-to-week it probably wouldn’t have been as obvious, but it was difficult to ignore watching them so closely together.
From what I understand, the mystery takes a bigger role as the series goes on. I hope that is sooner rather than later.
Episode 4: “Consumed”
I made the mistake of eating lunch while watching this episode. The spoiled food, dead birds, and all the disgusting slop was not a good match.
The troubles have definitely come to Haven, though Nathan and Audrey have done an amazing job at keeping it quiet. The residents, even those who knew about the original troubles, don’t have a clue what is going on. With all the odd happenings that’s a bit surprising.
Wouldn’t the residents wonder why food was instantaneously spoiling and disintegrating in front of them? And, what about dead birds falling from the skies and dead fish in the sea? It’s going to become more and more difficult to keep the secret.
Audrey decided to stick around, at least, if her new wardrobe is any indication. Her new boots were hilarious. Though, the funniest moment came from the old newspaper dudes watching her try on clothes. They ended up selecting the perfect dress for her. Loved it!
There weren’t any new reveals about Audrey’s family connection to Haven, but she has begun to better understand the town and the “two Havens.”
The biggest development of the episode happened when Bill gave The Second Chance to Duke. Will Duke be a successful restaurant owner? I’m not sure, perhaps he would be better off turning it into a tavern.
“Raining birds? You’ve got to be kidding me.” — Nathan
“I’ve seen this movie. It doesn’t end well.” — Audrey
Episode 5: “Ball and Chain”
Duke officially took over the restaurant and had a grand re-opening. Unfortunately, there was a dangerous guest; only no one knew this until it was too late and two young men aged themselves to death.
Initially, I thought perhaps Helena was stealing their youth. But, then Beatrice’s baby was playing too prominent a role. How was the infant involved? I never saw the truth coming. It was a unique reveal that Beatrice was Helena and giving birth to the babies at the fathers’ expenses.
Since I am watching it on DVD, I knew that Duke didn’t die since he is in future episodes, though I’d guess people watching the show originally expected him to be saved as well.
The big reveal or lack of reveal was about the strife between Nathan and Duke. I expected to find out what has divided them when Duke was dying, but they didn’t discuss it. For an almost death, they didn’t bridge their divide much at all.
Then, when Nathan showed up at Duke’s, I was hoping for a heart-to-heart, but instead Nathan walked away. Why did Nathan even show up there, if he wasn’t going to talk to Duke? Weird. I want to know what is going on there. The longer we don’t find out, the grander the reason needs to be.
It was touching that Audrey took a picture of Jean. It must have been difficult for her to see Jean given away. It doesn’t seem that this trouble had anything to do with what happened to Audrey. But, was Audrey given away because of a trouble?
Episode 6 & 7: “Fur” and “Sketchy”
I’m combining these two episodes because not much happened in either of them. They were both trouble-of-the-week episodes without any insight provided into the grander picture
“Fur” was the first episode that I didn’t really enjoy. The twist that the son was stuffed was odd, but by the end I didn’t care all that much. Sure, Nathan has is own non-feeling issue, but there wasn’t any real connection between the two. We were introduced to a new recurring character, Jess. Her comments to Nathan about his condition not being medical was insightful. What is causing it? Nathan loves pancakes, doesn’t he? At least, Jess still agreed to go out with him for breakfast.
This episode was about sketches that work similarly to voodoo dolls. Crumble the sketch of a person and that person physically becomes discombobulated, poke the steeple of a church sketch and it blows up. That’s a dangerous power to control.
The sketch mystery was more enjoyable to watch than the stuffed animals attacking, but it also lacked in the big picture department. Audrey and Eleanor have worked to hide the troubles, but Audrey’s started to have doubts about doing it. Audrey ended up going to Duke’s for a drink after solving the disturbing case.
When I first started Haven, I thought Audrey and Nathan might get together, until she ended up on Duke’s boat. Then, I thought we were headed for a love triangle and hoped that wouldn’t happen. Now, I’m kinda rooting for Audrey and Duke to date. The odd couple! I loved his comment, “Secret to happiness with men is lowering expectations.” Hmmm….
“I want to find this thing. … I want to kick its ass.” — Audrey
Looking forward
I hope the future episodes start giving us more in terms of what is causing these troubles. We see what’s happening: a woman steals a men’s youth to have a baby, stuffed animals seek revenge against their killers, and sketches are used as blackmail causing injury and death. But, why are all these things happening? What about these people causes them to develop these ultimately deadly abilities? They started before Audrey came to town, so she’s not the cause. Off to watch more Haven!
Clacked by Carla Day 
on Jul 08, 2012 @ 10:00 EST5EDT
Honestly, it will only get better. The next 6 episodes are the best. You have to keep watching and you will be surprised. And I’ll come back and read more :)