#haven 5

There's only one thing to do after Haven's Now & Forever finale, and that is to watch this beautiful fanvid.

It just perfectly sums up Duke and Nathan's whole relationship. Wonderful.

I started writing something set in the final moments of episode 5.13, where Charlotte said Audrey would be absorbed into Mara but where she actually chose to prioritise Audrey instead.

But what if it had gone differently? What if it wasn't Audrey who resulted from that merging, and what if it wasn't Mara either? What if it was someone new ...

-

Nathan and Duke ran through the sudden wind to find Charlotte, kneeling on the ground between what looked like Mara and a pile of Audrey’s clothes. The women stood and turned to face them.

“Mara,” said Nathan.

“No,” came the reply.

This was good news, but Nathan heart sank. His heart sank because he could see - in the shake of her head, in the tone of her voice, in the way she held herself - he could see that this was not Audrey.

“What happened?” he said, dimly aware of how numb he sounded.

“Mara and Audrey have been combined,” Charlotte began.

“I am both of them,” the woman beside her agreed. “I am Mara and Audrey. I’m the others too; Lexie, Lucy, Sarah, Veronica, all of them. I’m all of them and none of them.”

Nathan tried to focus on the positives; Audrey was in there somewhere and Mara was neutralised. “What do we call you?” he asked.

“I’m not sure, but we have a more immediate problem,” she said, as she walked past him to Duke. “Mara really did create a bomb.”

So here we are at the mid-season break!

With Audrey's mysterious medical condition getting worse, Charlotte proposes a radical solution. Meanwhile Duke is considering desperate measures of his own...

Great episode! Some thoughts:

Audrey looks so confused and upset when Duke tells her he was trying to go into the void. Does she understand he was trying to protect her?

Love Dwight's speech to all his officers - and Stan's perfectly timed “what?” at the end - but you've got to feel for those police who have been working in Haven through the longest iteration of the Troubles it's ever seen and have yet somehow managed to remain oblivious of what this town is.

Vince and Dave going to Gloria for a narcotic to trigger Dave's vision is hilarious. I would watch a whole spin off of just these guys tbh

How does Charlotte not understand there's no way Audrey’s ever going to just run away and leave Haven to it's Troubles? Charlotte must surely understand what the Barn does and the drive that all of the overlay personalities have to help Troubled people. Or did she think Audrey would be different now because of the addition of Mara?

I couldn't work out how Joe Senna's Trouble came from Duke given that the shroud was there before his bomb went off, but it must have been one of the few that escaped before that.

But who killed Joe Senna? It couldn't really have been Mara because it must have happened while she was talking to Charlotte, and before that she was with Duke. Must be Croatoan at work already I guess.

Gotta wonder how much Dwight's announcement contributes to Duke's decision to leave town.

Love Nathan's optimism

Love, love, love this Nick McGuiness story. Not long ago Nathan was reassessing his whole relationship with Garland (after a conversation in the 1980s), now he's reassessing his whole relationship with Duke. And there's so many implications to it, from their friendship, to the fact that (given the road to end the Troubles ultimately starts when Nathan shoots Howard) Duke keeping Nathan in his job might have made all the difference in saving Haven. Also a nice touch that the name Nick McGuiness is based on two of the writers.

Poor Vince :(

The security camera vibe is so effective and I love this Trouble and I love that it's Laverne.

“We've dealt with your Trouble before, we will be able to get you separated from this building” - nice sentiment Audrey, but don't forget that the last time you dealt with this Trouble it was by blowing up the building 😆

One of the few moments in the show I really don't like here where Nathan threatens to blow up the door (ie Laverne) to get to Audrey, even despite Audrey telling him she's fine, and she then tells Laverne to give in and open the door so she doesn't get hurt. As though it's entirely reasonable that the only way to stop a man from hurting you is to do what you're told, and as though his threat of violence (against an ally) is reasonable or proportionate.

lol at Howard's grudge against Nathan for shooting him.

Eric Balfour does such a good job being super creepy as this black eyed Croatoan!Duke

Croatoan! We meet at last. Love this casting.

This scene is just perfect;

I've been having a pretty stressful, irritating and emotional few weeks, so what better way to cheer myself up than by watching the final two episodes of Haven 😬

NOW

“We’re going to get Duke back” - I love Nathan’s eternal optimism

Croatoan thinks he can design the whole world in a way that makes sense to him, including what other people do and say. It’s a nicely-done sinister kind of bad guy. The Troubles allow him to create things, and so he thinks he can create the whole world, including the emotions of the people already in it.

Croatoan is so angry when Nathan turns down his copy. The first real chink in his plan to remake the world to his will.

“I should have killed you when you were a statue” - a nice little reference there to a plot point that was drafted for Blindspot but (thankfully) not included in the final script. 

I find Audrey’s use of “destiny” in this Trouble-wrangling speech to Duke quite odd. She says she’s fighting her destiny, but she isn’t - she’s fighting the Troubles and that is her destiny. That’s what she was literally created to do, as she says so herself in this same speech. 

Duke never gave into his destiny either; he never killed for fun or for the high like Simon and Wade and who knows how many other Crockers before them did. This thing with his black eyes is something new; something Mara created, something she did to him. It’s not just the standard Crocker Curse that he was born with.

And then - that moment where Croatoan realises he’s lost Duke, where he realises that not only has Nathan turned down the ‘gift’ of a fake Audrey, but also Duke has turned down the ‘gift’ of the Crocker Curse. This moment, this frown where Croatoan’s faith in his ability to shape the world to his own liking is cracked a little bit more. He thought Duke - this mere Crocker - was his creature and nothing else could have dissuaded him of this notion that he can do what he likes with his creatures as much as Crocker turning this gift down.

“You have to let me help. I need to make things right.” / “You will.” I like to think that Audrey’s reply there was in response to Duke wanting to help, and not the needing to put things right because, he hasn’t got anything to atone for.

“What can we do?” - Audrey, you are the only person in the room who can control aether. Why are you asking the others what to do about the aether flying across the room.

Lucas Bryant’s acting is so spot on in this death scene. And after. That, “At sea” 😭😭😭

Such a fun scene of Nathan and the Audrey Copy in the diner.

And then Croatoan getting even more sinister. This ‘no one else loves you like I do’ nonsense; such a good Bad Guy.

FOREVER

I love how the Audrey Copy proves to Nathan she knows him, “... our sex life in the beginning was a little exciting, and for you, maybe it was a little too exciting…” 😆

And then the real Audrey challenging Croatoan over his manipulation of Dwight with the Lizzie Copy. Croatoan’s baffled frown as that crack in his faith in his plan gets a little deeper.

Dwight’s Trouble making him effectively invincible, love it.

I’m no expert but a tall thin tower like this seems a very odd design for an armoury. Perhaps there used to be more of it and this is all that’s left? The rest destroyed in some previous round of Troubles?

The inside of the Barn is such a good set. Very spooky and surreal.

Another crack in Croatoan’s faith in his plan when Dwight explains why he’s turning down his ‘gift’ of Lizzie.

I was watching Dwight wake up on the beach and I had actually forgotten what happens next …. DUKE! Looking even more stylish dead than he did alive.

I love this scene with Nathan outside the shroud. His “I feel something”, him remembering the warmth of the sun, remembering Haven even when he can’t remember it, remembering the real Audrey even though he doesn’t know she’s not stood right there with him. But then, ultimately she does do what the real Audrey would do; she steps closer and sees the shroud and remembers - and she tells him, just like the real Audrey would have done. “I was to be her for you” - what a plot twist - “you sensed that somehow”. The man who can’t feel anything feels that this copy isn’t perfect. And she takes him through the shroud, knowing that not only will that mean her losing him but will mean her dying, but she does it anyway because, “Because I love you.” And! Then! One of my favourite moments in the whole show, when Nathan remembers everything and he turns to the copy to thank her, and her response in the moment before she fades from existence; “We love you,” the only explanation she has for why she’s done what she’s done - a simple explanation that to her is more than enough reason for why she would choose to die, and the expression on Nathan’s face in that moment … that realisation, that … you can almost hear the penny drop when it finally, finally clicks and he truly feels it in his deepest heart that Audrey loves him the same way he loves her. In one way he’s had so much confidence in them for so long, but in another way that confidence has been really fragile. This nagging doubt that maybe he loves her more than she does him (that same doubt that William had about Mara), or that she would always put the Troubles before him. But now, in this moment when this almost-perfect copy tells him, as though it’s so obvious it hardly needs saying at all, that of course she would give her life for his happiness - this, I think, is the moment that he really truly feels that full faith in her love for him for the first time. (I’m not sure how much sense I’m making here but I’ve written a whole load of meta on this theme for anyone who’s interested;  https://archiveofourown.org/works/43553142 )

Gotta wonder how Nathan’s “she wasn’t real” lands with Dwight, given the whole Lizzie situation.

WHY CAN’T NATHAN SEE DUKE????????????? Is it just because they didn't have time in the episode to deal with Nathan having a conversation with him

Dwight’s “He says ‘go get her Nathan, save her’” I don’t think I’d realised before, that echoes Nathan’s words to Duke at the end of season three. “Go get her Duke, save her,” - that’s what the wounded Nathan says to Duke when he tells him to follow Audrey into the collapsing Barn. That exact same phrase, that has to be deliberate.

Fabulous look of horrified incomprehension on Croatoan’s face when he sees Nathan has rejected his ‘gift’ to come back to Haven for the real Audrey. Those cracks are really piling up now.

And then Croatoan’s big mistake, when he kills Nathan. Something Audrey is never going to let him get away with. And she turns on him and uses her words the way she has done for six seasons to get through to people and dissect their emotions. Those chinks and cracks that Duke and Dwight and Nathan have created, she hammers against them with her words until he gives in, but no amount of hammering would have worked if those cracks hadn’t already been there. It’s just her and Croatoan there in that moment (Nathan dead on the floor), but it was a team effort that brought him down; all four of them together.

“What about you, are you even real? Because I don’t think this is something the real Duke Crocker would do.” - come on Dwight, you’re smarter than that. Think about what he’s saying to you.

Gotta love William Shatner calling Vince by talking into the controller crystal like it’s a Star Trek Communicator 🤣

“We'll always want more time. The trick will be being thankful for the time we had.” 😭 but, you know, that is quite a solid philosophy for life. 

This goodbye is so beautiful, not just what Nathan says to Audrey, what it means between the two of them, but also what it means for Haven; the images of Marion Caldwell and Chris Brody, the Glendowers and Seth - everyone getting their lives back. Beautiful, beautiful.

And then, once all the drama’s over, these final scenes in the police station; Stan’s summary to Nathan with a whole list of names in it just so they could reference all the writers, love it.

Plus one final ‘gas leak’ 🤣

And, then, LAVERNE!! We actually get to see her face 😀

Some nice news from Gloria; the end to the Troubles. And is this the first time Gloria calls Vickie ‘Vickie’ and not ‘intern’? 

Sound advice from Gloria too; do what Audrey would want you to do.

Oh god this final scene, I can’t. It’s so well done. Lucas needs some award of some kind for this acting. Flustered and amazed and optimistic and overwhelmed. “I’m a Nathan.” Adorable. “Um humm. Yep.” Perfect.

And Croataon gets the perfect punishment having to spend an eternity in an empty room with Vince. (Though I do feel sorry for Vince in this scenario; he might not have been perfect, but he didn’t deserve that.)

Every time I watch these episodes I think I’m not going to cry this time.

And every time I prove myself wrong.

😭

Such an emotional episode, this one.

Does Haillie get a funeral? I mean how do they even get her out of that fence?

I kind of like this thing where Nathan and William are arguing over a woman but it's actually two different women.

Duke seems suddenly very confident that he can release the right Trouble. And it can't be an easy Trouble to use, either, this *creating a Thinny in front of you* business. I guess there wasn't time in the episode for him to have any problems with it lol

This kind-of twist where William is being all magnanimous in defeat and Nathan being gallant in victory giving him the ring. A nice little gentlemanly touch, very sporting. Gotta wonder what happens when William goes home though. Presumably, “doubt they'll be pleased to see you” is a bit of an understatement.

Which actually… makes me wonder what the people there think about what's going on in Haven. Do they know? Do they care? Is anyone there wondering what's happened to Charlotte? Are they trying to get in contact with her or get through to Haven but they can't because of the shroud?

Such a good final scene between Vince and Dave. A close third for Most Emotional Goodbye of the show

In ‘Just Passing Through’, 1980s Dave tells Lucy, “I don't know what I wouldn't sacrifice to stop the Troubles”. And now he lives up to that, when he sacrifices his own life to weaken Croatoan and help the others. Very nice ending for him.

Looking back through the ‘previously on’ to Blind Spot, I love that though we never see Laverne, we see a whole episode through her eyes 

I'm not sure I understand why Croatoan is so willing to accept Audrey as his daughter. She's not Mara - wouldn't he see her as a different person? Or does he just want her for her connection to the aether and ability to work with the Troubles.

Croatoan is such a wonderfully evil character; he pretty much says ‘look at what you made me do’ and William Shatner brings a very appropriate kind of arrogant creepiness to it.

I love Nathan's stubborn optimism in this conversation with Duke, and the way he sees through the posturing of Duke trying to make him angry.

And then alongside Croatoans creepiness we have Eric Balfour giving Duke the same vibe, very nicely done.

Howard: “I can't remember them any more.” Is this the same “them” he was just telling us about?

They really should have more Guard guarding Duke. Like how is sensible for Nathan to be alone with him.

Croatoan’s “your mother gave birth to you but I created you” is just so … there's so much going on there, especially in a show which has consistently ignored or minimised mothers throughout the seasons. But it's so patently untrue it just makes him sound even more unhinged than he did already. (Also kind of love the accidental swearing with the V-sign he offers along with “twice”, though I know that's probably an interpretation only a British person would put on it.)

It occurs to me that the reason Croatoan accepts Audrey as his daughter is because he doesn't care who she is; it's not about her personality or their history together or anything that might apply in any real life father-daughter reunion. It's simply the fact that “you're my creation” - proof of his work with the aether, proof of what he can do and why he shouldn't have been banished. That's all she is to him.

This moment towards the end where Duke has Nathan by the throat gives me chills every time: “You wanted a Crocker, well here I am.”

Another yellow house! Someone on the locations team likes yellow houses.

Strong final line from Vince there (“I know exactly what we need to do to send Croatoan screaming back to hell”) but I'm not sure things look so clear cut come the next episode.