Haven: Review: Season 4 Eps 1 & 2

SyFy, 13 & 20 September 2013

Duke is thrown from the mysterious barn after a few moments, only to find himself in Boston but six months have passed. Audrey is gone, but barmaid Lexie looks a lot like her, and stranger William is out to deconstruct her identity. Back in Haven, the “troubles” continue…

Haven returns, and like Emily Rose, it looks a little different. The star of the show is not much in evidence in these opening episodes as she’s confined to a bar where she’s playing an alt-Audrey who calls herself Lexie and is the object of interest to a couple of thugs and Colin Ferguson’s William. He’s interesting casting, but his failure to (so far) differentiate William from his Eureka role isn’t helping…

Duke has been the lead in this season so far, really. He’s teamed up with newcomer Jennifer (Emma Lahana). This is a good move, as she’s new to the whole premise of Haven, so it allows Duke to info-dump like mad and bring everyone up to speed about the town, the troubles, Audrey and the barn. Things are simplified a little, although depressed Nathan’s belief that all will be well if only Audrey came back and killed him is a little odd…

The troubles featured in both Fallout and Survivors are merely background, although returning to the original first episode for a re-run of the weather trouble makes for a nice echo (and they even got Nicole de Boer back). The grumpy fireman who sets people alight in Survivors was a bit daft, though.

Nice to see Haven back, but it is too early to tell if the replacement of Audrey by Lexie is permanent and how that will affect things back in the troubled town. Keeping Emily Rose trapped in a bar for these first two episodes doesn’t feel right, although the mystery angle about exactly who she is and how her story will play out adds a new quirky to an often very watchable show.

Verdict: Welcome back to Haven, but things are changing…

Episode 1 “Fallout”: 7/10

Episode 2 “Survivors”: 6/10

Brian J. Robb