Haven: Much Ado About Mara Review

If you had told me at the start of the season (a brief four weeks ago, so basically no time at all if you are a Time Lord) that the fifth season of Haven would have won me over so completely, I would have slapped you in the face. Probably only because I don’t know you, and if you randomly approached me in the street to make predictions about a television show I would be frightened and think you’re insane person.

That being said, you would be right. With its fourth episode of the season, the disparate elements of the show have finally clicked into place. While I’m still totally not buying Emily Rose’s portrayal of Mara (a meaty opportunity than any actor would be eager to snap up), Dwight, Nathan, and Duke coming together in a battle to suppress her has streamlined the story and upped the stakes significantly. That needed to happen. 

The secondary storyline of Dave and Vincent finally moved from the shadows to being fully integrated into the season’s arc. This is because Vince got proactive. The episode felt like the writers went home, slept for two days straight, came back to the room, slammed some coffee and were like “Okay. Here’s what’s happening. Let’s get this sorted.” And it worked. Bringing Dave and Vince into a therapy session was perfect. It was the blend of strange humor and plot-progression that Haven does so well. We not only learned that yes, something terrible did come through from the other side and that whatever it is it’s a lot more dangerous than Mara. We also learned that Dave has a fixation on large breasts. I don’t know which of these revelations tickled me more. Yes I do — it was the boob thing. 

With Vince now sure they’ve got trouble, the other mess at hand was Mara. Some of the nitty-gritty questions that we wanted answered were doled out and not a moment too soon.

There’s a difference between building suspense and a simple lack of pertinent knowledge, and it was starting to feel like the later each time I tuned in. To know that Mara can’t remove troubles, to have Dwight directly ask her why she’s giving them to people, these were things that needed airing. I know that I, for one, have been yelling them at my TV for close to a month now. 

The more we learn about Mara, the more in control we feel as a viewer. It was a perfect set-up to the final moments of the episode, when we saw that the guys were once more a united front. To see all three of their faces from Mara’s point of view with a funky near-fish lens look made us empathize with Mara for the first time. She’s now aware that Audrey is in there too and that Parker wants to fight back. You could practically hear the melodious strains of “The Boys Are Back In Town” begin to play as the gang made a tacit agreement to destroy Mara and get Audrey back. Now we’ve got a season with questions and a certainty that we’ll get the answers we crave. Fingers crossed this is a path we keep heading down.

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