S03.E01: 301

[Tabbyclaw]

 

Nathan and Duke's search for Audrey is impeded by a series of strange events that have convinced some residents that the town may be ground zero for an alien invasion.

 

[Elsinore]

Best part of the episode: Nathan getting dragged into that field. I jump every single time.

 

To be honest, I was kind of disappointed in this being the resolution to the longest cliffhanger ever. I can't really explain why. Perhaps it was too easy?

 

Perhaps also the fact that they re shot the Duke/Nathan scene a little too obviously.

[Tabbyclaw]

Ladies and gentlemen, a moment of silence for this season's first casualty. Duke's short hair, you are deeply missed.

 

In contrast to the season 2 finale, this is probably my least favorite season opener. It's all talk and setup except for the Trouble of the week, which feels like someone at SyFy was breathing down their necks and demanding aliens. Actually, this entire season is in contrast to season 2. Season 2 is a season I like crammed with stuff I don't, and season 3 is a seaon I don't like crammed with stuff I do.

 

I find it hard to talk about this episode because basically all my thoughts about it are tied in with the season as a whole and the arcs it kicked off. But I can make the comment that I really appreciated them having a scene where Nathan tells Duke that he can feel Audrey's touch, because I had been starting to wonder if he knew. And I choose to believe that Duke's heartbroken when Audrey hugs Nathan was the result of realizing that he's got no chance with Nathan if Audrey has that kind of effect on him, because that makes far more sense than the idea that he's suddenly pining over Audrey.

[Frisson]

I was bummed out by the poor Trouble of the Week having to be abducted by aliens to end it for everybody else. Does he imagine he's being probed? Did the grandfather ever come back or was the grandson destined to a personal Troubled hell, too?

[Shanna Marie]

The best thing about this episode was the Team Nathan and Duke adventures. The two actors play so well off each other and have perfect comic timing together. I think one of my favorite scenes was when Duke was taking the lead in playing along with the Troubled guy's alien fantasies to try to talk him back to the station, while Nathan just stands there, stunned, and then Duke turns to Nathan and says that Haven PD's equipment is probably better, and Nathan stammers, "W-w-we just upgraded?"

 

The other thing that amuses me is how close the music kept coming to sounding like the music from The X-Files. It was often like a half-step away from copyright infringement there.

 

I'm not sure why Duke was so upset about Nathan's resolution to the situation. It's not the first time one of them has essentially talked a Troubled person into killing himself. At least this one was living out his fantasy instead of eradicating his own existence by shooting the original version of himself. Duke didn't seem all that bothered by Audrey's resolution that time, and then the entire town wasn't at stake.

[anstar]

I'm not sure why Duke was so upset about Nathan's resolution to the situation. It's not the first time one of them has essentially talked a Troubled person into killing himself. At least this one was living out his fantasy instead of eradicating his own existence by shooting the original version of himself. Duke didn't seem all that bothered by Audrey's resolution that time, and then the entire town wasn't at stake.

I think it had to do with the way Nathan was suddenly so sure Duke was going to become a killer; because his father (and the Crocker line apparently) killed the Troubled.  Finding out his heritage, and that he was supposed to kill Audrey, seemed to make Duke all the more sure he wanted nothing to do with his father's legacy, but for Nathan, it was more like proof that he'd been right about Duke all along.  So for Nathan to make little digs at Duke about protecting Audrey from him, he's a killer, etc., and then talk a man into "crawling up his own ass"...Duke said, "You're a hypocrite, Nathan."   That's what he was upset about.