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S05.E03: Spotlight


thewhiteowl

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I was so bored during this episode. Evil mustache-twirling Mara is just too over the top to be interesting to me and they didn't really get into this week's trouble at all. Not to mention I thought the special effects on that one were just sort of silly looking. The only thing that held my interest was waiting for Duke to take off the cap so I could see what his hair looked under it, and even that didn't happen. Judging from the lack of comments here, I'm assuming others can't think of anything to say about it, either? Come back, please, show!

  • Love 3
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Hey, Gina, I don't have much to say about this ep either. I'm bummed about Duke's hair! I've seen his new haircut & have not liked it so he can keep that cap on for the rest of the season as far as I'm concerned. He looks so sexy with the longer hair and it suits him well. I'm going to miss it!

 

I'm sick of Mara too. I've been rewatching last season since I just got the dvd so I'm on Mara overload. Emily Rose looks like she's having a blast, but Mara is so one dimensional that it's tired already. It was tired already by the end of last season.

 

I hope we're not seeing a trend of eps that just sort of stop and don't get resolved until the following episodes. So far these troubles (sewed up and beams of light) aren't interesting enough to carry over into a 2nd ep. It's like this season is going to be one continuous long story.

 

Emily has sort of been doing a good job of bringing Audrey in and out. She's not the most stellar actress so I was glad to see her at least pulling this off, mostly.

 

I hope the amount of posting here does not reflect the amount of viewers that the show is pulling in. If so, pretty dismal!

 

I'm not especially thriled with the entire Mara storyline and am only sticking with this because I love the setting (I've been there) and the most of the characters. I do wish that the reason behind the troubles was more interesting than it's turned out to be. I'm still hoping we get to learn more about Lucy, but it appears that's not going to happen. And the Colorado Kid just dropped out of sight, not that that is a bad thing, but there was really no resolution to that that I can see.

 

And now I'm just commenting to fill up space! Hopefully we'll get some more posts shortly.

  • Love 3
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The Nathan/Mara/Audrey show is so boring. It only got interesting when Duke showed up. I never cared about Nathan's obsession with Audrey. He's always willing to let people die so he can be with her until someone points out how selfish that is.

 

The trouble was stupid as most have been for awhile, but I would rather watch the Dwight and Duke show. Lovesick Nathan is so dull, so I guess he's been dull since season 2. I loved when Mara called him Eeyore. 

 

I agree that Mara's evilness is over the top. I wish they'd be more subtle with the Audrey winning in the end theme and make a Mara an actual character. This is supposed to be the real person not a downloaded memory, yet they are not even bothering to add any layers to her character. If they just want Audrey they should've kept her as Audrey. What they are doing now is not exciting or interesting. If it keeps going this way I don't think I'll continue watching this show.

  • Love 7
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I am still watching but since I am not a Mara (or William) fan, I don't have many positive things to say about these episodes. 

 

I thought the effects for the trouble and the trouble itself was horrible. In fact, it seemed at one point that the beam was eminating from the woman's breasts. 

  • Love 6
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Yeah, I'm watching but I don't really know why, except that it's the last season and I'm pretty OCD about finishing things.  This episode was pathetic - Mara is way too one-note (yes, we know, she is evil), and both Nathan and Duke are beyond boring.  Can't someone take some action?  Action that actually moves the plot along?

 

Even the pancakes weren't enough to satisfy me.

  • Love 1
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Lovesick Nathan grates. Enough already. Duke is marginally more interesting, but mostly because I really like Eric Balfour. I miss the Teague Brothers - how long is Dave going stay in bed? Everyone's right, nothing much happened last night.

 

If this is the last season does that mean we will have a 24 ep season rather than the usual 12 eps? When I read that they were given 24 eps I thought it would be broken down into this season and the one more, final season.

  • Love 3
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Won't even comment on the Trouble of the Week, it was particularly awful. Are they really going to keep doing these part 1 part 2 episodes? They should have just wrapped up the series in 13 episodes then , because nothing happened in this episode.

I'm still not buying the whole Audrey is emerging and Mara doesn't know thing. How can she not know? Did Howard do something to allow this? I hope when Audrey eventually comes back there is an explanation for this that goes beyond Nathan's love.

The whole Duke has darkness in him rang as false to me, even in the earlier seasons this wasn't true, yes he was selfish and a criminal but they never showed us this darkness we are supposed to believe he has.

 

Still prefer the interaction between Mara and Nathan compared to Audrey and Nathan though.

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I thought the effects for the trouble and the trouble itself was horrible. In fact, it seemed at one point that the beam was eminating from the woman's breasts.

 

 

I kept trying to see if she was shooting them out of her nipples like a fembot. 

 

 

 

  • Love 4
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I am still watching but since I am not a Mara (or William) fan, I don't have many positive things to say about these episodes. 

 

I thought the effects for the trouble and the trouble itself was horrible. In fact, it seemed at one point that the beam was eminating from the woman's breasts. 

 I actually posted something that said basically the same thing about the beams coming from the woman's breasts, but then the internet ate it and I was too tired to re-post.

 

I also said (since I may as well repost my original thoughts) that I was convinced Mara was pretending to be Audrey until Audrey tried to tell Nathan about one of the little black balls.  I love this show and I actually do love Audrey (and Nathan/Audrey), but I've always felt Emily Rose was not the strongest actress.  I still think that since I really didn't buy those scenes fully. 

 

I also wanted Duke to take off his hat so I could see his haircut.  I knew the actor had cut his hair so they had to work it in somehow, but I thought it was so funny when he distraughtly hacked at his hair.  That's typically what they have girls do on shows (Felicity!!).  

 

The one part I really liked was after Nathan kissed Mara (didn't like the kissing itself- why would he kiss Mara??) and he was sitting on the bed with his head in his hands.  I felt the distress and thought LB did that little character moment well.

  • Love 1
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Um yeah, laser lights. Like they had a  whole of episode of Mara and Nathan back and forth written with the Trouble added at the last minute. I still have no idea what the deal was with that woman.

 

I did like the one on one stuff though. Especially the flacid dancing and the pancake scene. Mostly when Mara ineffectively needles Nathan I feel the urge to blow a raspberry and say "no you won't". Anyway, I found the Helen Keller moments more hilarious then I probably should.

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I really loved this episode. I love creepy cabin Nathan. The whole set up was so bizarre and I loved it. I did get thrown off because the Jennifer Hudson song 'Spotlight' kept playing in my head. It doesn't really fit the mood of the show. I'm really curious about how Dwight and Duke will handle Nathan going forward. They previously have let him get away with so much.  I gotta watch again. I love everything about how fricken crazy Nathan is.

  • Love 1
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Character wise, I have been over Nathan and Audrey for a long time now. Watch for Duke, Dave and Vince. And in terms of acting Emily Rose and Lucas Bryant are pretty weak. I know the show centers on Nathan and Audrey and their "eternal love" - I know this. So, why do I continue to watch episodes like this?

  • Love 5
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I keep hoping, but don't know why, that the repeated "I can't leave until William and I are finished" (or words to that effect) will mean something. Like there's a goal they have to achieve to be able to move beyond Haven. I also keep hoping there's more to William. Like he's supernatural. Mara seems to require his help but he didn't need hers.

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So far William seems to have gone the way of the Colorado kid.

For someone who apparently views sex casually was surprised at Mara calling Lucy a tramp. Makes me wish all these episodes were about Lucy since it seems like Mara will disappear and Audrey will be back without revealing anything important.

Edited by BlueJay81
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I kind of think Mara's a lot dumber than she lets on.  I remember one episode of Black Adder where the title character kills an assassin who was dressed as a cow to disguise himself as another person who always wore a cow costume to costume balls.  When asked how he knew which cow was which, Adder replied.  "Ludwig (the assassin) was a master of disguise.  Nursie (the other cow character) is a sad, insane old woman with an udder fixation.  I simply killed the one that looked like a cow."

 

Mara with the Troubles doesn't seem to be able to make "cows."  She just makes hurt, broken people with too many udders.  

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Duke and Dwight saved this episode, again. Duke has always been my favorite character, but it is outstanding how terrible and boring lovesick Nathan is. Wow.

 

Anyway. Duke looks so worn out from everything... EB is doing a terrific job showing how broken down Duke feels, and it's heartbreaking. That line about someone needing a favor like always was pretty sad because Duke has little to show for everything he's done for people throughout the seasons. Mara better help him next week.

  • Love 3
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I've personally been bored every episode this season so this was no different. Nathan's trip to being unlikable is so complete I can't even remember an episode when I didn't want to punch him. Maybe season 2? The idea that he is good and Duke has a darkness within him is so opposite to their characterisation it annoyed the crap out of me.

 

I'm assuming the light trouble will be explained next week because - how random was that?

Edited by AudienceofOne
  • Love 3
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Were we supposed to already know Jody and her family? Because she was introduced like she was already an established character, which was weird. If that's the case, maybe a scene from the "previously on Haven" would have helped. She also looked like just about 10 years older than the actress playing her daughter.

 

I miss the time when this show had a mystery tone. The opening credits are still all about mysterious things to investigate, but there's no mystery anymore. We just don't know what exactly Mara is (and it's so annoying that nobody asks her about that: she's from a freaking other dimension, isn't that something that should maybe trigger some questions? Ditto for the fact that Dave is from Over There too, and they keep referring to that place as some kind of inferno, which should give them pause about the actual nature of these people/creatures. Instead, they're treating them like they're just from another town or something.)

 

It looks like we're already past the point where the story should have ended, I can't tell how they're going to sustain 26 episodes of this. That's one third of the entire run taking place after the moment that looked like the resolution to entire narrative had come.

 

On top of that there was some particularly awful dialogue in this episode. "We'll lay low until this thing cools off." That's directly lifted from any cheap crime story ever. And when exactly the thing will "cool off", Nathan? It's not like you're on the lam after a robbery. Do you think people in Haven will forget about the Troubles and Mara after a while?

 

And Duke cutting his hair was so very TV high school girl reacting after a breakup.

Edited by Kumagoro
  • Love 4
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On top of that there was some particularly awful dialogue in this episode. "We'll lay low until this thing cools off." That's directly lifted from any cheap crime story ever. And when exactly the thing will "cool off", Nathan? It's not like you're on the lam after a robbery. Do you think people in Haven will forget about the Troubles and Mara after a while?

 

Apparently Nathan planned on waiting there forever. Because that's when people would forget about the fact that they have super powers that kill people and the woman responsible is walking around freely. I want Mara to punch him in the face so badly (so he can feel it). 

 

I also agree with why isn't anyone asking her questions about the other dimension? Why isn't Mara screaming at Nathan about him not knowing what it's like to be trapped in your own body while other people controlled it for centuries? or What it's like to have thousands of other people's memories floating around in your head. 

 

I would rather Mara be angry about that like Angel/Angelus from Buffy, where Angelus was angry at being just beneath the surface the entire time having to watch the someone else walk around while they couldn't do anything about it or have Mara have memory lapses with others and not just Audrey. They could not have been erased if Mara remembers them. I would rather her become different people for a few minutes, like say Veronica or Lucy since we never really got to meet her. Then they can even make it that all the other personalities are trying to push Mara back down so it's not just about Nathan's stupid love for Audrey. Let Mara struggle to fight the thousand other strong personalities in her mind. 

Edited by Sakura12
  • Love 3
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I miss the time when this show had a mystery tone. The opening credits are still all about mysterious things to investigate, but there's no mystery anymore.

Yes this was the aspect that attracted me to this series and now it's like they are just going through the motions. I agree I  think in part it's because the series has run for too long, 3 or 4 seasons was enough for this series. Mara so far is just like William, kill a few extras, vaguely hint at some mission no one is bothered to ask more about and then disappear and bring back clueless Audrey.

Read an interview by the showrunners that if or when Audrey returns she won't remember Mara or her previous personalities

The creators took a break from the series in season 4 and 5a and it really shows. I will be irritated if they do some sort of reset for 5b but at the moment it seems likely.

Also since they are going with this whole treat her like Audrey thing, wouldn't sleeping with Mara have fully brought Audrey back? Time was running out, they need Audrey back etc

Edited by BlueJay81
  • Love 3
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On top of that there was some particularly awful dialogue in this episode. "We'll lay low until this thing cools off." That's directly lifted from any cheap crime story ever. And when exactly the thing will "cool off", Nathan? It's not like you're on the lam after a robbery. Do you think people in Haven will forget about the Troubles and Mara after a while?

I can actually buy Nathan saying all of those things. I'm still dying at the thought that pancake mix and 2 types of syrup are important supplies. But, then Duke is serious about his maple syrup. Poor Jodi, the force is strong in her.

 

I'm a Nathan and Audrey shipper. But, what I've been enjoying the most about these episodes is the hate fest between Nathan and Mara. I find it entertaining. I can't wait for more Duke and Mara. I think that should be interesting.

  • Love 3
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I'm really enjoying Emily Rose's portrayal of Mara.  Yeah, Mara's not an especially nuanced character, but Emily is clearly having a great time ripping into the villainy, and it makes me have a great time watching her.  I also liked that there were comedic tones in the Mara/Nathan cabin time, not just Nathan's moping.

 

As always, my own twu luv is Duke.  Poor shorn Duke!  While I appreciate that his Big Loss is Jennifer (who I never liked, and am glad is gone), I'd like it if the show would also explore his feelings about Audrey being "gone."  They weren't in a romantic/sexual relationship, but they had a very strong bond, and he must be missing her too.  I agree with those who don't think Duke really has a "darkness" in him, just a sketchy relationship with the law.  Not quite the same thing.  He's always rallied to help get the good job done, one way or another, and treats people with a lot of kindness.  Though maybe the darkness is just the overall Crocker curse, which Duke has handled spectacularly well (look at how his brother reacted).  I agree with those who don't like EB's haircut -- I think it makes him look kind of gaunt.  The longer hair softened the angles in his face a little.

 

Audrey knows about Nathan's time with Sarah, but I don't think Nathan knows about Audrey's "dalliance" with Duke, right?  That's something Mara can pop out with at any time to rattle his cage.

  • Love 1
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I enjoyed this episode and I actually enjoy Mara. I think this episode did more to prove she isn't just EVIL, there is something more under the bravado and over topness. And I think Emily is doing a great job with the role. I don't think her actings weak either, especially not compared to literally everyone else but Eric on the show.

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But, what I've been enjoying the most about these episodes is the hate fest between Nathan and Mara. I find it entertaining.

Yes, that's my thought. They're such polar opposite characters that it's really interesting to watch their dynamic, especially since it's so different from the dynamic between Nathan and Audrey. I'm almost wondering, though, if Mara may be right about Nathan being mentally ill. If it hadn't been for Audrey trying to tell him about the ball of aether Mara has in her pocket, I'd be not entirely sure that he wasn't imagining Audrey's times of popping out. I won't be entirely convinced until she appears to someone else.

 

But even if he's wrong about Audrey and even if Audrey isn't able to help them, Nathan isn't entirely wrong about the need to keep Mara alive and present because if they kill her in the Guard's "we're mad at someone, so we should just kill them" policy, they may never get the answers they need. Mara is coming across like the kind of person who can't handle silence and who will talk to fill it. Throw her in a room with Nathan, who doesn't talk, and eventually she's going to spill something she didn't plan to spill. She's already given away a bit of information just while rambling and trying to get under Nathan's skin.

 

The Trouble of the Week was kind of halfhearted, and I wouldn't mind them getting back to more of a focus on actual cases instead of the Mara drama.

  • Love 5
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I don't think Mara is evil - at least not in the sense of consciously planned evil.  Over on TWOP we referred to the idea of the Entity - the real being that Audrey, Sarah and others were masking.  I don't think Mara is the Entity.  I think Mara is the Entity's Id.  Mara is basically a huge bundle of normally suppressed impulses and desires.  It's why she doesn't really seem to have a plan.  She just jumps from impulse to impulse without concern for the consequence as witness wants the survey girl's outfit and then stabbing her in the eye with the pencil or shooting the pothead guy(or, for that matter jumping from "Nathan, let's have sex" to "I'll give you a heart-exploding Trouble").  She clearly could have gotten a lot further, a lot faster by simply pretending to Audrey.  While Mara can be cunning, she's not really thoughtful.  Unfortunately, Mara is the aspect of the Entity who is closest to the Troubles and understands them the best.

  • Love 4
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William is still mentioned unlike Audrey and Nathan's son that seems to have been erased from everyone's memories.

I wonder if they are doing that because they figure every time a Maytag commercial airs, somewhere a bunch of Haven fans are going to ask: What ever happened to William?

I'm guessing they're stretching out the Mara plot because ER did such a good job with the Lexi/Audrey/Audrey-pretending-to-be-Lexi characterizations in the previous season. But I agree, this better get wrapped up quickly and not drag on until the show finale.

  • Love 1
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Things nobody is asking Mara:

 

1. What are you? What do the people from your dimension call themselves?

2. Why doesn't your body age? Is that true of everybody from your dimension?

3. What's life/society is like in your dimension? Is it a mirror copy of ours?

4. Is everybody magical there, or just somebody, or just you and William and the people/forces/Wizard of Oz types that punished you and William?

5. We get that you think you're some misunderstood trailblazer, but why did the Punishers think they should punish you?

6. What do you expect the Punishers to do now that their whole "Mara in the Barn/Troubles Stopped/Briefly Recharge Every 25 or So Years" system has been broken?

7. And about the Love Recharge... No, forget that. We don't want to know about the Love Recharge.

  • Love 3
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She clearly could have gotten a lot further, a lot faster by simply pretending to Audrey.

That was something that gave me some hope at the end of last season that maybe Mara wasn't still evil, because if she was evil and at all smart, the best thing to do would be pretend to be Audrey. That would have made everyone trust her and would have given her the resources of the police department and maybe even the Guard while she pretended to have theories and ideas or even bursts of insight and memories to direct her investigation. She's done it a few times, like her first encounter with Nathan after the lighthouse, but she never managed to sustain it. Imagine what she might have accomplished if she'd just stuck with pretending to be Audrey and working with Nathan instead of handcuffing him and whacking him on the head.

 

But it seems like that would take more advance planning and thinking than she's really capable of. However, I don't think interviewing her for info would work until they could trick her into bragging. When she's spilled details, it seemed to be accidental because she was trying to get under Nathan's skin or fill the silence. Asking her direct questions would do no good because if she knew they wanted to know, then stonewalling them would become fun.

  • Love 2
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Maybe Mara was a talented chemist and/or alchemist, and perhaps that wasn't a very valued quality in women back in the mid 17th century. Maybe there was a meteor storm leaving tons of aether where it was easily obtained. Perhaps she overestimated the powers of it and it got out of hand quickly.

 

I think she's the unborn baby from that Origins video, and her mother accidentally walked through a thinny when she was running from the evil priests. Either she was influenced by it or raised with it and then came back into our world to find nobody cared for her knowledge. As for the time lapse, 200 years might have gone by and it would only seem like 20 or so to her.

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2. Why doesn't your body age? Is that true of everybody from your dimension?

 

There's no certainty that her body does not age. Let's take her at her word that she was born 500 years ago. Say she becomes a Troublemaker in her early 20s and gets barned shortly thereafter. She does successive 27-year stints in the barn, recharging for an average of 6 months between stints. That would result in roughly 18 out of barn adventures, during which she would age nine years, not that much more than Emily Rose has aged in playing the Entity for five years.

  • Love 1
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She says she has spent 500 years in the barn. She could be much older than 500.

Time does move differently in the barn(Duke was in there 6 months but it felt like a few seconds). You would think that all this time she's spent outside the barn she's been ageing normally.

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Okay then, let's rephrase it as: "How did you manage to be still alive after 500 years?"

 

The answer would involve the Barn Freezing System, but it's still a legit question that isn't being posed. And even unanswerable or unlikely-to-be-answered questions need to be posed, because that's what real people would do. I'm lamenting the fact that the characters conspicuously act in service of a script that's not going to answer questions just yet. But it feels wrong to meet someone who's halfway between an alien and a god, and not being compelled to ask questions about it, even not directly to the entity, but just questions voiced by characters to one another, to prove to us that they're thinking and wondering the same things we're thinking and wondering (which is the key to identification).

 

I have another big one, which is sort of at the center of the whole thing: Is all this (the Aether, the Troubles, the Barn) magic, or advanced technology that looks like magic? (The key difference, which might also be a plot point, being: if it's the former, only "magic" people can do it; if it's the latter, anybody can acquire the means to do it.) (Over the seasons, the Troubles have looked more and more like sheer magic, not paranormal powers, anyway, so I think it's the former.)

Edited by Kumagoro
  • Love 3
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I completely agree about no one asking the questions, it's a sign of bad writing, in my opinion. It is not realistic that they wouldn't ask these questions. Even if they get cryptic answers or non answers at least ask the questions. Nathan is still a detective, right?

Nathan asking Mara about her family was also wierd, he asks her why she isn't trying to go back there? If Mara had decided to leave Haven, that would mean Audrey would be gone too, possibly forever. In fact it brings up the issue they have been avoiding of who the body belongs to. If Mara decided to leave willingly (of course won't happen) would Nathan prevent her because he wants Audrey back? What about this family that she claims she has that may also want her back?

 

 

I have another big one, which is sort of at the center of the whole thing: Is all this (the Aether, the Troubles, the Barn) magic, or advanced technology that looks like magic? (The key difference, which might also be a plot point, being: if it's the former, only "magic" people can do it; if it's the latter, anybody can acquire the means to do it.) (Over the seasons, the Troubles have looked more and more like sheer magic, not paranormal powers, anyway, so I think it's the former.)

From what we've seen so far of Mara and William they seem more like alchemists. Some of the Troubles like the 'no troubles trouble' seem very 'god like' and very powerful. Some can act on the whole town, on time and space. I remember Eleanor in season 1 in a conversation about the Troubles with Audrey, she called them a 'cosmic test of their character.' I don't know whether we should read much in to it.

Edited by BlueJay81
  • Love 1
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I enjoy Mara as much as the next mustache twirling villain, but they seriously need to move the plot along.  I can't even wrap my head around how Audrey is "trapped" inside Maura.  This isn't a freaking possession.  Audrey was just a "downloaded" persona to be a Haven Saver.  How the hell does it make sense that the download feels trapped? 

 

Nathan is an idiot.  I get that he wants his twu wuv back but he is playing a game that is risking everyone's lives (imagine Mara and William expanding outside of Haven, Nathan!) and I am starting to really hate him for it. 

  • Love 4
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Nathan's incredible selfishness has bothered me for years.  His behavior during the season 3 finale did not strike me as "romantic" or even really seem like love.  It was motivated purely by a selfish desire to keep what he wanted.  Duke told him "She's trying to save this town.  I hate it, but it is *her* choice." That's love. Vince said something similar.  "I loved her too, but *I* let her go."   Then Nathan essentially spends all of season 4 trying to atone for that by attempting Suicide by Audrey. If he can get her to kill him, he doesn't have to feel guilty anymore and he gets to be a hero/martyr, giving the town this great 'gift' of ending the troubles. Now, what...three episodes into season 5 and he's forgotten all of that and run off with Mara after he promised to turn her over to Dwight, because he thinks he can get Audrey back.  And he can claim it's for the good of the town all he wants...I don't buy it. 

I want to like Nathan, I really do.  I can tell I'm supposed to like Nathan.  But I don't like Nathan.

  • Love 5
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I want to like Nathan, I really do.  I can tell I'm supposed to like Nathan.  But I don't like Nathan.

 

 

I said in an earlier post that I can't remember an episode of this show where I didn't want to punch him after season 2.

  • Love 6
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Just watched this one (this whole Thursdays at 8 thing is sooo not working for me...), and maybe I went in with low expectations, but I didn't think it was so bad. I like Nathan's and Duke's relationship with Mara/ Audrey (and with each other, of course). Nathan seems no more annoying than last season (which IMO means nowhere near as douchey as season 3 Nathan).

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