S05.E09: Morbidity

[Guest]

When Audrey and dozens of Haven citizens are affected by a mysterious illness, the symptoms threaten to expose Haven’s secrets to a dangerous newcomer.

 

 

[kat165]

I hope I'm not the only one who watched tonight. The thread gets lonely.

 

Actually, I am having a hard time remembering the Friday, 7pm timeslot and forgot all about it this week. Fortunately, accidently caught the replay at 11.

 

Another 2 parter. These are getting kind of exhausting. I'm hoping that we're building towards something. This ep was ok, just ok only because of Mara. I really can't stand her. I think she drags the whole show down, but it doesn't look like she's out of there anytime soon.

 

The quarantine with the troubles starting to run amock is kind of interesting & for a while there I thought maybe the CDC lady was going to become a love interest for Dwight. Which would have been nice for him. It's still not too late for that maybe, but he sure has a lot of explaining to do in that case.

 

In any event, how nice to see Dwight and Gloria back and even, briefly, Gloria's assistant whose name I've forgotten. The girl with the drawing trouble.

 

I look foward to all your comments! :)

 

The dancing bears were kind of funny. Maybe a bit gruesome, but the visual (with their heads on) was kind of amusing.

 

Thank you, CuriousParker, for putting the description up.

Edited November 8, 2014 by kat165

[MizArk]

I watched. I liked the dancing bears (with their heads on). That's pretty much all I remember.

[BlackberryJam]

I watched.  Not much to say.  They are really setting up the "Duke chooses Mara over Audrey/Nathan/The Town" thing.  I wish I'd been wrong about that.

[DJG1122]

I watched.  Not much to say.  They are really setting up the "Duke chooses Mara over Audrey/Nathan/The Town" thing.  I wish I'd been wrong about that.

Something Mara said made me think that maybe endgame is Duke having to kill Mara. Aren't Crockers supposed to kill each incarnation of Mara but hasn't she always gone into the barn? And the troubles never stopped? I'm wondering if maybe the 'you have to kill the one you love' is Duke. Mara isn't her usual snarky self and smiles when she wears down his resistance to her. Mara, of course, has her own agenda and needs Duke for some reason I can't begin to guess at..

[Snarkette]

Agreed. Seems to me if Duke kills Mara, he probably ends all the troubles. So yeah, bring it on! 

[icandigit]

I guess it's a good thing with every ep I'm wondering what is going on with Mara. Still creeped out about the dancing bears. I can't help it,

 

I'm a sucker for Nathan and Audrey and appreciate their sock storyline. Shocking twist I didn't see coming. Audrey didn't like the socks while on duty. Audrey is back ya'll.Yay.

 

Outside CDC person, that's really cool.  My heart was racing this whole ep wondering if they could keep things under wraps. And Dave and Gloria being old pros. Really good episode and I got at least a little Duke and Nathan. Things aren't going to be ok with them are they? Really interested in the power dynamics between Dwight/Nathan/Duke going forward.

[BlueJay81]

I think the CDC lady is the one causing this contagious Trouble. She will discover she is also Troubled and want to investigate further without calling in her colleagues.

 

 

Something Mara said made me think that maybe endgame is Duke having to kill Mara. Aren't Crockers supposed to kill each incarnation of Mara but hasn't she always gone into the barn?

The person known as Mara/Audrey apparently kills a Crocker in each cycle.  Sarah killed Duke's grandfather Roy, Vince & Lucy apparently killed Simon Crocker and it goes back in history like that.

 

Don't think Duke has turned quite yet, probably trying to get Mara to help. Mara seemed to express some resentment about the people of Haven selling 'them' out to save themselves. (William expressed similar sentiments in the episode 'William' about how easily humans turned on each other) I think that may be part of her motives for what she is doing. I keep getting hints of  Stephen King's 'Storm of the Century' with Mara and the town of Haven.

 

I guess we'll have to wait until the end of the season to know what is going on with Dave. Shapeshifters?

 

Why didn't Audrey just ask the woman with the Bear trouble how Lucy resolved it the last time? Surely that would have been the quickest way, she seemed quite knowledgeable about her Trouble, even if she was a child, her mother, a relative? Found that part annoying.

Edited November 8, 2014 by BlueJay81

[ABay]

I think the CDC lady is the one causing this contagious Trouble.

That's my theory, too.

[Shanna Marie]

I think the CDC lady is the one causing this contagious Trouble. She will discover she is also Troubled and want to investigate further without calling in her colleagues.

Ooh, I like that. Then she'll have a good reason not to call in the government because she's one of the "freaks" who'll be exposed. I actually liked the character and that she seemed to have a sense of humor and an ability to go with the flow instead of being a humorless bureaucrat, like characters like this are generally made to be.

 

I didn't have much patience with Duke here. For a con man, he's so very gullible. We already saw how quickly he fell for the Rev's lines, and now I'm afraid he's buying what Mara is selling. But quarantining people with a contagious illness isn't exactly extreme persecution (speaking as someone from what was for a while Ebola Central, USA -- though we're in the clear as of yesterday). And as for that "your friends are turning on you," Dwight may have, but does Duke not remember that Nathan got between him and Dwight with his taser? One person who doesn't really even count as a social friend turned on him, but his actual best friend stood up to him (and I think is on course for challenging Dwight's leadership).

 

I think we now know where Mara comes from: The World of Facial Cleanser Commercials -- a mysterious place where someone can wash their face or step out of the shower and still have perfectly applied heavy eye makeup on.

 

Using Chris the way they did was rather brilliant -- give a scientific-sounding explanation using his charm Trouble. It's about time they started using established Troubles to fight other Troubles.

 

Speaking of which, since the contagion Trouble seemed to be about activating Troubles, would that explain why Dwight and Nathan haven't caught it? Their Troubles are already active? I kept looking for blisters on their lips in every scene.

 

I wonder what the deal was with Nathan's socks, if that's a set-up for something. Or was that just for fun to show that Nathan and Audrey are falling back into their old groove? Because there was the drawing attention to them at the beginning, then the lingering shot of them before he pulled his pants leg down when he got out of the truck, then the conversation about them. I kept expecting Audrey to find a pile of bodies, see those distinctive socks and freak out.

[Elsinore]

Essence of this episode, as seen by Elsinore:

 

Feet off the table Nathan. God.

 

Bubble Troubles and Bear Troubles, oh my. Pretty sure they both beat the cake one for Dumbest Trouble Ever.

 

I did not miss the Chris Brody swooning. Or Chris Brody.

 

Lucy picture, yay! Haven't seen those in a while.

 

I may have rolled my eyes when Mara was accusing Audrey of losing her mojo. Because this is going to have some epic emotional repercussions which I might hate even more.

 

Love how everyone was on a first name basis with the CDC lady immediately. Not sure if she knows she ran into a newspaper office or what she thinks might protect her there. I thought it was a silly thing to do. They weren't after her with pitchforks were they? Well, I guess they were proverbial pitchforks?

 

Pretty sure the writers smoked some good rocks when they devised this episode. I have no other explanation for it.

[kat165]

Blackberry, I wish you'd been wrong about that too!! But I love DJG1122's idea that it will be up to Duke to kill Mara. I wish someone would get rid of her. Better yet, maybe push her into a thinny so we never have to see her again. But that would probably only make things worse. She might come back with William. They were the worst part of last season although I do like Colin Ferguson in other stuff.

 

Duke and Dwight have always had a kind of adversarial relationship so their falling out (again) made Mara's convincing a bit easier. And yeah, Duke should know better. I continued to hope that Duke would be too smart to fall for that though.

 

Bluejay, cool idea about the CDC lady! That would be awesome. If she could be troubled she might have to stayin Haven and then who knows, maybe a little happiness coming Dwight's way. I'm not much into romantic relationships at all in my shows, but I'd be happy to see Dwight get little love.

 

In Dave's dreams/visions the point of view from which we see them makes me think that in these dreams Dave is the creature. Does that make sense? I can't figure out how to word this properly. Is Dave one of them, like Mara & William? Am I making any sense here?

 

Elsinore, I think the writers have been baked all along. This season I don't think they're smoking anything of primo quality though. Maybe some Haven homegrown.

[shapeshifter]

I think the CDC lady is the one causing this contagious Trouble. She will discover she is also Troubled and want to investigate further without calling in her colleagues....

I also thought this, but maybe that was the original script/plot, and, since this is the last season, they're tweaking it a bit.

BTW, was I the only one thinking they should just off her? Heh.

...I didn't have much patience with Duke here. For a con man, he's so very gullible....

So much so in this case that I was sure Mara was somehow making him gullible.

About Nathan's socks: Decorative and/or colorful socks is a current menswear fad, but why would they spend precious screen time on it? A troubled menswear salesperson next week?

Interesting that the CDC lady's prescription was finally clearing up that horribly painful looking wound on Dave's leg.

[Cardie]

In Dave's dreams/visions the point of view from which we see them makes me think that in these dreams Dave is the creature.

 

Dave is definitely seeing events from the Creature's POV. I had thought that the Creature took possession of him in the present day in order to close the thinnies, but the writers scotched that interpretation. Now Dave is seeing what happened on Roanoak island centuries ago, so he has access to its memories. Perhaps they have a mental link forged when Dave was born Over There.

 

I would sort of enjoy, after all this mumbo-jumbo, the Troubles (or at least the ability to be Troubled) having a genetic origin and medical cure.

[AuntieL]

A few random thoughts - nice that Nathan got to take his turn at being the reasonable one.  Did not like Dwight's "I'm chief of police and head of the guard" power trip; that can't end well.  His comments about Duke and Nathan had an element of truth but ignored the fact that they've both done a lot of selfless things to help the town and troubled. Of course, Duke's plan to kidnap the governmental official wasn't exactly well thought out.  I really hope that Duke is playing some sort of long con with Mara.  I want the story about his mother to be fake (I tried to post that last week but the post got lost in the aether-I hate that kind of contrived woobyish backstory and Duke would never give her that kind of sensitive info on him).  I hope that either he's playing along with her or Mara's got some psychic/hypnotic influence making him paranoid because I refuse to believe he's that dumb.  She seems to really want to separate people and turn them against each other.  I think it's the friendship between the core three (and Dwight and the others) that ends the troubles.

 

Since last week I've been wondering if Audrey being separated from Mara means she has lost her "mojo".  Mara's presence not only made her immune  but gave her a connection to the troubles and now she has to learn to work without that connection.

 

Dave does seem to have  connection to the "creature"; I just can't figure out if it's evil or just trying to hide.  It killed the man in Dave's vision but it didn't kill Dave and Vince's therapist friend.  in the beginning shot of the bodies of what I assume was the Roanoke colony, did one of them look like Mara?

[shapeshifter]

...The dancing bears were kind of funny. Maybe a bit gruesome, but the visual (with their heads on) was kind of amusing....

Not for me. As soon as I saw their empty eyeholes, I thought: Very Stephen King.

[BlackberryJam]

Dancing bears were stupid.  Completely and utterly stupid.

 

I have money on everything thinking that Mara has turned Duke until the big reveal in the end, he's been conning her all along! Shocking!  What a twist!  Then someone will say, "But Duke, why did you blah blah blah when Mara wasn't there?"  And he'll say, "I had to make it seem real.  I was afraid if I told someone, like my most trusted buds, you would blow it.  I needed you all to believe it's real, but I'm a con man and was faking all the time!"  And everyone will be all "Oh, Duke, you're so clever, but you were really an ass.  Let's hug!"  And then Mara, if she's still around or perhaps Gloria or Dwight will say, "Duke, were you really just playing both sides so you came out the winner?" as Duke packs up to leave.  And he'll give a cheeky grin and say something ambiguous.

FUCK FUCK FUCK.  FUCKING STUPID.

 

Nathan's socks.  At some point there will be a doubles or shapeshifter or skinwalker Trouble and Audrey won't know if Nathan is really Nathan except that he's wearing boring socks and she mentions socks and he doesn't get it and she'll know it's not Nathan and shoot him while everyone else gasps dramatically, thinking she's the skinwalker!  But Audrey will have figured out a Trouble not because of her specialness but using good old fashioned smarticleness.

 

FUCK FUCK FUCK.  

 

 

[anstar]

Something Mara said I haven't seen discussed yet...The Crocker curse. When Duke was talking about everyone going into cages, Mara said that everyone else in town was 'run of the mill' but that she who created the troubles and Duke who could take them away were special. (or words to that effect.)  That makes me wonder if the "they" who forced her into the barn as punishment also sent the first Crocker to town. They couldn't reverse what William and Mara had done, but they could quell it temporarily by containing Mara in the barn and for the very bad ones, a Crocker "sponge" (to use Jordan's word) to absorb it and minimize collateral damage. 

Maybe that's why Mara is so interested in Duke. He's not merely one of the 'humans' she so disdains.  He's more like her.  (He's still a human, of course.  I think she is too.  I thinks she's only lived 500 years because of all the time spent in the barn.) She's not immune to him.  Giving him the ability to release the troubles his blood had absorbed over the centuries was probably a serious tactical mistake.

 

We only know for sure of two instances of Crockers being killed by HavenSavers. Sarah killed Duke's grandfather, who was trying to kill her. Lucy killed Simon. From what we can kind of piece together, Simon was addicted to the rush like Wade and was hunting Lucy too. The real Lucy said Simon showed up at her house.  I don't think we can extrapolate from there that every cycle has a Crocker and HavenSaver showdown. (I once thought so though.)

[BlueJay81]

 

Something Mara said I haven't seen discussed yet...The Crocker curse. When Duke was talking about everyone going into cages, Mara said that everyone else in town was 'run of the mill' but that she who created the troubles and Duke who could take them away were special. (or words to that effect.)  That makes me wonder if the "they" who forced her into the barn as punishment also sent the first Crocker to town. They couldn't reverse what William and Mara had done, but they could quell it temporarily by containing Mara in the barn and for the very bad ones, a Crocker "sponge" (to use Jordan's word) to absorb it and minimize collateral damage.

William did say they created complimentary Troubles (not sure if this was just a plot device for that particular episode) but if that's the case, then William probably created the Crocker trouble. He seemed to imply he knew what was going on with Duke in the cave and how to help him. Perhaps that's why Audrey/Mara re troubling Duke didn't really work the way it was supposed to. Nathan taunted Mara about needing William for the Troubles, perhaps that's the way it works for them, they could only do it as a pair. 

We only know for sure of two instances of Crockers being killed by HavenSavers. Sarah killed Duke's grandfather, who was trying to kill her. Lucy killed Simon. From what we can kind of piece together, Simon was addicted to the rush like Wade and was hunting Lucy too. The real Lucy said Simon showed up at her house.  I don't think we can extrapolate from there that every cycle has a Crocker and HavenSaver showdown. (I once thought so though.)

We don't really know why Simon was killed, was he addicted to the rush or did he set out to kill Lucy. There are also issues with the timeline because Simon was apparently already dead when he visited real Lucy according to his gravestone. He supposedly died before the CK. I think 1983 is still the big mystery that needs to be revealed but with the heavy emphasis on fate in the series especially seasons 1-3, I think a reasonable inference can be made about Mara/Audrey and the Crockers. It certainly was hinted at quite strongly in the 'Sins of the Fathers' episode that Simon wanted to break the pattern while Garland believed Audrey would eventually kill Duke.

Edited November 9, 2014 by BlueJay81

[anstar]

We don't really know why Simon was killed, was he addicted to the rush or did he set out to kill Lucy

I'm sorry. What I posted was poorly worded there.  I agree we don't know why Simon was killed.  I had decided (in my head) based on the way Duke talked about him that Simon was an alcoholic, and probably a mean one. Then Vince told Jordan that he was the one who activated Simon and then with Lucy's help had to kill Simon. Maybe I added one and one and got three, but I put them together with Wade's reaction to the blood, and what Duke told Jennifer.  That was another piece of my puzzle, that conversation. Duke seemed to be afraid of becoming addicted, he fought against it every time he absorbed troubled blood, and plain avoided it whenever he could. Like he knew the danger first hand. So I made the assumption that Simon wasn't an alcoholic after all, but was addicted to the rush from troubled blood. Total fanwank.  All we know for sure is that Lucy (and Vince) killed him.

[AudienceofOne]

I'm starting to find every Mara scene physically painful to watch, especially with the terrible character assassination of Duke going on.

 

Other than that, another two parter so I guess I'll work out what I think of it next week. Again.

[kat165]

Audience, I'm finding her painful too. Hehe, maybe that's why I keep forgetting the new day and time. :)

[Tabbyclaw]

Something Mara said I haven't seen discussed yet...The Crocker curse. When Duke was talking about everyone going into cages, Mara said that everyone else in town was 'run of the mill' but that she who created the troubles and Duke who could take them away were special. (or words to that effect.)  That makes me wonder if the "they" who forced her into the barn as punishment also sent the first Crocker to town. They couldn't reverse what William and Mara had done, but they could quell it temporarily by containing Mara in the barn and for the very bad ones, a Crocker "sponge" (to use Jordan's word) to absorb it and minimize collateral damage. 

Maybe that's why Mara is so interested in Duke. He's not merely one of the 'humans' she so disdains.  He's more like her.  (He's still a human, of course.  I think she is too.  I thinks she's only lived 500 years because of all the time spent in the barn.) She's not immune to him.  Giving him the ability to release the troubles his blood had absorbed over the centuries was probably a serious tactical mistake.

 

I've been chewing over this possibility, too. Her enemies created a weapon to destroy all her beautiful work, and now she's using its latest incarnation to resurrect all her favorites.

 

I liek the theory that Charlotte is causing the sickness, especially because the first symptoms -- blisters and fever -- are the same ones she was describing on the man with the ant bites. But I'm not sure if the timing lines up, as it seems like the bear couple had and recovered from the sickness before she arrived. Right now I think it's more likely that the plague came in on Dave's leg. Whatever is causing it, I hope we get to see more of the chaos next week, because "Trouble that activates other people's Troubles" has been on my 'plots I want to see' list for this show for a long time.

 

I may not like Chris Brody, but I do love the way people react to him, so that Skype call had me grinning ear to ear, especially Dwight's annoyance after he hung up that he'd been gotten again. Also, nice that they brought back the lightning Trouble from his first episode. It being that woman's little sister this time was probably for practicality reasons of "we couldn't/didn't want to track down the other actress again," but it also plays to the theory that those whose Troubles are already active are immune to the sickness. Which means that Gloria's assistant is the best person to be looking out for the infected. It also occurred to me after watching the episode that they missed a golden opportunity to show Audrey fawning over Chris now that she's lost her immunity and Chris being completely bewildered.

[Elsinore]

Was it me or was Gloria's assistant whose name I never ever remember (Molly or Sally, though that phone display said Olivia) got hit square in the forehead with that electricity jolt?

 

I guess it was better that they Skyped with Chris when Audrey wasn't there. Much awkwardness spared.

[Shanna Marie]

It also occurred to me after watching the episode that they missed a golden opportunity to show Audrey fawning over Chris now that she's lost her immunity and Chris being completely bewildered.

That's what I was expecting to happen when I saw him in the previews. It would be interesting to see how Audrey reacts to being affected by Troubles like everyone else instead of getting to look at them all being weird and snarking about how they don't know what's really going on.

 

Was it me or was Gloria's assistant whose name I never ever remember (Molly or Sally, though that phone display said Olivia) got hit square in the forehead with that electricity jolt?

It's Vickie (or possibly Vicky). She did get hit, but she soon got up and said she was okay. I was worried about her for a moment.

 

It's about time they started using other Troubles to fight the current Troubles, like Nathan using Vickie's Trouble earlier in the season to catch Mara or here using Chris's Trouble to try to fend off the feds and using lightning girl's sister to take out the cell tower. They've been good about not treating the Troubles like superpowers, but at the same time, they do kind of have a town full of X-Men, which gives them some resources.

[GirlWednesday]

Finally caught up on all things Haven (Haven is my new Arrow, becuz Arrow = train wreck right now). Canadian AppleTV/iTunes seems to be always behind for some reason. So this is my latest episode. i liked it sort of.

Not entirely on board with me and Mara adventures. I actually want more Nathan and evil Mara scenes. And Audrey and Mara scenes.

I feel like I have seen this duke is misunderstood but is a silent hero before. I like duke but I like just fine being a badass and taking names. Struggling with his troubles.

I loved every season of Haven, TOTW (trouble of the week) were interesting. Totally heart the threesome. Love the change up on the triangle over the series that now both Audrey and Duke will do anything for Nathan.

But I'm with the people above with hopes that duke is pulling a long con. Otherwise it will be sad. I get that duke is a reluctant hero and the whole me and Mara against everything but I want more scenes with Audrey and Mara.

I want audrey struggling with her identity scenes. Having an existential crisis. Both the storyline just skips over all that.

[Shanna Marie]

According to the "fun facts" thing about this episode on the SyFy web site, that scene at the beginning with Nathan, Audrey and Dwight where they talk about Nathan's new socks was actually originally supposed to be just Nathan and Dwight talking about how quiet it's been (to explain how Charlotte has apparently been in town a while looking for Dave without encountering a Trouble). But Lucas and Emily suggested adding Audrey to the scene as a way of showing Nathan and Audrey just getting to be normal for a moment without all the angst and drama (and adding a bit of "show, don't tell" to a conversation about it being normal). So I would guess that if the scene was originally meant to be without Audrey, the socks weren't originally there, and so probably had nothing to do with the plot. They weren't Chekhov's Socks. It was probably just a thing like they used to do in the first couple of seasons, where there would be a running bit of banter between Nathan and Audrey that we only got pieces of as they got out of the truck and headed to a crime scene, to give us the sense that they talked about things other than the Troubles. It's just been so long since anyone had a chance to talk about mundane, non-Troubles-related things that it was easy to try to read too much meaning into it now. It was like the pastries or Nathan's tips on being a local in season one or the vegemite in season two.

[shapeshifter]

According to the "fun facts" thing about this episode on the SyFy web site, that scene at the beginning with Nathan, Audrey and Dwight where they talk about Nathan's new socks...

and so probably had nothing to do with the plot. They weren't Chekhov's Socks....

Thanks, Shanna Marie, but if I ever start a band, I might have to name it Chekhov's Socks. :D

[Maelstrom]

I've been behind for awhile, but finally caught up a bit tonight. Dancing bears = creepy! Raise your hand if you never want to see them (or hear that creepy music) ever again.

 

Nina from Alphas! Was I the only one hoping Gary would turn up?

 

Oh Duke, what are the writers doing to you now?! You're the only reason I've stuck with this show over the years. Let me sum up:

 

Mara: Duke, your friends are totally going to turn against you to save themselves.

Nathan and Audrey: Hi Duke, we're totally abandoning you to save ourselves.

Dwight: Hey Duke, even though we've been getting along fine for the entire season, and have even teamed up successfully several times, I'm now turning against you for reasons.

Duke: My friends have totally turned against me! Mara, let's totally team up! Do you want my PIN number? Or will my Social Security number be enough?

 

Yeesh. *headdesk*

[catray]

I'm behind and slowly catching up-- my favorite part of this episode was definitely the reappearance of Brody and how googly-eyed everyone was around him. Never gets old!

Other than that, I'm not feeling this storyline. This should be something that I would enjoy, a scientist exploring the troubles etc but there's something about this show that feels so disjointed right now.