S05.E20: Just Passing Through

[Snarkette]

And this is why competent writers can make or break a series.

[txwatcher]

Haven dies time travel right. And William's back! I miss Eureka.

[AudienceofOne]

That was awesome

[Roselle]

AudienceofOne - I wish I could be as pleased, and succinct, as you! :)

 

I am so torn about this show now - on the one hand, I can appreciate the efforts being made to tie up ends, referencing and finally revisiting some of the key mysteries and characters but, on the other, there is so much that has irritated in S5B, I'm finding it hard to enjoy even the good things,. And there were lots of good things in this episode. I liked seeing the answer to what happened to the Colorado Kid; liked seeing confirmation of the memory erasing; liked knowing the CK knew and loved his mother Lucy and apparently knew about her history (is that going to be yet another flashback scene/episode to explain their backstory together? - surely we haven't got time in the remaining episodes - got to admit, I need to go and rewatch the Barn episode to clarify James's storyline in relation all his mothers' personalities... it's confusing!); liked the confirmation of Dave's actions/part and really liked the nods to Nathan/Duke childhood links and the prospect of Nathan's letter from the past to Duke in the present being key to their future. I guess I also liked the chubby photography geek kid turning into some sort of black-ops security expert because (presumably) visiting-the-past-Nathan told him to keep tabs on Duke and deliver his vital message.

 

But...I really hate what has been done to Duke's character and despite how, clearly, he will be absolutely key eventually, he is given so little time. The prospect of him having to now go and find Haley Colton once again will presumably further delay his return to Haven and the reunion with the others. There had better be a fantastic episode of dramatic Duke revelations, heroism and group hugging to come or I will be mightily pissed off! Without his character in the mix even I, someone who is a Nathan/Audrey-shipping fan, am finding their loving boring and a bit sickly now. 

Oh, and I also hated the use of Supernatural's demon breath effect and the Thinny Smoke Monster (also looked exactly like SPN's Demon clouds) - I know they all film in Canada (maybe use the same FX teams?) and, unfortunately for both shows, suffer from restricted budgets, but surely someone could have come up with something a little different.

 

Having said all that, full kudos is due to the actors playing young Garland and young Dave - both captured the looks, mannerisms and voices brilliantly. The notion that The Chief deliberately moulded young Nathan to be prepared for exactly what he knew he would face is a nice wrinkle and gives depth to Nathan's changed appreciation of his adoptive father. 

 

So, yeah, like I said ...torn....(but most of it could be fixed with MORE DUKE! :) )

[BlueJay81]

This episode certainly had that early Haven feel, but it still feels like they messed around too long and the impact of the revelations isn't there for me anymore. I think it was obvious by now that Dave killed James Cogan. What exactly was James Trouble? Croatoan  feeds off Troubled people right?. I guess there were no real big answers, the whole Duke plot is irritating now, so all that just so that girl can come back and open a Thinny. They purposefully avoided showing us why and how Duke got to be in that picture with Lucy  and why she gave him the necklace. I guess Lucy couldn't let go of James and took him into the Barn after Nathan and Vince had left.

 

Must not have been paying attention, but thought the kid with the camera was Nathan for most of the episode until the end.

 

Since Mara had all of Audrey, Lucy and Sarah and others memories, she must have known about the thinny opening family, why didn't she use that information to get into the void when she was so desperate to do so.

 

Young Dave and young Garland were good.

[zxy556575]

This episode certainly had that early Haven feel, but it still feels like they messed around too long and the impact of the revelations isn't there for me anymore.

 

I guess I can't be bothered to remember the various plots and histories any more, so the entire show is muddled and confusing for me. Not to mention that every scene featuring Nathan and Audrey has become annoying. Maybe I'll watch the finale, but boredom and irritation now exceed my interest. Too bad.

Edited November 13, 2015 by lordonia

[Shanna Marie]

This felt a lot more like Classic Haven, probably because of the return of the series creators as writers. The casting/acting for the younger versions was spot-on. I don't know if Detective Garland looked exactly like I imagined a younger version of the Chief would look, but he got the voice, inflections, speech patterns, facial expressions, and mannerisms so perfectly that in the scenes where he and Nathan were talking, I totally believed it was the Chief and even forgot it was a different actor. It was interesting seeing Nathan get some retroactive closure with his dad. He seems to have come to some sort of peace, and now he not only gets what his father was doing with him, he realizes that he was the one who told his father it would be necessary. It's a little heartbreaking to realize that the Chief knew this all along and couldn't tell him, which may have something to do with the distance from his perspective. It would have been hard for him to put up with Nathan's resentment all that time, knowing that Nathan himself had said it would be necessary.

 

We got a little bit of the backstory cleared up. The Chief apparently already had custody of Nathan in 1983, so he didn't get him after Max Hansen went to prison for murder in 1984. But we still don't know how and why that adoption came about. I guess Max was falsely accused of the Colorado Kid killing, though he still seems to have been a bad person.

 

Younger Dave was so perfect that for a moment I wasn't sure if they were actually using a different actor or if they were doing the kind of thing they once did on NCIS when they needed a much-younger version of a character and used the same actor with makeup and CGI to de-age him. Love that he recognized Vince right away, and Vince knew just how to push his buttons.

 

I wish we'd had at least a glimpse of younger Duke and Nathan, even in the background. I hope that Garland kept Nathan away from Lucy so that she didn't ever know him (Nathan didn't seem to have any memory of her). Otherwise, it would have been a bit creepy for her to instantly latch onto his older self, snuggle against him, and talk about their strong connection. I don't recall, did Lucy ever know exactly who adult Nathan was -- that he was Garland's son?

[pcta]

Came here to check reactions. So far, I have watched the first 5 - 10 minutes. Figured out it was going to be a lot of Bryant trying to act - perhaps that's unfair 'cause I'm not sure who could do a decent job of the over the top lines he got. FF to the last 10 minutes. Am so pissed Dukes character is being a tertiary support player to the true love duo. Came here. Sounds like there are some good bits. Will now decide if it is worth my time to go back and watch the whole thing. Don't think it is.

[Clanstarling]

Having said all that, full kudos is due to the actors playing young Garland and young Dave - both captured the looks, mannerisms and voices brilliantly. The notion that The Chief deliberately moulded young Nathan to be prepared for exactly what he knew he would face is a nice wrinkle and gives depth to Nathan's changed appreciation of his adoptive father. 

 

So, yeah, like I said ...torn....(but most of it could be fixed with MORE DUKE! :) )

I thought the actors were great as well - with one very minor quibble. Their Canadian accents came through on a few words here and there (the word "tomorrow" is the one I remember the most). But that is a very tiny quibble - they were spot on.

 

I enjoy time travel stories, so I really enjoyed this one. I was a little confused by the closing shot of the Colorado Kid site - was that kid with a giant bush of hair holding Audrey's hand supposed to be Duke? I don't really remember the picture (maybe I ought to pay attention to the opening credits, huh?)

 

I called it, somewhat, about girl who slips through walls. I got the purpose wrong (though certainly her trouble will be necessary to get them through the fog ring).

 

But yes, the worst part about this season has been very little Duke and too much Nathan and Audrey.  BTW, in one of the early scenes when Nathan and Audrey were walking to the beach - did it look odd to anyone else the way they were holding each other? It looked more like someone supporting a person who couldn't walk well than two lovers walking together.

Came here to check reactions. So far, I have watched the first 5 - 10 minutes. Figured out it was going to be a lot of Bryant trying to act - perhaps that's unfair 'cause I'm not sure who could do a decent job of the over the top lines he got. FF to the last 10 minutes. Am so pissed Dukes character is being a tertiary support player to the true love duo. Came here. Sounds like there are some good bits. Will now decide if it is worth my time to go back and watch the whole thing. Don't think it is.

Well, I've been a disgruntled viewer for the last season or two (and I've never been a fan of Bryant's acting). But I enjoyed this episode a lot. So, here's one reaction in the "go ahead and watch it" column. :)

[Shanna Marie]

BTW, in one of the early scenes when Nathan and Audrey were walking to the beach - did it look odd to anyone else the way they were holding each other? It looked more like someone supporting a person who couldn't walk well than two lovers walking together.

According to the Inside Haven video on the SyFy site, that's exactly what was happening. Emily Rose's knee went out right before they shot this episode, and they worked around it by using the men as crutches. She couldn't walk without help, and that's why present Audrey and past Lucy were so clingy. They must have used a body double when Lucy ran away, but you'll notice that in any scene in which she's walking and you can see her face, she's leaning on someone in the scene. Audrey was leaning heavily on Nathan, and Lucy was holding on to either Garland, James, or Nathan. Emily Rose said she figured Lucy might have a little limp because she'd cut her foot (that scar that was a big clue), and since we hadn't seen much of Lucy before, she decided to use her having to lean on people to walk by making Lucy be very physically affectionate and touchy-feely.

 

I'm trying to figure out where this episode fits into some of the Lucy timeline. Real Lucy said Haven Lucy came to her on the run, saying she knew how to end the Troubles for good. She learned the "kill the one you love" thing in this episode by overhearing Nathan and Garland talking about it, but then she also subsequently learned the truth of it (that Howard conveniently left out when he told Audrey later). And we know from the Guard that she tried to run from the Barning. So did she flee after these events? Supposedly, she killed Simon Crocker, but when did that happen? When/how did she get James into the Barn? Then there's that necklace she gave Duke. I've wondered if she figured out who her baby's father was and gave the necklace to Duke to give to her future self because she knew Duke was Nathan's friend. But did she learn who Nathan really was and connect him to Garland's son? I guess she and Garland could have had an offscreen chat about these events later, unless she fled right after that. Did Garland ever learn that James was his grandson?

[BlueJay81]

 

BTW, in one of the early scenes when Nathan and Audrey were walking to the beach - did it look odd to anyone else the way they were holding each other? It looked more like someone supporting a person who couldn't walk well than two lovers walking together.

http://www.tvgoodness.com/2015/11/11/colin-ferguson-previews-haven-s-just-passing-through-exclusive-interview/

[Roselle]

did it look odd to anyone else the way they were holding each other? It looked more like someone supporting a person who couldn't walk well than two lovers walking together.

 

 

Yes! I was also thinking "how weird". So, thanks for this....

 

According to the Inside Haven video on the SyFy site, that's exactly what was happening. Emily Rose's knee went out right before they shot this episode, and they worked around it by using the men as crutches. She couldn't walk without help, and that's why present Audrey and past Lucy were so clingy. 

 

...it's nice to know the background. :)

[Shanna Marie]

Oh my gosh, young Dave was Jonathan Crombie? An amazing bit of work because all I saw was Dave and I didn't recognize him at all. And now I feel incredibly ancient because he was a big crush from my late teens and early 20s from the Anne of Green Gables movies, and now he's Dave. This must have been one of his last roles before he died.

[spottedreptile]

Welcome back, show. I really missed you. Where have you BEEN?

Good episode and had some real charm to it. Sadly I feel there will be a lot of retconning between now and the end, but I guess I can take that if it means more episodes like this one.

I liked finding out about little details like Nathan's truck, which apparently he 'inherited' in 1983. 

But when I rewatched the first episode, set in 2010, Nathan said he'd had the truck since he was 19. That would make him 49 years old today wouldn't it, if he was 19 in 1983? Oops.

[Tabbyclaw]

He didn't inherit the truck in 1983, just borrowed it for a while (and probably had his dad nudge him towards purchasing it later).

 

Lots of thoughts about this one, but my brain is refusing to be cooperative at the moment. Will try to return when I'm more coherent.

[spottedreptile]

He didn't inherit the truck in 1983, just borrowed it for a while (and probably had his dad nudge him towards purchasing it later).

 

Lots of thoughts about this one, but my brain is refusing to be cooperative at the moment. Will try to return when I'm more coherent.

Oh, okay. Thanks for clearing that up.

[dargosmydaddy]

I think I wanted to like this more than I actually did. It just felt too rushed, and the Lucy/ Nathan and Lucy/ James scenes did nothing for me.

 

I wish we had gotten to see little Nathan. (I admit I thought camera kid was supposed to be him at first, and I'm glad it wasn't.) And that we got an explanation for Little Duke's sudden appearance next to sad Lucy.

[BlackberryJam]

Yes, little Duke appears out of no where to be in the photo with Lucy.

And the leaning thing, while I understand it, really made Lucy look like a weakling. I was terribly distracted by her bad mascara too. I really think the things they did to cover ER's injury changed the tone of the show.

Young Dave's Frankenstein Walk of Croatoan Possession cracked me the hell up.

While I enjoyed the Duke bits, I WANTED NATHAN TO ANNOUNCE THAT DUKE'S MOTHER WAS A COLTON. GODDAMMIT. I did not want the return of Plot Device Girl. Argh.

Best scenes were Nathan and the Chief, hands down. Worst scene, Lucy and Nathan in the woods.

[Tabbyclaw]

I am happier with this episode than I expected to be from the credits, because I may have sworn out loud when they failed to include either Nicholas Campbell or Tahmoh Pennikett. Still kinda disappointed at the lack of Simon (and the lack of explanation for tiny baby Duke's presence on the beach), but even if I wasn't 100% sold by Garland's actor the writing for him was dead on and his interactions with Nathan were perfect. Dave's actor, on the other hand, is the reason I love bodyswap episodes. He had everything exactly right and every moment of his screen time was a joy to watch. I also got a huge kick out of how quickly he twigged that he was talking to Vince, and that they didn't try to drag that out. I also love that they didn't drag out the whole 'Dave killed Charlotte' thing, and that all the characters immediately accepted that he had no control over his actions at the time and are not taking any action against him save for interrogating him heavily and presumably keeping him under observation.

 

I'm embarrassed about how long it took me to twig that Haley was the daughter of the woman they were looking for, despite the previouslies going out of their way to mention her last name. My friend speculates -- and I'm inclined to agree -- that her new story role as someone who can access the Void is what Jennifer would have been doing had the actress not left. (As an aside, there was an unwritten fanfic in my head prior to this season that included Duke having a daughter named Haley. I also had to rewrite a partially-written story last year where the Troubled person of the week was named Jennifer. Apparently these writers and I have the same mental pool we're pulling from.)

 

There are still some discrepancies, most significantly that we already met the guy who took the photo in the first season and that Dave didn't have a bared arm and visible tattoo when he grabbed for James, but even as I complain about those I'm still impressed at how they're tying everything together. And now that it's been confirmed that James was killed by aether extraction, it makes more sense that the Barn, being pure aether, was able to restore him and keep him alive if they got him to it fast enough. This episode also hints that Duke is currently fated to die by Croatoan's hand, which makes sense: with all the stored Troubles he was an aether powerhouse, but is he still now that they've been unleashed?

Edited November 14, 2015 by Tabbyclaw

[dargosmydaddy]

 

most significantly that we already met the guy who took the photo in the first season

I don't remember that, but are you sure it was that particular photo? Because I did notice an actual adult taking a photo closer to the body while camera kid was taking his.

[Tabbyclaw]

You're right; I just went back through a couple episodes to find that scene. The man Duke hunted down for Audrey was the man in the photo with the camera, not the person who took it. They went to his house to see if he had any more pictures, but he explained that the lobster men came out of the water after him and ate his film. And then he started stripping and Duke and Audrey exited in a hurry.

[Hanahope]

I was wondering why the heck Vince didn't shoot the gun to warn James when he realized Dave had become Croatoan and was going to Kill James.  but I guess Vince realized that he couldn't change the past, he already tried and ended up causing the events in the first place.  So now we get to deal with a very guilt ridden Vince.

 

I like that after all these years, we're finally getting the scene as to how/who killed the Colorado Kid.

[MarkHB]

I'll give them props for trying to get the c. 1983 Maine license plates right.  They really were black-on-white with a font that allowed 6 1/2 characters (the half basically being a small space or a hyphen or something).  You can see something similar here but they dropped the embossed "74" in following years.

[Shanna Marie]

I think they did a good job with the early 80s, in general. It wasn't over-the-top "80s!" but rather more realistic for a small town. The technology was about right (the few computers they showed were the "putty" color), as well as the change that not having cell phones made in the way they operated. I cracked up at Nathan's Member's Only jacket because that was practically the uniform of the time. Everyone wore those (I wanted one, but somehow never got one). I would say that his tie should have been knitted, but I think that trend may have hit a year later. Actually, I think their 1983 was better than their 1955 because their 1955 seemed to be more right out of a 50s movie instead of realistic. Or maybe that's just perspective from having lived through 1983 and not 1955 so I know what was real vs. a movie.

[Maelstrom]

That was interesting.

 

First off, kudos to Colin Ferguson for a good job directing! And thanks for the link, BlueJay81, it was a nice interview. Then again, I've been a fan of CF for years, so this just reinforced for me how awesome he is.

 

This was the best episode of 5B by far… which I realize is damning it with faint praise, but anyway. It felt more like the early seasons, which I liked. And, interestingly, it managed (IMO) to managed to both recapture some of the past glory of the show while simultaneously illustrating just how far it has declined. Juxtaposing the relative straightforwardness of the Colorado Kid mystery with the all-over-the-map nonsense of Croatoan/barn/void/thinnies/etc is a perfect example.

 

It was a welcome change to see Nathan have an actual, non-Audrey related focus again. And applause to the casting department for finding the actors who played young Garland and especially young Dave. Seeing Nathan with his father (albeit a younger version) just reinforces my personal theory that Garland was Nathan's most important relationship on the show, and losing him lost a big part of who Nathan is (and what makes him interesting to watch).

 

On a less positive note, I had to laugh at Nathan and Vince's mad time travel skillz. "Whatever you do, don't change history! Don't interact with anyone! Don't talk to anyone!" quickly became "Eh, fuck it this is too hard. Screw you, history, prepare to be changed!" Though at least Nathan managed not to impregnate anyone this time.

 

Next week: moar Duke please?

 

ETA - Did anyone else think that Garland's high-tech cordless phone (that Lucy used) looked far too small for 1983? At the very least it should've had a giant antenna.

Edited November 20, 2015 by Maelstrom

[MarkHB]

Good point.... I forgot about cordless phones having chrome telescoping antennas! Then again, 1983 was prior to the AT&T breakup so almost all phones were still wired, and I'm willing to bet that the prop houses in Halifax were far less able to come up with that stuff than LA might have been.

[cheyz]

Good point.... I forgot about cordless phones having chrome telescoping antennas! Then again, 1983 was prior to the AT&T breakup so almost all phones were still wired, and I'm willing to bet that the prop houses in Halifax were far less able to come up with that stuff than LA might have been.

 

I thought that was one of the brick cellular phones, they had the thick plastic-covered ones that screwed on and off.

 

Here it is:

 

Except the story with that photo says it didn't come out until 1984:

http://mashable.com/2014/03/13/first-cellphone-on-sale/#7tPd.J55RaqR

[aliferous85]

I loved this episode because it was Lucy episode. I think she was badly maligned throughout the series, even though she was the reason Audrey stayed in Haven. I think she's always been my favourite of the personalities because you know nothing about her so I spent five years piecing her story together. 

Lucy herself, well, I was hoping for a less anxious version (because that's her default setting, apparently). 

Too bad the writers went the Lucy/Garland route. I've seen fanfics mentioning it (nothing graphic, but the basic idea) but when you think about it, it just does not fit the narrative.