Thoughts on HAVEN season two.
Last night was the season premiere of Haven, Syfy's show based on Stephen King's The Colorado Kid (and loosely on everything else he's ever written, as witness the small boy chasing a paper boat down the street in the opening scenes). I love this show. I was excited all week about its return. I chased my mother out of the house so I could finish my editing in time to justify making popcorn and turning on the TV transport back to Maine.
And then I had issues.
First I should say that if you're not someone who demands consistent characterization from their shows, this is probably not a thing. The script was solid, and the premise (let's have the plagues of Egypt in small town Maine) was about as sensible as it ever is. The two new characters were both female, which should help with that whole "Haven has the worst gender balance of any show on Syfy" thing, and one of them, Evidence Ryan, is African American, which helps to deal with the fact that previously, the show was basically entirely white. So the writers are paying attention.
(Also, the producer's daughter is named Evidence. What a good way to teach people to pronounce her inevitable nickname! Put it on your TV show!)
Here's where I got cranky, though. Evidence Ryan is introduced as Duke Crocker's previously unmentioned wife. Not a new character; his wife. Now, I admit that I've never bought Audrey/Nathan; I've always been all about the Audrey/Duke. So having a new character with a prior claim show up is a bit vexing if I was hoping for some happy boat-banging action. That being said...
Duke hits on Audrey constantly. Not just Audrey; anything female, attractive, and willing to stand still long enough for him to give it a go. He actually nearly died last season because of having unprotected sex with a woman who sucked his life out of him to fuel his baby (said baby is still alive, and outside Haven, but will kill him if she ever returns to town). So he's been having his happy funtime sleeping around. And unless Syfy makes this the first positive open marriage on their channel, that makes him a much bigger jerk than he ever was before.
There's this British show called Coupling that I adore. In the very first episode, two characters in the process of breaking up discover that they had very different ideas about their relationship. One thought it was exclusive; one thought it wasn't. The one who thought it was then admits to sleeping with other women. The one who thought it wasn't counters with "So you cheated on me." And even though she never thought they were exclusive, she's right. If he thought they were only dating each other, no exceptions, then when he slept with other women, he was cheating.
Unless Duke and Evi have a "we're not exclusive" agreement in place, which seems highly unlikely, he was cheating on her. And that's a type of scummy I never thought he'd be.
It vexes.
And then I had issues.
First I should say that if you're not someone who demands consistent characterization from their shows, this is probably not a thing. The script was solid, and the premise (let's have the plagues of Egypt in small town Maine) was about as sensible as it ever is. The two new characters were both female, which should help with that whole "Haven has the worst gender balance of any show on Syfy" thing, and one of them, Evidence Ryan, is African American, which helps to deal with the fact that previously, the show was basically entirely white. So the writers are paying attention.
(Also, the producer's daughter is named Evidence. What a good way to teach people to pronounce her inevitable nickname! Put it on your TV show!)
Here's where I got cranky, though. Evidence Ryan is introduced as Duke Crocker's previously unmentioned wife. Not a new character; his wife. Now, I admit that I've never bought Audrey/Nathan; I've always been all about the Audrey/Duke. So having a new character with a prior claim show up is a bit vexing if I was hoping for some happy boat-banging action. That being said...
Duke hits on Audrey constantly. Not just Audrey; anything female, attractive, and willing to stand still long enough for him to give it a go. He actually nearly died last season because of having unprotected sex with a woman who sucked his life out of him to fuel his baby (said baby is still alive, and outside Haven, but will kill him if she ever returns to town). So he's been having his happy funtime sleeping around. And unless Syfy makes this the first positive open marriage on their channel, that makes him a much bigger jerk than he ever was before.
There's this British show called Coupling that I adore. In the very first episode, two characters in the process of breaking up discover that they had very different ideas about their relationship. One thought it was exclusive; one thought it wasn't. The one who thought it was then admits to sleeping with other women. The one who thought it wasn't counters with "So you cheated on me." And even though she never thought they were exclusive, she's right. If he thought they were only dating each other, no exceptions, then when he slept with other women, he was cheating.
Unless Duke and Evi have a "we're not exclusive" agreement in place, which seems highly unlikely, he was cheating on her. And that's a type of scummy I never thought he'd be.
It vexes.