Thoughts on HAVEN season two.

[cadhla]

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

Comments

[scifantasy]

I'm just stuck on "if you're not someone who demands consistent characterization from their shows." Are there really people who don't care if characters act completely different from week to week?

[professor]

When I'm watching a police procedural, which are my mind candy, I don't really care about the detectives (or what have you) having consistent characterization, because I'm really just there for the mini-mystery. Admittedly one thing I love about police procedurals is that I can drop in for an episode or two when I have free time and then not watch for months.

[scifantasy]

I thought about police procedurals as a counterexample, but I finally rejected them.

Hell, in police procedurals, I would argue that the characterization consistency is almost more important, because if the characters don't have consistency, then that gets in the way of the procedural. Wise-cracking cynical cop, fiery district attorney (guess who I'm thinking of here?)...if they aren't there, then the show isn't there. The names can change, but the characterizations really can't.

[tiferet]

There have to be. How long did Heroes last before they finally shitcanned it? I'm pretty sure they weren't all just praying and hoping there'd finally be a consistent characterisation established for anyone before even their ginormous crush on Adrian Pasdar since he was Jim Profit couldn't keep their attention.

[fatherofdragons]

You know, she introduces herself as his wife, and he never contradicts her on it, but I don't think Duke ever says himself that she's his wife. Given an apparent history together that includes (among other things) crime, things might be more complicated. She may be an ex-wife. They may not be married at all, but it was still simpler in Duke's mind to let her say that than introduce her as his ex-partner in crime.

So I'm going to withhold judgement on that part for now.

[tiferet]

I haven't watched this show, so I don't have a dog in this race. But

[markbernstein]

I do think it's too early to make any sort of call. It's pretty obvious that Duke and Evvy haven't seen each other for years. And it's clear that Evvy bears Duke no particular ill will. She appears to be in town because she wants to pull him into some non-legal enterprise. So even if they were once legally married, and even if they never were officially divorced, their interaction indicates to me that neither of them regards themselves as currently married in any romantic sense.

[neonhummingbird]

My brother's been separated from his wife for seven or eight years -- I'm fuzzy on the timeline, we don't get along. If you ask him why they haven't gotten a divorce, he shrugs or says something vague and moves on, usually to his next live-in girlfriend (lifelong serial monogamist). And all reports say his wife has more than moved on with her life, as well.

I don't judge other people's marriages, as long as no one is getting hurt -- and Evi doesn't look like someone who's hurt. I expect the show will explain Duke and Evi's marriage at some point, and I expect it may or may not make sense to anyone who isn't in the relationship.