So, Haven.
I've been meaning to rant about this show for quite some time now (because so few people seem to be watching), but I was waiting for the season finale to see how it would hold up before making the final judgment call. I suspected the finale would either make or break the entire build-up it was leading toward - and what do you know? It actually did not disappoint. So rare, that.
This is one of many shows that I started to watch without any expectation whatsoever, and I didn't give it much consideration after the first couple of episodes. It seemed to be, at the first glance, about a small Maine town with secrets (a la Stephen King, and it must be said that I am, in fact, a fan), which is really nothing new. A young, perky blond FBI agent comes to town, join forces with a tall, lanky, reticent and unfeeling (and I mean that literally) local cop, and finds out that someone who could be her mom might have come by this town years ago, so she decides to stick around and find out more. Also in the picture are the standard-issue quirky townsfolks, including a resident bad boy who runs a bar and a smuggling side business, two brothers running the old town newspaper, a steely EM lady, and so on and so forth. And of course some people in town seem to exhibit odd powers they've likened to afflictions or "troubles," and one of them happens to be that local cop, Nathan.
It seemed rather all-around typical to me at first; Audrey, the protagonist, and Nathan, were likeable enough, but didn't strike me as anything special, and I bailed as soon as I thought I saw some chance of a triangle happening between Audrey, Nathan, and Duke the resident bad boy. And then I read some good reviews for the later episodes and decided to check them out again, and boy, am I glad I did. After Ep 8, I've changed my mind about the show. Completely. In all the subtle, rare ways, this show defied my expectations and went slightly sideways - all of the elements that I thought would be the same old same old turn out differently in the end (I'm not talking Breaking Bad level of shockers, however), and that's just so refreshing.
This is Audrey. And Nathan.
(Not mine. This is created by six_two_four , as posted at thetroubles. So pretty, and it captures my three absolutely favourite things about the show - Audrey, Nathan, and the gorgeous backdrop.)
Some slight spoilers, but this is mostly just a general overview.
Of course, let's get one thing out of the way - it's no Breaking Bad. It's not even Sherlock. The closest comparison I can find would be Fringe (and it has its own blond FBI agent as its protagonist, too), but its world is not as big as the multiverse of Fringe. Haven is not that ambitious - it's about the town and the people in it. It has its flaws, but its good parts outweigh them, and what it does well is so rarely done well by other shows that I have to give Haven a lot of credit for trying.
1. Friendship
I think I mentioned the whole defying expectations part, and basically how this show builds up the character relationships is what finally sold me on this show. At first I expected things in this show to develop in typical ways, like maybe Audrey would end up getting involved with Duke who already has some bad blood with Nathan. I expected Audrey and Nathan not to get along and have the whole city cop vs local cop standoff - or maybe get along too well on the romantic front to the point that their partnership would suffer. None of these things happen. They actually get to know each other. This is such a rare thing that it's worth repeating - over the first season, the characters take their time getting to know each other and in the process, they begin to feel real to us, the audience.
And no, Audrey doesn't fall for the bad boy - she doesn't fall for anyone. Instead, she becomes a good friend to Duke - she rebukes his half-hearted attempt at flirting and teases him mercilessly about his ridiculous ways, all without judging him, and even though Duke comes onto her at times, he comes onto other pretty girls, so it's just an equal opportunity thing for him. And Duke, who I disliked at first, turned out to be an intriguing character on his own, not some random stereotypical bad boy. He becomes quite real and turns to out to have a real connection to the major storyline of the show. And that's another thing I like. The show never really telegraphed everything from the beginning. Other shows would have flaunted all the dramatic elements from the very beginning to grab viewers, but Haven kept the cards pretty close to vest before revealing them one by one after halfway through the season - so people without patience would not get much enjoyment out of this show.
And of course, there's her partnership/friendship with Nathan, which for me (and from all the fan reactions, for many others) is the best thing about the show. They do become BFFs by the end of the season, but it doesn't happen overnight, nor is it something that happens dramatically with lots of fanfares. Now that the first season is over, it's easier to see the progression of their relationship. Slowly and gradually, they get to know each other, become friends, and then real partners. This may be the first time where I've seen the majority of the fans actually agree that this pairing could go either way from here - and fans would not mind at all. In other shows where there is a male/female partnership, fans tend to be divided greatly on the shipping front, but not here. They don't need to go down the romance route, because at the end of the day, what Nathan and Audrey have is pretty much solid as a rock, but their dynamic is currently such that I actually think it would work romantically without ruining that balance they have. They're the proof that a functional relationship/partnership can exist without boring the hell out of the viewers. When I sat down and thought about it, it literally flabbergasted me because you just rarely see that on TV.
More on that later.
2. Atmosphere
I love the town of Haven. It's quirky, yes, but not in Eureka, in-your-face kind of way which tends to irritate me. Haven literally feels like a small town somewhere in East Coast, and I like its quiet, real, soft qualities. And other than their "afflictions," people in it are all very quite normal, and I love that small town mentality slipping out in places, like how Nathan knows pretty much 80% of things going on in town, but not everything. It never really seems manufactored or forced. And of course its atmosphere receives a major helping in the form of its beautiful scenery. A town in Nova Scotia is apparently being disguised as this small town in Maine, and it's absolutely gorgeous to look at. At this point, I'm desperate to have my next vacation in NS and PEI.
3. Case of the Week/Myth Arc
By the halfway point, I realized the writers actually had a clear plan in mind. In the beginning, all the monsters-of-the-week felt somewhat slapstick, and I didn't realize there would be a running theme that does come together in the finale. Seeds are planted here and there (for instance, someone who appeared in Ep 2 does actually have a connection to the overall story, a victim's tattoo from Ep 4 turns out to be something bigger in Ep 10, etc), and this level of planning was definitely not something I expected from a show like this. And now, after that mindbending finale, a lot of things that were revealed about the characters throughout the season actually made more sense.
Another thing like love? Their weekly detective work. It actually is the type of detective work that involves legwork and investigations and talking to people and getting down to the nitty gritty details, and Nathan and Audrey have to deal with, guess what, the paperwork! Just because there's a supernatural aspect thrown in, it doesn't mean its procedural investigative side gets dropped. In fact, that "supernatural" side of things doesn't come into play as much as one woud expect. I also enjoy that Audrey and Nathan are good, solid investigators, but not geniuses who can solve things with a flick of a wrist. They're quite normal in that regard, and it's just so refreshing to watch.
4. Characters/Acting
None of them would win Emmy any time soon, but it's by Syfy, not AMC, and all three leads, as well as the supporting actors, do quite incredible jobs making them real. I love how the actress who plays Audrey is natural in her role - she doesn't try to make her character more likeable or adorable, or more serious, or do anything flashy. She is just Audrey, who can be so adorable at times, which of course does help. And the actor who plays Nathan is like, a king of sublety.
For instance, in the pilot, Audrey finds out Nathan has what they call idiopathic neuropathy. This dialogue happens:
A: So you really couldn't feel it when the car door hit your hand.
N: No.
A: Can you feel fire?
N: No.
A: Ice?
N: Oddly, yes, I can feel ice -
A: You can feel ice?
N: No.
I can feel a headache coming on, though.
See, that last line? Could've totally made him sound snotty or condescending, or many of other unpleasant, unlikeable things, but the way he mildy responds to Audrey's incredulous question? Gold. It's seriously all in the line delivery.
I mean, no, they don't have the Breaking Bad level of scripts to work with, but what they do have, they really work it, and probably half of the reason the characters feel so endearing to me is because the actors and the writers imbue them with subtle touches. Once everyone got the hang of their characters and found the feel for the story after the first few episodes, everything began to click, and I even like little details like Audrey wears same clothes - she has maybe one coat and three cardigans.
5. Audrey and Nathan
I know I've already covered the relationship area, but I think the whole Audrey/Nathan partnership deserves its own category. Het, slash, or otherwise unidentified pairings in the shows that I absolutely adore tend to have adversarial relationships, or at least one part of the partnership is extremely not-average. Audrey and Nathan are both reasonably intelligent and competent, but neither is a genius (Sherlock, House, Patrick Jane, etc) or super-competent (Ziva). They're not the polar opposites from two different worlds (Mulder/Scully, R&I) who argue with each other on almost everything. Their partnership is quite normal - and probably its most abnormal aspect is how well they get along with each other.
They're partners who clearly like each other, enjoy each other's company, believe each other to have their back. When they disagree on something about a case, they have a good reason for it, and they talk about it, not just stand there and argue for the argument's sake. They tease each other about the other's apparent lack of social skills, but they also encourage each other to try different things, make progresses on any other relationship when they find it. If something bothers them, they talk it out, and the other person is always willing to listen. They're also not afraid to call on each other's bullshit (which rarely happens, but it doesn't not happen altogether, either).
And this does not mean they know everything about each other overnight, either, nor does this mean that they're joined at the hips all of a sudden. They're still learning about each other, and they still feel shy in places, so it's a natural, gradual process. I think other fans describe their relationship as so amazingly functional, and I agree with that. It's almost shocking to see a naturally functioning partnership in a TV show. And I want other show creators who seem so convinced that such relationships would drive away viewers to sit up and take a notice. It can work, and it can be fun to watch.
Of course, their relationship trajectory isn't without a curveball, either. There is a revelation that comes out in Ep 8 that has a clear ramification on their relationship, and I love, love, Nathan's reaction to that revelation. He doesn't jump to conclusions - he thinks about what it means for some time, and in the end it makes them stronger somehow, reinforcing and adding different dimensions to their interactions rather than changing their dynamics drastically. I love that even when there's a conflict not their own making interfering with their partnership, they overcome it. They talk to each other. They trust each other. If they're holding back, there's always a reason, and it's not done just to amp up the tension for the overall story - they never act out of their characters just for the sake of the storylines.
This pairing is probably the most functional canon relationship that I'm actually fully behind in any fandom history. Even if they remain partners only, they're already crucial to each other to the point that no further connection is necessary to make their relationship emotional compelling. At the same time, while they trust each other implicitly, they also have that soft, shy chemistry still between them that would make any potential romantic future viable. So far, the writers have done such an excellent job building these two, so I don't think if they reach the next level, it would be an epic fail like most TV relationships end up becoming.
Haven might not be everyone's cup of tea, however. Come to think of it, it's not exactly my type, either; I don't know where it stands among Breaking Bad, Sherlock, Band of Brothers, Nero Wolfe, Dexter, Generation Kill and so on. It has some great flaws that make me hesitant to recommend to everyone, but I've developed such a soft spot for this show, and I can only say thank GOD it's renewed for the second season - otherwise, if they left the show with that ending, I could've cut something.
....Wow, so, that was long.
This is one of many shows that I started to watch without any expectation whatsoever, and I didn't give it much consideration after the first couple of episodes. It seemed to be, at the first glance, about a small Maine town with secrets (a la Stephen King, and it must be said that I am, in fact, a fan), which is really nothing new. A young, perky blond FBI agent comes to town, join forces with a tall, lanky, reticent and unfeeling (and I mean that literally) local cop, and finds out that someone who could be her mom might have come by this town years ago, so she decides to stick around and find out more. Also in the picture are the standard-issue quirky townsfolks, including a resident bad boy who runs a bar and a smuggling side business, two brothers running the old town newspaper, a steely EM lady, and so on and so forth. And of course some people in town seem to exhibit odd powers they've likened to afflictions or "troubles," and one of them happens to be that local cop, Nathan.
It seemed rather all-around typical to me at first; Audrey, the protagonist, and Nathan, were likeable enough, but didn't strike me as anything special, and I bailed as soon as I thought I saw some chance of a triangle happening between Audrey, Nathan, and Duke the resident bad boy. And then I read some good reviews for the later episodes and decided to check them out again, and boy, am I glad I did. After Ep 8, I've changed my mind about the show. Completely. In all the subtle, rare ways, this show defied my expectations and went slightly sideways - all of the elements that I thought would be the same old same old turn out differently in the end (I'm not talking Breaking Bad level of shockers, however), and that's just so refreshing.
This is Audrey. And Nathan.
(Not mine. This is created by six_two_four , as posted at thetroubles. So pretty, and it captures my three absolutely favourite things about the show - Audrey, Nathan, and the gorgeous backdrop.)
Some slight spoilers, but this is mostly just a general overview.
Of course, let's get one thing out of the way - it's no Breaking Bad. It's not even Sherlock. The closest comparison I can find would be Fringe (and it has its own blond FBI agent as its protagonist, too), but its world is not as big as the multiverse of Fringe. Haven is not that ambitious - it's about the town and the people in it. It has its flaws, but its good parts outweigh them, and what it does well is so rarely done well by other shows that I have to give Haven a lot of credit for trying.
1. Friendship
I think I mentioned the whole defying expectations part, and basically how this show builds up the character relationships is what finally sold me on this show. At first I expected things in this show to develop in typical ways, like maybe Audrey would end up getting involved with Duke who already has some bad blood with Nathan. I expected Audrey and Nathan not to get along and have the whole city cop vs local cop standoff - or maybe get along too well on the romantic front to the point that their partnership would suffer. None of these things happen. They actually get to know each other. This is such a rare thing that it's worth repeating - over the first season, the characters take their time getting to know each other and in the process, they begin to feel real to us, the audience.
And no, Audrey doesn't fall for the bad boy - she doesn't fall for anyone. Instead, she becomes a good friend to Duke - she rebukes his half-hearted attempt at flirting and teases him mercilessly about his ridiculous ways, all without judging him, and even though Duke comes onto her at times, he comes onto other pretty girls, so it's just an equal opportunity thing for him. And Duke, who I disliked at first, turned out to be an intriguing character on his own, not some random stereotypical bad boy. He becomes quite real and turns to out to have a real connection to the major storyline of the show. And that's another thing I like. The show never really telegraphed everything from the beginning. Other shows would have flaunted all the dramatic elements from the very beginning to grab viewers, but Haven kept the cards pretty close to vest before revealing them one by one after halfway through the season - so people without patience would not get much enjoyment out of this show.
And of course, there's her partnership/friendship with Nathan, which for me (and from all the fan reactions, for many others) is the best thing about the show. They do become BFFs by the end of the season, but it doesn't happen overnight, nor is it something that happens dramatically with lots of fanfares. Now that the first season is over, it's easier to see the progression of their relationship. Slowly and gradually, they get to know each other, become friends, and then real partners. This may be the first time where I've seen the majority of the fans actually agree that this pairing could go either way from here - and fans would not mind at all. In other shows where there is a male/female partnership, fans tend to be divided greatly on the shipping front, but not here. They don't need to go down the romance route, because at the end of the day, what Nathan and Audrey have is pretty much solid as a rock, but their dynamic is currently such that I actually think it would work romantically without ruining that balance they have. They're the proof that a functional relationship/partnership can exist without boring the hell out of the viewers. When I sat down and thought about it, it literally flabbergasted me because you just rarely see that on TV.
More on that later.
2. Atmosphere
I love the town of Haven. It's quirky, yes, but not in Eureka, in-your-face kind of way which tends to irritate me. Haven literally feels like a small town somewhere in East Coast, and I like its quiet, real, soft qualities. And other than their "afflictions," people in it are all very quite normal, and I love that small town mentality slipping out in places, like how Nathan knows pretty much 80% of things going on in town, but not everything. It never really seems manufactored or forced. And of course its atmosphere receives a major helping in the form of its beautiful scenery. A town in Nova Scotia is apparently being disguised as this small town in Maine, and it's absolutely gorgeous to look at. At this point, I'm desperate to have my next vacation in NS and PEI.
3. Case of the Week/Myth Arc
By the halfway point, I realized the writers actually had a clear plan in mind. In the beginning, all the monsters-of-the-week felt somewhat slapstick, and I didn't realize there would be a running theme that does come together in the finale. Seeds are planted here and there (for instance, someone who appeared in Ep 2 does actually have a connection to the overall story, a victim's tattoo from Ep 4 turns out to be something bigger in Ep 10, etc), and this level of planning was definitely not something I expected from a show like this. And now, after that mindbending finale, a lot of things that were revealed about the characters throughout the season actually made more sense.
Another thing like love? Their weekly detective work. It actually is the type of detective work that involves legwork and investigations and talking to people and getting down to the nitty gritty details, and Nathan and Audrey have to deal with, guess what, the paperwork! Just because there's a supernatural aspect thrown in, it doesn't mean its procedural investigative side gets dropped. In fact, that "supernatural" side of things doesn't come into play as much as one woud expect. I also enjoy that Audrey and Nathan are good, solid investigators, but not geniuses who can solve things with a flick of a wrist. They're quite normal in that regard, and it's just so refreshing to watch.
4. Characters/Acting
None of them would win Emmy any time soon, but it's by Syfy, not AMC, and all three leads, as well as the supporting actors, do quite incredible jobs making them real. I love how the actress who plays Audrey is natural in her role - she doesn't try to make her character more likeable or adorable, or more serious, or do anything flashy. She is just Audrey, who can be so adorable at times, which of course does help. And the actor who plays Nathan is like, a king of sublety.
For instance, in the pilot, Audrey finds out Nathan has what they call idiopathic neuropathy. This dialogue happens:
A: So you really couldn't feel it when the car door hit your hand.
N: No.
A: Can you feel fire?
N: No.
A: Ice?
N: Oddly, yes, I can feel ice -
A: You can feel ice?
N: No.
I can feel a headache coming on, though.
See, that last line? Could've totally made him sound snotty or condescending, or many of other unpleasant, unlikeable things, but the way he mildy responds to Audrey's incredulous question? Gold. It's seriously all in the line delivery.
I mean, no, they don't have the Breaking Bad level of scripts to work with, but what they do have, they really work it, and probably half of the reason the characters feel so endearing to me is because the actors and the writers imbue them with subtle touches. Once everyone got the hang of their characters and found the feel for the story after the first few episodes, everything began to click, and I even like little details like Audrey wears same clothes - she has maybe one coat and three cardigans.
5. Audrey and Nathan
I know I've already covered the relationship area, but I think the whole Audrey/Nathan partnership deserves its own category. Het, slash, or otherwise unidentified pairings in the shows that I absolutely adore tend to have adversarial relationships, or at least one part of the partnership is extremely not-average. Audrey and Nathan are both reasonably intelligent and competent, but neither is a genius (Sherlock, House, Patrick Jane, etc) or super-competent (Ziva). They're not the polar opposites from two different worlds (Mulder/Scully, R&I) who argue with each other on almost everything. Their partnership is quite normal - and probably its most abnormal aspect is how well they get along with each other.
They're partners who clearly like each other, enjoy each other's company, believe each other to have their back. When they disagree on something about a case, they have a good reason for it, and they talk about it, not just stand there and argue for the argument's sake. They tease each other about the other's apparent lack of social skills, but they also encourage each other to try different things, make progresses on any other relationship when they find it. If something bothers them, they talk it out, and the other person is always willing to listen. They're also not afraid to call on each other's bullshit (which rarely happens, but it doesn't not happen altogether, either).
And this does not mean they know everything about each other overnight, either, nor does this mean that they're joined at the hips all of a sudden. They're still learning about each other, and they still feel shy in places, so it's a natural, gradual process. I think other fans describe their relationship as so amazingly functional, and I agree with that. It's almost shocking to see a naturally functioning partnership in a TV show. And I want other show creators who seem so convinced that such relationships would drive away viewers to sit up and take a notice. It can work, and it can be fun to watch.
Of course, their relationship trajectory isn't without a curveball, either. There is a revelation that comes out in Ep 8 that has a clear ramification on their relationship, and I love, love, Nathan's reaction to that revelation. He doesn't jump to conclusions - he thinks about what it means for some time, and in the end it makes them stronger somehow, reinforcing and adding different dimensions to their interactions rather than changing their dynamics drastically. I love that even when there's a conflict not their own making interfering with their partnership, they overcome it. They talk to each other. They trust each other. If they're holding back, there's always a reason, and it's not done just to amp up the tension for the overall story - they never act out of their characters just for the sake of the storylines.
This pairing is probably the most functional canon relationship that I'm actually fully behind in any fandom history. Even if they remain partners only, they're already crucial to each other to the point that no further connection is necessary to make their relationship emotional compelling. At the same time, while they trust each other implicitly, they also have that soft, shy chemistry still between them that would make any potential romantic future viable. So far, the writers have done such an excellent job building these two, so I don't think if they reach the next level, it would be an epic fail like most TV relationships end up becoming.
Haven might not be everyone's cup of tea, however. Come to think of it, it's not exactly my type, either; I don't know where it stands among Breaking Bad, Sherlock, Band of Brothers, Nero Wolfe, Dexter, Generation Kill and so on. It has some great flaws that make me hesitant to recommend to everyone, but I've developed such a soft spot for this show, and I can only say thank GOD it's renewed for the second season - otherwise, if they left the show with that ending, I could've cut something.
....Wow, so, that was long.