We pick up almost exactly where we left off, interrupted by two establishing shots, the first of Haven and the second of Duke's boat. In case we didn't know where we were. Hey, it's Haven, these things happen. Nathan is holding a gun on Duke still, Duke isn't so much attempting to talk Nathan out of shooting him as stalling for time while considering his options. He picks the one that involves reasonable self defense, and we hear that the gunshot that freaked us all out last season did not, in fact, go into a person. Yay! I strongly suspect, given a lot of the themes they seem to be building up, that they shot and lit this scene (and clothed, probably) to make Duke and Nathan look as alike as reasonably possible. There's a barrage of fisticuffs, a pause for them and us to recover and reorient, and then more fisticuffs ending in Nathan on top of Duke. And not in the way the fangirls would like.
Unfortunately for Nathan, while he's snarking off at Duke and trying to choke the daylights out of him, he also manages to bleed on him. I have no idea where that blood is coming from, you guys, although given the amount of flying fists it's entirely possible it came from the nose or mouth in sufficient quantity to drip, insufficient quantity to make a significant face-stain. Duke knocks him across the room and unlike last time when he forcibly disembarked Dwight, he seems to be in control this time. One has to wonder if he's been practicing, and if so, where the fuck did he find the blood of a Troubled person not himself to wipe on his skin. That's just creepy, Duke.
Not that we have much time to think about this, Nathan and Duke have to fight for the gun some more. Why there is suddenly only one gun in play is a bit of a question, but it does give us a good opportunity to see them both crawling on the floor after the one gun they and we can see, which seems to include Nathan crawling overtop of Duke. Again, they're very close in appearance, with the main difference that Duke's jeans are black and Nathan's are blue. Of course, the Trouble of the week beats them both to the gun, as everything metal goes flying up to the ceiling. At which point even their pose is similar-but-mirrored, one hand outstretched while they lie on the floor waiting for a clue as to what just happened.
Nathan continues to see Duke as a threat, while Duke is trying his best to calm Nathan down by being non-threatening and speaking clearly and evenly. Hands out, body posture ready but without the implicit threat of violence, fingers spread. While Nathan looks quite a bit like he did back in the first season, do we remember the episode with the mental institution? He's giving us a very Kubrickian stare, his eyes are sunken, and his mouth is pressed in that thin line of imminent explosion. Duke meanwhile explains how his power works, which we so amply saw demonstrated, points at the ceiling and says "But, this? Not. Me." Just in case Nathan didn't get it the first time around, which in his emotional state he might well not have. Because he asks yet again where Audrey is, and Duke is getting sick of this shit, and probably worried, himself. He doesn't know.
But we do! Sort of, in the sense that now we cut to AudSarLu, in the basement, with the rope. And the mysterious interrogator. I hope you all appreciate what we go through for this, because A just sat through a handful of WWE interviews despite being the antithesis of the pro wrestling audience to see if Adam Copeland had ever pitched his voice this low on his other stage and no, it doesn't appear so. Still, the build makes me think that we're at least supposed to suspect Dwight. Or maybe Dwight's father, since I don't think Dwight's old enough for the implications of this mystery man. Which we'll get into later, since right now we get to go to credits and then back to Nathan and Duke arguing!
Duke confronts Nathan over the tattoo and yes, Nathan, I'd like an answer about that also. Especially since if you've been watching the Youtube vids from the Haven character Twitter feeds (@VinceHaven, @DaveHaven which was @DwightHaven briefly this month) then you know that the Guard is going to play a major role in this season, and that's where Nathan presumably got the tat from. And that's... not so good. Understatement intentional. Bonus disconcerting brownie points when you remember that this tattoo seems to mysteriously disappear and reappear without a clear explanation as to why. Do you have to get it inked before it starts its vanishing act? Do you have to be in a certain bloodline? We'll add that onto the list of Weird Symbol Shit, because the first we heard of this tattoo a tattoo artist was claiming he invented it. But then, as we all know from House, nobody lies ever. That's how it went, right? Of course right! Nathan's does, at least, look fairly new, so that might give us some answers as the season progresses. And his answer to Duke is as crappy as we'd expect. Boys, if you don't quit fighting I'm gonna tell Audrey on you and then she's going to thump your thick heads together. She's creative. I'm sure she can ensure both of you feel it.
I don't think it's just me, or more accurately just us. Something weird is going on with Nathan this ep, above and beyond Audrey being missing and his immediate suspicion of Duke. I would bet even odds it's tied to how he got that tattoo, or to some long-forgotten bit of knowledge about Duke's family that we might get a reveal on later. Nathan does have a good point, though, in that it's highly likely that Duke's father/grandfather/someone in that Troubled bloodline had doubts about what they were doing. I would bet just about any sum you care to name that they had doubts right up until their first (or some other Significant Number) kill, at which point the Trouble takes hold of whatever doubts they had left. I do not like this. I do not like it, Sam I Am. (And if it turns out that Flagg, who I fully expect to show up this season, is somehow responsible for CREATING that particular Trouble, I will have all of the wincing and hiding ever.) So. But for whatever reason Duke does think he's different from his patrilineal side, special in some way, and I don't think he's just saying that to get in a dig at Nathan. Most of Duke's truths come out as a dig at somebody (usually Nathan), in order to disguise just how true they are. The metallic attraction thingie ends and Duke holds the gun on Nathan, who will be smart about not getting HOLES in him, even if he can't feel them. But Duke only holds him long enough to stop Nathan from going back to the hitting that is not at all a prelude to angry sex oops was that my outside voice? Seriously, there's so much fanservice in this scene. And can I mention for a minute how amazingly well they've made use of the mirroring with Eric Balfour being left-handed, and using that with Duke? Because this is brilliant camera work. So, gun on Nathan and reminding him that if something looks this much like a setup, it probably IS. Followed by a lot of body language of, okay, see, I'm going to stop playing right into their hands and start trusting you, here's my gun. The most fascinating part of this speech is Duke saying "I'm not my father." Oh Duke. Oh honey. I'm not looking forward to learning yet more about his daddy issues, because I'm sure they're many and varied. Though I kind of hope when we do, it's done in such a way to browbeat Nathan with the "no, really, Duke's not his father" cluebat. Nathan pauses a minute, with the gun sort of halfway in a ready stance, in case Duke's going to make a move. And then we cut to a street scene, just in case we thought for a second that the effects of this new Trouble were limited in area to the boat/offshore/harbor area.
Standard extra makes standard annoyed noises, and then we get Dwight! Oh Dwight, what happened to the scruffy long hair? I miss it. (At least the continuity wasn't screwed up by his being in the season finale last year.) There may have to be S2 rewatching during this analysis. At any rate, he's apparently capable of running a cover story while hauling a freaking manhole cover out of an engine block and then launching it a couple feet in Duke's direction. Not with serious intent to harm (if Dwight had meant to hurt Duke he certainly would have), just general macho hostility, which we're fairly used to from all the men in this damn town. Seriously, I look forward to Audrey getting some help in the testosterone poisoning war those three are embarking on lately. Though it's also kind of amusing and kind of telling that Dwight chunks the manhole cover at Duke after Nathan gives the completely deadpan "ran into a door" line about his face. Protective, is our cleaner. Though of course he covers for it by pretending the hostility is just due to their last encounter. Also is it just me or does the delivery on "I guess I haven't learned my lesson" read like something straight out of WWE, only toned down for TV acting? Nathan, true to form, ends the posturing by getting down to business. Dwight puts aside his posturing with remarkable alacrity and we get a reminder of his relationship with Nathan as the new Chief of police. Nice brief establishing moments through the action.
And we get our connection between Rosalyn and Audrey! And I'm still not at all sure what the hell happened to the real Rosalyn, just that that was NOT her in the cell. But I get ahead of myself.
First we have the creepy brothers! Vince and Dave, someday I will take a 12' pole and a hazmat suit and crack you open for your secrets, dammit. They're still on the outs about what should be done with Haven's secrets, obviously, though I note that despite all that we haven't had all the secrets infodumped at us yet. Vince meets up with Dwight, which is fascinating, that Haven's cleaner is working for both Haven's residence recalcitrant know-it-all and Haven's chief of police. I WANT DETAILS. And murderboards. It feels like there's a deepening of the Nathan-and-Duke split happening, and I do not like it one bit. There is, for all the creepy weird factions going on here, some genuine caring here. At least on Dwight's part, his motives seem... I wouldn't say purest, but simplest, whatever they are. And for all that Vince and Dave are on the outs, Vince doesn't want to think Dave could have anything to do with Audrey's disappearance, I would guess due to their prior semi-entanglement with the Sarah incarnation.
(Please let us not find out that she was sleeping with both of them? Because ew.)
This clandestine meeting is interrupted by another iteration of the Trouble of the week, and we cut to the inn, which is very definitely and visibly closed for the season. Apart from the big sign telling us so there is one motorcycle out front as the boys pull up, no lawn furniture, no other cars, no nothing. I'm not sure if this is a detail the set folks forgot to put in, if it's a product of the ground around not being very conducive to tracks (which it isn't, we don't even see tracks from Nathan's truck), or what. But considering Audrey and Roslyn are being held at the inn there is no sign that anyone else is actually there. Which, granted, is a well-crafted disguise on the unsub's part, but leads to any number of questions about whether or not said unsub lives within walking distance (and what his definition of 'walking distance' is, since this is rural Maine), and if not, where he left his means of transportation. The place is devoid of most forms of life, at least to an outward glance. While I'm glancing, I'll add that many of these scenes seem to be shot in a faded blue or at best, blue-green wash. Can't decide on the significance of that one, yet, though.
Nathan wants Duke to let him do the talking, which isn't something he usually says, but Nathan seems to need to direct and micromanage things to keep calm. Duke waves him off, presumably getting this because of worrying about Audrey and he's not going to argue. And now we meet the incredibly skittish and reality-warpingly-deluded Wesley Toomey.
Wesley Toomey is an interesting character. We meet him as he's talking about his mother's disappearance, her routines, he seems remarkably well put together but his voice still shakes, indicating his distress. Clearly he loves his mother very much, and is connected to her, and this upsets him greatly no matter how well he's managing. His choice of words suggests that he's using procedure and protocol to keep himself together, by the phrase "nothing's been compromised." Nathan and Duke find this a little odd, and so do we the audience, but it's not anything that cop or military idolizers don't do. And he leads us back to the long smear of blood, which indicates a pretty severe trauma. Whatever Roslyn's current mental or locational state, she's badly injured in some way, if not already dead.
Duke makes a bad job of whispering to Nathan, which catches Wesley's attention, and there's a brief conversational segue into Wesley's suspects for the abductions of Roslyn and Audrey (who he says 'doesn't matter' in terms of her identity, only that she matters as a fellow abductee) namely, aliens. Nathan's natural lack of affect is probably the only thing that saves him from losing Toomey right there when he replies "aliens?" because Toomey doesn't catch the incredulity. We also get a nice little X-Files twitch from the music, thanks, guys. The salient part to the investigation is that Audrey wasn't abducted in a way that dealt her long-term injury, and this woman was. The entertaining part is where Duke displays his smuggler's skills of changing negotiating tactics in an eyeblink, completely confusing Nathan and defying his earlier order to let him do the talking, and all Nathan can do is blink and uh. "We just upgraded." You sound so convincing there, Nathan. Indeed, Duke references being out at sea. Toomey goes to "lock up" then bolts for it as Duke and Nathan are arguing, good going, boys.
We'll start with the short profile first: Duke's "I care if he knows something about Audrey" can be folded like the center of a Mad Magazine, which is actually kind of neat now that I think about it. Or maybe it's just the late hour. It's only the second time that he's admitted to someone outside of himself that he cares about Audrey, and it's more open-ended in terms of the nature of that caring than "She's my friend," which we got in the last season finale. And saying this to Nathan, whose feelings are about as obvious as you can get without turning into an infatuated middle-schooler. Following that right up with "He needs to feel like we trust him if he's going to trust us," which is a hell of a loaded comment given the trust issues between Nathan and Duke. And if Nathan were paying more attention he'd catch all these little hints Duke's dropping out, maybe on purpose, maybe not. Maybe Duke's subconscious doesn't like the way things are aligning in Haven to set them against each other, Dave and the Rev on one side, his side, Dwight and Vince on the other. Whatever the reason, Nathan doesn't catch it. He just delivers the ominous "this can't go on forever" line, right before we get the sound of the bike taking off and another X-Files leitmotif.
The long profile now: we've got a reasonable amount of information about Audrey's abductor, let's chew over it some, yes, even this early into the episode. We know this abductor knows something about the Colorado Kid, and we can assume with a reasonable degree of certainty that the abductor did not lose his memory along with the rest of Haven at some point surrounding the event. We know that the abductor has a vested interest in keeping Audrey not only alive, but in a reasonably functional state of mind. He wants answers, and he wants them uncontaminated by injury, at least at first. He comes after Audrey with a taser, doesn't force his way in, gives her no opportunity to fight back and potentially injure herself or him. And he doesn't use physical force on her, doesn't risk injuring her more than the taser would do. Whereas with Roslyn, all he takes from her that we can verify is the peace and quiet of the inn. Yes, a woman's voice claiming to be Roslyn says he asked her questions about the Colorado Kid, but as we see later we have reason to doubt everything about Roslyn's presence in this episode. Someone is lying. Or something hinky is going on at the very least. Regardless, we can probably treat the first information we have about her as legitimate, which is that she owned the inn and was incapacitated in some way as to leave a large blood smear indicating drag from the point where she was disabled out the back door. And while I use the word disabled, the volume of blood it takes both to make that size smear and to keep it still tacky two hours later when the boys discover it means she is most likely dead. If not initially, then from later blood loss. The smear marks go to the back door through which, I might add, our heroes go later to find her remains in the fire.
So, then, we have a man, tallish, muscled but not bulky given the size of the silhouette, with short hair and a husky voice. Likely white male mid-thirties to mid-fifties, just given the demographics of Haven. Right now the silhouette and voice fits Dwight the best out of the characters we've seen established, but that also doesn't mean it has to be an established character. This unsub is organized, methodical, and plans his attacks with exact timing. Depending on the level of said organization he could have taken advantage of Altair Bay's remote location simply for the purposes of storing Audrey while he interrogated her, or he could have chosen Altair Bay with the express intention of using the blood trail and subsequent cremation of his victim as a means to trigger Toomey's affliction, thereby distracting Nathan, Duke, and everyone else who would be looking for him. In addition, we know that the discovery of his mother's cremains triggered the culmination of Toomey's affliction, threatening the town and inducing Duke to contemplate using his Trouble as a means to save the town. Something which Duke has previously been pressured to do. This would indicate that the abductor is siding with the Crocker bloodline and the late Reverend Driscoll, although at the moment everything involving the unsub's motivations for selecting Altair Bay as a staging ground remain speculation.
And now, back to our episode. Duke and Nathan give chase in the truck and we pan across the Altair Bay sign, through the door, the music turns ominous as we drop through the floor and a door creaks open and THE PHONE CALL IS COMING FROM INSIDE THE HOUSE. Which is to say that, the long pan through the floor and into Audrey's place of imprisonment indicates that the abductor was in the house the whole time Nathan and Duke were there. Well, if that isn't creepy, I'm no fan of Stephen King. It also implies that the abductor was watching Nathan and Duke to be sure they'd left, which isn't surprising but does up the creepy factor. That said, I'd like to know if Audrey could hear them through the floorboards - that's a fairly old building, it'd be normal to have crap for sound insulation - and if so, what method he used to keep her from talking. Given the lack of description later I'd assume he held a weapon on her, probably a gun, but we've seen no indication of a gun anywhere in these scenes so that's a great deal of speculation. And, heh, that lack of guns would implicate Dwight or someone with his family's Trouble further.)
Then we get a bit of interrogation and villain monologuing in which we a) learn that the abductor is old enough to have been around at least as an older child 27 years ago, b) the abductor, unlike many if not all of Haven, remembers the events of the Colorado Kid murder (or supposed murder?), c) the abductor knows at least as much as the audience knows about what AudSarLu is, d) the abductor cared for the Colorado Kid. Notably, the abductor uses the past tense when speaking of the Colorado Kid, so either the abductor is focused on the past and perhaps his feelings have changed or become more distant since then or the Colorado Kid really is dead. Or the abductor believes this to be the case, with implicit greater knowledge of that than the audience has so far. Also notably the abductor never really loses his temper here; although his word choices imply anger, the energy isn't there. We know the abductor is also either lighter haired or aging, because that arm that comes into the light is covered in fine, paler hair, possible fine due to age. One can infer a jealousy and a possessiveness in the way he accuses AudSarLu of being possessive and smug, because if her attitude now is reflective of Lucy's attitude before and Sarah's before that (as the testimony of other Troubled folk seems to reflect) she doesn't feel a possession towards her friends or loved ones. Meanwhile the abductor is feeling angry enough to kidnap and murder two people.
We interrupt this recitation of facts to compare the shirt Dwight's wearing in his first scenes with the glimpse of the shirt we see as the unsub comes into the basement. Look familiar? Yeaaaaah. It's definitely the same style, hard to say in the poor lighting in the basement if that's the same color or not, but. Come to that, I think the boots are pretty close, too, but that's not as damning since there's probably a limited number of work boots available for men with feet that large. Still. Dwiiiiight. What the hell are you up to. Assuming that really is you and the writers aren't fucking with us extensively. Additionally, that 27 years ago, if Dwight's about the same age as his actor, would put him at 11-12 at the time of the Colorado Kid murder. Given the way Dwight's talked about his father, that's exactly the right time to have imprinted on a better father figure. So we have a few possibilities from all of this: either it's Dwight, it's one of Dwight's family members, or it's someone who really REALLY wants to frame Dwight. Those last two categories not being mutually exclusive, mind.
And we return to a chase scene! As much of one as you can get in Haven, anyway. The boys have a mild argument, and here we see more of how agitated Duke is, how much he cares about Audrey. "He's our only link to Audrey!" Duke, really, you should a) be used to this by now and b) think better of Nathan. In conclusion, BOYS STOP FIGHTING I WILL GET AUDREY TO KNOCK YOUR THICK SKULLS TOGETHER. My god. And then they figure out that this is some kind of manifestation of the Trouble of the week, not that they're clear on what all is going on just yet. Also, is it just me or does Nathan only call Audrey by her last name when he's trying to hide how much he cares about her, at this point? Distancing techniques he can has. Poor stoic Nathan.
Another pan of the house, just in case we've forgotten where Audrey's being held while the boys bicker, and also probably to establish that this is happening roughly simultaneously to them being on the road/Nathan being dragged off by invisible aliens. Cue our mysterious Roslyn who we're quite certain isn't really the venerable Mrs. Toomey. This is interrogation tactics 101, or maybe 201 if we're feeling generous, give the primary target a fellow prisoner to bond with. In this case, they've chosen another woman, which creates all kinds of useful-to-the-unsubs associations. A man who kidnaps two women, after all, will be assumed to be the sort of psychotic bastard inclined to serial rape and/or murder. Even in Haven, even with the questions he's asking of Audrey, those associations are going to come up as part of the bog-standard societal indoctrination we get. Probably especially for that part of Audrey that still remembers her time in the FBI. Which makes me wonder how thoroughly she's suppressed that training, that she doesn't figure out that this is an interrogation tactic and there's a second unsub at some point in this ep. Maybe she will next ep? We can hope! We also know that this can't be the real Roslyn because Audrey asks if she's hurt, and the only thing she admits to is the rope cutting into her wrists. Wesley's mother, assuming that blood trail belongs to her (which we're forced to assume due to lack of any evidence to the contrary), would probably mention whatever wound caused her to lose that much blood. Not many people are with it enough to try and keep from sharing the details of their status so as to help a fellow prisoner maintain a sense of calm and control - not many civilians, anyway, and we have no indication Mrs. Toomey is anything but.
Audrey, of course, is not a civilian and is damn good at keeping people calm under severe stress, given that she's become the caretaker of all the Troubled people in Haven in the past two years. At first I was hoping that she was just playing along, but no, Audrey also wants to believe the best of people. This is what makes her so good at both her jobs, but in this case it's a liability. Now what is interesting, and would on the face of it put the lie to our theory that this isn't really Roslyn Toomey, is the mention of the Colorado Kid staying at the inn 27 years ago. But somehow I don't think that's contradictory: since the male unsub is old enough to remember the Kid, it would follow logically that he has some idea of the Kid's whereabouts back when he was alive. Or, for that matter, they could be making it up out of whole cloth to make it believable that the owner of the inn is in the same boat as Audrey. I remain unconvinced, for that matter, that this entire kidnapping scenario isn't just a giant false flag operation designed to get Audrey out of the way for something that we'll see the effects of down the road.
And back to the boys, kicking the tires. Not quite literally. Nathan is refusing to believe all of his prior experience with Troubles cropping up on Fridays - er. Sorry, that'd be my Buffy roots showing. But still, Nathan, weird magnetic field earlier, now all your tech is dead? Sure seems connected to me. Duke has a couple of fair points, both that it aliens wouldn't be the weirdest thing to happen here and that this is probably Trouble-related (though he doesn't come right out and say it that way until Nathan argues with him more), and while he's sort of trying to talk Nathan down their past and their constant aggression makes it damn difficult. And now we have a massive bout of OH BOYS. Because Duke is terrified that they're leaving him behind and he wants calm sensible reasonable Nathan back. Nathan is supposed to be the grounded-but-grouchy one, the one who helps give Duke some perspective, and his freaking out at the one thing he feels he should be able to fix because he can't actually find Audrey right now is undermining Duke's entire sense of self. I would go so far as to say that Nathan handing over the secret, that he can feel Audrey when she touches him (and for a man who can't feel he has a massive touch-me-not field, particularly where Duke's concerned, I'd like to add), freaks Duke out more, not less. Because Nathan doesn't do that, Nathan doesn't open up like this. Which means things are very, very wrong indeed. Granted, he hasn't opened up entirely, because our Nathan is an incredibly repressed woobie at the best of times, and I assume he wonders how much of his attraction to Audrey is because she's Audrey and how much is because she's his one lifeline to normalcy. And on the one hand this does fit with what Duke knows of Audrey, she relieves people's Troubles, and on the other he now has to try and revise his entire worldview. Nathan can feel someone physically, but he and Duke have emotional ties that go back years and years, not all of them bad, all of them very complicated, and it's not unreasonable for Duke to wonder where he fits with Audrey between them.
I will now pause so that you can all get your OT3 dirty jokes out of the way.
Back with us? Good. Whatever Duke's about to say, or ask, is interrupted by the next manifestation of Toomey's Trouble, and we can see that his first reaction to Nathan being pulled away by an unseen force is to chase after as fast as he can. And then to THROW HIMSELF ON THE GROUND and check to be sure Nathan doesn't have any visible injuries that he can't feel. Oh DUKE, is I think the operative phrase of this scene. I also neglected to note it earlier, but where Duke's got dark jeans and Nathan's got lighter, Duke has a light coat and Nathan has a dark one. Just to send some more mixed symbols. I will never get over the hilarity of "you may want to reconsider your stance on aliens" as Nathan stands astride one of the crop circle things. Fade to black for the ads and then straight back to the wacky stereotypical alien signs in the middle of the field it is! Now complete with UFO. Excellent. Which is crash-landing by the inn. Far less excellent.
Audrey's first instinct, as usual, is to check on the other person. Right up until the lantern falls and starts a fire, and I don't think it's just me, I think not-Roslyn gets a little genuinely worried when she asks what's happening.. The goal here isn't to physically torture information out of Audrey, after all (smart unsubs), and getting her killed in an accidental fire is not in their game plan. (I seriously doubt either of the unsubs could have predicted the events of Toomey's Trouble down to this level of detail, unless one of them has the Trouble of chaos theory.) Our favorite not-FBI agent is duly resourceful, though, so whatever fake!Roslyn's plan would've been - scream for help? - she doesn't have to follow through on it. And now we get to begin enacting a variant on the hurt myself to break free trope! Utterly predictable but also utterly Audrey. I'm just impressed she managed not to cut her foot dragging the glass shard over.
Rather than chasing after where Toomey might have been headed based on the direction of the road, the boys are sensible and head back to the inn. GOOD boys. Without bickering, even! Because of course Toomey's there, with his aliens obsession. (And may I just note that I'm very grateful that it's lowercase aliens, not chestbursters? Because really.) I'm very curious about the symbolism of above and below ground in this episode, particularly with Duke and Nathan (and Toomey) wandering around the inn upstairs/above ground while Audrey's held by the unsub(s) in the basement. Toomey with his skies with aliens in them, and the empty grave of the Colorado Kid. There's a definite thematic element here, and I think I'm going to simply take note of it here and come back at the end to talk a little more about it. But it definitely seems like they're bracketed by the unknown/inexplicable, perhaps by monsters, above and below. I don't quite think they're aiming at as above, so below, but I wouldn't be the slightest bit surprised if they were, in a mildly oblique sort of way.
The UFO is at Toomey's house, not the inn proper, but close enough. Horseshoes, hand grenades, depth charges, aliens. So, incidentally, is Dwight. I would LOVE to know how he got there that fast if he wasn't in the basement/the inn with Audrey. I know he's a bit spooky like that as Haven's cleaner, but really, that's pushing my credulity for coincidence. Nathan's had it up to here with creepy creepy alien conspiracy theorists who go bolting for no apparent reason, so Toomey gets cuffed. Dwight and Nathan have some more cleaner-and-cop discussion, which I actually really like, though there's not much here other than quickly setting up Dwight's duties. It does show how far they've come from the early days of Nathan being the new chief of police, that they can pass off yet another explanation to keep people calm in a few seconds. And nobody's put the pieces together yet to blame Toomey, though Dwight (assuming he's not the unsub and/or doesn't already know about the nature of Toomey's affliction) has a reason inasmuch as he hasn't been around for all of it. His job is to be reactive, not proactive, anyway. Nathan's a) too worried about Audrey and b) too used to relying on her presence to help sort out how the latest Trouble works to make the leap just yet. But that's okay, because we'll get incontrovertible evidence, by Haven standards, pretty soon here.
First we have to have Vince being concerned and for a change this is real concern, not the false affect he often wears when talking to people who aren't Dave. (Even sometimes talking to Dave, but he's least likely to fake emotion then.) And we have to have Nathan's ironic statement of "all this running around I'm doing, I don't know if I'm getting any closer." I have to wonder if that's thematic, too, at least as regards the Kid. Argh insufficient data. Meanwhile Duke, in true smuggler form, has gone off to poke around Toomey's house and has something for them!
The Teagues have an actual verbal altercation for a couple seconds, and I, too, would love to know what these "incidents" are that Dave's been "managing." I kind of doubt he's behind Audrey's disappearance, but I wouldn't be surprised either way. The brothers are extremely creepy, and have a whole lot of secrets and motives they're hiding from everyone. Us, each other, Audrey, everyone else in Haven, hell, probably themselves.
And now the reveal of the Trouble of the week! Which most of us probably had figured out already, but since our boys hadn't, and since proof is always nice, we have a massive murderboard of a house on alien conspiracies. I think ours is much nicer, but then I'm biased. I will pause to snicker over the almost-BSG line, Duke says something very close to "all of this has happened before and all of it will happen again," though in this case it's present tense rather than future. Then again, that's very much thematic with Haven itself, this particular phrasing just caught me. I'm also intrigued by Dave's comment about "if the boy's Troubled, what counts is what's real in his mind." Not so much that this is new data, but that Dave feels the need to restate it - probably to anvil Duke and Nathan about how Troubles work for people who aren't them, actually, since they're upset and distracted with Audrey's kidnapping. Possibly also to remind himself and Vince of the problem at hand, since we know they're heavily attached to AudSarLu. Nathan brings up what we mentioned as a possibility at the beginning, that Toomey's Trouble was triggered by his mother's disappearance. And since it's fairly clear that whoever's in the basement with Audrey is not Roslyn, that lends strength to the argument that someone triggered this Trouble deliberately, knowing it would be big and showy and require all hands on deck to deal with it. Especially with these two "news" articles that haven't happened yet. I can't blame Duke for his pessimism here. I don't like that he's right, but in a lot of respects he is. With Audrey missing, it's safer to assume the worst.
A long pan over the house, to show us how much time's passed since they found Toomey's murderboards. Granted, it looked to be nearly sunset at that point, but now it's full dark. Fulfillment of the hurt yourself to cut free of the ropes trope! Oh Audrey. Using thoughts of Nathan to steel herself against this and get out, obviously. Not-Roslyn is of course curious about the emotional ties Audrey has to him, and can't do anything about Audrey's attempts to get free without giving away the game. I don't know if Unsub #1 is watching them at this, or if maybe there's a camera set up (if I were running this sort of interrogation, that's how I would do it, anyway, with a camera to catch nuances of emotion for later perusal), but even if they're not getting the look on her face when she calls Nathan her partner, her voice indicates that the relationship is deep and meaningful. Perhaps not unlike two cops partnered for a couple years under heavy stress would be anyway, but we know it goes further than that. We get a sense that Roslyn's been opening up to Audrey over the course of the day/evening, too, working the give a little to get a little game. Whoever this woman is, she's a pro. (Assuming it's not a ghost; I've seen that theory floating around and while I think it's a lot more sinister than that I can't put that past Haven either. It just doesn't seem to line up with Toomey's Trouble.) (Kitty adds: Unless Roslyn believes in ghosts and her manifestation of the what-you-believe-comes-true Trouble led to her sticking around.) Now she starts pushing Audrey for details. We may all be grateful that Audrey says "spare you my problems" rather than "spare you my troubles," even if we-the-audience can hear the ironic echo there. And I badly, badly want details of what not-Roslyn told her over those hours in the basement, because this is an emotional side of Audrey we don't normally see.
Audrey comments that the only real memories she has of her own life are of the past six months, which means we badly badly need to do a timeline for this show. Because I was certain a good two years had passed (see above paragraph) and this seems to imply that the events are packed far more closely together than previously assumed. We have one Audrey's birthday ep, one Christmas ep, and other than that two 12 ep seasons. Although, now that I think about it that's got to be right, because all the seasons pick up right after the finale, leaving the Christmas ep as an out-of-sequence one. Tossing this back and forth with Kitty, we know she's scheduled to disappear again soon, and I wouldn't be the slightest bit surprised if they pulled a 9 month schedule for it. Moving along, Audrey's upset over how she only knows new things about herself as AudSarLu if someone else tells her, and how frustrating and confusing that is. Presumably a good deal of her shakenness, now and post-rescue, comes from the implication that one of her past selves was romantically involved with the Colorado Kid. Perhaps also from wondering if she's doomed to be involved with people who end up dead, which would naturally make her freak out over Nathan. We hear a little bit of creaking wood during this bit, but nothing that's out of the ordinary for an old building settling at night. On the other hand, if Unsub #1 is Dwight, we know he can move that silently. This entire sequence gives me even more doubts about Roslyn's veracity, because by sound alone it's an oversell. Too much screaming, too many of the standard "don't hurt me you're hurting me please stop" phrases. Come to that, insufficient sounds of someone being beaten or otherwise hurt. It's all exactly as you would expect out of the trope they've been setting up, and we know by now that very little in Haven is ever exactly as it seems. But Audrey's been primed to take this as truth, and her reflexes are still those of a cop. She's nearly free, so she says whatever is necessary to get the unsub to leave not-Roslyn alone and come bother her. And may I just pause to note that it was a dumbshit move to lock someone as resourceful as Audrey in a basement with a WALL FULL OF WEAPONS? Or, well, things that could be turned into weapons. Even if he never had any intention of going to see what Audrey had to say about the Kid, that's still an incredibly volatile situation they've created.
Cut to Audrey finally getting free and going around the side of the basement wall to try and find Roslyn, only to find a chair lying on its side and ropes around the arms. Also a distinct lack of blood based on what we heard just a minute ago. Also part two, I don't think there was a second set of stairs to the basement, which begs the question how the hell could the unsub have gotten down there to attack and drag Roslyn out without Audrey seeing it? Since, as we've seen, the one set of stairs we know about is dramatically directly in her field of view from where she was tied up. A deliberate placement, I'm sure. Cellar door, maybe, but that's speculation. Whatever's going on, Audrey doesn't have time to dwell on it too long since she has to assume that her original attacker is still somewhere in the house, or coming back very shortly. Cloth over the wound first, then a convenient sickle as a weapon. Me, I would've gone with something easier to turn into a blunt force weapon as well as a bladed one - there were several of those on the wall behind Audrey - but hey, whatever works.
While Audrey begins to explore the house, Nathan questions Toomey. This is staged to imply that Nathan, Duke, and Dwight have in some combination been trying to convince poor Toomey of his Trouble for some hours now, probably taking it in turns between arguing Toomey down and doing cleanup on the UFO crash. Not much physical, it looks like, but some people-distraction. If Dwight's the unsub, this is a perfect excuse for him to have slipped away from time to time to check on the status of his prisoner down in the basement. Toomey reveals that his grandfather had the same Trouble, or at least that's what everyone but Toomey knows. Right on cue, the "lights over Portland" article comes true, and the most interesting bit of body language here is actually Dwight's. He's had his hands in his pockets, but when the UFO comes flying over the hill he takes them out as though preparing for action. Typical military training, but it's a nice, subtle bit of acting. (Have I mentioned how impressed I am by Copeland's ability to tone it down from what the WWE expects? 'cause I am.) And for anyone who's been following our Grimm blogs, you know that hands in pockets is often a tell of concealing emotions or motives. Or both. That said, given Toomey's stubbornness, Dwight could simply be concealing his annoyance with this whole business because while he knows it's necessary, it's extremely irritating. And unlike Duke, he has the self-control to hide it. Unlike Nathan, he's not as good at redirecting the line of questioning. He is good at figuring out the tactical implications: if the alien events are following Toomey, then there's a chance the mothership's landing won't level Haven itself, so let's evacuate only the surrounding area. Duke, of course, isn't used to thinking like this. For a smuggler he's awfully opposed to change. Or perhaps more accurately, he's the sort of criminal who really, really likes being able to control his situation. It doesn't always seem that way, because he's got such a devil-may-care attitude, but our Duke's built up one hell of a persona to make people look the other way when he's engaging in various forms of sleight of hand, including hiding his real emotions. Unfortunately, Nathan could have used a little more of Duke's real emotions this ep. But I get ahead of myself. The questioning/arguing is interrupted by Audrey getting hold of Nathan finally (WHY did the unsub not cut the phone lines? I ask you) and getting a location out before someone turns up to spook her. Also noteworthy, the camera only shows us Nathan, Duke, and Toomey after the phone rings. (We later see that Dwight's still there, so he can't be the intruder this time, but there's a definite what-if for a few seconds.) For such a few sentences, they manage to pass a lot of information: Nathan has a location, knowledge of a supposed second kidnap vic, and in turn Audrey knows that Roslyn's kidnapping (and murder) have something to do with her son's Trouble, which is now active.
There are two things I wish would have happened after Audrey dropped the phone. One is that Nathan would have shut up entirely and not given away a possible last known location to the unsub. Two is that he would have kept talking and Audrey used that to bait a trap for the intruder. I will, however, grant that this kind of tactical thinking isn't what either of them is trained for, especially not most recently. The last six months of training are to stay by the other's side as much as possible, figure out if or how the Troubles are affecting their partner, and then handle the Troubled person of the week as necessary.
Lots of horror movie shots! Though only marginal amounts of creaking wood; Audrey does a pretty good job of avoiding the squeakiest bits. Not an easy thing to do in a house this old. She passes the sickle from left to right hand (a changeover that gets the camera cutting away almost too fast to pick up on that) as she comes up on the blind corner where it seems like someone's lurking. Lurky tall Duke is lurky! And scares poor Audrey shitless, but luckily doesn't get his arm sliced at this time. (Nor is he eaten by the eels.) Nathan walks in with Toomey (and where the HELL is Dwight) and we have the reunion in which Duke gets to recognize the truth of Nathan's confession earlier. Yes, he can feel Audrey's touch. And that's very concerning, because Duke feels left out in the cold by this new relationship; not only can Nathan feel her but rather than cling to Duke as she justifiably could, she goes straight for Nathan. Poor Duke. Poor everyone, really, if this not-a-love-triangle keeps building tension, because that's going to fracture the town worse than anything the old Chief could've done. (Kitty adds: Not to mention, this is only a few days to a week after Audrey first finds out and then gets shoved in her face that at least a handful of people, some of them very powerful either objectively or in their relation to Duke, want Duke to kill her.) In conclusion, DOOMY DOOMY DOOM.
Audrey is a helluva lot more emotional and now I want even MORE details about what went on down there when we weren't looking. Because it really seems like there was at least one more encounter with the male unsub, not to mention whatever the hell not-Roslyn pulled on her. I'm not saying Audrey should be used to being kidnapped and interrogated, but she seems incredibly more rattled than the little bit we got would warrant. She pulls herself together pretty quick, though, when Nathan says he's brought her another Troubled person to help. Notice where they're standing, though, because this might be important later: that's the same entrance that had the blood smear earlier, and we see no evidence of it now. It could just be a mis-set on the production crew's part, or it could mean that at some point it was cleaned up. Toomey rejects Audrey's attempt to rationalize the kidnappings because she couldn't see her captor's face, which is a nice demonstration of how far into his delusions he's sunk that he can't think of this as a standard human interrogation tactic. And it's Duke who smells the godawful stench of a human body burning, raising the question of where the hell was it BEFORE now. No way in hell a body burns that fast, as the later forensic report shows, and doubly no way in hell they didn't smell or notice it coming up to the house. I can only theorize that somewhere in here is the effect of someone's Trouble - maybe Toomey's, as everyone seems to suspect, which is just heartbreaking. Moving the mostly-burned body and starting a second fire and managing to get away without being seen by the group in the house, all in the maybe minute or so that everyone's inside? That's both ballsy and far riskier than our unsub's shown himself to be so far. Unless, again, he has a Trouble that would help him with this. (Which would mean not Dwight. I don't see how being a bullet magnet is useful at all in this situation.) Audrey is duly horrified, Nathan and Duke hold the distraught son back from burning himself trying to get his mother's bones out of the fire. Poor guy. She vows to find whoever the hell this person (these people) is (are), while Toomey's break with reality becomes complete. I kind of want to shake Duke a little, because he does know how to handle the people who go crazy from being isolated at sea too long, but he's also had a lot of things rock the foundations of his world this ep. Not in the good way.
Cue the mothership! Which really does just sort of poof into reality as Toomey watches, in case we were in any doubt still about the nature of his Trouble. One ad break later, we jump to everyone inside and Toomey trying to contact the aliens, along with a few more aural callbacks to the X-Files. Thanks, guys. Apparently the goal here is to disrupt the nav system and somehow this will magically keep the aliens from getting a target-lock with their weapons? I don't know. As Nathan says, the "temporarily" part is pretty disturbing. Duke hasn't been around for as many of these as Nathan and Audrey have, and he doesn't run on "working it out," he runs on act now and sort out the consequences later. Which is, granted, kind of a bad move with Troubled people, but it's who Duke is. Which is why he hasn't been pulled in on all of their cases. That and, y'know, the whole not being a cop, being a criminal thing. Just for starters. Audrey brushes Nathan's concern off: this is what she does, and she's not (or feels she shouldn't be) as bad off as Toomey is. She's very clever, especially given what she's been going through, using her own experience - albeit indirectly - to establish a connection with Toomey. Empathy, she has it, she knows exactly what it is to be told that something you thought was true of yourself down at the core was a lie. And she's very aware of what she's saying. "Everything you thought you were, you really aren't." Oh Audrey. She's trying so hard, too, to save everyone, but she really needed to be in on this from the start in order to work her magic and convince Toomey that saving everyone was worth some truly awful cognitive dissonance. Behind her, the boys argue over what's to be done. Nathan trusts Audrey to do her job. Duke's not so sure, but I'm not convinced he's thinking of killing Toomey until Nathan brings it up. And even then he clearly loathes the notion. Even if Audrey fails and it turns out to be the only way. Maybe especially then, because Duke would know how badly that would hurt her, as well as his relationship with her and with Nathan (such as the latter is).
Nathan latches onto family, remembering the bloodline nature of the Troubles, and tries to get at it that way. And I actually... I understand why Nathan does what he does here, but I hate that he's justifying it to himself as a good thing to have done. Because no, Nathan, manipulating a sad broken man into disappearing himself isn't a thing to be proud of. I suspect he knows that, and his later defensiveness is a case of massive denial, shame, and guilt. Duke doesn't like it either, but he'll take a solution that doesn't mean he has to kill someone in cold blood. Audrey doesn't like it third, but she can accept that this is the most likely solution, and that she's exhausted, not in top form, and unlikely to be able to think of a better answer in the next thirty seconds. Assuming they even had that long. Plus, she's learned the hard way that not all Troubled people have an easy fix. Nathan and Audrey are fairly stoic, watching Toomey be taken up; Duke, well. Everything hurts about this, from having had to consider killing someone to watching Nathan and Audrey together to confronting the destruction of Haven to worrying about whether or not Audrey will ever trust him again... Duke's life sucks right now.
The cops still have to process Roslyn's body, though, so nobody can go home quite yet. Along with covering up whatever remains of Toomey's Trouble. And now Duke will confront Nathan on the difference between killing a man and convincing him to crawl up his own ass. Nathan's defensive, and somehow seems to have convinced himself that there's a chance Toomey's not dead in the intervening hours between these scenes. Nathan? No. Duke's right. Based on the knowledge you have, based on the fact that Toomey's grandfather never returned with "some good stories," you just committed the moral equivalent of talking a man into killing himself. And as pissed as I am at Nathan for pulling this, especially on Duke, I can understand why he does it, because that's a hell of a weight to carry around. This, though, I'm not sure I can forgive Nathan. I'm not sure Duke's going to forgive it, either, which worries me more. The things he says about what he believes Duke to be, what he assumes Duke is capable of, are intended to cut deeply. And they do, we can tell by the way Duke's usually animated face and posture go very still and tense for a few seconds. His voice is raspy when he tells Nathan he's a hypocrite. Yet it's Nathan who walks away, not Duke. I dearly hope we get some explanation of why Nathan's being more of an ass than usual in the next ep or two, and that it's not the Guard, as we suspect.
Back over to Nathan and Audrey, and that's a blatant lie, Nathan. Duke is not fine. I kind of think Audrey, as she stares at her badge, is turning over all the reasons to stay a cop and all the reasons that working actively outside the law might be more helpful. And then giving in and admitting to herself that she has all the training of a cop anyway, might as well make use of it. Questioning her sense of self and her purpose, though, definitely. Audrey. The word you're looking for is loved. Lucy loved the Colorado Kid. Whoever he was. But she can't bring herself to say that to Nathan, not when they're still feeling their way into whatever the hell kind of relationship they're going to have. Also, actually, unless the unsub said something to Audrey that we didn't see/got cut out of the ep, we don't know that the Kid is still alive. Just that knowing all about him is important to the unsub. The probable prelude to a kiss is interrupted by the creepy Teagues being creepy. Stupid King. Stupid creepy brothers tropes. Audrey demands answers, and I think it's actually fairly reasonable that Dave says they don't know if Lucy Ripley was in love with the Colorado Kid. (Which nets her a funny look from Nathan, natch, no surprise there, that's why she wasn't telling you, Nathan.) His brother looks kind of shocked at that question, though I think it's the shocked of someone discovering that there's a third person out there carrying knowledge about Haven's past around with him. Vince's response to if the Kid's still alive is just about right to be believable. A slight hesitation of "wait, what?" followed by a firm denial. I don't think Vince is a good enough liar to pull that off, but there's a slight tension to his face that could be the tension of a lie rather than the tension of bad memories. And, of course, there's the possibility that he decided it was time for Audrey to encounter the empty coffin for some reason. Dave seems to have an opinion about Vince offering that information, but he keeps quiet. (Actually I wonder if they know what's written on the bottom of the coffin, and what it might do to Audrey. That seems at least marginally more likely than the whole thing being a lie.) But that's at least enough to convince her to go the fuck to sleep, which Nathan's right, she badly needs at this point. As they leave, the brothers come to an agreement to work together on this, and if I were Audrey's kidnapper I would be very VERY afraid right about now. I'm not sure which the Teagues disapprove of more - Audrey being kidnapped or someone knowing at least as much about Haven's secrets as they do. The implication being that part of that spiel from Vince was a lie, though I'm not sure which parts.
Next day! Dwight and Nathan with shovels in the graveyard, and as red as that tattoo was yesterday I question why it's so healed today, but okay, we'll go with it. Dwight questions the very existence of the tattoo and why the hell Nathan felt it was necessary to get it. To protect Audrey, apparently. From Duke, if necessary, though that has the ring of falsehood to it. I'm beginning to like Kitty's theory that Nathan decided to infiltrate the Guard and find out why they'd want to kill Duke, and some of his asshole behavior in this ep is designed to push Duke away/demonstrate his willingness to play ball to the Guard. Whether or not this occurs to Dwight, he issues a nice cryptic warning that only becomes less cryptic to us as the audience if we've seen those Youtube vids. Audrey learns that the body in the fire was there for four hours, which means, Audrey, that someone's been fucking with you. C'mon, I know you're smarter than this. I'm assuming Dave and Vince were asked to be there so they could answer questions after the gravedigging portion was over. Or maybe they assumed they should be there, I'll give them credit for that much. Oh look! The coffin's empty. Hands up who's surprised. I note here that they're talking quite freely in front of Dwight (and that they do this fairly regularly when he's been called in), which would be some evidence against him being the unsub. Unless something happened offscreen to accelerate his timetable. I demand murderboards, Haven writers, do you hear me?
Vince's "somebody musta moved the body" does NOT have the ring of conviction. Dave's comment that "oh, he's not alive," by contrast, does. Dave, did you kill the Colorado Kid? Is the Kid a zombie in your basement? Only Stephen King is allowed creepy basement muses, you should know that by now. (Kitty adds: Hey, I have a creepy basement muse! I call him Johnny.) Ahem. And yeah, I'd agree with Nathan's assessment that there was never a body in that coffin. I'd like some forensic sampling first, though, just in case there's any DNA left after this long. Yes, thank you for saying it out loud so nobody else has to, Audrey. But wait, there's more! Find him before The Hunter, whoever the hell that is, thank you, Dwight. We have to assume based on context that "him" can only refer to the Kid, though I'm going to be pissed if it turns out it's Duke or someone else. I actually kind of think The Hunter is Duke, or whatever Crocker has a currently active Trouble when Lucy's successor got her message. And Audrey is duly freaked out by yet more evidence from her past lives turning up and confusing the hell outta her. Everyone looks at each other, wondering what all of this means, while someone spies on the little group from a building overlooking the cemetery. And while that building looks familiar, it's going to take a rewatch, again, to figure out which of the several significant buildings it is. Don't worry, we'll get to it. We've got Haven in our teeth now, and we're not letting go.
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