Previously on Haven! We met the players and their Troubles, well, as many as we're going to meet this time around. We met Audrey and her search for her mother! And, since we're post third season right now, we facedesked a lot. We, and she, learned that her alleged mother's name was Lucy, and that the Troubles are back. Though not what that means, not nearly all of it, not hardly.
Today on Haven we're starting at the marina with some jaunty Haven music, which seems to double as the introducing theme for scenes involving Duke. Which makes sense, he's rather a jaunty person, himself. After a couple of establishing shots we follow Audrey walking up to meet a Duke with a bag. And some grapes! Now I want grapes. He tells her good morning and that she looks nice, to which she takes issue? I'm not entirely sure what precipitates the ball-busting here, but she is right in that it doesn't sound like the most sincere or best compliment he could offer. It sounds, in point of fact, like he was hoping for something else but will settle for 'nice.' Audrey, why are you busting Duke's chops like this? Duke, why are you passing judgement on Audrey's clothing? Both of you quit it. Not that they will, of course. Duke explains that he's not a big fan of on-duty cops. Or law enforcement of any kind. Though he does admit she has a certain federal agent chic thing going on, and the sad thing is I know exactly what she means. I'm not sure what she's wearing is it, or at least, I'm not sure that top qualifies as federal agent chic, but I know exactly what he means. Notably, though, when he compliments her on her chic, she drops the casual authoritative pose and closes her jacket tighter, crosses her arms over her chest, defensive. Either she's not used to having men compliment her or she's not used to having men she's attracted to (assuming that physical attraction exists at the moment) compliment her, or some combination of the two. Crosses her arms and changes the subject to Lucy and what Duke might know about her. Duke would like to know if these are work-related questions, but they're not, they're personal things. Even so, Duke doesn't talk to cops. Even cops that he likes which, he adds, is a group consisting of one Audrey Parker. But he still doesn't talk to cops. Audrey is dubiously pleased, but still needs him to talk to her, at which point he turns and say something to the other woman on the dock in Russian? Duke speaks Russian? Duke speaks Russian and reads what looked like Chinese (in the pilot), that's. Interesting. Especially considering that both the casual conversation and the reading of a newspaper indicate a relatively high degree of fluency, and neither of those are easy languages for a native English speaker to learn. And in conclusion, what the hell, Duke. He suggests she go after him when he's in a more co-operative mood, which is enigmatical and odd. Unless it's simply something to do with the business waiting for him? This whole conversation is generally odd, concluding with Duke directing her to the Farmer's Market, which is less clumsy than it might be given the bunch of grapes in his hand, but still more clumsy a lead in than it could have been. For instance, they could have directly tied that into her stealing his grapes, or she could have asked him where he's been by way of gently teasing him about her federal agent, him smuggler. Anyway. Did I mention the odd? Not helped by the fact that he stays in English after concluding his conversation with Audrey. Again, what the hell, Duke. Were you showing off for Audrey?
Over to the Farmer's Market! Which, if Haven is anything like my town, is one of several. This one looks like it's in the center of town by a gazebo that sees a lot of use during filming, good location for it. There's eggs, produce, and yes, Audrey tries a sno-cone. And picks up an apple and is about to bite into it when someone walks up to the apple seller ranting at him about his rotten produce and if he's selling them bad stock the chef is going to throw a fit. Eh? Everyone else seems to have the same 'eh' reaction because the apple seller swears he just dipped those and the apples were fine, and he seems genuinely shocked that the apples are now a pile of several day old rotten mess. All around we hear cries of disgust as people realize that the fresh food they've been purchasing and snacking on is now rotten and disgusting. It's not just the apples, the corn which we panned across a moment ago is now slimy and moldy, the eggs... I don't even know what's happened to the eggs but that's disgusting, people are in shock, people are vomiting, lots of quick pans and circling camera work to up the confusion and give us some discretion on the vomiting. Much appreciated. Audrey, having not yet worked her way up to "Fucking Haven," is just confused. Cue credits!
When we come back the police and emergency personnel are swarming around the Farmer's Market, not that I suppose the police could do much. Emergency medical, yes. And when there's trouble it tends to be instinct to call one hotline that goes directly to emergency services, so cop cars and possibly even fire trucks would have shown up. Hey, the more hands around to help, the better? Nathan is there, too, giving Audrey some comical side-eye and, my god, smiling. He is, unsurprisingly, a lot more relaxed and smiling this first season, up to and including teasing Audrey about causing trouble. Oh, sweeties, if only you knew. Audrey tells it as near as she can figure it, the facts she knows to have taken place involve food going bad in thirty seconds. The possible culprits are numerous and varied. The weird thing is that various crops from various locations within the market - but not all locations! - went bad all at the same time, all from different farms, which to me would indicate biological or chemical agent released at the Farmer's Market by an individual at random. But this is Haven, where it's never lupus that simple. So the forensic guys will test the rotten food for whatever they can think of to test for, and Nathan and Audrey go off to check out the source farms, see what they can find out there.
Over at the first farm we have a Mr. Stewart with a thick accent that sounds either very regional New England or I'd almost say Scottish? Thick accent, regardless, musical and Isles-derived. He blames it on going organic, which he then blames on his life partner Angus (so, intended to be Scottish at least, is my guess) who's a vegan, the fool. It's partly played for comedy, but the kind of light-hearted comedy of subverted expectations more than caricature comedy; regardless, there's nothing in the way of clues here. Over to the second farm, there's still more bad eggs, she's on organic feed, too, and all of the bad eggs came from the coop with the rooster. Well, that explains the red everywhere, and also ew. The farmer at first wonders if it's her rooster being sick, then shrugs and figures he's probably all right, he's still chasing the hens. Which she turns into an excuse to hit on Nathan. Audrey and I will be in the kitchen, giggling. At the third farm Audrey's explaining to the farmer what kind of paperwork she'll be asking him for. He may or may not be paying attention to that, he's more focused on the trees. And from a close-up view of the rotted apples on the trees (and those are some significantly rotted apples, and we can tell they just rotted in place in an instant because they would have fallen off the tree once they got even a quarter that bad under normal conditions) out to a distance view, we can see that there's a very clear delineation of blight versus decent crops. Which never happens in nature. Well, hardly ever.
The funny thing is, Haven has pedeconferences too, it's just that their walk-and-talks tend to be outside. Which has the effect of, particularly in this instance, talking about the supernatural in broad daylight. It definitely plays up the dichotomy between serious investigation and small-town attitude, and this one takes place downtown with Nathan and Audrey going over the nothing their investigation has turned up. Nathan asks if she's going to bring the feds in on this, which isn't unreasonable given the at-first likelihood of biological or chemical agents, thus biological or chemical warfare, thus FBI type things. She might, she just wants to have something to give them first. See also: the nothing their investigation has turned up. Wait, no, not entirely nothing, Nathan has something! Hydrochloric acid. Which would most likely be found, in Haven, in school science labs or people's stomachs, as it's a gastric acid. I question her use of the term non-weaponized except that yeah, it does seem a strange choice of substance to put in any sort of bio/chem weapon. And it still doesn't just randomly occur on trees or in chicken eggs like that. Either way, we interrupt this pedeconference for a call from the ME/emergency response doctor? Eleanor, is who we mean. So, probably forensics, considering that the call is to get Nathan and Audrey down to see the high school sailing team under GI distress caused by bad dessert bars. Apparently these are homemade ice cream treats from Haven, which at least again means this whateveritis is localized to Haven. Still. Again. Apparently Audrey has never heard of dairy farm ice cream parlors? Still, they go, they knock (and we swear because the street number is 19, a common King Number Of Significance) because apparently Benjy likes his naps, and Benjy is all happy smiles. He's not aware of any problems! So, again, whatever this is it struck out of nowhere and in an instant and blighted damn near everything. So, they go to look in the freezer. And then at the cows. And all I can say is 'ew.' And that poor dairy farmer. And ew. Not only is all the ice cream bad, the cows are really most sincerely dead. Which is somewhat interesting, since the chickens that hatched the eggs that went bad didn't die, were up and around and happily scratching? But then again, eggs are somewhat a different process than milk, so maybe there was a connection through the dairy that there wasn't through the eggs? And that's the extent of my attempting to enforce the rules of science on the Troubles, folks, if you want any more logic out of this you're on your own.
Hey, speaking of things that are in no way logical, for some reason Nathan has taken it upon himself to outfit Audrey with gear that will make her look like a local and fit in better. (No, no it won't.) The even odder thing about this is that so far, Nathan and Audrey haven't discussed her clothes, that was Duke's conversation with her. Have Duke and Nathan been talking behind Audrey's back? I would, in fact, be deeply pleased and amused if that were the case. Audrey retaliates with picking on Nathan for squinting a lot and using the absolute minimum of words. Which he takes with good grace and demonstrating those exact qualities. You guys, stop being cute, it's incredibly distracting. So, okay, the farmers all have one client in common who they supply with goods, the McShaws, who run a bistro called the Second Chance. Nathan doesn't think they have anything to do with the contamination, which I'd kind of agree? At least in that it does no good to the restaurant if half their suppliers get closed down for investigation by various health authorities. There's always the approach that someone's trying to get at them through their suppliers, but in that case they'd have to be willing to inflict a whole lot of collateral damage. But Audrey does remember the woman who came up to the apple vendor and yelled at him about selling them bad fruit, and that the chef would get mad. Nathan agrees that Jeff, who I guess is the main chef, is good at getting mad. So, okay, off to talk to the McShaws, who are the only common thread in all of this. Not without a little more teasing on the Audrey as a local thing. There's a double joke here, where Audrey may not know the sports teams or fashions or other transitory local things (transitory on a 27 year cycle, at least) but she is undoubtedly a local, as we find out later, and has been for centuries. So, everyone, say it with me now: "Oh you bastards."
Over to the Second Chance Bistro, where we get a quick rundown on the McShaws. Parents ran the restaurant, son Bill stayed around after they died to keep the place open, son Jeff sort of took after their parents in that he studied cooking, sort of didn't in that he traveled all over the world instead of studying and coming back to help run the restaurant. Which explains the chef ego, I guess? Oh, and for extra bonus points the place has been in their family apparently for generations. Heh. The first person we meet from the family is Bill, who is surprised to see the cops, says he thought Jeff was just being dramatic. Which is mildly interesting in that it appears the kind of dramatics that would sound like "every last piece of food from this vendor is rotten" are commonplace enough with Jeff that Bill feels okay disregarding it. Apparently there was a corn and apple fritter meant to go with dinner that night, and it all went bad. Hey, corn and apples, where have we seen that before? You know what else goes in a fritter? Milk and eggs! Yeah. They'd like to talk to Jeff now. Jeff is in the kitchen, as the chef might be on opening night, except he's also in the kitchen blatantly playing favorites, criticizing one sous/line cook (do they have a line in that smallass kitchen?) while praising and petting another. I realize this is scaled up some so we can see and understand that this is both playing favorites and implying Jeff's sleeping with his sous, but damn. Yeah, I might want to sabotage him too. We also get a line reference to sesame seeds, because that won't turn out to be important later at all. He claims they muddy the flavor, but since he led with making him sick in not a snotty chef tone, we can safely assume they actually would make him sick until we determine that he doesn't take a customary or distinctive snotty chef tone. Audrey would like us all to get back on topic now plskthnx and talk about his enemies. Jeff does not have enemies! He has fans! He has sycophants, going by the unasked for interjection from his sous and her body language throughout, all focused on him rather than the work she's ostensibly doing, smiling and eager. Jeff doesn't seem to mind. Jeff doesn't believe he has competition either, but his brother seems to be taking it more seriously and offers up a guy who's been sniffing around and looking over the building. Some fast food franchise guy. Whose flyer Nathan sneaks into his coat, Nathan, were you protesting too much earlier about lobster pups not being your thing? I kind of think you might have been. Meanwhile Jeff would like to show everyone his squab. No, not that. Free range organic pigeon, the sycophant sous pipes up. You know, free range organic pigeons also shit on the statues in Grand Central Park and other places, I'm just saying. I think in this case what she means is limited range raised locally (i.e. on the roof) pigeons, possibly clipped, controlled feed. We interrupt my bitching about the sanctity of pigeons and renaming them squab for Duke! Coming in with a box. Hello, Duke! Duke says hello! Audrey says she blames the Farmer's market incident on him, which seems to be less blaming the incident on him and more blaming her being there on him. Which is true. We also have a nicely subtle callback to Audrey's earlier jab at him; she's wearing the same damn clothes but what he says this time is that she's looking lovely, to her amusement and acknowledgement of earlier and Nathan's, well, sullen staring. Nathan. Are you jealous already? You cutie. No compliments for Nathan, though Duke makes a token attempt to include him and as he drifts on over to the chef we see that Duke and the McShaws know each other pretty well. Which we could have guessed from the way Duke just walked on in, but now we have it confirmed that it's not just Duke being Duke and at home wherever he's invited, he actually does know these people. Duke jabs Jeff about the pigeon, too, which is both hilarious and interesting since Jeff just takes it like a baby brother. And speaking of sibling relationships, let us now hear the tale of the box. Apparently this is a longstanding tradition between them, Jeff negotiates for a box, the value of which he knows nothing, and he has to trust that Duke's giving him a fair deal. Which, going by the direction this negotiation takes (Bill's wife worries openly about money, Duke ends up giving him the contents of the box for free), is a pretty safe bet. We also have a brief tangent while Nathan clarifies that there's nothing black market in there and Duke mocks him with his "No, nothing illegal." Nathan's face twitches. It's cute. He makes his escape with Audrey while the getting's good. I still don't know why a mystery box is what makes the Second Chance great even with difficult to get ingredients, but okay. Jeff's ego says so. Duke is definitely the older roguish brother, as he half-cajoles, half-bullies Bill into ripping up the check his pride made him write for the box.
Outside Audrey and Nathan run over what they've learned, which is that despite Jeff's assertion that he has no enemies they have a list starting with the brother and sister in law and going as far as the fast food guy. None of whom is more concrete than the other and all of whom are viable. Yay! And just as they're starting to turn that over, birds start falling from the sky. Hard, going by that impact sound on the truck. Audrey will hand us a lampshade from... any of half a dozen movies I can think of, really. Thank you, Audrey, that will look nice with the rest of our collection. Generally, no, this doesn't end well. After we're done with that it's up onto the roof or, well, second floor to have a look at the pigeon coop. Yes, they're all dead. Rather like the cows. Sycophantic Sous chef shakes her head at it all and opines as Jeff's biggest enemy, and the restaurant's biggest enemy, is the sister-in-law. Jeff came back to bail his baby brother out, when what he could and possibly according to her should be doing is running a restaurant in a major city. And sous chef thinks the sister in law resents that her husband needed his brother's help. So, it's off to talk to Meg, who apparently is in the garden growing the herbs and produce for the restaurant. Which starts as a good opportunity to show that most of her produce is fine! Emphasis on starts. No, she doesn't like her brother in law because she doesn't like the way he treats Bill, but Bill won't walk away from the restaurant and three generations of his family's work. And his parents made him promise. Bill seems to struggle with the restaurant by everyone's estimation, making Jeff the real talented restauranteur. Apparently Bill's gift is in woodworking, but he's bound by the promise he made to his parents. Jeff doesn't feel that he is, he doesn't care and never will appreciate what Bill has sacrificed, etc. We'll take a moment here to digress from family dysfunction and resentment and stare at three, four generations of a family in Haven running a restaurant and inexplicable promises (apart from family legacy) to keep a restaurant open and so on? It seemed a little odd to begin with, and after three seasons of Haven can we say Troubled legacy? I think we can. It also makes me wonder if the Trouble goes in reverse, if the food can be enhanced and enriched as well as corrupted and rotted. Anyway. Meg says that Jeff's overspent and put them on the edge of failure, which sous chef failed to note and which is more than adequate reason for resentment. And the tarragon? Oh, it was like that when she came out. Let's all note now, because you know Audrey is, that these are all dishes that were cooked today. Apparently this doesn't activate, whatever it is, until Jeff cooks with something. One wonders what would happen if he changed to foods with a greater mileage, for example. That could be a hell of a devastating weapon.
Anyway. A couple of flyovers later, Nathan is visiting the Lobster Pup guy. Apparently lobster pups are not made with real lobster. I don't even like lobster and I find that pretty gross. Anyway, Nathan is not interested in lobster today, he's more concerned with why this guy is sniffing around the Second Chance. Which is, predictably, to buy it out and turn it into a flagship restaurant for his creepy lobster pup things. He also lets us know that Jeff is horrible at managing costs and looking to sell (he doesn't say that directly but he implies with that speed dial comment) the Second Chance if he can't pull off a miracle, because what the hell does he care about promises to his parents and family legacy? I added that last part.
And now for something completely different! Another flyover of Haven, this time through downtown, and we're in what appears to be a clothing boutique. With the creepy twins. What fun. Yes, we know they're not twins, but in Stephen King so often characters like these are either twinned or explicitly mentioned as being like twins, so that's what we call them. They're here for Margie's soul ad copy! Enter Audrey in a pale peach dress and bare legs and the two creepy fuckers staring openly. You guys. Guys. No, they continue to stare until Audrey wonders openly if there's something stuck in her teeth or a zipper or something, at which point they manage to stammer that she looks nice. Which she takes in apparently the non-intended way. Best guess at this point is that the dress she's wearing and something about the way she's standing reminds them of Lucy (or, more likely given what little we've seen of Lucy's clothing, Sarah) and they're struggling to deal with the consequences of that, but she takes it as the dress isn't right for the re-opening of the Second Chance. Oh, the McShaw boys are in trouble again, and Dave always figured Duke would get them in trouble sooner or later. And while I'm pretty sure Dave means Duke's penchant for law-breaking, the fact that they most likely know about the McShaw Trouble does not make this conversation or the boys themselves any less sinister. Not to mention the fact that they're not telling anyone about it? Although, also, given that conversation, it's quite possible they don't yet know. You guys, you run a newspaper, you should know this shit. After Audrey says something about Duke not having anything to do with the McShaws' problems (note that she emphatically does NOT say Troubles), though, they continue to give each other knowing looks. Guys. You guys. Fucking tell people. At least tell Garland, you know he knows. No? No. There's a moment where she says "will you guys look at me" in the same exasperated tone that people use addressing their friends or relatives who are ashamed of something they did or said to that person, which is almost worse. It's a strong indication, at least in hindsight, of how they know AudSarLu from their past and she has no idea how close they once were. Ouch. And now we're going to distract everyone with giving Audrey sartorial advice. As much as I agree with them that the dress might be too sunny for an evening opening of a restaurant, there are so many warped and wrong things about this whole scene. Not even necessarily their fault, either, it can't be easy seeing the woman you once loved still the same age as when you first fell in love with her, and you're sixty years older. And yet, that really doesn't make it any better. I also have to wonder, given how both actors are playing it, if Donat and Dunsworth knew about that at the time they were filming. We have some idea that the showrunners tell the actors only what their charactesr know at the time, at the episode they're on, but at this point Vince and Dave know pretty much everything! So. Inquiring minds. If they don't know what their characters know, they're doing a damn good job of faking it blind. Vince and Dave pull up chairs while Audrey plays fashion show, and I really wish I could agree with some of their assessments. The whole part where dresses are flying at them is pretty funny, though. In a very morbid sense. Notably, it's Vince who picks out the winning dress, the brother who is/was? allegedly more in love with her. Or more romantically in love with her. So, yeah, there's that. Dave, no, there is no staring in a good way, not when the age gap is that huge I don't care how many lifetimes she's reincarnated around you guys, shut your face. Vince at least either has a greater sense of decorum, greater ability not to be reduced to whatever age he was when he first met Sarah, or both. Audrey thanks them for their help, disappears back to change, and they make some commentary about how it was lucky for her they came along when they did. Which may or may not reference whatever their first meeting with Sarah turned out to be in addition to this one now. And also Vince making comment that she did look splendid. I can't actually tell, now knowing what I know, if he's referring to Audrey or Sarah. I'm not sure if that's on purpose, either, but it works. Really well. Creepily well. Dave will drag us back to reality by pointing out that Vince looks a hundred years old, and to shut his face. Mercifully, we cut away before we can hear his response. This scene was not nearly so loaded before we found out about the Teagues' history with AudSarLu, and I'm not sure I like it any better now that we know what we know. Eek.
And now we're to a familiar scene from the water, that of what will be the Grey Gull and is at the moment the Second Chance Bistro all lit up for the evening crowd and, in this case, for opening night. We'll hear that song again, too, later. Nathan is somewhat awkward about gentlemanly manners and behavior and so on, not the politeness part but the dictates of society and holding her chair part. Audrey is somewhat awkward about being dressed up in general, to the point where her tag is still on the dress. Oh Audrey. Nathan reports in sotto voce, the kitchen hasn't done anything weird and the lobster pup man hasn't done anything but drink too much. Audrey has a theory! Not a very good theory, but it's a theory! Everything Jeff cooks with dies in horrible disgusting ways, so maybe Jeff is doing something when he cooks? Nathan seems to find this adorable by the combination of deadpan voice and happy-soulful eyes. Look, he's not giving anyone much to work with here, okay? But he brings up a very good point in that her theory doesn't explain the Benjy Bars. Though I would also argue that that just means that the person causing the massive dieoffs is close to Jeff. But before they can get to that point, a wild Duke appears! Duke uses annoy the crap outta Nathan! It's super effective! (It's always super effective.) Nathan gets in a dig about Duke contributing contraband, to which Duke does not rise, but give it another second and he realizes he's interrupting something. Given that he realizes this after he sees Audrey and it sinks in that she's all dressed up, I have to wonder what he thinks he's interrupting. At this early stage of the show it doesn't get much of an emotional reaction from him, he just gives Audrey a bit of a knowing smirk and goes over to the McShaw boys to congratulate them. Possibly with a Monty Python joke. I side-eye the writers' room. Jeff, interestingly, is the one who comments that it's hard not to see his folks' place. Leading to a comment from Duke about deep fried pigeons, which gives us some idea of the McShaw parents' idea of a restaurant and also gives Jeff an interesting motive for taking the direction he took with his cuisine and cooking style. His way of rebelling and staying true at the same time? I wonder, but we won't get much more of a chance to find out. Anyway, Audrey's going to go test her theory now that Jeff's introduced the first course, warning Nathan not to eat anything, which is good advice when you don't know what food is going to turn. I have to wonder how this Trouble worked in the days back when, if the McShaws stayed to themselves mostly and only ate what they cooked, meaning they were the only ones who got sick (and probably meaning they ran out of growing food relatively quickly in which case how come they're not all dead? is that to do with the 27 year cycle?) or if they ate more carefully or were more careful... I get ahead of myself. Bill comes over to Nathan with a list of old employees for the suspect pool, and there's a bit of a conversation about the lobster pup guy in which it's revealed to Bill at least that Jeff was talking about selling his half of the restaurant. Oops. Audrey comes back with some perfectly fine basil from the garden, so so much for that theory. Bill has confirmed with lobster pup guy and is now going over to confront his brother. This ought to go well. Indeed they start an argument that at least draws Audrey's attention if not the attention of some of the other restaurant patrons, which is likely what leads Jeff to send his brother out to meet and greet and makes him go out to propose a toast and distract everyone. The applause this time is lukewarm, but at least it shows he's back on point and back to business. So, the second course! Bill takes a bite, still clearly seething. The second course is some kind of salmon. Which quickly turns to a rotted pile of black I don't know what that is but it's significantly gross. Interestingly, the veggies and garnish and lemon slice are fine, it's just the salmon that's turned to the black tar monster. As Nathan looks around we get to watch a CGI speed-up of salmon shrinking and rotting. Everyone is promptly sick. So much for both preventing the next attack and saving the restaurant.
About which, naturally, Jeff is furious. Sycophantic sous tries to placate him with his own words, or at least, the words he uses on her, which sound more cutesy than anything, really. It works about as well as you'd expect, which is to say not in the least. He also gets violent, which is interesting and somewhat telling of how he treats the people around him, indicating that Meg and Bill's take on him is probably more accurate. Not that we couldn't tell, but it's nice to have confirmation. Bill calls Jeff out on offering a high-end concept that doesn't fit in Haven, Jeff says he's got much more to lose than Bill, citing his reputation and his standing offer in New York. Which seems to upset the sycophantic sous; as we expected, there's a love affair going on here that the sous, Katerina, has a vastly different view of than her paramour. She sees them as a relationship of near equals, while Jeff seems to regard her as a cute pet and, what, a suitable small town girlfriend? He tells her she's a good sous but she's small town good, not New York good, and when he says he's not going back to apparent ex Justine to be with her, it has more of the tone of someone correcting an idiot mistake than a man reassuring his lover. In short, everything in Jeff land revolves around Jeff, and what pleases or iconveniences him. Bill and Meg are acutely aware of this, but Katerina's just finding this out for the first time. Ouch. Bill stops Jeff as he moves to leave, only to needle him about running away again, no more second chances. There's history there, going by Bill's stern look and Jeff's stricken one and the warble in his voice when he says he's all out of second chances, but we have no idea what that history is or even who's giving second chances to whom. There's a pocket knife that figures into this, and it's safe to assume that we'll get the history later, but for now, nothing. Bill does beg Jeff to stay, but it has more of the sound of asking Jeff to stay for Jeff's own good rather than the bailout Jeff either assumes or pretends it is. The dynamic between the two of them really is almost Winchesterian in its dysfunction. Bill flings the (closed) knife at the wall in a fury, Katerina sighs and leans on the prep counter, everyone's deeply upset. Nathan keeps watching them while Audrey looks away from the emotional conflict, and neither of them have a clue what's going on.
Haven is quiet for a few set scenes that night and the next morning, which finds Audrey walking along a dock with crime scene and forensics and EMT people. Mostly EMT people. This doesn't look good! Nathan apparently called her in for something he thought she'd want to see oh, hey, it's Jeff. He's very dead. Either drowned or dumped in the water, by the seaweed still clinging to him. Duke's there, too, grieving quietly but clearly. Jeff isn't the only dead thing here, there's a hell of a lot of fish bobbing to the surface. Last night's leftovers? A couple more passing scenes of Haven finds us at the Cape Rouge, where Duke is taking a very please tell me you don't actually think I did this tone. Nathan, for once, is not combative, doesn't accuse him of anything or engage in any needling. He's a professional cop, Duke's a witness and a grieving one at that, he just wants to know what Duke saw, what happened last night. Jeff came over, he was upset, he blamed everybody but nobody who could be a viable suspect. He told Duke about the fight he'd had with his brother, said he felt trapped. Interesting. Trapped by what? His brother obviously isn't obligating him to stay around, and it's only when Jeff really seems on the verge of leaving that Bill even asks him to stay. So, something's going on here. Audrey asks about the knife, next. Duke needs another drink for this. He explains that he had a pellet gun when he was a kid, they shot a duck, tried to cook it but it was still alive. Bill was going to put it out of its misery with a pocket knife, but Jeff stopped him, saying maybe it deserves a second chance. (Thus, Bistro! That... makes very childlike sense, really. Carried over into adulthood.) And the knife represents second chances, to them. Oh honeys. Nathan even looks somewhat moved by this, though moved to what it's hard to say, especially since he's letting Audrey take point on the questioning. Jeff then said he didn't feel well and left, and Duke doesn't know what happened after that. He'd heard a noise on the dock, didn't think anything of it. He says, while taking another big gulp of some amber drink (whiskey? scotch?) so, yeah, that's a lot of guilt he's carrying around. Nathan still isn't saying a word, though by the look Duke gives him as he passes at least Duke expects him to. No, Nathan sounds if anything infuriated, maybe just that his world's been turned upside down. Duke isn't supposed to be a human being with feelings, he's the guy who torments Nathan by his existence, and whether it's as childish as having his worldview upended or that he's the only one allowed to hurt Duke, or as complex as the very twisted bundle of wishing for a real friendship and not seeing how to get there that the boys bring out over the course of the show, Nathan's not happy. So, Audrey's going to go talk to Bill and Meg again, Nathan's going to go find John Robert the Lobster Pup guy as he was the last call made on Jeff's cell. Okay, yes, that does sound suspicious. Allons-y!
Only not to either of these things. First we go to the docks again, Audrey coming out to see Duke, who's sitting leaning up against a wooden pylon? No, I don't know these terms as well as maybe I should. She goes and sits by him and Duke, while he won't look at her at first because she's a cop and it's uncomfortable to be vulnerable around cops, he's still grieving and she's still being kind and that helps. A little. He says Jeff hated the water, got sick every time they took him out on it. And he probably cooked fish as some kind of warped revenge on the sea. The levity doesn't last long, for all that he tries to make it last so he doesn't hurt so much. Last night was a hell of a grand opening and he thought Audrey looked nice last night. Audrey attempts levity, herself, pulling on the 'nice' comment again, but he's being serious and hurt and wants to impress upon her that he's being serious this time. Not meaning it as a slight. So she accepts this with good if awkward grace, surprised, it seems, to hear that coming from him. Which means his next comment is at least half an explanation, that it was good to see another side of Officer Agent Parker. It sounds like he's recovering to his normal self, too! Crawling back to life. Audrey comes back with a quip about how he saw every damn side of her the first time they met, which, for those of you who don't remember now that we've gone to every other week, pulling her out of the water and stripping her down and tucking her in. Every. Side. Notably, she isn't holding it against him or making it as mean as she could. Just teasing. Duke takes a second and a breath to noticeably stomp down a number of comments that seem to be reflexive responses to this and instead goes with "it's a shame you're a cop." Because otherwise no doubt we'd get some tentative, tired flirting in response! At least I like to think so. No, it's just that Duke doesn't usually socialize with cops. And digressing here for a brief moment, given how ingrained this is I have to wonder if this is a reflex from smuggling or a reflex from the kind of cops we saw in the flashback episode Sarah, where at least a lot of the cops seemed to be corrupt and anti-Troubled. This would have been the kind of cops Simon grew up around, and perhaps worked for, and perhaps he instilled this same reflexive wariness in his son? This is pure speculation, though, we only have a series of coincidences and a history of personality study to build it. So, Audrey points out to Duke that it might be the cops' choice, and Duke says no, it never occurred to him with a tone that suggests it might have. Which, again, given the cops in Haven, that's a much more loaded notion than it would otherwise be for a smuggler. And we conclude with Audrey reaching out and being comforting again, and telling him that even if it won't automagically help anything, she's going to find out what happened to his friend. The implication here being, and bring the guilty party to justice. Duke nods and speaks with accepting tone, full of faith, he knows she will. And a final tease of Officer Agent Parker, playing up the whole little-wounded-boy aspect Duke's got on right now. Thrown back to childhood for a whole host of reasons. The whole scene is really a beautiful start to the bond these two will share, opportune by circumstance but well played for their future friendship to give them a good foundation.
Back over at the police station, Nathan's interrogating lobster pup guy about why he was Jeff's last phone call before he died. Apparently any previous deal they might have had is now null and void because "he destroyed the energy of the place." More like lobster pup guy is sickened and scared by what happened. He spent the night in the hospital getting his stomach pumped, then talked to Jeff and rescinded the offer. Also, no way in hell does he eat his own product. Nice. Poor Nathan looks disillusioned for a second. Over in the garage workshop of Bill and Meg's house Meg is staining a piece of Bill's woodwork and denying that either she or Bill killed Jeff. They're each other's alibi, so as an actual alibi for a crime scenario it doesn't work so well, but the motive is tenuous and the police don't even have a proper cause of death yet, so Meg's in no greater danger of arrest than she was before. Still, she'll try to explain to Audrey how dedicated Bill was to the McShaw legacy and the restaurant and his family, which, yes, includes his brother. While she's talking about that, though, Audrey steps on a Big Benjy bar wrapper. That's not suspicious at all. The music doesn't think so either. Apparently he was eating them on the day in question when all the Big Benjy products went horribly wrong. Does he have more of them? Well, he did in that chest freezer over there, before he ate one in a bad mood and everything went toxic. Yes, Audrey's found the missing piece, but it needs proof. Back over to the Second Chance where Bill's making lobster salad for the wake, apparently. And still thinking of his brother, though the reference to Jeff not liking his recipe seems more like one of those memories that's only painful in that it's a vivid reminder of someone lost now, not that it's a bad memory. Audrey looks at the lobster salad, looks at him, and asks him to take a bite. Just to test the theory. And Nathan gives a nod, which seems to be the impetus for Bill to try it, the out of town Fed is confusing and odd but the in-town cop gets trust? Or something like that. But nothing happens to the lobster. It needs one more component, which we never hear Audrey indicate she knows but by the quick way she leaps on pushing Bill about killing his brother she has at least some idea what it is. Pushing him about killing his brother does work, he gets angry and upset, and there go the lobsters. Right in front of everyone's eyes, too, so there's no denying the cause and effect link. And now Bill's about to lose those couple bites of lobster salad and Audrey's tone is much calmer, gentler, indicating her pushing earlier was just an act. And she spells it out for us: when Bill gets upset, what he eats becomes rotten and toxic. Which brings up all kinds of questions, some mentioned earlier, about the McShaw family and how they functioned during the Troubles in previous years when food was largely local, not as diverse, not always easy to come by. And now they also wonder if Jeff did die from the toxic food, which is a bit of a stretch since no one else has died from it so far. Only a bit of a stretch, since if Jeff leaned over to throw up into the water, fell in, and drowned from complications of food poisoning. Well.
After the break Bill is sitting at the table looking lost and forlorn. But Nathan comes in with the autopsy results, and Jeff hadn't eaten any of the salmon. Just some pastry. Bill didn't even have anything to do with the reason Jeff fell into the water, although he did apparently drown. From anaphylactic shock, from an allergic reaction to sesame oil. Gee, what the hell was in that pastry? And who made it for him? Because if his allergy was that severe he wouldn't, as Bill tells us a second after I think this, eat anything without knowing what's in it. Such as, yes, sesame oil. It's just something you do when you're that badly allergic to something. Audrey speculates out loud, because she's the least tied to everyone here and therefore the least invested in any one outcome other than the truth, that maybe it wasn't an accident.
So, we're still at the restaurant after a quick pass outside to indicate that a time skip has happened and Katerina is sitting at a table with Audrey asking her passive aggressive questions. Katerina feels lost without him, and she does seem genuinely sad, her body language is pulled in and withdrawn, and not the defensive or guilty sort of pulled in. Katerina was close to Jeff? Yes, she thought they were going places together. An impression that had to be shattered by Jeff's words the other night, I feel sure, and Audrey uses that as a segue to how instead she'll be going to jail alone. That's only a bit bitchy, and very civilly bitchy, if that's the phrase. And now comes the howdunnit now that we have the who, she baked the sesame oil into or onto the pastry, and the pecans hid the flavor. Getting Jeff to eat it was the easy part, but Katerina's right, they can't prove any of it. They have to get her to confess. Everyone shifts to circle around her, which is a good way to get a person feeling uncomfortable and possibly let something slip, though it can also be a good way to get people on their guard. Katerina is not on her guard, she doesn't have that as a defense mechanism, so it works in their favor here. Nathan starts by reminding her that she grew up here, she knows about the Troubles, then Audrey takes over by explaining in quick, clinical detail what it is that Bill's Trouble does. She claims not to believe it, but Nathan offers her to prove it, saying she won't mind, if she doesn't believe it, if Bill finishes her sandwich then. Bill is decidedly unhappy looking, so if you believe in the Troubles that is indeed a risk. But don't worry, Bill hasn't killed anyone yet. Except the pigeons. And the cows. (And the lobster. And the fish. Those were all ingredients, but they're bringing up the image of death in her mind, not laying out the facts.) Nathan wonders aloud what would happen if Bill was trying to kill someone. Ulp. The dramatic music cues up, along with many intercut disgusting flashback shots to all the rotten food, thanks for that guys, until he almost eats the sandwich and she freaks out and begs him, or them, to stop. And it's the story we expect, after everything she's done for him he was going to leave her and she was angry with him for that. She didn't mean to kill him, she just thought it would make him sick, but with that severe an allergy I really have to wonder if he did regulate it that well, or if she's just an idiot. And I'm actually leaning towards the side of idiot, given how willfully she seems to have revised Jeff's behavior to suit her view of things. Then, of all people, she turns to Nathan and says no one should be able to do things like that. Presumably she means sicken people and rot food by eating in a particular mood, but given the context and the ambiguity on her choice of antecedent, she might also mean something Jeff did? Either way, Nathan continues the conversation (as much as it is continued, anyway) by saying that the thing about growing up in Haven is you grow up with so many of those stories you're ready to believe them, but they're just stories, they're not real. Says the Troubled cop. Uh-huh. It seems like an odd thing to do, at least until Audrey asks him about it somewhat in a sideways manner by asking if he's okay, and he points out that he can't have people thinking Haven's full of freaks. He'd be prescient if it wasn't for having lived through this once already and been teased for being a freak, and if it weren't foreshadowing. It also serves to give us a good look at Nathan when we know he's lying, and he's a remarkably good liar. Which casts a whole lot of doubt onto how much we can believe him at all, these early episodes before he's as deeply connected to Audrey as he becomes later on. Audrey then asks if he's got Jeff's personal effects there; yes, he does, and he'll hand them off to her to give to Bill. Not immediately, though. She's looking them over, and the knife gives her an idea. Curious.
It's night time before she gives him the effects and we find out what this secret plan is, back at Bill and Meg's place. She shows Bill the knife and they conclude that Jeff was going to stay, he went back for the knife, he was willing to give it a second chance. Not an unreasonable assumption given what little we know! Duke shows up, as he might, hugs and shares a moment with Bill while the ladies whisper to each other about how this might work. What might work? No, the suspense is drawn just long enough, and it's cute to see them conspiring like this. By Duke's what's up question and Bill's comment, Bill called Duke here rather than Duke showing up at this particular time because of Jeff. And Bill has a box for Duke, so it's their deal in reverse. It looks like a picture frame box of some kind? Duke isn't thinking too much of this, and Bill sets the price at twenty, so, sure, Duke'll indulge his friend. At least until he opens the box and sees what he bought for twenty bucks. There's the deed to the Second Chance. Bill doesn't want to run it without Jeff, and stress and anger don't play well on his or anyone else's digestion, Bill, thanks. Though it's likewise interesting that he adds the appositive "as I discussed with Agent Parker," sort of a harbinger of her role in the town to come. And selling the restaurant to Duke is as close as he can come to keeping it in the family. Which, given that he's the last McShaw... probably true. And probably safer. Duke is still overwhelmed, which Bill lightens with a bit of familiar and good-natured teasing about no refunds and legitimate businesses. It helps. Much to the amusements of the ladies. And Meg gets her husband back, Bill gets to live a life he enjoys and loves much more than what he was doing, and Audrey has a little smile for the happy ending. We'll assume for the benefit of everyone's doubt that Bill has a reason to believe based on his friendship with Duke that Duke would want to run a restaurant, given that little in his background has indicated that thus far.
And back over at the police station Nathan walks into the office to find Audrey wearing... pretty much everything he laid out for her. And a shit-eating grin. It does give him a moment's pause, but it also gives him another of those happy smiles we haven't seen much of since his father died, which is really nice. He tells her it's a start, which she knows him well enough by now to know that's high praise, coming from him. Or his father, for that matter. And then he ribs her for her parking job which is either a commentary on her skills or her attitude, I'm honestly not sure which. It'll take time, he says, which leads her into the aspect of Haven that it's really going to take some time to learn and accept. The fact that there are two different Havens, the folksy everyday small town life one, and the Troubled one. Not that she describes it that way, but that's pretty well what she means, especially when she highlights Nathan as living in both Havens. Also that she thinks it's going to be useful, which isn't the friendliest or most compassionate way to talk about it, thanks for that, Audrey. It's also a very Agent Fuck You way to talk, and I have to wonder if that was on purpose, a deliberate reflection of how he thinks, or if that was just a moment of callous practicality. Besides, it's easily lost in her kicking her furry, booted feet up and taking a sip from the Go Black Bears mug he gave her. Aww. She tells him not to say anything. They both laugh, her a little more loudly or clearly than him. And, as if to underscore what she said about Havens underneath Havens, instead of switching out to a flyover view of the police station we drop down beneath the level of the desk as we fade to black. Uh-huh. Your move, Haven. Your move.
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