Haven: Ep 2.1 A Tale of Two Audreys

Season 2 of the Syfy supernatural drama, Haven, starts right where Season 1 left off. Nathan, Audrey, and “¦ uh “¦ New Audrey are holding guns on each other. New Audrey calls regular Audrey a fraud, but Nathan’s not buying it. New Audrey finally agrees to put her gun down so they can take her into custody.

Outside the church, a kid in rain gear plays in the gutter with a boat made from a newspaper, because apparently it’s 1935. Duke arrives ““ at the Rev’s request ““ to talk to him. The Rev wants to talk about Duke’s dad, who he says “stood with the righteous.” He tells Duke he wants to help. Meanwhile, the kid’s boat goes into a storm drain and he goes to retrieve it. Duke shows him the tattoo that’s been haunting him, but the Rev refuses to talk about it until he knows where Duke stands. Gutterside, the boy reaches in for his boat and starts screaming. Duke runs over to help. The boy pulls out an arm covered in blood, but he’s uninjured. Blood starts running in the gutter and coming out of sprinklers on the church lawn. Duke pulls out his phone to call the cops.

Audrey and Nathan have New Audrey in cuffs and put her in the truck. Nathan is sure New Audrey is Troubled, or someone trying to mess with real Audrey’s mind. Audrey is less convinced of her own legitimacy. She wants to talk about what Nathan is going to tell people about the Chief. Nathan claims he’s dealing with it, and Audrey calls him on the fact that the chief’s remains are, you know, in a cooler. Suddenly, frogs start falling from the sky. Nathan and Audrey take cover in New Audrey’s car.

After the credits, Nathan blames the sudden frog-shower on a tornado, while Audrey thinks New Audrey is responsible. They go to talk to her and realize she’s made a call to her boss, Agent Howard, despite being handcuffed. Suddenly (a lot of stuff happens suddenly in Haven), a swarm of insects descends on Haven and a car crash is heard nearby. They drive to the scene of the accident, where a truck is turned on its side but empty and an SUV sits nearby. Everything’s all covered in bugs. Nathan calls in an ambulance and goes to direct traffic while Audrey goes to help the driver who’s out cold in the SUV. New Audrey convinces Audrey to uncuff her and let her help; as she does chest compressions, she times them by singing “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad.” Audrey correctly guesses that she learned that in the Campfire Girls.

Audrey tells New Audrey to stay with the man, and makes a call to Agent Howard. She asks if anyone’s called pretending to be her. He says no, but tells Audrey to detain the imposter until he gets there. An ambulance arrives for the injured man, who should be okay but is still in no condition to talk. The other driver likely split on account of the open beer in his car, and is injured, judging by the bloody handprint on the dashboard. Nathan determines that the swarm of bugs that landed on the car are gnats.

Audrey has a cop cuff New Audrey and take her down to the station. She’s convinced that the woman is Troubled, as she is somehow in possession of Audrey’s memories. Duke shows up to tell them about the blood at the church. He spots a woman familiar to him in the crowd but when he looks again, she’s gone. He rushes off, presumably to find her. As the town seems to be beset by Biblical plagues, Audrey wonders only half-jokingly if God is punishing Haven. Suddenly (see?), flies start flying out of fire hydrants and mailboxes. I’m willing to buy Biblical plagues (at least in this town), but damn if I can figure out why a bunch of bugs would be hanging out in a mailbox.

Nathan goes to question the Rev, who’s anticipating dead livestock, flaming hail, locusts, hail “¦ oh yeah, and the death of the first-born sons. The Rev says he wants “the cursed” to ask for God’s forgiveness. Nathan corrects him, telling him those people are Troubled and not to blame. The Rev tells Nathan he doesn’t have to choose to live among the Troubled as his father did. Nathan’s all, “I’m good.”

Vince and Dave arrive at the station to remind Audrey that the Chief needs a proper burial. She agrees to talk to Nathan, but waves off their offer to put his name in for Interim Chief. After they leave, Audrey tries to question New Audrey but she doesn’t want to talk until Howard arrives. It seems that she can’t help helping, though, and she and Audrey work together almost seamlessly, being of one mind and all. They determine that the plagues seem to be following someone moving on foot, probably the drunk man who fled the accident scene.

Down on the docks, Duke finds the woman from the crowd, Evidence Ryan (aka Evvie), waiting for him. It’s been three years since they parted, on less than amicable terms, and Duke is still holding a grudge. She wants to tell him about a job but he’s not interested. She says she’ll come back when he’s “in a better mood.”

Nathan and Audrey have tracked the truck from the accident to the Schubert residence. Audrey takes a moment to remind Nathan that he’s at risk from the plagues as he’s a first-born son. Nathan reminds her that they can’t be so sure of that. Getting back to police business, they question the Schuberts and learn that they haven’t heard from their son-in-law TJ since his wife died in childbirth a week ago, and he started drinking heavily. The Schuberts have been watching their grandson, and only know that wherever TJ is, he isn’t home. Nathan gets a call, and when he and Audrey respond they find a field of dead cows. They observe that the plagues are getting bigger, and now heading back toward town.

Evvie comes to see Duke at the Grey Gull, where he’s busy puttering around with a light fixture. So she waited, what, an hour? He insists that he’s not interested in her job, but she tells him that he owes her for saving his life. He points out that she nearly ruined it as well and says he doesn’t want anything to do with her, in bed or out.

Down at the station, Nathan has put an APB out on TJ. A cop comes in to report cases of boils, and wonders where the Chief is because they could surely use his help. Nathan claims not to know. New Audrey observes the current circular plague locations and concludes that TJ’s stopped moving. Then Nathan gets a call about a carjacking, so they go to talk to witnesses. Audrey convinces him that New Audrey might be helpful, so they bring her along sans weapon.

The carjacking occurred outside a pawn shop, where the driver is now receiving EMT treatment for boils. The shop owner, also covered in boils, confirms that TJ came in, and (not wanting to have “a guy that messed up” with a gun in his shop) he sent him to “Little Mike,” who hangs out at the Grey Gull. Nice. Unfortunately, TJ apparently decided to steal a car to get there.

At the Gull, they find flaming hail and TJ, but he manages to get away. Audrey tells New Audrey that TJ is what they call Troubled in Haven. Duke confirms that TJ’s been drinking away his guilt for being in Portland when his wife died. Little Mike tells them TJ wanted a gun to protect his son. Nathan pulls Duke aside and asks him to join the search in case the last plague kills Nathan out and he can’t help Audrey.

In the truck, Nathan asks the dispatcher to evacuate the area around TJ’s house but she can’t do it without the Chief’s authorization. Nathan asks Audrey to take care of the Chief if Nathan dies, and it comes out that the Chief is currently chilling in a cooler in the back of the truck. That disturbing little conversation is derailed by the plague of darkness sweeping across the land.

At TJ’s house, the Rev has gathered some people outside to pray. You stay classy, Rev. Nathan want to evacuate the area but the Rev says his people won’t leave. A more pressing concern is TJ, upstairs with his son and a gun. Audrey and New Audrey ““ of very little use without a gun ““ go in after him. Audrey puts her gun down to gain his trust. He tells them he plans to kill himself to save baby Aaron ““ his first-born son ““ but just wanted to see him one last time. The baby starts screaming, and outside the first-born sons ““ Nathan included ““ drop and start gasping for breath. The Rev grabs Nathan’s collar and says “I’m here, son,” but dude looks positively gleeful.

Audrey asks TJ what he did today, and asks if he went near a Bible. TJ confirms that he went to the church in search of comfort (I don’t know who the hell reads Exodus for comfort) and when he read the Exodus, the plagues started. Audrey gives TJ a copy of The Velveteen Rabbit to read out loud, and that makes the plagues stop. Meh. Also, it makes a giant rabbit shadow creep creepily across the creepy nursery wall. Audrey takes TJ’s gun and leaves him reading to his son, but I can’t help thinking Haven PD needs some kind of Troubles follow-up program. Maybe TJ shouldn’t be reading things, period.

Outside, a recovered Nathan is pissed about the Rev’s complacency about all the people he put at risk by coming there. The Rev calmly warns Duke that he should choose sides and start keeping better company before it’s too late. Duke hilariously waves bye-bye as the Rev walks off.

Evvie shows up, like damn is she good at tracking Duke down, or what? Duke grudgingly introduces her as his wife. Then he pulls Evvie aside and tells her to leave before the town gets her. She’s curious about why he’s settled down in Haven. He tries to convince her there’s no payday there for her, but she’s determined to find out for herself.

At the police station, Nathan asks Vince and Dave to say the Chief was lost at sea. Well, that was easy. They also tell him they’re going to have him appointed Interim Chief. Later, Nathan finally takes care of his father’s remains, first removing a ring on a chain from the cooler. Duke arrives to help ““ aww ““ and is all, “You could’ve told me about your dad” like, when exactly? Nathan is all, “You could’ve told me about your wife.”

At the Gull, Audrey shares with New Audrey a private memory from her childhood ““a memory New Audrey also has ““ about dealing with a predatory foster dad by stabbing him in the neck with a pair of scissors. New Audrey is appropriately stunned. Audrey tells her they can work together to get to the bottom of the Case of the Two Audreys. The FBI arrives, and New Audrey greets Agent Howard, who is definitely not the man Audrey knows as Agent Howard. It’s her turn to be stunned. New Audrey covers for her, though, saying the imposter got away and is headed for Canada.