After a couple of weeks that made a point of referencing Stephen King’s ‘IT’, this past Friday’s episode of ‘Haven’ shifted gears to channel ‘Maximum Overdrive’ instead. Didja get that? “Shifted gears…” Ain’t I a clever one?
In ‘Love Machine’, the town of Haven is overrun by an epidemic of mechanical devices come to life and plotting their revenge against humanity. This starts when a boat kills its captain by crushing him under a giant winch. At first, Audrey and Nathan believe the boat to be haunted. Later, the wave of mechanized violence spreads inland to forklifts, snow-blowers, toy RC cars and even a zamboni.
After a couple of red herrings, Nathan and Audrey trace the source of all this commotion to the town’s resident fix-it man, Louis, who is apparently one of the Troubled. But he’s not doing this on purpose or even consciously. All of the gadgets and gizmos and vehicles and toys he’s worked on have come to life because they love him, and want to stop him from following through on his plans to move out of town with his girlfriend. The machines have conspired to eliminate anyone who would take him away from them. The episode has a very bittersweet resolution, where Louis is forced to leave his girlfriend and stay with the machines. He must sacrifice his own personal happiness for the safety of the town.
As this is going on, Audrey II attempts to follow up on a clue left by Fake Agent Howard. She has Duke ferry her out to an uninhabited island where she finds a cabin. We never learn what she sees in the cabin, but she comes out with amnesia and no idea whom she even is. Audrey 1 and Nathan later go to the same coordinates, but the whole cabin is gone. Only a patch of dead grass marks that anything had ever been there.
Based on something Audrey II had said to him, Duke calls her boyfriend to come get her. She recognizes him, so Audrey and Nathan are convinced that she will be able to recover if she leaves town .The last we see of Audrey II is her boyfriend leading her away. Is this the end of the character on the show? If so, I’m sad to see her written out so quickly. I liked her and I liked the mystery of the two Audreys. Their dynamic working together was very interesting.
