‘Haven’ 2.12 Recap: “Clones…? Ghosts…? Zombies Are Trendy.”

In my household, the season finale of Syfy’s ‘Haven’ finally brings the summer TV season to a close. My DVR is thankful for that. With a whole bunch of new shows already filling up its memory, I’ve been struggling to keep up with everything I need to watch. ‘Haven’ was one of my pleasant surprises of the summer, and the show closed out its second season on a strong note.

‘Sins of the Fathers’ opens with a man named Bill being visited by the ghost of his friend Arlo, who tells him that his (Arlo’s) wife Sheila is in trouble and needs his help immediately. Bill grabs his pistol and runs across the street. As he does so, Arlo’s ghost also visits Sheila. He lures her down to the living room in the dark, and stages the scene to look like she’s being attacked. Bill busts in and shoots at the intruder, which is really Arlo’s ghost. The bullets pass right through him and kill Sheila. Arlo promptly declares this as “payback” for Bill sleeping with his wife.

A series of similar hauntings plague the town, mostly from ghosts wanting revenge against the living. Audrey, being immune to the Troubles, is the only person in town who can’t see them. Nonetheless, she and Nathan learn that most of the ghosts come from the same cemetery and were buried by the same gravedigger, a man named Kyle.

Duke is visited by the ghost of his father (Tahmoh Penikett from ‘Battlestar Galactica’ and ‘Dollhouse’), who explains what the box of weapons is for. The curse on Duke’s family is that they have the power to end other people’s curses, but only by killing the afflicted individual. When the Troubled person dies at the hand of a Crocker, the curse dies with him or her, and will not pass to the family. Duke’s father considered it his mission to end the Troubles by any means necessary, and he wants Duke to take up the cause. Duke is reluctant, especially since his father wants him to kill Audrey.

Even more troubling (no pun intended) than this, Reverend Driscoll is back. His ghost visits Kyle, and uses him to recruit new followers who kidnap people known to be Troubled and contain them in a cabin in the woods.

As if that weren’t enough, Nathan is visited by his father, the former Chief, who warns him not to fall in love with Audrey, because she’s too important to the town. The odd thing about this is that the Chief wasn’t buried in the cemetery. We later learn that town reporter Vince had Kyle dig up the cooler with his petrified remains.

The Rev also comes calling on Duke, who of course wants nothing to do with him. The Rev forces him to come to the cabin by threatening to have his followers harm Audrey. Once there, the Rev wants him to set the cabin on fire, killing the Troubled within and ending their curses.

Audrey and Nathan show up to prevent this from happening. They tell Kyle that he’s Troubled, and the one causing all the ghosts to come back. This causes a dilemma for Kyle, who was perhaps the Rev’s biggest anti-Troubled cheerleader. The Rev and Duke’s father tell Duke that he needs to kill Kyle to prevent his curse from being passed down to his baby son. When Duke refuses, Kyle throws himself on a knife in his hand. His wife doesn’t seem too upset by this. As Kyle dies, all of the ghosts fade away.

In this episode, we learn a lot more about Audrey’s past. We already know that she had previously taken the identity and memories of Lucy Ripley. Apparently, she was called Sara before that, and may have gone through this cycle many times before. As Lucy, she killed Duke’s father. As Sara, she killed his grandfather.

Dave and Vince knew her as both Lucy and Sara, but don’t know where she goes between cycles. If they know who the mysterious Agent Howard is, they’re not ready to tell yet. It’s even hinted that Vince may have been engaged to Sara in his youth. He and Dave argue over how much information to tell her. Vince says that, “She’s different this time.”

In a cliffhanger, Audrey gets tazed and kidnapped by an unseen assailant. Nathan thinks Duke did it. He barges onto Duke’s boat and holds him down at gunpoint, furious. His shirt sleeve is rolled up, and we can see that he has the maze tattoo on his arm – the tattoo that is foretold to be on the man who will eventually kill Duke. A gunshot rings out, and the episode cuts to credits.

Even though I’m sure that Duke isn’t dead (too bad), this is a good cliffhanger. The finale leaves me eager for Season Three.

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