iaria: (Olivia (Fringe))
iaria ([personal profile] iaria) wrote2015-12-27 10:33 pm
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Haven 5x25 & 5x26 Thoughts

Now / Forever

Disappointing overall which wasn't exactly unexpected. What was unexpected was that the episodes themselves were actually surprisingly fine and there was even a lot of things I enjoyed about them. They are weirdly among my favourite episodes of this season. The way it was disappointing and the fact that it actually could have been a fairly satisfying ending (with only a couple small changes) kind of makes it worse than what I was anticipating. So close, and yet so bitterly far. Sigh.

Bad

1) Duke

Where to even start.

Duke's actual death scene didn't have a lot of impact on me - because of my continuing ennui with the show or because I honestly didn't think it would be permanent - but I didn't cry or even get overly upset. There were even several things I even liked about how it played out which I'll go into below. But what happened with Duke overall leaves me angry and supremely irritated with the Haven PTB. Just WTF, dudes??

• Duke's death was completely pointless which pisses me off more than maybe anything. If it was to directly save either Nathan or Audrey, okay. If by killing him they could have killed Croatoan too via some bond, okay. Or if his death somehow would have ended the Troubles or done something to significantly change the situation then okay. I wouldn't have been happy (hell no, especially with everything else going on, see below) but I would have understood it. There would have been some satisfaction in Duke going out saving the day.

Instead what we get Duke dying to prevent Croatoan from getting any more Troubles... which has literally no effect on anything that happens. None. Croatoan has tons of Troubles already, there was no specific Trouble in Duke that he needed, and a short time later he creates a cloud portal to the Void that brings hundreds of further Troubles to Haven. And they end up defeating Croatoan via his feelings for Audrey and he leaves voluntarily so... it was meaningless. It did nothing. Actually that's not even entirely true because Croatoan wanted it to happen so that Nathan 'leaving' would be believable. So they were playing directly into what he wanted. And it's not even undone in the end. It makes me so angry. Just fuck you, Haven PTB.

It ends up feeling worse by the fact that it happens in the second last episode and then the finale is devoted almost entirely to Nathan/Audrey and wrapping up the plot. There is basically no more dealing with the loss of Duke. He's no longer a part of the Audrey + Nathan equation. Everything becomes about them and their relationship and it's as if Duke died ages again. There is no regret, or grief, and they don't appear to feel his absence. It is so wrong and upsetting.

• Duke's death being permanent makes no sense. Absolutely no freaking sense. Consider that 5x25's entire B-plot involves Croatoan bring Dwight's dead daughter back and Dwight confirming that she is, in every fundamental way he can, real. Then this subplot ends with random ghost!Duke telling Dwight how to keep her - by believing that she's real - which works and now she's alive again. With that as a subplot running through the final two episodes we get Duke dying... and then not being brought back??? W.T.F! That's like a giant Chekhov's gun fired and then ignored for no obvious reason.

Audrey knows about Dwight's daughter even if she doesn't know how it will end. She knows that her dad can bring someone back - without even needing to have a body. Later when Nathan is killed Croatian brings him back from the dead because it made Audrey sad. So why the hell wouldn't Audrey have made Duke's return a part of her demands/deal with her father? It seriously makes no sense to me. Resurrection is literally right there, we watch Croatoan do it twice, with two very different situations so why the fucking hell is Duke still dead?????

Ghost!Duke was a pointless deus ex machina. There is no explanation for him, he just appears to pass on information and then is gone. I mean, Haven, but still. Dwight honestly didn't need Duke to tell to send Nathan to Audrey and Dwight's love for his daughter and desire for her to be real could have been enough to keep her real at the end [with him getting an explanation after for how it happened.] So ghost!Duke as a construct was not necessary to the episode.

Meanwhile, for the above reasons, Duke should have been brought back to life. He should have been there during the final scene in the armory. It should have been Audrey telling Nathan and Duke to find happiness and for them to be there for each other. It was actively weird and off for him not to be there.

A part of me has always figured that there was going to be two ways this could end: a) the happy ending aka Audrey/Nathan/Duke working together and finally defeating the Troubles, freeing Haven and living happily ever after, or b) the bittersweet ending aka Audrey goes through the Barn/a thinney/the Void/returns to her home dimension and takes all the Troubles with her (probably with Nathan/Duke's help), freeing Haven, and the three of them moving on [Nathan/Duke reconciled in Haven, Audrey learning about herself and making a new life].

I would have been fine with either, tbh. If Duke had been brought back, if he had been there at the end then my opinion of this episode would have been so much different. That would have been an acceptable end. [Actually since the barn needs love to work it Audrey/Nathan/Duke as a group being it's battery would have been a lovely ending.]

Honestly I feel like the show PTB OTP Nathan/Audrey so much post-season 2 that they've spent two seasons now doing their best to stomp out Audrey/Duke. Duke's death was necessary for them to get the Nathan/Audrey happily ever after (it wasn't!) because they didn't want Duke there as a third wheel. I really wonder how things would have gone differently if Jennifer's actress hadn't wanted out. Would Duke have survived if he'd had a viable love interest?

2) Paige and the End

There is always some base similarities in Audrey's various incarnations but they have never been the exact same and each one is her own separate person. After watching Audrey fighting so hard to be herself, to be Audrey, for her to get her happy ending by becoming one final different personality is very bitter and sad, even if it was a choice she made. I mean that was her greatest fear! It's what she has been fighting so hard against!

The show really tried to sell this as a happy ending for Nathan and Audrey but, nope I'm not buying.

- Audrey: had her greatest fear realised and was overwritten to become Paige. Sure, there are pieces of Audrey in Paige but that is Paige who came back to Haven with baby James and Paige who will live a happy life with Nathan, and Audrey is gone.

- Nathan: had his greatest fear realised by losing Audrey. He's happy when he sees Paige and it's very much implied that this is a new beginning for him and them, and the start of their happily ever after. ...Except it's not Audrey. Nathan literally just returned to Haven with no memory and an almost perfect replica of Audrey by his side because some part of him knew that she wasn't Audrey.

And let's not forget:

- Duke: died. Killled by someone with the Guard tattoo just as he'd been fearing for so long. Killed by Nathan.

So yeah. Depressing all around, tbh.

3) Other

+ Okay, but no seriously - how the hell does baby James exist? That makes absolutely no sense on any level.

+ It bothered me that the end was centred around Nathan instead of Audrey. I mean, I see why since they were bringing Paige in as a surprise ending but it bugged me. Also while I liked Nathan's ending voice over monologue I would have liked Audrey giving one instead much better.

+ So Vince is going to spend hundreds or thousands of years alone with the guy who killed his brother, watching over Haven?

+ I did like the scenes of Haven at the end but - how? Considering that 80 - 90% of the population had to have been killed off and so much of the town itself was destroyed it seemed to be wrapped up a little too easily. I was actually half expecting for there to be some magic reset where things get turned back to how thing were before the Trouble bomb or even earlier.

+ There were ways to kill Duke that were way quicker. Possibly Nathan should have tried one of those instead of slow smothering.

+ Croatoan's change of heart felt rushed and kind of unsupported. I wish the show had brought him in earlier and perhaps made him less of a outright evil villain in his actions.

Good

• Audrey's words to Duke were beautiful and it makes me ridiculously happy that it was Audrey who got through Duke's brainwashing and brought him back. I loved that she got through to him by being completely honest, by showing him her regret and apologising, and by asking him what he wanted. I loved him cupping her face, her starting to cry, their beautiful hug, Duke looking at Nathan over her shoulder and Nathan's relieved smile. Such a great, great scene. It might have been my favourite of the season.

• Duke's death in how it played out felt very OT3 to me and I loved that aspect. Nathan killing him, out of love and to help Duke, worked for me (in concept). I love that Audrey was right there beside them, her hand on him through the whole thing. Audrey telling Duke "We love you." We! Duke lying back against Nathan and Nathan telling him "You are the bravest man I've ever met" and "I love you so much." and telling Duke how much he means to him. Audrey reassuring him that it's going to be okay. Duke dying wrapped up in Nathan and Audrey and their love. That in itself worked for me.

• Those scenes of Haven at the end were great: Dwight/his daughter/McHugh at the docks fishing were adorable, Dwight calling Nathan and Nathan actually planning to join them was great, Stan alive, actually seeing Laverne, a lovely Nathan/Gloria scene. I really enjoyed all of that. Even though Duke's absence felt very obvious.

• It was nice to see Vicky again and I'm really glad that she survived.

• I loved seeing Chris Brody again and that little moment where the waitress slaps him and he realises his Trouble is gone and smiles was so lovely. Also the mer-people able to finally return from the sea was great.

• The Gloria/Duke moments were so wonderful - Gloria getting between Duke and Vicki and trying to appeal to him, Gloria tearfully unable to kill Duke, Gloria refusing to look away as Duke died, Gloria remembering Duke at the end. Basically every time Gloria was on screen she said something about Duke and it was great. I've always loved their relationship.

• Them burying Duke at sea was a lovely idea. That's exactly what he would have wanted.

• Nathan as a character didn't bother me at all during these final episodes which was really nice. I didn't even hate Nathan/Audrey! I even kind of loved his monologue voice over at the end. The fact that Nathan finally reached a stage where he could let go of Audrey, and to find some peace afterward instead of wallowing, probably helped a lot.

• I kind of ended up shipping construct!Audrey/Nathan. IDK. I liked their scenes. 'Audrey' confirming to Nathan that she really knew him was a really cute scene. Their scenes at the border of Haven were lovely.

"You're pissing me off, Duke." - Dwight. ♥ Dwight all around was great and I'm really happy that he got a happy ending. Also this:

Dwight: Are you coming? I can't touch these worms and McHugh's hopeless.
McHugh: You know, I enjoyed having everybody shoot you.

Adorable! I'm definitely shipping them now.

• I like Vince as the new Barn avatar.

• I liked William Shatner as Audrey's dad. I think he did a really good job with what he had to work with.

• I didn't like the whole idea of Paige as a happy ending but the Paige/Nathan scene and the callbacks to the first meeting between Audrey/Nathan was kind of lovely. I also loved Nathan's expression when he was hidden behind the hood.

Post-series

So basically how I'm choosing to believe things go after the final scene:

- Being in Haven, with Nathan and everyone else, starts causing Paige to remember things she shouldn't know.

- A short time later a boat sails into the harbour, a boat captained by Duke. If James can be brought back as a baby Duke is seriously not an issue.

- Duke said: "I just want to go back to being a pirate." So that's what he is, back to season one Duke sans memory.

- Nathan eventually engenders a meeting between himself, Duke and Paige and when the three of them come face to face Duke remembers everything that happened and Paige remembers Audrey, and Audrey is back.

- The three of the share a drink. Audrey and James move in with Nathan. Since the Gull is still destroyed Duke moves in with Nathan. Things precede slowly but eventually, possibly via Gloria being direct, they realise that no one wants Duke to move out and that they are in love with each other. They accept their feelings, sexy times happen, and they live happily ever after.

The end.

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