By Jonathan Klotz | Published
Stephen King and “light, procedural science fiction” don’t seem to go together, and honestly, Havena SyFy original series, is only loosely based on a short story by King, The child from Colorado. The book is about a mysterious death in a small Maine town that two local reporters investigate, while the series includes a mysterious death but surrounds it with a town full of supernatural events that defy explanation. If Buffy And NCIS got together and had a child, that would be this show, which is impossible to take seriously but is one of the lightest, lightest frenzied watches available today.
The troubles
The town of Haven has been plagued by what locals call “the Troubles”, a sudden explosion of paranormal activity that manifested itself as strange powers taking over the citizens. A typical “Case of the Week” format focuses on something strange, from mysterious murders in the middle of the night to an earthquake or pyrokinetics on the loose. Investigating these cases is Audrey Parker (played by Emily Rose), a newcomer to town, joined by local officer Nathan Wournos (Lucas Bryant), and from season 2, Edge, a member of the Hall of Fame of the WWE, aka Adam Copeland, and what begins simply (for a strange explosion of superpowers) quickly turns into a mystery that spans generations.
It takes a while for the big picture to become clear, and at that point the series has completely derailed into secret organizations, different dimensions, and the same people playing their own evil twins in the most soap opera twist possible. Yet even The X Files And Battlestar Galactica ended up losing the plot in their final seasons, and at least with HavenIt’s a fun ride to get to the end.
Tell a complete story
And there is an end. Haven aired for five seasons on SyFy, telling a complete story between all the “Case of the Week” episodes, the bottle episodes (one of the first paying homage to Agatha Christie’s And then there was none is remarkable) and a parade of guest stars. Familiar faces passing through town include Colin Ferguson (from the SyFy series Eureka), William Shatner, Edge’s forever best friend and World’s Greatest Dad, Christian, aka William Reso, ’90s heartthrob Jason Priestly, and Battlestar Galactica Michael Hogan.
The last of his generation
I was a fan of this generation of SyFy originals, of Eureka And Warehouse 13 has Sanctuary And Havento be light and easy watches that don’t demand much from the viewer. The equivalent of a bag of chips, none of these shows will fill you up or have any deep philosophical messages to convey, but what they are is incredibly entertaining from start to finish. Of course, as SyFy originals, the team has had to get creative with their budgets, and the shows can seem a little…cheap…compared to today’s million-dollar streaming shows ‘today, but that’s part of the charm.
You can’t compare Haven to a direct adaptation of the Stephen King series like Red Rose, Castle RockOr The standeven though it’s filled with little references to his vast catalog of works, but it’s also still better than The Langoliers And Under the Dome. If you’re in the mood for a new sci-fi show, you can stream it for free on Amazon Freevee or Sling TV.