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Haven 3.07 "Magic Hour Part 1" TV REVIEW

THE ONE WHERE Audrey and Duke travel to Colorado and discover that James Cogan was the son of one of Audrey’s past lives (Sarah, to be precise). Meanwhile, back in Haven, a case involving a murderer who extorts money from relatives to resurrect her victims, leads Nathan to learn the truth about Tommy – he’s the bolt gun killer!

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VERDICT A generally solid episode that gets better and better as it carries on, and end up with a hell of a cliffhanger. Okay, any “death” of a major character like this is only ever going to happen when there’s a character with resurrection powers elsewhere in the episode, but the ending remains a shocker. Perhaps that’s because we’re reeling from the fact that it’s that nice Tommy guy who’s shot Nathan. Coldly, and without hesitation. Then again, he goes around killing people with a bolt gun, so self doubt and pity presumably don’t figure much in his psyche.

(That is, if he is the bolt gun killer… the guy in the photo Nathan shows Jordan is white, but we have a theory about that.)

Audrey’s trip to Colorado reveals some interesting new info about the Guard. It has a nationwide network devoted to protecting the Special; it’s admirably PC the way they don’t use the term Troubled. There’s also the revelation that James Cogan is not one of Audrey’s predecessor’s lovers, but her son. But perhaps the most revealing thing of all during the Colorado trip is Audrey herself; we’ve never seen her quite so carefree and chilled as the night she spends getting pissed with Duke. It kinda suits her.

Even the freak of the week plot isn’t total bobbins. The Trouble is well-defined and the crime (if a little convoluted) has some logic behind it. It helps that Claudia Black breaths a bit more quirky life into the “villain” than Haven guest stars usually manage.

There is some creakiness. The way Nathan twigs onto Tommy shows a degree of carelessness bordering on stupidity on Tommy’s behalf; the car accident at the start is badly staged; Grady looks like he’s been rotting on the roadside for considerably longer than a couple of months… and in a position where it looks unlikely he wouldn’t have been discovered. But hey, let’s not pick holes. Let’s just be grateful for an episode where we don’t have to turn a blind eye to some really cringey moments so we can enjoy the arc plot. This time round, it’s all pretty good stuff.

KING CONNECTION 1 In the book The Colorado Kid , the investigation also leads back to Nederland, Colorado. It’s like this show has suddenly remembered it has the rights to the book (although it remains one of the loosest adaptations in the history of adaptations).

KING CONNECTION 2 The Danville Motel is presumably named after Patrick Danville in Insomnia .

WEIRD EDIT What was going on when Moira shot Noelle’s boyfriend? There was a really clumsy edit that suggests some last minute censorship.

STAR TURN A couple of weeks back we complained about the bland casting for some of the guest stars in this show. Then we get two genre faves in a row – Game of Thrones ’ Iain Glen last week, then Farscape and Stargate SG-1 ’s Claudia Black this week. The difference is that Glen looked like he phoned in his performance, while Black is utterly magnificent (if you forgive her weird accent). Moira comes across as seriously deranged.

JUMPING ’SHIP Sorry, Nathan and Audrey ’shippers. This episode proves Audrey’s a lot more fun when she’s with Duke. They make a brilliant, dynamic investigative duo, and in the scene where a tipsy Audrey comes onto Duke, she’s downright cute in the way she rarely is. We’re still sure the writers intend to get Audrey and Nathan back together at some point, but honestly, he seems happier with Jordan! Why not let the characters dictate the relationships organically, rather than try to force a pair together because that was the original plan?

BEST LINE
Audrey: “20 days… that's not long enough to fix our friendship if I screw this up, so… I’m gonna go and get some air”

Dave Golder

Haven season three currently airs in the UK on Syfy, Tuesdays at 9pm

Read our other Haven season 3 reviews

• Read our exclusive Emily Rose interview

Dave is a TV and film journalist who specializes in the science fiction and fantasy genres. He's written books about film posters and post-apocalypses, alongside writing for SFX Magazine for many years.