One Upon a Time, Season 2, Episode 1: Broken

 

Once Upon a Time is back. At the end of last season we had a dramatic ending – Regina had been exposed for what she was, the whole town remembered who they were or who they had once been. It looked like Regina was doomed – but then, Rumpelstiltskin/Gold had his own plan and managed to bring magic to the world.

It’s from there that we start with a man in New York having a bad bad day where everything goes wrong – who gets a carrier pigeon with a Storybrook postcard with one word on it: “Broken”

In Fairy Land we follow a man, Prince Phillip riding across the wilderness all noble-knight like with his mysterious companion, to cut his way through thorns to a woman laying, asleep, princess Aurora (Sleeping Beauty). He tells his companion they don’t need to tell Aurora absolutely everything (uh-huh), before waking her with a kiss. She wakes happily (and the mysterious companion walks away to avoid having to watch them tongue wrestle) but is concerned by the castle being in ruins and her people apparently fled. Prince Phillip reassures her without giving her any answers, just basking in love and optimism that everything will be ok.

While they’re being twee, a wraith appears, knocking the mysterious companion (ok, I’m just going to call her Mulan from here because the mystery isn’t that mysterious if you’ve seen the sneak peaks) aside until Philip runs to fight it, cutting off a chain with an amulet attached – an amulet engraved with a T-shaped symbol.

Mulan takes off her helmet and Aurora has a little “zomg you’re a woman” moment (well she says “girl” and Mulan corrects her, because Mulan is already looking kind of awesome) and Phillip says Mulan has helped him a lot while Aurora has been snoring (she asks again, in disbelief “a woman?!”) Mulan tells them that the Qi Shen – the wraith – sucks souls, marking its victims first, but they all avoided the mark – except, Prince Phillip picked up the amulet and now has it branded into his palm. Aurora asks him what is wrong, but he lies and hides it from her.

They camp for the night at Mulan’s suggestion (with Aurora questioning but Philip, ultimately, supporting Mulan’s wisdom) and we have more lovey tweeness – but Phillip is still disturbed and leaves ostensibly to get fire wood. After a time Aurora comes out of the tent looking for him and finds Mulan making a fire and no Phillip. They realise he has left and Mulan guesses he has been marked – and is determined to go after him. Aurora wants to come as well but Mulan runs ahead, believing Aurora will just slow her down.

Aurora catches up and they have a little argument – Mulan saying that everything Phillip does he does for Aurora and he is sacrificing himself for her – in honour of his wishes she doesn’t want Aurora to put herself at risk. She also points out that she, Mulan, has much better chance against the wraith than Aurora. Aurora protests that she thinks Mulan loves Phillip as well.

They catch up with Phillip and Mulan offers to take the talisman, mark herself so Phillip can live (having previously said that love is sacrifice). Phillip refuses, he’s doing this to save both of them. He says “I love you” (who to I wonder? Aurora, Mulan or both) and the Wraith arrives, sucking his soul, collapsing.

Together, they lay Phillip to rest on the pedestal Aurora was laid upon and they seem to have learned some respect for each other. And Mulan tells her they have to leave – and tells her the full truth that Phillip was keeping from her. Regina cast a terrible curse that ripped everyone away from the land, leaving only this corner untouched. They were frozen for 28 years – and time only just started again, but the land is ravaged and more dangerous than before except for the safe haven they created.

In the real world of Storybrook, David/James and Wet Lettuce Mary Margaret/Snow are surrounded by magical purple magicy stuff and meet up with the celebrating Ruby and Grandma, the Seven Dwarfs – everyone with their memory back, the curse broken. Snow announces her intention to find her daughter – but she’s there, Emma Swan, looking more than a little bemused with the broken curse that she only half believed in and not entirely comfortable with Mary/Snow and David/James pulling her into a parental hug. Henry’s quick to leap into it though – calling David/James “grandpa”.

Leroy/Grumpy asks why they’re actually still in Storybrook though and why there were purple swirls of magic in Storybrook which is supposed to have none. Henry likes the idea and urges Mother Superior/The Blue Fairy to use magic – but she doesn’t have her wand or fairy dust. Leroy/Grumpy says they have to confront who is responsible – Regina, but Emma objects. It’s not Regina who brought magic to the world. Emma leads the small procession to go find Gold/Rumpelstiltskin, what he’s been planning and why he double crossed them. Mary/Snow and David/James want to talk family but Emma is shelving that conversation until she has a bottle of wine or two.

Fangs for the Fantasy Episode 86

This week we discuss the new shows The Neighbours, 666 Park Avenue as well as the return of Grimm, Fringe and Once Upon a Time. We continue our discussion of Revolution.

Our book of the week is Lies Beneath by Ann Greenwood Brown.

Our next few books of week are:

1/10-8/10: Hexed Anthology

8/10/-15/10: Into the Woods by Kim Harrison

15/10-22/10: Holidays are Hell (Anthology)    
22/10-29/10:Grave Dance by Kalayna Price

 

Review: Lies Beneath by Ann Greenwood Brown

Calder is a merman, a predator who drags humans to their deaths so he can feed off their positive emotions to fill the voice inside every merperson. But this time he and his sisters are not targeting a random human – they have set their sights on John Hancock, a man promised to them by his father and a debt that has long been owed

Of course, even though he’s not finally within their reach, getting him to the water is a different matter entirely, especially since he has listened to his family history and is wary of the lake. It falls on Calder to try and find a way to the man, through his daughter Lily if necessary.

But getting into Lily’s affections isn’t easy, especially as she comes to suspect something is different about Calder and stories of lake monsters abound. And then there’s the trap of his own emotions, caring for his prey even though killing John Hancock would not only be revenge, but his chance at freedom from his sisters.

This novel is primarily about a romance and, I have to say, it didn’t appeal to me at all because it had several tropes I strongly dislike. But I will start with on element that was almost done right. Calder starts by being stalkery in the extreme. He follows Lily around, he tries to charm her, he appears at her house at truly bewildering hours - before anyone is awake (except Lily because that girl never sleeps) and generally is a creepy creepy stalker guy. And Lily is put off because of that – for a while anyway. She doesn’t even let his rescuing her convince her that she must instantly open her heart to the stalker. Yet… she does end up with him so the stalking does pay off, and for the level of stalking her reaction is still a little low. Someone’s hanging around your garden around dawn and regularly camping in your hammock? A little creeped out is a pretty minor response.

Firstly, it rushed in too quick and too soon. It seems that Calder arrives in town, sees Lily and is pretty soon smitten. It’s not love at first sight, but it’s close. And when you think Lily is the daughter of his big bad enemy John Hancock and a tool to getting at him, I don’t really see him being all open and looking for love. Yes, I know it’s a trope in romance and YA, but it still loses me to see people declaring eternal-love-I’ll-totally-betray-my-family-for-you after a brief acquaintance.

But secondly, and mostly, it’s how Lily reacts to him. Not just the reluctance-turns-to-love trope, but how, when she discovers he’s a merman and he finally admits it they have conversations that go a little like this:

Calder: I’m a merman, a dangerous predator

Lily: yay, merman! Let me quote pretentious poetry!

Calder: Actually, we kill people, I’m a murderer.

Lily: But you don’t mean it and we can be happy together. Let me make you happy.

Calder: We. Are. Predators. WE KILL PEOPLE! They are DEAD

Lily: Under the sea, under the sea, darling it’s better down where it’s wetter, take it from me!

Supernatural, Season 5 Review

 Yet again, this season dials up the epic yet another notch. At the end of the last season, Lucifer was released (have they ever had a season finale where they’ve actually achieved what they set out to achieve?) and the apocalypse was on. The angel’s plan is to have the Archangel Michael take down Lucifer to put an end to him once and for all and allow them to reshape Earth as they please, a plan that will probably have a whole lot of collateral damage to the human population – not that angels care.

But Archangels – including Lucifer and Michael – need a vessel, a human, to run around Earth in and Archangels can’t just take any vessel, they need ones that can take the strain. Specifically, Lucifer needs Sam and Michael needs Dean. And they both need consent from the brothers to make that a reality.

This is a season of dodging angels and demons trying to make them say yes, while at the same time trying to find a new way to stop the apocalypse even as disasters and omens mount up, the death toll gets ever higher and the angels resort to more and more extreme methods to extract that yes.

Castiel’s (Castiel fan squee!) plan to find god and have him tell everyone to cut it out was the original pl;an which is diffiucult because no-one knows where god is. Even Raphael the archangel thinks god is dead otherwise he would have intervened. But when they do get in touch, the plan fails when it becomes clear that god’s willing to let everyone get on with it with only a few tweaks here and there. Plan B is to find the Colt – the colt that kills everything which finally works out when they track it down to Crowley (who is awesome and would be my favourite character in any show that doesn’t have Castiel) get it and finally confront Lucifer – to find the colt doesn’t work. Plan C, in between lots of desperation, involves putting Lucifer back in his prison – which means finding the keys which are carried by the 4 horsemen of the apocalypse and Sam finally saying yes to Lucifer – and them both being locked away (and Michael at that)

That’s a whole lot of epic. Finding god, tracking the colt that has long been lost and sold by Bela and finally finding and defeating 3 of the 4 horsemen (and speaking carefully to Death who is not amused by all these shenanigans and who spares Chicago because he likes the pizza) as well as the showdown between Michael and Lucifer was all epic and then some. I thought the last season managed to really maintain the impact and the sheer scale of what was going on, but this season took it to the next level, and I didn’t even think there could be a next level. The theme was maintained throughout the season, the desperation, the panic, the true sense of just what was at stake was a constant presence. It made the series tense, exciting and extremely compelling. I think this was especially well done when you consider the number of times Sam and Dean die in the series and either god or the Angels or who knows what bring them back to ensure they’re available to be vessels – to maintain that tension while, at the same time, making the characters functionally immortal is pretty hard and impressive to do.

Most of the episodes stayed on message to make sure that sense of epic was maintained, we did have some fun, semi-side concepts raised to both add new aspects and to add to the epic: The Trickster, that long joking pain in everyone’s backside, turning out to be the Archangel Gabriel (and Nightrider Sam made me laugh), for example. Or Dean seeing the future and the true extent of what happens if he doesn’t say “yes” (President Palin! Ye gods what a hell on earth!). The town that succumbed to fundamentalism in a demonic ploy to pull them to hell, the tour of heaven and so many characters who have been dead for so long – there were so many golden moments here. There were a few that missed the mark – the many gods in episode 19 and the body swap in episode 12 and the half-demon in episode 6 were all low points to me. But in general the quality kept coming.

It wouldn’t be Supernatural if it didn’t have awesome emotional scenes and development with some excellently portrayed soul searching. In particular I liked Castiel (fanboy squee), him developing more humanity, his utterly awful attempts to investigate by telling everyone the truth (hello police officer, I am an angel of the lord, tell me things) and his continued issue with rebellion and fighting his brothers are all excellently well done and fun to watch. Even more dramatic is his loss of faith, when god turns them down, his feeling of rejection by his father and the hopelessness that comes with it – including drinking and entire liquor store (and future Castiel the drunken stoner – hey if it gets more drunken orgy Castiel I’m happy for the apocalypse to go ahead).

Fangs for the Fantasy Book of the Week

 

Every week on the Fangs for the Fantasy podcast (archives here) we read a book and discuss it on the show. The review for the book of the week always goes up on 3:00pm (EST) on a Monday (Monday’s book review).

To give people a chance to read along with us, every Monday we’re also going to include a list of our planned books of the week for the next few shows, so people can get the books, read them and join in the conversation.

 

24/9-1/10: Lies Beneath: Anne Greenwood Brown

1/10-8/10: Hexed Anthology

8/10/-15/10: Into the Woods by Kim Harrison

15/10-22/10: Holidays are Hell (Anthology)
22/10-29/10:Grave Dance by Kalayna Price
 

 

We will discuss each book on the latter date – so on the 22nd October, we will discuss Holidays are Hell

We will post a new list every Monday with any changes or new books.

Misfits Season One, Episode Six

This episode opens in a nice outdoor scene, just a short distance from where the misfits are sitting, with a young woman saying, "I was a nasty slut. I went with so many boys and girls - girls and boys at the same time. I took part in disgusting perverted unnatural acts. I was drinking and taking drugs.  I used bad language all of the time. I called my mom a fat bitch but I'm not like that anymore.  I'm a good person." Nathan listens to the entire testimony and quickly declares it is not normal. Alisha then tells the story of a woman riding a gear stick, while the others watch completely disturbed. Kelly asks Simon about his friends, but before Simon can answer, Nathan interjects, "I believe that is generally referred to as the pedophile ring." When Simon says he is not a pedophile, Nathan responds, "Oh yeah, you'd screw your own sister for a slice of cheese."  Simon is truly a creepy individual and I like that at least someone is calling it out, but I'm not convinced that Nathan should be the one to do it.

Two of the group members are leaving and Nathan calls them over to ask, "why are you all dressed like retards?"  Of course, not a single character bothers to call him out on his ableist language.  Though this is par for the course for Nathan, if they are going to have him say such things, then they need to have someone calling it out, because it gives the appearance that what he said wasn't at all problematic.  Curtis says, "he used to be a right head case, this is weird," in reference to the young man that Nathan stopped.

In the community center, the misfits realise that their probation worker is missing.  Simon tries to cover by saying that Sally has gone on holiday to Greece, but they are not buying it. Nathan believes they should call probation headquarters and get them to send someone down there to supervise them. Alisha and Curtis make eye contact and that is enough to send them off to fool around.  Nathan starts to play with a soccer ball and kicks it at Simon's head, causing Simon to get up and throw a box at Nathan's head.  If looks could kill, Nathan would have dropped dead right then.  Simon leaves, but as he gets to the door, Nathan kicks the ball at him again, with Kelly whining, "don't Nathan."

Rachel, the leader of a group called Virtue, is in bathroom washing up, when she hears Curtis and Alisha going at it.  When they leave the room, Curtis is adjusting his clothing and Alisha goes to look at herself in the mirror. Rachel asks Alisha if she has any shame and calls her a slut. "You think having sex with boys will make them respect you? If you behave like a slut, they'll treat you like a slut," Rachel says. Alisha calls her a freak and then Rachel uses her powers on Alisha and says, "you don't need to behave like this, you can do so much better."  I do not like the slut shaming that has been rife throughout this episode. 

In the locker room, Simon and Kelly are getting ready to go, when Kelly says, "you just need to ignore Nathan he's a dick. He doesn't care what anyone says to him and he thinks it's the same for everyone." Simon replies, "me and you, we're not like that." Kelly tells him that she will get Nathan to back off him. As Kelly listens in on Simon's thoughts she hears, "I did it for you, for all of you. I did it to protect you." When Kelly asks Simon what he means by that, Simon replies, "nothing." I think it's great that Kelly reached out to Simon; however, if she was really all that concerned about Nathan's behaviour, she should have said something in front of the entire group.  Nathan deserved to be told off quite a long time ago. In fact, what he did to Simon pales in comparison to some of things he has said and done.

Simon leaves and goes to look at Sally's body, which he has tossed in a freezer.  She is covered in frost and her eyes are open.  He touches her cheek as if to caress her.  Yes, it is possible for Simon to become even creepier.

Nathan is on the phone chatting with a sex operator and is interrupted by Pete, who wants to know if he has seen Sally.  Simon, Curtis and Kelly are rolling around in wheelchairs when they see Pete leave. The wheelchair thing is common on Misfits, which to me seems very disrespectful.  They are not toys, or rides, they function as the legs of someone who is disabled. Curtis asks what Pete is doing there, and Kelly asks who he is.  Curtis says that Pete is a cop, and then Alisha walks by in a plain matronly like dress with a smile on her face. Curtis approaches Alisha to ask her what is going on with the makeover and she repeats Rachel's words, "if you dress like a slut, people will treat you like a slut." She claims to want to sort her life out because of the shame she feels for all of the drugs, drunk driving and masturbating in front of Curtis.  When Curtis reminds Alisha that she enjoyed it, Alisha responds, "I shouldn't be masturbating in public toilets. I'm saving myself until I am ready to make a proper commitment."   Curtis asks if the group they saw yesterday did something to her and says, "this isn't you," when Alisha invites her to one of their meetings.

Nathan is rolling a spliff with headphones on when Rachel approaches him to say that doing marijuana can lead to epilepsy and mental illness.  When Nathan does not respond, she tries to use her powers on him, but because he cannot hear her, he is unaffected. He lights up his joint right in front of her and says, "nice cardigan," before walking away.

Curtis is in the bathroom with Simon, Kelly and Nathan, and he tells them that Alisha is saying weird stuff and has been talking about saving herself until she is ready to make a proper commitment. Nathan says, "it's a sad day for all of us when a bird like that decides to pull up her knickers." Curtis of course objects because Alisha is his girlfriend.  Curtis is convinced it has something to do with the group Virtue, which they saw the day before.  Simon says that it's the storm, because anytime anything weird happens, it's always the storm. Nathan want to know when Simon grew "a set of balls." Simon answers, "I've always had a set of balls, you've just never seen them."  Of course Nathan could not let that go and had to throw in some homophobia,"that's about the gayest thing I have ever heard," he retorts.  Nathan has no purpose other than to be offensive in every single conversation.  He is essentially an equal opportunity bigot. Anyone who is not White, straight, cisgender, male or disabled is who he targets week after bloody week.  Kelly breaks in to say that they have to figure out what is going on with Alisha.

That night, Curtis is walking when he sees Alisha.  He is suddenly surrounded by members of Virtue and held against his will.  Creepy Simon is looking at videos of Sally before erasing them.  Nathan is making his bed in the center when Kelly approaches with pizza.  She asks him why he gives Simon so much grief and Nathan says that he is just screwing around. When Nathan asks if she is in love with Simon, Kelly smacks him upside of the head.  Personally, she should have hit him a few more times and even harder.  Nathan calls her touchy and promises to leave her boyfriend alone.  They begin to talk about powers and Nathan says that he doesn't believe he has one, because you cannot improve upon perfection.  When Kelly finds the sock he uses to clean up with after masturbation, she is rightfully disgusted. She asks how he gets laid and Nathan admits that he gets girls really drunk.  Uh huh, so drunk I'm sure that he can take advantage of them.  I wonder if he realises that doing this is not only predatory, it's rape?  If someone cannot give an enthusiastic consent because they are drunk then it is without doubt rape.

Nathan and Kelly go to steal some booze, when Curtis is escorted in by Virtue all tied up.  Rachel uses her power on him and then pins him with a ribbon.  The next morning, Simon is watching as Virtue burns drugs and dildos of all things. Kelly and Nathan show up and tell Simon that the group got Curtis the night before.  Rachel is interviewed for television, where she says that her group is trying to encourage self respect, respectful behaviour and respect for the law. When Rachel is asked if she has a message for all of the young people watching, she turns to the camera, taps into her power and says, "you don't need to behave like this, you can be so much better." 

Fringe, Season Five, Episode One: Transilience Thought Unifier Model-11

It is the year 2015 and Olivia, Peter and Henrietta (ugliest name possible btw)  are having a nice day in the park, when suddenly there is a flare and the observers (note the first species of human) start appearing en mass.  In the next scene, Peter and Olivia are at a hospital because Olivia is clearly wounded. As she is getting treated, Peter realises that Henrietta is missing.

In the future, Peter wakes to find Walter asleep on the couch and gets up to check on Henrietta. When he leaves the room, she pulls out her necklace which has a bullet as a pendant. Back in the living room, Walter wakes and looks outside.  Peter goes to talk to Astrid, who seems to be working on some kind of word game on the computer and she offers him an egg stick.  Peter declares it punishment food.  Walter is upset because they let him sleep in and he wants to find Olivia.  He says that Olivia called him the day that she disappeared and he could hardly hear her.  Peter points out that this was 21 years ago and that she could be anywhere now.  Walter starts up a holographic image and says that Olivia has a piece of the puzzle that will unlock the whole.  It seems that Walter and September worked on a plan and it was scrambled in his brain to defeat the observers.  The device needed to unscramble the plan has been lost with Olivia. Peter tells Henrietta that she has to believe that Olivia is still alive and if she is still alive, they are going to find her.

The team take a black van to Columbus Circle and it is completely run down.  When Peter looks over a stone wall, he sees a machine that has been built to pump carbon monoxide into the atmosphere.  The natural air is too oxygen rich for the observers and in a few years, the changes will be irreversible. The change will reduce the average lifespan to about 45.  Walter says that it's around here that Olivia called him.  Astrid notices a huge area of amber.  They start to walk towards it as Walter says that they had discussed using Amber as a last resort to avoid capture by the observers.  Walter tells Peter he would have given him a devise to do the same, if he hadn't abandoned them. Astrid tries to assure Peter that Walter didn't mean it.  When they get to the amber, they discover a huge hole cut out of it and Henrietta says that amber gypsies are responsible.

The team arrives at some kind of black market.  Walter approaches a woman dressed in traditional Japanese  clothing and says, "I fell in love in Japan once, I almost married her."  What the hell is the point of this scene?  So far this woman is the only woman of colour that we have seen outside of Astried and we learn nothing about her, because Peter quickly ushers Walter on his way.  She is there to be nothing more than an exotic display and was absolutely not necessary to the story. Henrietta hands Peter some money and a handful of walnuts to pay for Olivia's release.  It seems that the economy is much changed, because this tiny handful of walnuts is worth almost three thousand dollars.  Henrietta instructs Peter to go ahead without her, fearing that she will be recognized as a member of Fringe.

Peter approaches the dealer and says that he and Astrid are looking for someone who was recently cut of  amber.  He assures the dealer that they are looking for family and are not loyalists.  Outside, Henrietta and Walter are talking and he tells her that she will always be a little girl to him, because for him it's only two months ago since he took her to the pier. Even as they share this moment, there is something about Henrietta that I do not trust.  Peter and Astrid go through the bodies trapped in amber and are unable to find Olivia.  They go back to the dealer and tell him that the woman they are looking for is a blonde and that she would have had an electronic device in her hand.  Peter has to offer up the handful of walnuts to find out that Olivia has been sold.

It turns out that the book store owner, yes the same character which has been around since the beginning of the show, is the one who has bought Olivia and he is using her body as a coffee table. When the doorbell goes off, he yells out that the apartment has been sanctioned and he invokes native rights 23D.   Peter calls out Markham, and Markham yells out that he is dead and died a heroes death.  Peter bursts through the door with a gun and Markham is shocked that none of them have ages. Markham says, "I loved her from the first time she came into my bookstore.  It's not supposed to happen this way. She's supposed to wake up and see me as her saviour - when I figure out how to wake her up."  Who would have thought it possible for Markham to get anymore creepy.  Also, the image of Olivia laid out like that is very reminiscent of Snow White in her coffin waiting for true love's kiss to save her.  Considering that Olivia has always been an extremely active character, I found this scene so very reductive of her person. Astrid points Peter to a gurney, Walter is fascinated by the books and Henrietta kneels to look at Olivia encased in amber.

The amber gypsy that Peter and Astrid went to see to find Olivia calls the observers and says that he has level four information and demands three times the vouchers for his loyalty.

Outside of Markham's building, Olivia, Henrietta and Astrid have managed to load Olivia into the van, when they notice that Walter is missing.  Walter is upstairs in Markham's apartment, going on about the books.  An Observer appears in the doorway and says, "resistance if futile."  Henrietta appears saying "I feel like I've heard that before," and then shoots the observer. I suppose we should be thankful that they acknowledged that this line came from Star Trek, but honestly, I found it ridiculous.  She orders Walter to run, but Henrietta gets back to the street, Walter is still missing.  Seeing that there is no choice, because they are now surrounded, Peter drives off in the van with Henrietta, Olivia, and Astrid.  Upstairs, Walter is running through the halls and is captured.

Back at Henrietta's, they release Olivia from the amber.  Peter rushes forward and tells her that she is now in the year 2036.  Olivia tells him that she ambered herself.  Over Peter's shoulder, Olivia spies Henrietta and Peter introduces her to her daughter. Olivia and Henrietta both have tears in their eyes, and Olivia tells her that the last time she saw her, Henrietta was three years, one month and five days old. Olivia says "there was not one moment that I didn't think about you," as the two embrace.  Over Henrietta's shoulder she asks about Walter.

They tell Olivia that Walter was captured this morning by the observers.  Olivia pulls out the device that Walter sent her to retrieve in 2015. It's interesting to note that though she and Astrid did have a sort of friendship, that Olivia has not bothered to acknowledge Astird's presence.  Walter has been handcuffed to a chair, when an observer enters the room and says, "we have been looking for you and your friends. I am very interested in you and don't know why you're alive."  Walter starts to think about classical music and the observer realises that Walter misses music.  The Observer says that he doesn't understand music and Walter replies, "mostly it amazes me.  Music helps you shift perspective; to see things differently if you need to." The observer asks if it helps to see things like hope and then points out that there is no hope for him because nothing grows from scorched earth. "You seem much more interesting as a human being than a vegetable, but all things being equal, I don't care which one you end up," the observer says.

In the Bronx, New York, Henrietta takes them to an apartment and instructs them to wait outside.  When Henrietta goes in she calls for Enell, and tells him that she needs his help.  Outside, Olivia says to Peter, "we didn't save the world."  Peter tells Olivia that he never thought that he would see her again. "I know what you thought of me when I wouldn't leave Boston to come to New York with you.  When I left you alone," Peter says. Olivia replies, "Peter we lost our child and in our grief we were incapable of being what we needed to be for each other.  That is all it was."  Peter answers, "You were stronger and you saw that the world needed us and you went to help them but I didn't have the will to give up searching for this perfect little soul that we made." This is a really touching scene and Peter cries, as he explains that he had to find Henrietta at all costs, including them.

Haven: Season 3, Episode 2: Stay

 We open with a naked man roaring like an animal and driving shop owners from their store – sometimes you just get the munchies.

Duke and Audrey are trying to convinced me the metaplot is actually going to last this season as Duke does a summation of how things stand – 27 years ago, Audrey and Lucy wrote a message in the Colorado Kid’s grave, calling on them to find him before the hunter. Audrey throws in her own exposition – with the man who kidnapped Audrey claiming she loved the Colorado Kid. Now Audrey thinks the CK’s alive and on the run. Nathan shows up so he and Duke can do their mandatory antler-clashing, before police work calls.

Audrey tries to approach the bestial naked man with a coat, noting by the loose chain that the man had been tethered at some point. But the irate shop owner gets even more irate and crowds the man, causing him to leap on him, bite his neck then rush off through a window.

At the police station Audrey gets to meet Dr. Claire Callahan – for Audrey. After being kidnapped it’s required for any civil employee with a gun in the town to have therapy – so insists their insurance. Audrey is, predictably, not exactly open to the idea even while Dr. Callahan acknowledges what Audrey does for the town and how that makes it even more likely she needs therapy.

Next case leads them to a barn with some ripped up animals – and a whole nest of naked, dirty people sleeping. Duke at another location finds another big naked man eating raw fish – Audrey asks him to restrain him – which he happily passes on to Dwight (who isn’t Duke’s biggest fan after the little dust-up they had when Duke’s super-powers kicked in).

While they have their naked bestial men contained in the barn, a kid decides to sneak in, forcing Audrey and Nathan to sneak in as well to rescue him – where we see the men fighting over clothes and getting dressed. During the sneaking, evading and tasering aggressive beast-men, Nathan shoots one in the leg and the rest manage to escape the barn and flee to the woods. And Audrey finds one who isn’t aggressive, though no more capable of communication. Back at the police station they get him clothes and food and Audrey continues to be hostile to the psychiatrist.

They get a call out to Dwight and Duke where they have another naked man restrained in Dwight’s truck, Dr. Callahan tags along to observe Audrey. They get too close to the cab and he breaks the window – spilling blood on Duke. Everyone waits for Duke’s Trouble to kick in – but it doesn’t. Duke starts celebrating but Nathan points out the naked man may not be Troubled. Dr. Callahan gets a message back from the hospital – the naked people aren’t Troubled, they’re severely drugged on a drug that is used to euthanise animals. It’s too powerful even for her to prescribe and causes “instant labotomies.”

They go to the animal control and find the place wrecked – including a naked man crammed into a tiny cage, with a broken neck. They also find part of the chains that were used to restrain the first bestial man. Nathan thinks the dog catcher has been treating these people like dogs – but Audrey points out there’s no way a man could have got in the cage. She thinks the men were dogs turned into men by a Trouble. Because Audrey just has to out-weird everyone.