HAVEN “Love Machine” Review

HAVEN “Love Machine” Season 2, Episode 3 – For obvious reasons, this episode of Haven reminded me of one of my favorite camp horror films, Maximum Overdrive. As a child, the sight of harmless inanimate objects suddenly coming to life to wreak havoc was terrifying, but as an adult it has become one of my favorite phenomenons in camp horror and sci-fi. It is difficult to throw in the idea of machines coming to life with murderous intent without the entire story seeming like a big joke, but Haven actually did a really good job with it in this episode.

For starters, they didn’t let you believe that it was the machines alone that were responsible for the deaths in Haven until the very end of the Trouble-of-the-week reveal. The thought of a human mind manipulating machines with deadly force is arguably more sinister than crazy machines acting on their own. It helped that both Nathan and Audrey had addressed and then dismissed the idea of the machines acting independently so as far as the viewer was concerned, there was a single unknown suspect behind the gruesome accidents that were afflicting the community near the docks.

Once it was revealed that the machines were indeed acting on their own, there was no time to actually reflect on how silly it was for these appliances to suddenly become sentient. The heartbreaking reality of Lewis being forced to live in Haven for the rest of his life in order to placate the machines was infuriating. I was angry at the machines and I was angry at the mysterious town of Haven for putting that kind of a burden on an average person. The final scene, showing his shop closed indefinitely, left me feeling sad and wondering if there was really nothing else that could have been done. The camp effect of machines coming to life was the furthest thing from my mind, so I’d say that Haven put a successful spin on that story.

The other, more significant story in this episode of Haven was the unexpected exit of Audrey #2. I was really enjoying Audrey #2 and I was hoping that she would be sticking around for a good part of the season. It was almost unfair to have her leave Haven the way she did. Duke mentions that Audrey #2′s return from the mysterious shack was like the day they found The Colorado Kid, where no one remembers anything. There isn’t much more information offered and we might never find out what Audrey #2 saw in that rundown shack in the middle of the forest, but whatever it was, it took away her memories and it took away the friendship that she had formed with Audrey. Realizing that, the scene with Audrey filling in Audrey #2 on her memories and her background was really emotional and it wrapped up the episode on a somber note.

Whatever it was that happened to Audrey #2, it seems like Agent Howard is behind it – or at least he knows something about it. Was it his intention to only have Audrey #2 go to the coordinates? Would something completely different have happened if both Audreys investigated together? Audrey also seems to be warming to the frightening idea that she might not be Audrey Parker at all. When she plays the piano she mentions that although Audrey never learned piano, maybe Lucy Ripley did. In her final scene with Audrey #2, I was half expecting her to say that her name was Lucy and I was actually relieved when she said that her name was also Audrey. I’m not quite ready for her to be abandoning her history as Audrey Parker just yet, but I’m excited to see what direction Haven will take the story next.