Haven has a strong MotW formula that they adhere to pretty closely. The "troubles" allow them to basically introduce crazy new elements every week and usually resolve them by the end of the episode. But formulaic doesn't necessarily mean bad, at least not in my book. It just depends on how well the formula is executed. Unfortunately, this 'Groundhog Day' inspired episode made me groan because of a number of cliches that I tend to hate in the repeating day genre.
The one that drives me crazy the fastest is the "there's no time" cliche. A character knows something bad is going to happen and they're about to dash off to stop it. But wait! Before they can do that they have to get this other character, who doesn't know what's going on, to do something. "No time to explain," they say, "you just have to trust me." Except, well, there IS time. Plenty of it, in fact, for the character to lay out the broad strokes of what's happening. It's just that the writer's don't want the other characters to know, so that inevitably those characters can wander into harms way like lost sheep and the hero can shake their fists at the sky and yell "noooo!" Will the day continue to reset or did a main cast member demand too much in contract negotiations? Tune in to find out!
Another cliche that kind of bugs me is the 'this is how it ends' repeating day. You'd be surprised how often this gets used in 'Groundhog Day' stories. Basically, the writers intend to end a romance in this episode, and they want to use the repeated scene element of the story to show the gradual realization that the relationship isn't working. The scenes start with romance and lovers gazing into each other's eyes, but each new cycle introduces an off note to their interactions until finally by the end the relationship is over. It sounds like a cool storytelling technique until you realize that by the nature of the plot only one of the two can be growing between scenes. So one character has learned something about themselves and grown a little and seen that there are problems in the relationship that they don't know how to overcome, while the other person wakes up one day with their romantic partner saying "sorry, I think it's best if we don't see each other anymore." It's just a little harsh, is my point.
The last thing I'll say is that I didn't love the resolution of the story line, which involved a person with a mental disorder. Although I'm certain it was unintentional, it felt a little like the message was 'better to leave than burden those you love with your condition.' Again, I'm sure that's not what they intended, but it certainly felt a little like that to me, which left me feeling a little unsettled.
Anyway, the bottom line for me is that this is a middling episode of Haven. It's kind of a one-off, they don't really explore much of the shows mythology in it, and it feels a little more like housecleaning for future episodes than a decent stand-alone plot.
The one that drives me crazy the fastest is the "there's no time" cliche. A character knows something bad is going to happen and they're about to dash off to stop it. But wait! Before they can do that they have to get this other character, who doesn't know what's going on, to do something. "No time to explain," they say, "you just have to trust me." Except, well, there IS time. Plenty of it, in fact, for the character to lay out the broad strokes of what's happening. It's just that the writer's don't want the other characters to know, so that inevitably those characters can wander into harms way like lost sheep and the hero can shake their fists at the sky and yell "noooo!" Will the day continue to reset or did a main cast member demand too much in contract negotiations? Tune in to find out!
Another cliche that kind of bugs me is the 'this is how it ends' repeating day. You'd be surprised how often this gets used in 'Groundhog Day' stories. Basically, the writers intend to end a romance in this episode, and they want to use the repeated scene element of the story to show the gradual realization that the relationship isn't working. The scenes start with romance and lovers gazing into each other's eyes, but each new cycle introduces an off note to their interactions until finally by the end the relationship is over. It sounds like a cool storytelling technique until you realize that by the nature of the plot only one of the two can be growing between scenes. So one character has learned something about themselves and grown a little and seen that there are problems in the relationship that they don't know how to overcome, while the other person wakes up one day with their romantic partner saying "sorry, I think it's best if we don't see each other anymore." It's just a little harsh, is my point.
The last thing I'll say is that I didn't love the resolution of the story line, which involved a person with a mental disorder. Although I'm certain it was unintentional, it felt a little like the message was 'better to leave than burden those you love with your condition.' Again, I'm sure that's not what they intended, but it certainly felt a little like that to me, which left me feeling a little unsettled.
Anyway, the bottom line for me is that this is a middling episode of Haven. It's kind of a one-off, they don't really explore much of the shows mythology in it, and it feels a little more like housecleaning for future episodes than a decent stand-alone plot.
