Immediately following the first episode of The Final Season™ of Haven, we got the 12th-last episode. With the town dealing with the fallout of even more Troubles, things are about to get a lot more interesting in Haven. And with this being Syfy’s 31 Days of Halloween, it wouldn’t surprise you if things get a little murdery in Maine.

This episode picks up two weeks after the conclusion of the season premiere. While there was some dissention teased between The Guard and Naudrey, the Brothers Teagues and Charlotte, everyone is working together for the good of Haven.

This week, a large portion of the town is without power so the townsfolk are being hustled into the elementary school as a shelter. A loss of power wouldn’t normally be a problem but there is a Trouble floating around Haven that kills people in the dark. And by kills, I mean eats them clean apart from the bones. It’s very Vashta Nerada from the Silence in the Library story on Doctor Who.

The action this week sees Nathan lead a repair team of Charlotte, Dave and two redshirts to fix the powerplant. The first redshirt is offed instantly in Trouble Alley and I’m not even sure he got a name. The other redshirt was Kira who has a lightning trouble that was used to temporarily kickstart the power until the grid overloaded.

The reason why Charlotte came along was as a plot device. She sent Nathan off to find aether because it might cure the Troubles. Kira went with him only to get eaten off-screen by the dark. When Nathan got back to the school without Kira, the townsfolk turned on him. They were literally pointing fingers at him over Kira getting killed which was a bit too on the nose.

The B-story which should have been the A-story was what was happening back at the school. Dwight is trying to keep the townsfolk under control when it looks like a near riot could break out at any moment as tensions rise. Dwight is torn between maintaining some semblance of law & order and trying to keep everyone safe, including those breaking laws and putting people in danger and it’s really making him one of the more interesting characters again. Audrey is busy trying to solve the Nashta Verada Trouble (assuming that it is a Troubled person). And Vince is actually thinking about the bigger picture and has the important part of the episode.

Vince and McHugh (it’s… it’s Christian) are busy looking into a rash of deaths where the dead have no marks apart from spotted eyes. It’s clear that the same thing from Dave’s visions is killing these people but they aren’t any closer to figuring out what is happening. It’s clear that this is the direction that the season is going but the writers are making us wait to find out anything more about the Croatoan.

Meanwhile, in Halifax, Duke has taken up a job in a garage to make some money and stay out of trouble. If only life was that simple. It turns out that Haven seems to no longer exist outside the fog barrier. The town isn’t on the map. No one has ever heard of it. Records of all the townsfolk don’t exist. It’s like the fog barrier didn’t just seal everyone in the town. It looks like it’s completely isolated Haven in the whole of space and time. Duke is all that’s left of Haven to the outside world. So he’s crazy with a good explanation again. At least he didn’t have to go all the way to Boston and stuck close to home in Halifax.

Overall, I thought this was another good episode. I’m starting to think that last season was a bit of a creative blip rather than the harbinger of a terrible fifth season. We’re used to Haven being written in a serialized way. Each episode is self-contained enough to work as an episode but also contributes to a larger plot for the season as a whole. Last season, they were busy trying two-parters for the first time and it didn’t work because they lost focus on the big picture. That’s been fixed this year.

Other random points of note:

• The second half of the Haven season premiere aired at 11:00 PM on a Thursday night. It’s bad enough that SmackDown is a worse lead-in on Thursdays than Fridays (falling WWE show ratings is a big problem right now) but putting Power on this late led to a series low viewership. New World Order had about 750,000 viewers. Power had 550,000 which was 170,000 below previous series low Much Ado About Mara. This week’s WWE SmackDown had 2.1 million. The last time Haven had SmackDown as a lead-in (in 2013), SmackDown had 2.7 million viewers and 1.25 million tuned in for Haven.
• It just clues in now, doesn’t it? They always said that killing Nathan would end the Troubles, not that they would cure the Troubles. Those writers sure have some moments of brilliance when they want. The reveal couldn’t have been more nonchalant, though.
• The STATE of your cell phone, Duke. My mom used to have a flip phone too until they told her that they weren’t providing a compatible signal anymore. Maybe he should consider upgrading to the 21st century.
• This time in funny Troubles: A woman’s skin turns into a mirror when she’s acting vain. I bet she thinks this point is about her.

Next week, it’s The Trial of Nathan Wuornos. Following the lightning redshirt getting eaten by the dark in their hunt for aether, the townsfolk are looking for any sort of sanctioned way to take their frustrations out on the Troubled. A trial for putting Kira in harm’s way will apparently suffice. Can the super best friends keep Nathan from the mob?

Cross-posted from et geekera. For more from et geekera, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Tumblr, Steam and RSS.