OK, so I just finished re-watching Haven for the first time since I think it first came out. And I did not remember the ending at all beyond the fact that Duke died. I knew that Audrey and Nathan lived, that they had their happily ever after, and that Duke died. That one fact, stuck with me so deeply. And the fact that the big bad at the end is her father.
Upon rewatch, I am still horrified with how they conducted this plotline.
Firstly, that was not a situation where Duke had to die. There are so many times in the series where Audrey tapped into powers that she didnāt know she had in order to save Nathan. Itās literally the whole plot line of her controlling the aether. They couldāve done some weird maneuvering, plot armor thing to make it work out.
Secondly even if it was a situation where Duke had to die, they do so many things where they bring people back to life, and they fight against the circumstances that are against them then it makes no sense for this death to be permanent. Hell, the very next episode, Nathan dies and is then brought back to life. It makes no sense that there was no way at all for Duke Crocker to be alive again.
Thirdly, even if they were going to kill Duke for the situation, even if they were going to make it so his death was permanent, to then have Audrey come back as Paige without her memories of him is a slap in the face. Especially because, from the little conversation we have at the end, it appears this was a choice that she made. It wasnāt that this was the only way for her to be back, which would have made it somewhat acceptable. It was that she chose to be a whole new person, ā so she could fall in love with Nathan againā even though it meant, forgetting all the people she cared for who risked their lives for her- including Duke.
And, yeah, thatās a long list of people to remember. But from the beginning, itās been Nathan, Duke, and Audrey. The three of them against the world. Against everything that goes bump in the night. So forgetting him? Way bigger deal than what they made it out to be.
Lastly, even if they had to kill off Duke, make it permanent, and do the thing where Audrey becomes Paige and doesnāt remember anyone, they couldnāt have done something for Duke. Hell, I would have taken another little ghost vision of Duke, like the ones Dwight had took him to him to Nathan and helped him keep his daughter. Or even a slight mention of him from the two of them- maybe Jamesās middle name is Duke. Maybe Paige also has a dog named Duke. Maybe, sheās there to buy a boat from a man named Duke. Who the hell knows. But the fact that the only person who brought him up is Gloria? Blasphemy.
My issue isnāt even really that Duke was a favorite character of mine- I think my main issue is that they never would have done this to Nathan. If Nathan, for some reason, was the one who had problems with himself that was gonna hurt people and needed to be stopped and they decided one of them had to kill him? Duke wouldāve said hell no. Or the very least, if they did go through with it, they wouldāve done something to show that they mourned him.
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