Syfy, 28 September 2012

A group of wild, feral young men wreak havoc throughout Haven—is there a connection with the seemingly abandoned dog pound?

Oh dear. It was all going so well with the debut episode of Haven’s third season. Now it’s all gone to the dogs. Really, this is a truly risible episode, and it is amazing the cast were able to keep straight faces throughout. Pity the poor actors having to growl throughout as though they were dogs.

The new wild men of Haven are not men at all, but dogs magically transformed into men by one man’s frustration. Why was this concept not laughed out of the writers’ room? Haven has produced a fair number of rubbish episodes in its time, but this one takes the (dog) biscuit.

In some ways it is a backhanded compliment to Emily Rose, Eric Balfour and Lucas Bryant that they do manage to make the best of a terrible script. Additionally, the direction (by Shawn Piller, son of the late Star Trek: The Next Generation showrunner Michael Piller) is pretty abysmal, especially in the scene where our heroes confront the dog-men in a barn, and later in the woods. No wonder half a million viewers disappeared between the first and second episodes.

Verdict: A dog of an episode.

Episode 2 ‘Stay’: 4/10

Brian J. Robb

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