Stephen King Sci-Fi Series Is One Of The Most Fun Shows Of The Last Decade
Stephen King and “light-hearted sci-fi procedural” doesn’t sound like it goes together, and honestly, Haven, a SyFy original series, is only loosely based on a King novella, The Colorado Kid. The book is about a mysterious death in a small town in Maine investigated by two local newspaper reporters, while the series includes a mysterious death but surrounds it with a town full of supernatural events that defy explanation. If Buffy and NCIS got together and had a kid, it would be this show, which is impossible to take seriously but is one of the lightest, breeziest binge-watches available today.
The Troubles
The town of Haven has been beset by what the residents refer to as “The Troubles,” a sudden burst of paranormal activity that manifested in strange powers taking hold of citizens. A typical “Case of the Week” format centers around something strange, from mysterious murders in the dead of night to an earthquake or a pyrokinetic on the loose. Investigating these cases is the new-in-town Audrey Parker (played by Emily Rose), joined by local officer Nathan Wournos (Lucas Bryant), and starting in Season 2, WWE Hall of Famer Edge aka Adam Copeland, and what starts simple (for a strange outburst of superpowers) quickly spirals into a generations-spanning mystery.
It takes a while for the big picture to become clear, and by then, the show has gone wildly off the rails into secret organizations, different dimensions, and the same people playing their own evil twins in the most soap opera twist possible. Yet even The X-Files and Battlestar Galactica ended up losing the plot in their final seasons, and at least with Haven, it’s a fun ride to get to the end.
Tells A Complete Story
And there is an ending. Haven aired for five seasons on SyFy, telling a complete story between all of the “Case of the Week” episodes, bottle episodes (an early one paying homage to Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None is a standout), and a parade of guest stars. Among the familiar faces that pass through the town are Colin Ferguson (from the SyFy series Eureka), William Shatner, Edge’s best friend forever and world’s greatest Dad, Christian, aka William Reso, 90s heartthrob Jason Priestly, and Battlestar Galactica’s Michael Hogan.
The Last Of Its Generation
REVIEW SCORE
I was a sucker for this generation of SyFy originals, from Eureka and Warehouse 13 to Sanctuary and Haven, for being light, easy watches that don’t demand much of the viewer. The equivalent of a bag of potato chips, none of these shows will fill you up or have deep, philosophical messages to get across, but what they are is incredibly entertaining from start to finish. Of course, as SyFy originals, the crew had to get creative with their budgets, and the shows can look a little…cheap…compared to the million-dollar streaming shows of today, but that’s part of the charm.
You can’t compare Haven to a straight Stephen King series adaptation like Rose Red, Castle Rock, or The Stand, even though it is filled with small references to his vast catalog of work, but it’s also still better than The Langoliers and Under the Dome. If you’re in the mood for a new sci-fi show to binge, you can stream it for free on Amazon Freevee or on Sling TV.
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