Snap Judgment_Haven by Claudia Charles

Although I'm not the biggest Eric Balfour fan, I decided to give Haven a shot. I do like that Nicole de Boer stars in the series. I haven’t seen her in too much since Star Trek Deep Space Nine and then in Stephen King's Dead Zone, USA Network's sci fi series also starring Anthony Michael Hall. The opening of the pilot episode seems a little dry to me. They're trying too hard to establish Emily Rose's heroine, Audrey Parker, as a sarcastic know-it-all. She's an FBI agent extraordinaire investigating the murder of a serial killer she's been tracking when she's paired with one of Haven's local police officers, Nathan Wuornos. Look for lots of clichéd references regarding the FBI versus the local LEOs. As for Balfour's introduction, they want his character (Duke Crocker) to be enigmatic, but unfortunately he lacks the presence to carry what could be an interesting role. The acting's so-so, although to be fair, the cast seems to be rather hemmed in by some stock dialogue. So the secret of Haven is that people have powers over the weather? Okay…

I will say that the last fifteen minutes of the episode improved. The mystery was introduced regarding an old picture of a woman who looks eerily like Audrey. Her doppelganger may be her mother, but Audrey has mentioned she's an orphan. I'm intrigued enough with this aspect that I'm willing to watch another episode. The jury's out on this series for me.