Returning for a second smash season, Haven is a Showcase Original series about a somewhat psychic female FBI agent and some strange shenanigans in small-town Maine. One of the most unique adaptations of the works of Stephen King, it's loosely based on the horror master’s 2005 unsolved-crime novella The Colorado Kid, and cooks up a secondary level of mysteries — an entire town’s worth — around the original story. Season one ended with the town’s ‘troubles’ being (mostly) explained, but uncovered a whole new problem: Not only is it likely that FBI Agent Audrey Parker is related to the Colorado Kid, but she also might not actually be Agent Parker after all. Confusing yet captivating? Of course it is. After all, it’s Haven. Welcome back, you’d better sit down for this.

---------------------------------------

“Sins of the Fathers.” Has there been a more portentous title for an episode of Haven? (That was rhetorical.)

I don’t know about you, but I actually try to avoid the titles of the individual Haven episodes, and I only look them up after the fact. In keeping with most modern thriller/drama programs, Haven’s episode titles are almost always subtle encapsulations of the events of the viewing evening (they’re titles, after all). “Friend or Faux” was a cheeky literal favourite, as was “The Tides That Bind.” Like most if not all of the others, these titles carry bottom-line hints while avoiding outright spoilers.

Still, episode titles can and will put ideas in a fan’s brain. I like my brain just fine empty, thank you. By which I mean, I like to have the character/plot development, twists and turns, and general action and scares hit me naturally. I stumbled across “Sins of the Father” weeks ago -- oh, internet: it’s too much information! -- and could never find a way to forget it.

I needn’t have worried about spoilers. “Sins of the Fathers” is indeed the correct title for the final episode of Haven Season 2 (you read correctly, this episode is the finale but there remains one more episode to air -- more on that in a moment). While said fathers and sins are front and centre in this revelation-heavy shocker, it’s the way that their roles are brought to light -- unearthed, if you will -- that proved mind-blowing. [OF COURSE WE’RE NOT GOING TO SPOIL IT FOR YOU: WATCH THE EPISODE HERE]

I’ll try to keep the discussion of this episode at the subtle level of the title convention. Still, I’ll allow for some potential spoilers, though I’ll phrase them vaguely -- so skip this paragraph if you’re a purist. I’ve remarked before on strategic similarities between Haven and the infamous David Lynch series, Twin Peaks. This is not to say that new show apes the older -- not at all. Still, what Haven excels at is cultivating the Lynch approach of constantly adding new plot threads (and red herrings) so that when big questions are finally answered, they have been superceded by new ones. “Sins of the Fathers” gave us plenty of answers. Among them: the Rev’s real agenda; the nature of Duke’s Trouble (and, wow, what a way to deliver that information!); and, most importantly, Audrey’s identity and official role in the town of Haven. But in telling us these things, notably the last one, we are left wondering what will be the town’s final fate -- not just after this episode, but in general. We now know that the Troubled/non-Troubled war is resolvable, but we know what the price will be. And it’s nothing short of devastating.

Like any good thriller, Haven had the good sense to wrap this season with a cliff-hanger -- in fact, a pair of them: a kidnapping and a shooting. While fans will scream blue bloody murder if these 11th-hour threads don’t get resolved, here’s my take: In terms of established characters, there are three prime suspects for the kidnapping. One, we haven’t seen since Season One; the other, we haven’t seen for a while in Season Two; the third, I’ll leave you to guess -- but the character was in the finale. For the shooting, well, nothing’s over until it’s over. Who’s alive, who’s dead -- we’ll find out “next episode.”

Except the “next episode” of Haven is, apparently, not the follow-up to the finale; though that information could be wrong -- oh, internet! But if you consider the bigger picture, if that information is true and the finale is the finale, and Haven doesn’t come back for a third season, I think smart viewers have enough information to make their own decisions about what happened in that town. In a sense, you can decide the outcome of the kidnapping and the shooting, depending on what you want to happen to the characters involved.

BUT WAIT, you say. WHAT IS THE NEXT EPISODE ABOUT, THEN? Again, I can offer nothing except to say that it will surface around the holiday season. But based on what we didn’t learn in “Sins of the Father”, one wonders if the the next episode is going to finally tell the story of Kid named Colorado...

DESPITE WHAT I SAID ABOVE: What do you think happened with the kidnapping and the shooting in “Sins of the Fathers”? Post your theories here in the Comments!