Haven: Season 5, Vol. 1 Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		3.0

Haven: Season 5, Vol. 1 Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman September 10, 2015

When shows like The Twilight Zone: The Complete Series and The Outer Limits shuffled off the broadcast coil in the mid-sixties, television viewers jonesin’ for something a little supernatural tended to matriculate over to more whimsical outings like the long running situation comedies Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie. Fans of those particular series depicting the comical adventures of magically inclined females may recall that at various points in both series, stars Elizabeth Montgomery and Barbara Eden got to stretch their acting muscles (at least supposedly) when lookalike characters, evil twins of a sort who had with nefarious proclivities, showed up to throw various wrenches into the mix. Haven may not have the outright comic tendencies of either Bewitched or I Dream of Jeannie (though this first half of the series’ fifth season does indulge in a bit more dry humor than some longtime fans may like), but that old gambit of offering a lead actress a chance to get “down and dirty” is fully on display, as long suffering (and/or befuddled) Audrey Parker (Emily Rose) is “baaaack”, only this time as a decidedly nasty woman named Mara. For those not up to speed on Haven’s increasingly convoluted tale of the so-called Troubles (not to be confused with those in Northern Ireland, of course), our reviews of the show’s previous seasons can be found here:

Haven: The Complete First Season Blu-ray review

Haven: The Complete Second Season Blu-ray review

Haven: The Complete Third Season Blu-ray review

Haven: The Complete Fourth Season Blu-ray review

There’s a certain visceral excitement to seeing Rose bite into her “new” role as Mara, especially when the villainess does things like pull out a pistol and shoot someone (actually several people, but I digress) point blank or, in a truly horrifying moment, takes a newly sharpened pencil and “inserts” it into the eye socket of an unsuspecting passerby. Mara is evidently Evil Incarnate, and she (of course) has a major link to the Troubles, something that sends Nathan (Lucas Bryant), Duke (Eric Balfour) and even Dwight (Adam “Edge” Copeland) off on a snark hunt of sorts, as they are all looking for more portals like the one that opened beneath the lighthouse at the end of the previous season.

The good news is that the series, which is wrapping up its run with the “second half” of its fifth season (has Mad Men: The Final Season, Part 1 started a trend?), exploits less of the “Trouble of the Week” approach that helped to define its early going, and finally seems intent on providing at least a few answers as to what exactly is the story (and/or backstory) with both Audrey and all the craziness in Haven itself. The bad news is that the show still tends to go off on wild tangents at the drop of a veritable hat, as if to simply forestall the inevitable for yet another episode. Why, for example, spend tons of time setting up Mara as an ostensible “Moishe the Explainer”, only to shunt her to the sideline as Nathan gets “lost” in his own Trouble where he becomes something akin to a ghost? It’s just silly, ultimately, and will probably only further frustrate longtime fans who have been waiting years for some answers.

The other slight but noticeable change here in this putative “last” season is a difference in tone, where characters are apt to crack wise in the middle of a Trouble, and throwaway “punchlines” become something more of a norm. Some of this actually tends to land fairly well, as in a nice little bit dealing with Haven’s inability to get decent insurance on its hapless lighthouse, but a lot of the other supposed humor falls fairly flat, and in fact the series tends to work up more guffaws with its more traditional displays of florid reactions to whatever trauma is currently afflicting this or that denizen of the scenic village.

Haven: Season 5, Vol. 1 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Haven: Season 5 Volume 1 is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Entertainment One with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. The look of this series continues to be quite inviting, helped by having been shot on actual to goodness film, but much as I discussed in our Haven: The Complete Fourth Season Blu- ray review, things can look surprisingly soft a lot of the time and contrast is intermittently on the anemic side. While the palette has a bit more vividness in this season than the fourth, things are still oddly tamped down a lot of the time, a proclivity further exacerbated by some odd grading choices, especially in some of the Mara sequences (see screenshot 1). As has always been the case with this series, CGI is hit or miss, often looking fairly basic and quite soft (there are a number of SFX moments caught in various screencaptures accompanying this review). Fine detail is still often excellent in close-ups, something that may actually tend to bother the more squeamish fans watching the show, as some of the afflictions depicted in this set of episodes are fairly graphic and at times disturbing.

Haven: Season 5, Vol. 1 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

As with previous seasons of this series, Haven: Season 5 Volume 1 features an effective DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track that provides excellent immersion during "Troubled" sequences or in any number of more action oriented moments, which abound in this set of episodes. There's actually a surprising amount of gunfire at times, and punchy sound effects reverberate with a great deal of authenticity throughout a number of episodes. Bigger SFX sequences also offer a glut of sound effects that can swirl around the listener at times. Dialogue is cleanly presented and well prioritized on this problem free track.

Haven: Season 5, Vol. 1 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Disc One:

• Audio Commentaries:

  See No Evil with Director/Executive Producer Shawn Piller and Executive Producer Lloyd Segan

  Speak No Evil with with Director/Executive Producer Shawn Piller and Executive Producer Lloyd Segan

  Spotlight with Actors Emily Rose and Lucas Bryant

  Much Ado About Mara with Actors Emily Rose and Lucas Bryant

Disc Two:

• Audio Commentaries:

  The Old Switcheroo — Part 1 with Actor Adam Copeland and Writer Adam Higgs

  The Old Switcheroo — Part 2 with Actor Adam Copeland and Writer Adam Higgs

  Nowhere Man with Writers Brian Millikin and Nick Parker

  Exposure with Writers Brian Millikin and Nick Parker

Disc Three:

• Audio Commentaries:

  Morbidity with Writers Speed Weed and Adam Higgs

  Mortality with Writers Speed Weed and Adam Higgs

  Reflections with Writers Shernold Edwards and Y. Shireen Razack

  Chemistry with Writers Shernold Edwards and Y. Shireen Razack

Disc Four:

• Audio Commentary:

  Chosen with Writers Gabrielle Staunton and Matt McGuinness.

• Haven: Origins: Witches Are Born (1080p; 7:29) offers a bit of background on one important plot development.


• Haven: Origins: Native Breaks Free (1080p; 7:07) journeys back to the War of 1812 for additional backstory.


• Inside Haven Featurettes (1080i; 47:01) offers EPKs for each of the 13 episodes included in this set.

Haven: Season 5, Vol. 1 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Emily Rose's fun turn as Mara injects some needed energy back into this series, and I actually liked this first half of the fifth season at least marginally more than the sometimes overly amped up antics of the fourth season. There's still way too much sidebar material here, and hopefully the writers will finally focus on delivering some cogent explanations as the series wends it way toward its conclusion. Haven continues to be more than a bit silly a lot of the time, but Rose makes it at least intermittently worthwhile. Technical merits range from very good (video) to excellent (audio), and as with previous seasons, the supplementary package is quite commendable. Recommended.