This episode seems to support a troubling trend of this struggling fifth season: every set of two episodes is roughly covering what could (and arguably should) be covered in a single episode.  It’s as if the writers saw that they had twice as much time, and simply cut the plans for a final fifth season into more chunks.  Which is fine, I suppose, if it’s leading to an endgame; it’s much harder to justify if this is business as usual.

 

Much like the first two installments, this episode is a direct follow-up to elements introduced in the previous hour.  Subsequently, it feels just as dragged out.  As I said for the previous episode, I love deep character interaction and exploration as much as anyone, but that’s not what I feel like we’re receiving.  Instead, it feels repetitive and filled with padding.  The same narrative ground could have been covered with greater impact and urgency in half the time.

 

What really drove this home, unfortunately, was the final act.  There was finally some forward momentum as Nathan, Duke, and Dwight came together to confront Mara and test the theory that Audrey could take control and access Mara’s memories.  The scene burns hits several major expository points in a matter of minutes, setting up what I can only assume will be the next stage of the quest to restore Audrey in the next two episodes.

 

Mara’s inability to cure the Troubles is a rather important plot point, as is the idea that Mara can’t be destroyed if Audrey is supposed to access her memories for some future purpose.  So it’s less a matter of eliminating Mara than finding a way for Audrey to assert primary control of their shared body, which may be enough to provide a vehicle for uncovering the lingering mysteries of Haven.  The wait to get to some sense of equilibrium, however, is dragging down the start of the season.

 

Meanwhile, something dangerous did, in fact, come through the portal under the Lighthouse, and Vince and Dave continue to deal with the implications.  I don’t know that we learned much about it, other than its potential to answer questions about the true nature of those from the other universe.  But that’s another example of what is concerning this season; it’s taking far too long to get into the meat of the mystery.