SyFy: 'Haven' series premiere

Right. So we have our set up. Young hot shot FBI agent Audrey Parker has a penchant for the mysterious and is sent to a sleeepy seaside town in Maine to track down an escaped convict. When she arrives in town mysterious events are already in motion and she almost drives off the road and over a cliff. Insert local police officer Nathan Wuornos who helps her out of the car before it plummits below. Off they go to the crime scene for the convict she is after was found dead earlier that morning far from the base of a cliff. Agent Parker's investigation is not closed for she has to find out what happened. Thus begins her adventures in the town called Haven. 

Immediately you can tell that these two characters are written to play off each other. Parker is brimming with confidence and a hint of sarcasm. Wuornos is the typical small town police officer with a quiet demeanor that balances with her firecracker personality. A couple things about each of them. Parker is an orphan and that will mean something by the end of the first episode. Wuornos, it turns out, cannot feel pain. Yeah, that's his baggage so far. Slam a door on his finger. Shoot him in the shoulder. Can't feel it. There is a third character played by Eric Balfour called Duke Crocker. Pirate. Smuggler. Jack of all trades. Perhaps there are some clues as to his secret in the show but I will not say for sure. But he is a smooth talker and we'll have to wait and see what he's hiding. 

Perennial Canadian actors John Dunsworth and Nicholas Campbell have supporting roles in the show. Dunsworth is one of the local paper's editors who gives Agent Parker the first clue that gets this whole ball rolling by the end of the episode. It is a clipping from an old issue of the local paper. Campbell plays the town's police chief and also has links into the town's mysterious past that Parker finds so intriguing. She finds it so intriguing that she calls in her vacation time to stay in Haven for a while to look into it further. Little does she know that this was the goal of her superior all along. Someone else is in the background pulling the strings. 

There is an inherant difficulty in passing judgement on a show having seen only just the premiere episode. There really isn't enough there in the first episode about Haven's past to really make me wanna take the bait. Some of the writing and dialogue is also a bit iffy as well. The supernatural mystery drama appears to be effects heavy and dialogue light. I almost feel bad for saying it. After all, it's just one episode. 

But, having said that, any one of us could name any other big network tentpole show that despite all our hopes and dreams can never quite grasp the mantle. V, Flash Forward and Dollhouse come to mind. And yet others weathered the storm and have found their stride. I hear Fringe had gotten better in its second season; as did a show like Supernatural also rise up out of its first couple seasons to find its niche I am told. So while Haven didn't necessarily wow me and I didn't think there was enough in the first episode in regards to the overall story of the show to pique my interest I'm the kind of guy that gives everyone a second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth - god how many weeks did I subject myself to this previous season's rows of turds - chances. I wasn't so hot on the first few eps of SyFy's SGU but that show just got better and better as the season went along. Now that Haven has been set up let's see what the show's creators have in store for us. 

Will Haven find it's stride? Time will tell.