Many of the residents of the small coastal town of Haven, Maine are afflicted with “The Troubles”—curses that give them odd (and often evil) supernatural powers. FBI Agent Audrey Parker (Emily Rose) found herself drawn to this town, and she discovered that she had actually been one of its residents in at least two past lives. Working with local police detective Nathan Wuornos (Lucas Bryant) and bar owner Duke Crocker (Eric Balfour), she tries to help people control their Troubles, or at least keep them at bay. While Audrey is not afflicted, Nathan’s Trouble is that he cannot feel anything, while Duke can permanently stop an affliction by killing a Troubled person, or get short-lived superhuman strength when the blood of Troubled person touches his skin. At the end of the second season, Audrey had been kidnapped. The third season picks up immediately where we left off—Duke and Nathan must put aside their differences to find Audrey.

This third season of Haven is an exciting journey that really delves deeper into the mysteries and mythology that was introduced in the earlier seasons. We learn a lot more about Audrey’s prior incarnation as Sarah Vernon, some of the secrets the Teagues brothers have been hiding, and finally get back to the Colorado Kid mystery that was introduced in the pilot. Season three also introduces some new recurring characters, such as Boston police detective Tommy Bowen (Dorian Missick), Dr. Claire Callahan (Bree Williamson)—a psychiatrist assigned to Audrey to help her with the trauma of being kidnapped—and Jordan Mckee (Kate Kelton)—a waitress at The Gun & Rose Diner, who is a member of The Guard. There are also some great guest stars, including Iain Glen, Claudia Black and Nolan North.

This third season of Haven is my favorite of the series so far! Each of the early episodes of the season feels like a mini horror film, with lots of mystery, suspense and drama. The creators really stepped it up this season, and have you on the edge of your seat! There are some really great case- or Trouble-of-the-week storylines that blend creepy with fun. Some of these include a vigilante lady justice, a pack of naked zombie-like men, a haunted house that tries to kill the people who enter it, killers who murder and resurrect their victims for ransom, time travel, a young girl with the power of suggestion, a Haven-wide coma, and folks getting turned back into teenagers. In addition to the plot of the week, each episode also explores a larger season-long arc—there is a serial killer on the loose in Haven, known as the Bolt Gun Killer, who is murdering women and collecting their body parts to build a woman of his or her own.

This is definitely a show that has replay value—I had forgotten just how amazing this season was until I was re-watching it on this Blu-ray! I also noticed even more details the second time around. The Blu-ray is also loaded with an amazing array of extras—a half-dozen audio commentaries, an interesting documentary on the making of the haunted house episode, the New York Comic Con panel, interviews, webisodes, deleted scenes, a blooper reel, trailers and more. It even includes a limited edition comic to bridge the gap between the third and fourth season, along with a sneak peek of the upcoming fourth season.

As for the video quality, the picture initially looked a bit grainy to me. However, as I binged my way through the discs, I noticed this less and less. The audio sounded great, capturing the soundtrack and sound effects while dialogue was still perfectly clear.

The third season Blu-ray of Haven is an exciting collection of standalone storylines, but it also provides a really interesting season-long arc, plus a whole host of bonus features. I highly recommend picking this up and checking out the third season of Haven before the fourth season kicks off in less than two weeks!

What’s Included on the Blu-ray:

Episodes: (572 min)

• All 13 episodes of Season 3
  Disc 1: “301”, “Stay”, “The Farmer”, “Over My Head”
  Disc 2: “Double Jeopardy”, “Real Estate”, “Magic Hour: Part One”, “Magic Hour: Part Two”
  Disc 3: “Sarah”, “Burned”, “Last Goodbyes”, “Reunion”
  Disc 4: “Thanks for the Memories”
• Audio: English 5.1 DTS-HD MA, English 5.1 DD
• Subtitles: English SDH

Extras:

• Audio Commentaries
  • Episode 2 “Stay”
    Executive producer Gabrielle Stanton & executive producer and writer Matt McGuinness initially have some trouble understanding how to do a DVD commentary, but eventually get the hang of it and provide an interesting behind-the-scenes discussion of the episode.
  • Episode 4 “Over My Head”
    Executive producer and writer Gabrielle Stanton & executive producer Matt McGuinness provide interesting behind-the-scenes tidbits while talking about the episode and give some hints for season 4.
  • Episode 9 “Sarah”
    Writers Nora Zuckerman & Lilla Zuckerman talk about writing the time travel episode of the series, and about how viewers finally get to meet Sarah.
  • Episode 11 “Last Goodbyes”
    Writers Brian Millikin & Shernold Edwards talk about the idea for the episode, the use of flashbacks, the trickiness of writing for the skinwalker, and more.
  • Episode 12 “Reunion”
    Writer of the episode Gabrielle Stanton talks about the idea for the high school reunion, while writer Brian Millikin, who was on the set during the production, provides behind-the-scenes information.
  • Episode 13 “Thanks For The Memories”
    Co-creators Sam Ernst & Jim Dunn talk about how this episode finally pays off on some of the mysteries raised in the first couple seasons.
• The Haunting Truth About Haven: A Documentary (42:14)
  A documentary film crew follows the cast and crew living their lives on and off the set in Nova Scotia as they create the haunted house episode, Real Estate.
  Includes interviews with actors Dorian Missick, Emily Rose, Eric Balfour, Allie MacDonald, Adam Copeland, John Dunsworth, Richard Donat, Iain Glen, Bree Williamson and Kate Kelton. Also contains interviews with crew members Suzy (Fourth Assistant Director), Randy (Stunts), Shawn Piller (Executive Producer, Director, Visual Effects, Showrunner), Derek Filiatrault (First Assistant Director), Jason Priestley (Director), Sam Ernst & Jim Dunn (Co-creators), Brian Millikin (Writer), Gerry MacDonald (Transport), Chris (Visual Effects), Drew Wilson (Paranormal Investigator), and other various crew members.
• Haven Panel from New York Comic Con (47:50)
  The entire Haven panel from the 2012 New York Comic Com, filmed on Saturday, October 13, 2012. That cast and creators talk about the third season.
• Cast Interviews (27:36)
  Play All or select from:
  • Emily Rose, Lucas Bryant & Eric Balfou (14:39)
    The cast talk about their favorite parts of show’s third season, the pranks on set and more.
  • Iain Glen (5:29)
    Guest star Iain Glen talks about how he got involved with Haven, his work on Game of Thrones and more.
  • Iain Glen; or Nolan North & Emily Rose (7:27)
    Emily Rose and guest star Nolan North talk about finally getting to work together on-screen after doing motion capture with one another for so many years on the Uncharted video game series.
• “Escape to Haven” Webisodes (16:01)
  Short videos that serve as an introduction to the series, introducing the characters, explaining The Troubles, bringing viewers up to speed on the major plot points. The first four feature Jordan McKee trying to recruit new viewers to The Guard while the second half has Dwight Hendrickson warning viewers not to trust what Jordan has said.
  Play All or select from “Are You Troubled?”, “Don’t Worry”, “Escape to Haven“, “We Are The Guard”, “The Cleaner”, “The Soldier”, “The Recruit”, “The Father”
• Deleted/Alternate Scenes (11:01)
  Eleven deleted/alternate scenes from the third season, presented in a window boxed format. These don’t really add much and a few of them are literally only seconds long.
  Play All or select from Episode 2: Stay, Episode 3: The Farmer, Episode 5: Double Jeopardy, Episode 8: Magic Hour – Part 2, Episode 9: Sarah, Episode 10: Burned and Episode 11: Last Goodbyes.
• Behind-the-Scenes Reel (4:22)
  Montage of behind-the-scenes footage of the cast and crew. This is more of a love letter to the hundreds of folks who work on the show as only they would recognize most of the faces in the video. However, it’s interesting to see just how many people are involved in the making of this show!
• Blooper Reel (5:32)
  Fun with the cast as they forget/flub lines and goof around on set.
• Season 3 Trailers (3:52)
  Play All or select from “Interantional Promo”, “New Season Trailer” and “Coming Soon To DVD”
• Season 4 Teaser (1:30)



• Limited Edition “After the Storm” Comic
  A 16-page comic book is included inside the Blu-ray slipcase. This comic gives readers a look at the events that occur during the 6-month gap between the third and fourth seasons. It is written by Haven writers’ assistant Nick Parker, and drawn by comic artist Steve Ellis, with a cover by Scott Hampton. This will only be included in the first 100,000 copies of the DVD and/or BD set.

Final Thoughts:

The third season of Haven is extraordinary, with perfectly creepy, fun and dramatic storylines, an interesting season-long arc, and answers fans have been waiting for for a long time! Add to that an amazing collection of bonus features and this is an easy recommendation!