Synopsis: Nathan and Audrey attempt to stop Duke’s released troubles from wrecking havoc in Haven. Dave and Vince investigate Dave’s visions and learn more about the killer from his visions. Dwight takes matters into his own hands when the police department inadequately responds to the troubles. Duke deals with his guilt from releasing hundreds of troubles, while the citizens of Haven finally learn the truth about the troubles.
Rating: ★★★★☆
Season 5B picks up literally seconds after the explosive finale of the first half of season 5. Duke, after releasing a cloud of black aether, collapses with Audrey, Nathan, and Charlotte looking on in concern. Nearby in Haven on a crowded beach, the malicious black swarms of aether start to unleash chaos by infecting unsuspecting people and activating their troubles. While Haven starts to tear itself apart, Nathan races back to the station while Audrey and Charlotte work to get an unconscious Duke to the hospital.
Vince reveals to Nathan and Audrey that he has been having visions of the Croatoan colony killing in North Carolina. He suspects that something came out of a portal, or thinie as they call it, in North Carolina and killed all those people. In order to learn more about Haven’s connection to Croatoan, Vince and Dave visit the coroner’s office, asking Dr. Gloria for narcotics to help Dave tap into his subconscious to help activate more visions. Instead, Gloria whips up some good ole liquor to intoxicate Dave.
Across town, Nathan and Dwight, investigating a trouble that was called in, find reports of people literally frozen in place. They discover a dense mist of fog surrounding Haven that seems to be preventing people from leaving. This impenetrable barrier is causing more panic as people realize they cannot leave town. Nathan asks Audrey to look into the potential cause of the barrier, whom they believe to be a troubled man named Joe. After returning to the station with more questions than answers, Nathan and Duke carefully divulge the truth of the troubles to the remaining officers and staff. Nathan warily asks them to adapt and to not treat the troubled as criminals, but his pleas are meet with confusion and fear.
Duke asks Nathan to help him investigate and save a young troubled girl who causes everyone she touches to literally explode. They shortly discover that Joe’s son, a Haven police officer, is troubled, and is the one freezing those around him when paralyzed in fear. His son reveals that it was indeed his father who caused the wall of fog around town. Duke, unaffected by Joe’s son’s troubles, reasons that Joe and his son may have gotten new troubles today after Duke released the aether. His son soon demonstrates his control of his powers by releasing those frozen and accepting that he is no longer afraid.
Back at the coroner’s office, in his drunk stupor, Dave experiences a brief vision of something chasing a man in the woods. Along with Audrey and Nathan, Dave and Vince investigate the source of his vision in the woods and find Joe’s dead body, the man who created the barrier around town. Vince rumors that the killer may have scared Joe into creating the barrier, then subsequently killed him so they would be unable to bring it down.
As things begin to get worse, in an act of desperation, Dwight broadcasts a message from the station across Haven, informing the town of the barrier surrounding it and insisting that troubled people can live in peace with others. Dwight claims that the Guard is now taking over what he calls the new Haven. Dwight, having disbanded the Haven PD, insists the Guard is now the primary law making and peace keeping force in town.
TWO WEEKS LATER
After two weeks of trying to combat the town’s new troubles, Dwight ushers everyone remaining in Haven to the elementary school, as half of Haven has lost power. Those caught in the dark are prey to someone’s dangerous darkness trouble. Darkness is literally killing, bringing a whole new meaning to the monsters in the dark in your closet and under your bed. If people are caught in the dark for too long without light, they are swallowed by a mysterious monster. Dwight seems like he is handling things as well as could be expected after two weeks of enduring constant troubles, but before long, people are becoming desperate and a few begin stealing precious batteries.
Dwight gathers the rest of Haven together, insisting that desperate times calls for desperate measures. He claims that the only way to keep people safe is to punish those who are committing crimes, and Dwight publicly banishes a man for stealing a few extra precious batteries. For now, it sounds like banishment equals execution. Meanwhile, Nathan gathers a rag tag group of people, including Dave and Charlotte, to mount a risky mission to repair the power plant and restore power to Haven before the school looses power permanently.
Back at the school, Dwight seems to be struggling with making the difficult decision to begin banishing citizens who break the rules. Audrey is tipped off by a woman that claims her husband saw someone walk into the darkness and out unscathed and Audrey believes this person could be the source of the darkness trouble. Later, Audrey discovers that Dwight and Vince have found the body of the woman’s husband who appears to have been attacked by the same serial killer that killed Joe. To her surprise, Vince also reveals that Dwight is using a troubled person to put the people he has banished to sleep in a sort of induced coma, instead of actually throwing them out as she previously had believed. Dwight’s goal is to maintain the fear of banishment, as without it, anarchy would ensue at the school.
Nathan and another troubled woman named Kiera split from Dave and Charlotte when Nathan detects subtle signs of aether nearby. Nathan discovers a large dark deep cavern where the aether readings fly off the chart. Nathan, desperate to find more aether for a cure, foolishly pursues the aether down the hole with Kiera. When Charlotte and Dave return to the school the next morning to find Nathan and Kiera still missing, Audrey grows incredibly concerned and is prepared to mount a rescue mission. To her surprise, Nathan returns unharmed but regretfully shares that Kiera got stuck in the dark and died, much to the outrage of the rest of Haven’s population.