Haven Episode 5.18 Wild Card

When Dave wakes from a vision about Croatoan killing someone else in Haven he and Vince decide to go investigate. They find a woman-the first survivor of the No Marks Killer but she has no recollection of what happened to her. They consult with Gloria, one of our favorite ladies in town, about a way to jog the woman's memory but nothing seems to work.

Meanwhile, Dwight and Nathan are investigating a town disturbance. A man has been screaming about horses and appears to be drunk but, as Nathan and Dwight watch, the man is trampled to death by invisible horses. What's also odd - if that wasn't odd enough - is the Roman numeral VII tattooed on the man's wrist that the man claimed appeared out of thin air. Pretty soon, Dwight and Nathan find another dead man who looks like he had been struck by lightening and taken a fall from a skyscraper. A skyscraper in Haven? That's almost as bizarre as the Troubles. Upon further investigation, Nathan notices that this guy has the Roman numeral XVI tattooed on his wrist. They find a list of names in the man's pocket that leads them to a local fortuneteller named Lainey. But before they can get to her, Nathan breaks his tire iron while trying to fix a flat and Dwight starts to feel stabbing pain in his side and has a gnarly bruise to match. Coincidence? Of course not, this is Haven. We smell a Trouble. Their luck completely runs out when the guys notice that they too have been marked by Roman numerals on their wrists, the number X for Nathan and XII for Dwight.

On the other end of town, Audrey and Charlotte have been busy trying to create a giant aether core (think: big black ball of aether) from the stash Charlotte found in the last episode. With the aether core, Charlotte believes they can create a new Barn where people with Troubles can go inside and step out "cured" of their Troubles. Kind of like a drop off service for Troubles. Yet, despite their good intentions, neither one of the ladies are making much progress with the aether core. To make matters worse, Charlotte starts to feel severely weak and Audrey starts to lose her eyesight. And then the Roman numeral tattoo Trouble hits them both, the number II for Audrey and VIII for Charlotte.

In North Carolina, Duke is busy getting swindled by a man who claims to be able to extract the "black tar" from his soul. The guy gave a believable performance, "stabbing" himself in the arm, touching Duke's chest and then writhing in pain and letting the black tar - that's supposed to be blood- spill into a pot that looked rustic enough to seem majestic. Blood letting ritual 101. But our guy Duke knows how he feels around Troubled blood, and this local man, no matter how convincing his performance was, is a fake. Duke spots the guy's motor oil packet that he conveniently attached to the same forearm he "stabbed" to convince Duke that he was absorbing his Trouble, mixing it with his own blood and then bleeding it out. Yeah, no. Feeling guilty and afraid that Duke is going to beat the snot out of him, the guy gives Duke the name of someone who can help him, Walter Faraday. Desperate, Duke and Seth go in search of Walter. The two find Walter... and his grave and a symbol we've seen before on his headstone, The Guard symbol. All seems lost until Seth vanishes and then the ominous ghost of Walter, in full fleshy human form, no Casper cameos here, appears and promises to give Duke answers to all of his questions - in the next episode of course.

With their senses impaired, Charlotte and Audrey take a break from aether catching. Charlotte tells Audrey more about her and Mara's father who was once a brilliant scientist from Charlotte's world. Charlotte explains that her husband became obsessed with his research and started experimenting with forces beyond his control (aether) and was banished to The Void because of this. In Charlotte's world, aether is like plutonium. In the right hands aether can do great things, but in the wrong hands, like Charlotte's husband and Mara's, it can destroy. With this new information, and a new sense of resolve Audrey and Charlotte try again to create an aether core...

...As Dwight and Nathan arrive at Lainey's. Lainey remembers drawing cards for the two victims Nathan and Dwight found earlier but she insists that she doesn't remember pulling cards for anyone in their crew. Lainey, like the woman Dave and Vince encountered earlier, has lost time, which is a sure sign that she's had a visit from Croatoan.

Fearful that Croaton may come for Audrey and Charlotte next, Dwight rushes off to help them but his tortured/tarot card fate ends up nearly chocking him to death. Desperate to help his friends, Nathan asks a bewildered Lainey to draw new cards for them all. Dwight's new fate is being shackled by chains, Charlotte stands to be reunited with her true love, a revelation that does not warm her heart and you'll see why in the last paragraph; and Audrey regains her sight and is now associated with a moon card.

After regaining their strength, Charlotte and Audrey are able to create the aether core they need to create a new Barn. Satisfied, Charlotte gives Audrey the core and tells her to hide it some place safe. Charlotte says she's going to stay behind with Dwight who's shackled to a gate, but once Audrey is out of eyesight, Charlotte kisses Dwight goodbye, and slips the ring she planned to use to slip into The Void, into his pocket.

As Audrey tries to hide the aether core, the moon card Lainey pulled for her kicks and she nearly disappears into the ground, since it's daylight outside. Frantic, Nathan makes Lainey pull another card for the group and she lands on the judgment card. She reads it to mean that as long as their cause is pure, they can all overcome any obstacle. With Audrey ground-side up and Dwight un-shackled they touch base to try and figure out where Charlotte went.

In her apartment, Charlotte gets a visit from Croatoan who is pissed that she's "one of them now" and that she banished Mara. Croatoan kills Charlotte who clings to life just long enough to say some sweet things to Audrey and to make one of the biggest reveals of the season: Croatoan is Audrey's father and he's got "plans" for her.