We’ve been watching the SciFi Channel series Haven. Yesterday, we saw a particularly moving episode from Season 3: “Magic Hour: Part 2.”
Parts 1 and 2 of “Magic Hour” have a subplot about a lady named
Noelle, who is able to raise the dead, as long as she does so before
sundown after the person dies. Her sister Moira wants to take advantage
of Noelle’s gift (or, as it is called on Haven, “trouble”).
Essentially, Moira’s plan is to kill people who have money, and then for
Noelle to offer to raise those people from the dead if the people’s
families give Moira and Noelle money.
Moira has long been bitter towards Noelle because of an incident that
happened when the two of them were children. Noelle would resurrect
dead animals, but she would not resurrect their father when the three of
them were in an automobile accident. As far as Moira is concerned,
Noelle choked and panicked when she should have been trying to raise
their father from the dead, before it was too late.
Well, a series of events happen. Someone we thought was good turns
out to be bad and kills one of the main characters, Nathan the cop,
along with Noelle. Audrey Parker, the main character of the series,
loves Nathan and wants for him to be resurrected, but Noelle cannot
resurrect Nathan because she herself is dead. But there is another
possibility: maybe Moira herself has the latent trouble of being able to
raise the dead, since troubles can run in families. Perhaps Moira can
resurrect Nathan and her sister Noelle. But something has to happen to
trigger Moira’s ability. Usually, what triggers troubles is some crisis
that the troubled person experiences.
Audrey brings Moira the corpse of Noelle, hoping that this will upset
Moira enough to trigger Moira’s trouble. But it does not. Moira is
obviously a bitter and a jaded woman. Moira resents her sister for not
resurrecting their father years before. Audrey speculates that maybe
Moira cares only about herself, and that perhaps shooting Moira will
trigger Moira’s trouble.
But Moira and Audrey discover something. Moira remembers that,
during the accident back when she was a child, she was knocked in the
back of the head and became unconscious. Audrey checks the back of
Moira’s head and sees a scar. Audrey then checks the back of Noelle’s
head and sees the same sort of scar, in the same place. The reason that
this is significant is that, when Noelle resurrected people, she took
upon herself their wounds. For example, when Moira shot Noelle’s
boyfriend in the head, and Noelle resurrected the boyfriend, the bullet
wound that was on her boyfriend’s forehead also appeared on Noelle’s
forehead. That’s when Audrey and Moira realize that Moira was not just
unconscious during that accident back when Moira was a child, but Moira
was dead. Noelle raised Moira from the dead.
But Audrey is curious: Why couldn’t Noelle have just raised both
Moira and her father? Moira informs Audrey that the reason was that
their father repeatedly told Noelle that she must not resurrect two
people at the same time, for that could be fatal to Noelle. Noelle
chose Moira, her sister.
Moira feels guilty, and that upsets her enough to trigger her
trouble. Moira then decides to sacrifice herself to resurrect Noelle
and Nathan. She does so, and, as she is dying, Moira asks Noelle why
Noelle never told her what she did—-that Noelle raised Moira from the
dead back when they were children. Noelle replies that she did not want
Moira to feel guilty—-to feel that their father was dead because Noelle
chose to resurrect Moira. Moira responds that, had she known, she
wouldn’t have made life a hell for Noelle, and the two of them could
have enjoyed their time as sisters. Moira dies, but there is an
implication at the end of the episode that Noelle will raise Moira from
the dead.
I found this episode moving because it shows how a self-centered,
jaded, bitter person can become loving once she realizes that she
herself is loved. From a Christian standpoint, this is an essential
aspect of the Gospel: that we love because God first loved us. Of
course, Noelle was just a good person and loved her sister anyway, even
when her sister did not love her. I can find myself being more like
Moira, though, in that I need to feel loved before I myself can really
love.
I also appreciate the theme of someone loving another person so much,
that she is willing to endure that person’s rejection while she is
actually helping that person. We see this sort of theme in other
stories: I think of the show Roseanne, where Dan’s father was
willing to endure Dan’s rejection, rather than telling his son the truth
about Dan’s mother. I have to respect that kind of love!