If You Like Twin Peaks, You’ll Also Like Haven

When choosing something to watch on tv, many viewers seem to make a decision based upon what type of genre they want to be entertained by at that moment. Have they had a stressful day and want some comedy to uplift their spirits? Are they feeling melancholy and want a good drama to match their mood? Is it Halloween where scary horror movies might be needed to increase the feel of the holiday? Is it Valentine’s Day with no date where a satirical romance might help lighten the day? Or are they stuck at home during a pandemic and in need of some serious binge watching that covers many tv genres to keep them glued to the screen so they can forget about what’s happening in the real world, at least for a little while?

While looking for that perfect pandemic binge watching show that will hopefully keep me entertained, I can get a bit picky so I’ll watch the trailer, read descriptions and reviews, ask friends if they’ve seen it and even research other shows that might be similar. I did this with Haven, a five season supernatural crime drama that ran from 2010-2015 and has many of the aspects of a binge watching show that I like. There’s interesting characters, perplexing events, absorbing intrigue, not too explosive action and adventure, emotional drama, beautiful scenic visuals, a bit of romance intermixed through everything and some rather odd humor all wrapped up in a supernatural mystery that keeps you curious and excited for the next episode.

Looking up similar shows to Haven, I came across an old popular favorite that I remember watching when I was younger and really enjoyed back in the early nineties; Twin Peaks, which only aired for two seasons back then but came back for a third season in 2017. That show really kept me guessing and impatiently waiting for the next episode. I remember loving all the weird twists the show kept taking and how the mystery and story continued each week. It was a like a nighttime unexplainable mystery soap opera that became a serious guilty pleasure for me and quite a few of my friends. So, when I read that Haven was similar to Twin Peaks, it was a no brainer to me!

Here’s my top ten list of what I like and find similar with both shows:

Set in beautifully scenic small coastal towns. Haven, Maine and Twin Peaks, Washington.

Continual murder mystery intermixed with other crimes. Haven’s main victim is The Colorado Kid with other crimes happening like kidnapping, burglary and other murders. Twin Peaks’ main victim is Laura Parker with other crimes happening like drug trafficking, prostitution and other murders.

Determined FBI agents come to help solve crimes and end up really liking the small towns and their inhabitants. Haven has Agent Audrey Parker; Twin Peaks has Agent Dale Cooper.

Mysterious, supernatural and unexplainable occurrences. For example, in Haven, some people have special abilities known as troubles like invisibility, mind control or mutation; in Twin Peaks, some people have visions, premonition dreams or they become possessed.

Odd yet interesting main characters. In Haven, Audrey Parker has a mysterious background that even she doesn’t know about, Sheriff Nathan Wuornos is inflicted with one of the towns troubles and Duke Crocker becomes a supernatural savior to trouble inflicted families. In Twin Peaks, Dale Cooper is a serious rule following FBI agent but at the same time he’s kind of quirky with what he likes, dislikes and how he acts, Sheriff Harry S. Truman acts like the mild mannered sweet boy next door but sometimes lets his tough protective side show through and best friend to Laura Parker (the main murder victim), Donna Hayward, who seems like such the nice girl but also has a wild mysteriousness to her.

Odd yet interesting other characters. For example, in Haven there’s the Teagues brothers who own the newspaper and always seem to have some kind of historical secret to hide, Reverend Ed Driscoll who is quite a creepy reverend and thinks he knows how to save everyone and Agent Howard who isn’t actually the real Agent Howard but some kind of supernatural one. In Twin Peaks, there’s the awkward and emotional deputy, Andy Brennan, who cries at crime scenes and other events, an eccentric psychiatrist, Dr. Lawrence Jacoby, who wears different lens colored glasses and is kind of obsessed with Hawaii and the log lady who never has a name but carries around a log that she communicates with and has lots of important information to share.

Close relationship between Agents and sheriffs as they work together. In Haven, a slow but obvious attraction develops between Agent Parker and Sheriff Nathan Wuornos. This gets more intriguing when you add in that the sheriff’s trouble is that he can only physically feel a touch from Audrey Parker. In Twin Peaks, a friendly bro type relationship develops between Agent Cooper and Sheriff Harry S. Truman. They were so close, I kept wondering if something else was going to happen between the two; they shared many private and close coffee/donut meetings together.

Romanticism throughout both series. In Haven, Agent Parker is also attracted to supposed bad boy, Duke Crocker, which creates an interesting triangle between Audrey, Nathan and Duke when they still have to work together since they need Duke’s help on many occasions. In Twin Peaks, there’s numerous affairs going on between pretty much everybody here and there.

Weird fascination with some kind of baked food (for some reason, this really stuck in my head). In Haven, Nathan is a bit obsessed with pancakes and seems to judge others by if they like them or not; in Twin Peaks, there’s a large display of donuts in many scenes, so many donuts you start seriously craving them.

Just plain weird stuff happening with interesting visuals. In Haven you see all the odd things people do when they’re inflicted with a trouble and what has to be done to save people from that trouble; in Twin Peaks you see people's odd dreams and visions which give riddles that need to be figured out to then help solve the main murder mystery.

I very much enjoyed both of these shows! I’ve watched all five seasons of Haven twice since the beginning of the pandemic and am in the middle of watching all of Twin Peaks again too. I find it fun to notice different things when seeing shows for the second time since I already know the main plot. It gives me the freedom to do things like glance in the background more to get a different aspect, notice what people are wearing to get a little fashion lesson about the time, notice the vehicles they drive to also learn a little about the time or hear anything I might have missed the first time I watched. And I do find that every time I watch a show or movie that I really like for the second time, I see or hear something different that makes me enjoy it even more.

So, if you’re like me and are entertained by strange emotional quirky mysteries like Twin Peaks, I think you’ll really enjoy Haven. Have fun and binge away!