I came to this first episode of Haven with absolutely no preconceptions. Well, no, it’s on Syfy, so I definitely figured, y’know, sci-fi or something like it, but otherwise, I was incredibly spoiler-free. I’d not seen a single poster or commercial, I didn’t know who was in it or what they’d be doing.

I cannot remember the last time I had this experience, and I tell you, it was positively liberating!

We start off with a sleeping Emily Rose (filmmaker temptress Cass from that freaky John from Cincinnati -- man, that was a weird trip of a show) who plays FBI Special Agent Audrey Parker. Yep, another hot blond Government agent; Sarah Walker and Olivia Dunham, you guys should start a club! And we get the impression from Audrey’s boss (Maurice Dean Wint), who’s come to awaken her at home this fine morning, that she doesn’t exactly Play By the Rules. He mocks her taste in literature (teenage vampires! I like you already, Agent Parker!) and tells her sternly: “FBI is non-fiction work. I need you to keep it that way.”

Ah, a wise-cracking, doll-faced, nubile Mulder. Cool, I can handle that.

He sends her to the town of Haven, Maine on the trail of a fugitive; she’s still on its outskirts when a sinkhole opens up in the road and she is rescued from her car, about to topple over the cliff, by a finely-chiseled, kinda glowery gentleman who can only be her destined romantic interest, and this is their meet cute. He is soon revealed to be Detective Nathan Wournos (Lucas Bryant), son of the town’s cantankerous Police Chief (Nicholas Campbell) and he doesn’t feel pain. Like, at all. (Not even the pain of rejection? Of heartbreak? Of reality television? Wow.) He also has kind of a wry wit, and independent streak and clearly some Daddy Issues.

Okay, I like him, too.

So, they’re investigating the death of Audrey’s fugitive -- he mysteriously fell off a cliff -- she gets to play tough FBI agent (Audrey ‘s already high Awesome Quotient gets kicked up a notch), and before long their trail takes them to antique dealer Marion (Nicole de Boer -- oh, hi, Ezri Dax!) and her childhood friend Conrad (Patrick Garrow). There’s a mystery in here that has quite a few twists and develops nicely -- though we’ve definitely seen its emotion-charged freaky weather before -- but for al that the case is solved and all, it isn’t really the point of this episode.

One of the more notable events of this episode is the introduction of criminal element Duke Crocker, who is not beloved of our new friend Nathan. (“Everything about this guy is a pain in my ass.”) Played by Eric Balfour (hey, it’s Jesse! Remember, Xander’s best friend who got vamped in the first episode of Buffy, Jesse?) we can already identify Duke as a point on a forthcoming love triangle, taking the role of bad boy charmer opposite Nathan’s taciturn but caring hardnosed cop.

The other happenings of interest are the disturbing behavior of Audrey’s boss -- who’s clearly in cahoots with someone about something (but who? And what?) -- and the odd pair of older gentlemen (Richard Donat and John Dunsworth) who run the local paper. One finds Audrey familiar, and returns to show her a an old article featuring a woman who looks a lot like her and bearing a headline about “The Colorado Kid”… which is when something I’d seen during the credits starts to make at least a little sense. Based on “The Colorado Kid” by Stephen King those credits had claimed. But I have read The Colorado Kid, boring, turgid and futile excuse for an alleged mystery novel that it is (blah, blah, clever satire, blah, blah, brilliant twist on literary convention… BORING!), and up till now I had seen no similarities between it and Haven except that both are set in small town Maine. But (oh, dear), I think I get it now. These old newspaper guys are actually the same old newspaper guys who were the narrators of that particularly pointless tale. Hmm. I can only hope Haven manages to make that tale slightly less inscrutable than its source material accomplished.

In addition to the King influence, there are without question many elements from several TV shows at play here. Already, in just this first episode, there’s evidence of The X-Files, Fringe, Twin Peaks and even -- Lord help us -- Happy Town, and that’s just for starters. In addition to these familiarities, there’s also the odd bit of awkward exposition (“I guess that’s one advantage of being raised by the state: not much parental conflict” – ah, Audrey’s an orphan) along with some similarly awkward banter (“I like the truck”). But by and large, Haven shows promise, and with Special Agent Audrey unsurprisingly deciding to take some leave time to stay in this odd little town and solve the mystery of the woman in the photo (there’s a shocker) -- and seemingly partnered up with the male Scully that is Nathan to do so -- I find I am looking forward to where this so far blessedly unfaithful adaptation might go.

Another point in its favor? I went back and double-checked: King’s town was called Moose-Lookit Island, and they changed it to Haven. Good call.

  -- Rachel Hyland