When is a Haven not a Haven? When it’s Moose Lookit Island!
King 58- The Colorado Kid by Stephen King
When is a Haven not a Haven? When it’s Moose Lookit Island!
A reflection by M.J. Moran on The Colorado Kid and Haven Season 1
The Colorado Kid by Stephen King (58)
Hard Case Crime
2005
Cover-Glen Orbik
Haven Season One
SyFy Channel
2010
One of the pieces of my great retirement plan is to read the works of Stephen King in publishing order. I’ll admit this is a bit slower in happening than some other collections, I’m only at the 5th book. This spring I took a TV series tour of my streaming services which led me to experience once again SyFy’s “Haven”. One of the perks of rewatching these series is that I get to watch them in order not always easy when I previously watched them on cable. Also by binging I don’t lose sight of the minutiae that make up the overall storyline.
“Haven” states that it was based on Stephen King’s story “The Colorado Kid”, One of the threads going through the overall story is a news article with the headline “Whatever Happened to the Colorado Kid”. The photo and the story are part of an overall mystery. So my TV tour predicated my pulling out King’s 58th book to see how it connects to “Haven”.
“The Colorado Kid” is a slight departure for King. It is a mystery story that really is a deconstruction of a mystery story. It explores the mystery rather than building to a climatic solution. No supernatural elements except that there is a Starbucks in Denver in 1980. King will state that this isn’t a mistake, hinting that the tale fits into the King/Dark Tower Multiverse.
The action is a dialogue between three characters . Vince Teague, the 90 year old founder of The Islander the newspaper for Moose Lookit Island in Maine. Dave Bowin the 65 year old editor of The Islander and Stephanie McCann, an intern working at The Islander. Just to make it clear, you have now been introduced to the full staff of The Islander.
The afternoon discussion revolves around the mystery of the title character, The Colorado Kid. In 1980 a body was discovered by two teenagers who were getting in a run before heading into school. The body was no one local and was propped up against a litter basket looking out into the Sound. The rest of the book is looking at the mystery of how he got there, why he was there and was it murder? Not all the questions are answered. As the characters repeatedly state in newspaper talk, “There’s no through line”. King even states that most people will either love the story or hate with few being in the middle. I may be one of those few since I appreciated the story but love would be too strong.
That’s the tale in a nutshell. It has the trappings of a good Stephen King story, setting with atmosphere, characters who seem real not fabricated and a casualness to it. It is those trappings that are carried over to “Haven” although there is no through line. It’s the small town feel. The realization on Stephanie’s part that she wants to stay on Moose Lookit and that she has become one of the denizens of the island. Originally the series mirrored the novel with no supernatural element. Seems when King read the original teleplay, he asked, “Where’s the supernatural element?”.
“Haven” starts with the arrival of Audrey Parker, an FBI agent searching for an escaped convict. She teams up with Nathan Warnos, a detective on the Haven police force. The setting is Maine but you can already see the divergence from the short novel. Eventually she meets up with various town residents including Vincent and David Teague, the brothers who run the local newspaper. Upon seeing the newspaper article with a dark haired woman that looks very similar to Parker herself, Parker decides to take a leave from the FBI in order to explore the mystery of the photo. It’s revealed that Parker is an orphan who does not know much about her mother.
Staying in town, Parker works with Warnos to solve events that are caused by The Troubles, people who have unexplained supernatural powers that are triggered by trauma or anger. Some are aware of their abilities while many are not cognizant that they are causing the phenomenon. Each episode is based on the discovery of who is causing the problem and how to negate the issue. Powers included manifesting weather, pyrokinesis, shape shifting, and even spoiling food. The Troubles manifest themselves every 27 years, a magical number 3 to the third power. King fans might also realize that it coincides with the appearances of Pennywise in the novel “It”.
Like Stephanie, Parker comes to be accepted as one of the locals. The combination of the Colorado Kid mystery and the acceptance by the townspeople leads to Parker quitting the FBI and deciding to stay in Haven. Besides the general atmosphere of the source material, the carryovers are Vince and Dave although they are now brothers and The Grey Gull, a restaurant/bar in town.
As with the Pennywise, 27 year reference, Stephen King easter eggs appear throughout the season. I appreciated the gift of a book to Audrey, “Misery Unchained” with the comment by the giver that it was written before the author's foot was cut off. Another Easter egg is having an ex-convict show up with a duffel bag from Shawshank Penitentiary. When watching it’s easy to pick out powers that were derived from characters in King’s writings.
I enjoyed the first season of Haven enough that I purchased the second season so I don’t have to endure commercials. Yes, I have been spoiled by switching my viewing habits to streaming only. The series didn’t fare so well with the critics most stating that the premise and setting are fresh but the series is just another pedestrian supernatural detective series. Alas this was at the time that TV was being inundated with such material- “Grimm”, “Supernatural”, “Sanctuary” etc. Still it is a decent and enjoyable series.