Silent Night - Recap

A woman is paddle boarding in the ocean just off the coast of Haven. She hears Silent Night play on a music box despite the fact that there is no apparent source for it. As she stands on the board, her right arm suddenly falls off. A second later, the woman and the board are cut in half and both pieces drift quietly away.



It’s Haven in July, and Nathan and Audrey are enjoying breakfast at Joe’s Bakery. Audrey looks around comments that people are putting up their Christmas decorations early. Nathan doesn’t seem to notice anything unusual about the early decorations, and insists that it’s normal. The bakery owner, Joe Underhill, comes over and offers the officers more free food as thanks for helping “people like him.” Nathan Audrey are called to the theater where the manager tells them that Hadley Chambers, a young runaway, sneaked into the theater to look for her mother. However, the manager knows that Hadley has a single father. As Audrey talks to Hadley, saying that she doesn’t have a mother either, she hears a music box version of Silent Night start playing. Nathan and the theater manager don’t notice anything, and Nathan figures that Audrey is having a Christmas Eve miracle. As they leave, a worker putting up Christmas lights suddenly falls off his ladder. A line of Christmas lights end up wrapped around his throat and it takes Nathan and Audrey’s combined efforts to save his life before he chokes to death.



As the EMTs take the injured man away, Nathan again comments that it’s Christmas Eve. When Audrey reminds him that it’s July, Nathan agrees but still thinks that it’s the night before Christmas. He figures that she’s trying to ignore Christmas because she’s an orphan and never had a family Christmas. Audrey calls the station and tells them to inform her if anyone putting up Christmas decorations does anything suspicious.

At the newspaper office, Dave and Vince are arguing about how the business is going bankrupt. Vince wants to sell the paper to a big newspaper outfit but David insists that they need to keep the paper going so if nothing else, they can cover up the Troubled events in town.

At the station, Audrey calls in Hadley’s father, Gordon Chambers. He tells the officer that Hadley likes to make things up, but doesn’t want to discuss it further. After he leaves, Nathan informs Audrey that there’s been a car crashed and a bisected woman’s corpse found on the beach. When Audrey makes a call, the same Christmas music plays on the phone. Stan then calls her to the cells, telling her that they’ve arrested a suspicious Santa. Audrey goes into the prisoner’s cell and discovers answers, only to discover that it’s Duke dressed as Santa, and the whole thing is a prank set up by Duke and Nathan. However, Audrey realizes that Duke thinks it’s Christmas in July. The power goes out and Audrey figures that somehow a Troubled individual is involved. As they discuss the case, they hear a crash from the nearby desk. They investigate and Audrey discovers that Stan has disappeared and the crash was his coffee mug dropping to the floor. However, when she mentions Stan to Nathan and Duke, they have no idea who she’s talking about.



Audrey tries to get through to her friends, who figures that she’s having delusions. Duke gives up and leaves, and Audrey realizes that the accident at the theater occurred because the worker’s spotter disappeared. She suggests that they go to Joe’s Bakery since that’s when she first noticed the decorations, but Nathan says that he has to deal with the power outages and the car crashes. Audrey decides to call Duke and get him to help her. As they walk to the bakery, Audrey realizes that even more Christmas decorations are appearing, seemingly out of nowhere. Duke doesn’t notice anything unusual and insists that he loves Christmas. When they get to the bakery, Audrey discovers that Joe has disappeared and even the name of “Joe’s Bakery” has just become “Haven Bakery.” No one there has any memory of Joe, including Duke.

Audrey decides to go to the beach to check out the dead woman. They examine the corpse and Audrey concludes that the cut was too clean to be a propeller or a shark. They’re surprised that the police aren’t there already, and Duke says he tried to call 911 but got no answer. When Audrey calls Nathan, he says that because he and Audrey are the only two policemen in Haven, he doesn’t have anyone to spare. Silent Night plays on the phone and the line goes dead. When Audrey talks to Duke, she realizes that he has no memory of the corpse they came out there to examine. She pulls aside the tarp and discovers that the corpse has disappeared.



That night, Audrey and Duke go to the newspaper and ask the Teagues if they have any records of Christmas-related Troubles. They come up with a report from 1955 of a man named Arthur Chambers who said that he made his family and neighbors disappear. However, no one could remember that they ever existed. Arthur also apparently made a train appear in a field, sitting on a circle of track and surrounding a heard of horses. Audrey realizes that Gordon is Arthur’s son, and Vince warns her that Arthur said he could make his victims come back but he never succeeded. After that, Arthur killed himself and none of the people he described ever reappeared. As Audrey prepares to leave, David casually notes that there are 3,101 people in Haven, and Audrey points out the town is supposed to have over 20,000 citizens.

The next morning, Audrey and Duke go back to the station, and Duke admits that he believes her claims. Nathan checks and learns that Gordon supposedly went to Derry since the previous day. He still refuses to go with Audrey, saying that as one of only two policemen in Haven, he has better things to do. Audrey points out that there are dozens of desks and a large police station, but nothing shakes Nathan’s memories. She finally asks him to just accept what she’s saying on faith, and Nathan agrees to go with her on the basis of trust.

As the trio drive to Derry, they spot a car crash ahead on the road. When Audrey calls for a wrecker, Silent Night plays on the radio and she’s unable to raise anyone. As she makes the call, Nathan and Duke talk about Christmas presents and are surprised to discover that they both wanted a sled for Christmas. Audrey sees the town sign on the edge of town and realizes that the town has shrunk in size from 3,101 to half that. As Duke goes over to check on one of the crashed cars, he suddenly hits what appears to be an invisible barrier. He calls Audrey over to check it out, but when she gets there she discovers that Duke has also vanished. Nathan no longer remembers his childhood friend. A bird drops out of the sky, dead, and Audrey realizes that it hit an invisible wall stretching up as far as can be determined. It’s impervious to bullets and they figure it cut the paddle-boarder in half when it first came down. Nathan speculates that no one has noticed it because no one outside of Haven remembers the town.



The partners figure that Gordon is responsible and never left for Derry. Nathan confirms that the man owns a toy store and they go there to find Gordon. Audrey discovers a toy train circling a field of horses and realizes that it’s the same toy that Arthur created in 1955. They figure that the Chambers have the Troubled ability to turn things into toys and vice versa, and search the toy store for snow globes of Haven. Nathan finds one but drops it, but it plays different Christmas music and Audrey realizes that it’s the wrong one. She worries that he might disappear and Nathan assures her that he’ll always be there for her... and then disappears.

Audrey goes to the newspaper office and on the way discovers that almost everyone in town has vanished. When she arrives at the office, Vince is there but there’s no sign of David. Vince says that he feels like he’s forgotten something important but doesn’t know what it is. Audrey asks for his help finding Gordon and Vince goes through the newspaper delivery list... which now only has 20 people. Even as Vince goes through the list, the number drops to 19. Vince finds Gordon’s address and gives it to Audrey, who thanks “you guys” for their help. Vince has no idea who else might work in the office, while Audrey confirms that there are now only 17 people on the list. As she leaves, Vince looks at his brother’s empty chair in confusion.



Audrey goes to the house and finds Gordon building snow globes. He figures that she’s going to forget her like everyone else has, but Audrey explains that she’s not affected by Troubled abilities. She asks him what he thinks is going on and Gordon explains that he realized something was wrong ever since Audrey asked him about Hadley’s mother earlier, and he couldn’t remember ever having a wife. He knows about his father Arthur, who built model trains and warned his family that some day they or their children would make people disappear as well. Gordon has no idea how to undo what has happened, and tells Audrey that he was going to move out and abandon Hadley even though he loves her. Audrey realizes that since Gordon can’t remember his wife, but Arthur could remember the people he made disappear, that Gordon can’t be the one responsible. That means that Hadley is the one that is Troubled, and Arthur informs Audrey that he made a snow globe for Hadley. He then disappears and Audrey realizes that she and Hadley are the only ones left in Haven.

Audrey looks for a clue to Hadley’s location and finds a photo of her at the theater where she loved to go. The officer goes there through the empty streets as Silent Night plays out of nowhere. Inside the theater, Hadley is watching a blank movie screen and holding her father’s snow globe. Audrey tries to explain what Hadley is doing to the town but the girl doesn’t believe her. She thinks that Audrey will leave her like everyone else, even her mother and father. The girl slams the snow globe down on a theater seat and the entire town shakes.



As the tremors die down, snow starts to fall inside of the theater. Audrey asks for the snow globe before it’s too late, and tells the girl that she has to stop living in the globe and asks if Hadley likes being alone. Hadley insists that she does but Audrey knows better and says that they’re the same. As an orphan, Audrey knows that they want to be alone because they have accepted that’s the way it has to be, but she tells Hadley that there’s an alternative, and that people don’t leave just because things change. The officer tells Hadley what Gordon said earlier, that he was coming to see her, and says that sometimes the world can surprise a person in a good way if they’re open to the possibility. Hadley finally hands over the snow globe and Audrey looks into it, seeing all of the residents of town inside. The movie starts up and the theater fills with all of the people who were there when Hadley made them disappear. Hadley’s mother comes back from the bathroom, unaware that anything has happened, and Hadley hugs her in relief. Duke calls from the scene of the crash to ask Audrey what happened, because none of the people remember that they were in the snow globe.



That night, Nathan meets Audrey at her apartment above the bar. He doesn’t remember why he was in the toy store, and is surprised to learn she’s throwing a Christmas party in July. Audrey tells him that she’s decided to start a new tradition. Duke comes the party and is also surprised, and nervous that Audrey has invited all of the Haven police to the party. The Teagues arrive and ask Audrey for an explanation, but she figures they can come up with a better one. When Vince points out that they have published their last edition, Audrey tells him that it was the newspaper that saved the town.

While David and Vince start drafting a new cover up, Audrey gives Duke and Nathan their Christmas present: a single sled. She could only find one, and says that they’ll have to share. Hadley starts playing her favorite Christmas song, Silent Night, on the piano but Audrey suggests that she play something else. As everyone gathers at the piano to sing, Nathan and Duke asked her what really happens. Audrey tells them that she was reminded how important friends are and how lucky they are to be there.



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