Duke goes to a grocery store to buy beer. A man sees a burning woman walk into the store and screams in horror. Another man turns to see what is going on and sees a rabid dog that charges at him; he screams and runs away. An old woman turns to see what is going on and sees her deceased husband as a zombie; she faints. Duke looks up and sees a burly, masked man with the circular maze tattoo on his arm. Terrified, he tries to run, and crashes into Brian Shaw, who was just coming out the back. When they turn around, the man is gone.
After the memorial, Audrey and Audrey II find that they eat and drink the same things. Audrey thanks her counterpart for not turning her in. Audrey II figures that they should find Audrey's version of Agent Howard to hopefully shed some light on how they are so alike. Nathan walks up and Audrey worriedly points out that his hand is bleeding. Nathan inspects it, and is surprised and elated to realize that his sense of touch has returned.
The trio are called to the store. The witnesses report what they saw, except Brian, who says that he didn't see anything and he was trying to visit his girlfriend, but she wasn't there. Duke demands police protection from the man with the tattoo. He notices Nathan is moving awkwardly, and Nathan explains that his sense of touch has returned. Duke smiles and offers to hire a prostitute for him, which Nathan brushes off, annoyed. The floor has no signs of saliva, fur, blood, dirt, or anything from what the people saw. The two Audreys figure that everyone was hallucinating. Audrey II wonders about what causes the Troubles and Audrey says that she's already tried several tests, including for chemicals, electromagnetic fields, and radiation.
As the Teagues go to the bus station, everyone goes into a panic-induced riot. The brothers take cover to avoid getting trampled. Dave sticks his head out to see what is going on, and he sees what appears to be Audrey, but with red hair and wearing a 1950's-style dress. He ducks back, terrified. Vince, having deduced what is happening, asks if he saw Lucy Ripley, but Dave says what he saw was much worse.
Ian visits Duke at his boat. He tells Duke he's on to something big and asks him to take him across the Canadian border. He accidentally steps on a piece of circuitry and breaks it. Duke glowers at him and he sheepishly leaves.
The Audreys arrive at the bus station and Audrey II sees a horrifying clown emerge. Frightened, she draws her gun. Audrey stops her, asking why she's pointing her gun at a girl. Audrey calls out to the girl, but she runs away. Audrey tries to follow her, but has to stop to attend to a man who has collapsed from a heart attack.
As Nathan arrives, Audrey II explains what she saw, and she and Audrey both say that the clown terrified them when they were six. Audrey figures that the girl's Trouble is to make people see her as their worst fear. Audrey II asks Audrey why she saw the girl's true form, and she explains that she seems to be immune to people's Troubles.
Ian returns to the boat and offers to pay Duke to transport him. Duke refuses until Ian says that Duke owes him from an earlier incident. Audrey II arrives and Ian leaves. She explains that the tattooed man he saw was a mere hallucination, much to his relief. She asks him to help find Audrey's version of Agent Howard, and threatens to have the coast guard search his boat if he refuses.
At the station, Nathan runs a rose across his lips and basks in the sensation. Audrey brings in a composite sketch of the girl. They realize that she is Jackie Clark, Brian Shaw's girlfriend.
Duke shows Audrey II that he's hacked into the dock's security cameras, and he's found footage of Agent Howard talking with Chief Wuornos. Audrey II thanks him.
Brian is at Jackie's house and asks her to let him in. She finally opens the door and tells him that she can't see him anymore. Brian goes in despite her objections but then screams in terror.
Nathan and Audrey come to Jackie's house and find the front door open with a trail of blood leading outside. They go inside to find Brian holding a knife. He's in shock and says that he came to visit Jackie, but she disappeared and he was attacked by the same burglar who broke into his house when he was a child. He stabbed him in the arm and he fled. Brian talks about how Jackie once broke up with him for no reason, but then patched things up with him and he's desperate to know what happened to her. Audrey tells him their suspicions and Brian realizes that he stabbed his girlfriend by mistake when he saw her as the burglar.
They follow the blood trail to a nearby house, where the owner has fled in terror. They find Jackie, who is trying to treat her arm. Nathan looks at her and recoils in horror (the audience is not shown what he saw, and when Audrey asks what he saw he refuses to tell her). At his reaction, Jackie cries and tries to run, but Audrey catches her. Jackie covers her face and screams at Audrey not to look at her, but Audrey gently pries her hands apart and explains that she's immune to Troubles.
Audrey treats her arm as Jackie explains that to protect her boyfriend from her ability, she broke up with him and tried to live in seclusion. A few weeks ago, a stranger stabbed her and ran off, then she realized that her Trouble was gone, so she got back together with Brian. Then, at the store that morning, her Trouble came back. Brian assures her that he still loves her.
Audrey II reports what she has learned and tries to trace Chief Wuornos and Agent Howard's phone calls. Audrey and Nathan realize that Jackie regained her Trouble at the same time Nathan lost his. They figure that the person who cut them has the ability to steal other people's Troubles through their blood, but can only hold one at a time. They wonder why anyone would willingly lose their sense of touch.
Ian breaks into the museum through the chimney. The tight squeeze damages his arms, but he ignores it because he doesn't feel it.
Nathan and Audrey are called in and they realize that whoever broke in must have lacked a sense of touch to squeeze in. The only thing missing is an 18th century puzzle board. Nathan suspects that when the thief takes a new Trouble, Nathan's will return.
At his room, Ian tries to assemble the puzzle board and places a piece representing a house. Somewhere in town, a house disintegrates into ash.
Nathan and Audrey investigate the ruins and find that there were people inside when it disintegrated. Vince meets them and explains that the puzzle board belonged to an indentured servant from the 18th century, Tristram Carver, and he imbued it with his hatred of the town. Carver's caretakers took it away and scattered the pieces because they couldn't destroy it without destroying the town. Vince rules out Reverend Driscoll as a suspect because as far as he knows, he doesn't know about the puzzle board.
Duke is welding a railing on his boat when Ian arrives, asking him to take him across the border. Ian puts his hand on the red-hot railing without even noticing it. Duke puts two and two together and says he will take him, but first he must buy a replacement for the circuitry Ian had stepped on earlier.
Audrey and Nathan do some research and find, starting from the time that Jackie's Trouble was stolen, incidents in museums from several nearby states where people rioted in terror. They realize that the thief must have used Jackie's Trouble to collect the scattered puzzle pieces. They look up a family tree and find that Ian Haskell is Tristram Carver's descendant. Nathan figures that Ian cut his hand with a hidden razor when he shook his hand. Duke comes in and reports that Ian has Nathan's Trouble. They fill Duke in on what they know. Brian eavesdrops on them and leaves.
Nathan, Audrey, and Duke go to his boat to find that Ian has Brian and Jackie tied up, with welding goggles over Jackie's eyes to prevent her Trouble from working on him. Brian and Jackie explain that they tried to ask Ian to take Jackie's Trouble back. Ian pulls out a gun and threatens to kill the couple if the cops try to get on board. He demands that Duke take the boat out to sea. Once they are at a safe distance, he will use the puzzle to wipe Haven, Maine off the map. Shocked, Duke asks why he is doing this, and Ian replies that he's getting revenge on everyone who has ever bullied or made fun of him. Despite her bonds, Jackie suddenly tackles him, knocking his gun away. Audrey shoots him, but he laughs and says that he didn't feel it. Nathan and Audrey shoot him a few more times. He continues to laugh off his injuries until he collapses, barely able to move from the blood loss and damage.
They retrieve the puzzle from Ian's backpack and free the couple. They wonder what will happen if Ian dies while he has Nathan's Trouble. Ian says it will stay with him. Nathan considers this, then before anyone can stop him, he tears off Jackie's bandage and smears Ian's arm with the blood. Everyone watches as the blood absorbs into his skin, and he dies. Nathan pulls off Jackie's goggles and encourages her to open her eyes and look at him. He says she has beautiful eyes, confirming that Jackie's Trouble stayed with Ian when he died.
Later, Audrey II calls Audrey over to an abandoned house where she traced Agent Howard's calls. There's nothing inside except the copy of "Unstake My Heart" that he stole from Audrey all the way back in the first episode. Audrey II is shocked and says that is her favorite book, but Audrey confirms that it has her bookmark and notes, and they realize that it was left behind on purpose.
Vince and Dave offer to hide the puzzle board and pieces. Duke tells Nathan that he found out that Julia Carr has moved to Africa in an effort to get away from the Troubles.
Audrey tells Nathan what she and her counterpart found, and they wonder who Agent Howard is and why he brought Audrey to Haven. Audrey compliments Nathan on giving up his ability to feel to give Jackie a chance at a normal life, as that decision must have been hard. He says he can wait until the Troubles go away again. She holds his hand, making him shudder as he feels it, then she leaves. Nathan stares at her and runs a rose across his lips, mourning at how he can't feel it anymore.
- Call-Back:
- Beattie attends the Chief's funeral. It appears the writers forgot how that episode ended and/or that she was once the Troubled of the week, as there is no explanation or context given for her appearance.
- Audrey and Audrey II discuss the last time Audrey's Agent Howard was in town. Audrey II later grills Duke about it, and Duke shows her footage of Howard and Garland talking about Audrey needing to stay in Haven, though there is no sound.
- Nathan hopes Audrey doesn't feel weird about the kiss on the cheek she gave him.
- Audrey and Audrey II trace Agent Howard's call to an address in Haven. When they get there, they find Audrey's copy of Unstake My Heart that Howard pocketed in the pilot.
- Can't Believe I Said That:Audrey II: Apparently, some girl is causing people to hallucinate whatever they're most afraid of...I hate myself for saying that.
- Continuity Drift: The timeline of the modern Troubles is muddied once again, as Nathan tells Audrey that when she kissed his cheek, it was the first time he'd felt anything "in years." This is contradictory to other episodes, in which the Troubles have only recently returned.
- Creepy Children Singing: When Ian first tries the puzzle, a creepy choir of children sings "One Two, Buckle My Shoe."
- Cryptic Background Reference: Ian invokes a favor from Duke by mentioning an incident involving the assistant principal. Duke starts to retort something about sympathy, but then tells Ian this is the last time he gets to use that to get what he wants.
- Dramatic Dislocation: Played for Body Horror. The reason Ian Haskell wanted Nathan's Trouble is so he can sneak into the museum with the magical puzzle via their unusually small chimney. He dislocates both shoulders in order to fit, and casually pops them back into place on-screen.
- Flat-Earth Atheist: You'd think after everything she'd seen in the last episode, Audrey II would be on board with the supernatural elements in Haven, but she's clearly still the Agent Scully of the group.
- Greater Need Than Mine: Nathan wipes Jackie's blood on Ian as he's dying, so he permanently takes her Trouble away instead of his. He explains to Audrey later that his Trouble is something he can live with, while Jackie's is not.
- Halfway Plot Switch: Played with. This episode is notable for actually having a substantial B-plot unrelated to the overall mythos, which is not the usual format.
- I Know What You Fear: The Trouble of the week is Type 2, although unintentional.
- Informal Eulogy: Nathan gives a very brief one for the Chief, as he hates public speaking.
- Insert Song: "Broken Things" by Sweet Talk Radio plays over the last scene.
- The Law of Diminishing Defensive Effort: Ian assumes that Nathan's Trouble makes him invincible, which means he takes no effort to dodge the bullets used to take him down.
- Lonely Funeral: Garland's funeral is sparsely attended, given he grew up in Haven and worked on the police force for 30 years.
- Monster Clown: Audrey and Audrey II have a fear of clowns, stemming from a traumatic childhood incident, so their fear manifests as this. However, Audrey being Anti-Magic, only Audrey II actually sees the clown.
- Mythology Gag: Audrey and Audrey II's fear of clowns in a King adaptation should be familiar to anyone who's read It.
- Nothing Is Scarier: Nathan's fear is never shown onscreen, but it shakes him up badly.
- One-Episode Fear: This is the first and last time we hear about Audrey's fear of clowns.
- Power Parasite: Ian, who can steal people's Troubles by touching their blood.
- Put on a Bus: Julia Carr. Duke mentions that she went back to Africa.
- Reality-Changing Miniature: The puzzle Ian is after. When the puzzle pieces are put in their proper place, they destroy the building they're modelled after.
- Sense Freak: Ian steals Nathan's Trouble, and Nathan is psyched to be able to feel things again. Sometimes a little too much.Nathan (driving, holding a rose to his mouth): Did you know the skin on your lips is the most sensitive of your entire body?Audrey: Okay, you're kind of starting to weird me out.
- Sense Loss Sadness: The episode ends with Nathan at the Gull, holding a rose to his lips and looking despondent, as he can no longer feel it.
- Shout-Out:
- The title is a reference to Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
- Spotting the Thread: Duke notices something is off about Ian when he comes again demanding to be taken out of Haven. Duke had just finished welding a railing on a boat and burned himself touching it. Ian rushes in and grabs it with no reaction. Duke makes an excuse and goes to tell Audrey and Nathan.
- Supernatural Fear Inducer: Jackie's Trouble manifests as making people see things they fear.
- That Came Out Wrong: Said word for word by Duke, who tells Nathan that knowing how he's going to die feels like he has a curse...before remembering who he's talking to.
- You Need to Get Laid: When Nathan tells Duke he can feel again, Duke offers to use his vast connections to help Nathan "process" if Nathan will find the guy out to kill him.
- You're Cute When You're Angry: Audrey II threatens to call the Coast Guard on Duke if he doesn't agree to help her. Duke attempts to flirt by telling her she's "sexy when [she's] threatening," to a complete No-Sell.
- Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Ian Haskell, who wants to destroy Haven because he felt mistreated by the town. He comes across as
Unintentionally Unsympathetic though, for his complete disregard for human life.
