From MadCap's Couch - "Supernatural: Dead in the Water"

If you go down to the lake today, you're in for a big surprise!!!

One of my greatest fears, ever since I was a very young child, has been water. That primal fear of the unknown, not knowing what could be in there that would try to devour me or else drag me down into the abyss, never to be seen again. I hated the beach (I hate it now for a completely different reason) or really any water I couldn't see the bottom of back then for that, and rarely went into the water and if I ever did, I never went alone.

This episode is the one that confirms there is just some crazy shit out in the water that wants to kill you.

We begin with a teaser, as we have so far. A pretty young blonde things heads out to the lake outside her home, strips down to a bikini, and - in a very Jaws-esque scene is pulled under the water never to be seen again.

Elsewhere, the brothers Winchester are partaking in one of many diners that litter the Canadian American highways, where Dean is stopped from partaking in the Boob Plate special by Sam, and so relents and tells of a potential case he might have found - the "disappearance" of the young woman in the teaser, Sophie Carlton. Her drowning is apparently the third one this year. Curiously, however, no body was recovered. Sam uses this, however, to segue into a conversation about their missing father, which Dean in turn uses to give Sam crap for suddenly being interested in John's whereabouts now after having spent two years at college.

Ah, the joys of the Winchester brand of brotherly love!

As you'd expect, of course, the two go to the hunt. Arriving at the Carltons' house, they first interrogate the brother Will, who denies it was a natural drowning - Sophie was apparently quite the swimmer. At Will's request, the pair do not interview Mr. Carlton, who merely sits on the dock outside their home looking distraught.

"And you expect me to believe in the spirit too? Why?" "Because it's real!"

So, it's time to run into law enforcement and watch them be ineffectual. The Sheriff denies that anything crazy happened, even saying they dragged the lake and did a sonar sweep, finding nothing as Will said. Also, the Sheriff mentions the dam is about to break...and pardon me for the Linkara-esque sing-song Plot Point voice. Nevertheless, with Sam and Dean having no idea about it, he's suspicious about them being with the Wildlife Service. Suspicions are stopped, however, when the Sheriff's daughter Andrea Barr (played by Amy Acker) and her son Lucas come in for a visit.

Naturally, because he's all kinds of Fred hotness, Andrea gets hit on by Dean and later chastises him for his incredibly lame pick up line of "Kids are the best, huh?" as she takes them down to the nearest motel. Sam, likewise, gives Dean grief for his nonsense, challenging him to name three kids that he even knows.

Later, Sam has put on his research hat and found that Sophie Carlton is not remotely the first death to occur in such a manner, others having happened over the last thirty-five years. Sam doesn't think it's a lake monster, since things like Nessie have hundreds of eye-witness accounts and there's all of bupkis here.  The name Christopher Barr comes up, and  they realize that it's Andrea's recently deceased husband. Lucas barely survived, and now doesn't even speak after the traumatic event. Dean notes that watching one of your parents die isn't something you just get over.

...what's that? Hidden depth within the mind of the sex crazed, gun happy maniac?

Sam and Dean end up joining Andrea and Lucas at a nearby park in a way that totally doesn't scream "Stranger Danger", Dean going over to talk with Lucas. Or rather, at Lucas, since the boy is understandably speechless after his traumatic event. Still, as I jokingly said before, we actually get a great character moment for Dean as he tries to connect with Lucas, both on the level of a child and connecting it to his own backstory in losing his mother, even drawing Lucas a picture of his family and telling him that even if he thinks no one would believe him about what he saw, he would.

It doesn't seem to work...but after Dean leaves, Lucas looks at the picture with some interest.

Dean and Sam talk with Andrea, and she talks about everything going on after her husband's death....and Lucas comes up, bringing Dean a very detailed picture of a house.

Supernatural Drinking Game: Take a drink every time the background is clearly green screened in driving scenes.

Meanwhile, we return to the Carlton family. The father is still destitute, understandably so, as Will encourages him to eat before the sewage backs up into the sink and the stench kills him...just kidding, but he is very, very dead following the malignant force in the water coming up and forcing him to drown in the sink.

Later, Sam comes in and reports the news to Dean. Back at square one, they try to figure out what it is and bat around a couple of ideas. With the lake draining, however, they know that whatever is in the lake is running out of time. They also know that it has something to do with Bill Carlton...who every recent death seems to be connected to.  They go to question him, but he's less than cooperative in the wake of his children dying.

Dean thinks he's not telling them something, and then - seeing the front of the Carlton House - pulls out Lucas's drawing and finds that it matches it almost perfectly. They return to Andrea, who is skeptical of Lucas actually giving them any information, but is eventually convinced to relent when Dean and Sam question her as to whether or not she thinks the murders have been more than simple drownings.

So we get another scene of Dean talking to Lucas, who is still rather without words. Dean gets a little more overt about his backstory, connecting Lucas's fears after losing his Dad to his after losing his Mom. He encourages Lucas to be brave, say that its what his Dad would have wanted and, for the first time, Lucas actually reacts - putting down his crayon and looking up at Dean. While he doesn't actually speak, Lucas does give Dean another drawing - a church and a two-story house.

After some talk about how traumatic experiences can help make one (sort of) psychic (because plot hole otherwise), Sam comes up with a plan to look for the churches, and he and Dean share a bro moment over the things that Dean said to Lucas before they arrive at the church...finding the house as well and entering it, meeting an elderly woman and asking about a young boy who lives there...or lived there. The woman's son, Peter Sweeney, disappeared over thirty years ago, supposedly having ridden his bike home from school...and never showing up at home ever again.

As they leave, Dean finds a photo that puts Bill Carlton with Peter as boy scouts in 1970.

At the lake, Bill has gone into suicidal depression, talking to the lake about how he finally realizes what's going on and what the lake wants.

Sam and Dean head back, theorizing that Bill did something to Peter - possibly even killing him - which would make Peter now a vengeful spirit out for...well, vengeance. They return to the Carltons just to find Bill heading out on a boat to the lake...which gets lakenado'd in spite of their protests. They return to the station, news of Bill's death having reached the Sheriff and the others. When the Sheriff suggests that Andrea and Lucas go home, Lucas has a panic attack and latches onto Dean, desperately trying to tell him something, but being unable to do so.

In his office, the Sheriff talks to them a bit more on the nature of the incident, having been briefed. He doesn't believe this, of course, and he's apparently checked on their fake IDs. He's not up for the nonsense, however, and gives them the ultimatum of either being arrested or getting the hell out of town for good.  Naturally, Sam and Dean take option two...

Back at Andrea's home, Lucas is drawing late into the night when Andrea guides him towards bed, leaving a black, inky void drawn in crayon on one of his paper pads. She gets ready for a bath afterwards because fanservice that will quickly turn into horror. Back on the road, Sam and Dean stop at a turn to head toward Milwaukee and turn back, because the episode isn't over yet. Dean rationalizes that the spirit isn't at rest because Lucas wasn't okay...and he sympathizes with that.

That moment when  you wish you'd called that plumber...

Andrea, meanwhile, learns that it is indeed not safe to go back in the water. The spirit strikes and, somehow through its control of water, locks the doors so Lucas can't get in either. But the door breaking powers of the Winchesters are much stronger and Sam manages to pull her to safety. Later, as Sam questions Andrea, Dean goes sorting through books. Andrea explains that she heard a voice telling her to "come play with me". In the basement, Dean finds a book marked "Jake - 12 years old" and finds a photo of the Sheriff's old Boy Scout troop...which includes Bill Carlton and Peter Sweeney, proving Dean's hunch that not all is said and done.

They all suddenly notice Lucas staring out at the lake and, when he heads towards it, they follow. He stops on a particular patch of ground, and Dean suggests that he and Andrea get back to the house while he and Sam get to digging, finding a rusty old bike. Sheriff Jake arrives, however, and puts both the boys at gunpoint. Dean gives the Sherlock Holmes resolutions to the mystery - Jake and Bill drown Peter in the lake and buried the bike, the sole remaining piece of evidence.

Andrea rushes out and tries to talk him down, while Sam and Dean try to get Jake to deal with the reality of the situation. Andrea is naturally hurt at the revelation that her father could murder someone. Jake admits to everything, but swears it was accidental...which does all of jack to justify his actions or assuage the ghost, who goes after Lucas when he sneaks down to the dock to retrieve one of his army men in the water...and Peter pulls him in.

Sam and Dean jump in after as Jake sees the mutilated, ghostly visage of Peter in the water and his horrified. Sam and Dean are unable to find him. Jake, in a moment of redemption, gets into the water and begs Peter to take him instead. Peter pulls him under as well and Sam and Dean go in after him. They return with Lucas, but Jake is lost, thus ending Peter's vendetta and reason for existence.

We get the wrap up, Sam reminding Dean that they're not going to save everyone, and saying their goodbyes to Andrea and Lucas - the latter of which has begun to talk again, and who Dean teaches the importance of Sabbath to.  Naturally, with their lives in shambles following the death of most of their family, Andrea and Lucas are both up for some very, very serious counseling in the future. Andrea, however, ends with a very optimistic note that she has to hold on to the fact that her father did love her and Lucas, and was even willing to sacrifice himself to save them. With that, Sam and Dean head off down the road to another adventure...

Again, we're still in the Pretty Good territory for episodes, but that's the case with a lot of Season 1 stuff, as I've said before. Though even at this point a vengeful spirit isn't new territory (as we saw in Pilot), this is a nice twist on what we already have seen and a rather unique MO for a vengeful spirit. It is actually a shame that more of these kinds of things weren't tried as time went on, just going the "OMG! Ghost!" route without a lot of uniqueness to them.

We also get some good character bits for Dean, in which he gets teased by Sam for his dislike of children...only to find one that he actually relates to based on the similarity of their situations. It is clear that there is something far deeper under all the snark, booze, and cheesy pick up lines even this early on the show. Not that Dean lets it show all that often, of course.

Next week, we're going into October and thus hitting up a few high notes or horror. To begin, we're gonna have an adventure with...there's...something...on the wing! Some...thing!

Actually, there's something on the plane as Supernatural gives us our first look at what will become a very, very recurring adversary over the next few seasons. Stay tuned!

Supernatural is the property of CW and Warner Brothers.

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