Supernatural: Dead in the Water

Spoilers for the episode

The Story:

A woman drowns in a lake so Sam and Dean go to investigate and discover a spirit that’s got a grudge against the family. It’s as about interesting as it sounds.

Thoughts:

The first minutes of this episode are basically a rehash of the last minutes of the previous episode which is redundant because we’ve already had a recap. Sam wants to go find their Dad instead of wasting time and Dean reminds him they are doing that but also killing all the bad things they can of their road to finding their Dad. It makes Sam seem a bit stupid but I guess we needed that scene again?

So they go to the family of the latest victim of the lake where the brother’s convinced his sister was pulled under. Then it’s off to the Sheriff who has done lots of stuff to the lake to confirm there’s nothing in it.

I love them trying to bluff their way through their conversation with the Sheriff. Dean pretending to know exactly what’s going on with the dam because they are meant to be part of wildlife research or something official.

It’s here we meet the Sheriff’s daughter who is Fred from Angel and that’s what I’m going to be calling her because I’m awful with names.

Fred’s got a son who witnessed his father drowning on the lake and now doesn’t speak. Dean tries to connect with him over witnessing a parent’s death and draws the kid a picture of his family. Dean gets a picture of a house in return. The kid put a lot more effort into his picture than Dean did.

This turns out to be a prophetic picture because the dead swimmer’s brother drowns in the sink next and the picture was of his house.

Why would you stick your hand into murky water to pull the plug out when the plug wasn’t even in and the water bubbled up through the plug hole. Go find a plunger. Or a plumber.

That’s one of the things that really creep me out. Sticking my hand into water I can’t see the bottom of.

The brothers get no answers out of the father because he’s just lost both his children so they go back to Fred and her psychic child.

Dean opens up some more about seeing his mum die and gets another picture in return. They end up at an old lady’s house who lost her son 35 years ago where they find a picture of Bill Carlton as a child (he’s the one who just lost both his kids). Before they can talk to him he takes his boat out on the lake and drowns. His boat gets flipped out of the water.

Then it’s back to the Sheriff who tells them to get out of town because their cover’s blown. So they pretend to leave but Dean doesn’t think the job is over even though Sam does. You know Dean is right because as they have the conversation it keeps cutting back to Fred getting ready to have a bath.

Sure enough she almost drowns but Sam manges to pull her up somehow. The spirit managed to flip a boat out of the water but it can’t defeat Sam.

Now they know it’s got something to do with the Sheriff as well so Sam questions Fred while Dean pokes through family photo albums. Then psychic child leads them to Peter’s bike(that’s the kid that died 35 years ago). It’s a bit convenient that he chooses this moment to be helpful but the story needs to keep moving and as long as they aren’t sent somewhere else for another clue I’m fine with it.

The sheriff shows up and pulls a gun on them and the whole truth comes out. The Sheriff and Bill Carlton accidentally drowned Peter in the lake and now the spirit is making them feel the same pain his mother felt before killing them.

I’d forgotten that it was the Sherrif who was the cause of the angry spirit. The other episodes I can vaguely remember who did what but here I was trying to figure it out.

Psychic child seems to be in favor of keeping things moving because he then goes near the lake for some reason and gets pulled under. It’s here I learn his name is Lucas because his mother won’t stop screaming it.

The brothers dive in heroically but can’t find him. I bet that was a fun day of being stuck in the water.

The sheriff decides to sacrifice himself for his grandson and they shoot him being pulled down into the depths of the lake from above and it’s kind of funny. His hand movements make him look like he’s waving.

Everything gets wrapped up after that. Lucas gets saved, Fred sort of forgives her Dad and Lucas is back to talking.

The first traumatising event makes the kid mute then the second traumatising event lets him speak again. That’s not a good message about mental illness. Try to traumatise your child out of their trauma.

The one question that didn’t get answered though was why did the spirit wait so long? The boy was drowned 35 years ago. What took him so long to kill them? Is it what they said about the spirit wanting them to feel the same pain his mother felt? So he waited until they had children. That’s a very forward thinking spirit. But then what triggered it to kill the children now and not years earlier.

This episode had too much back and forth. They go to this place, then that place, then back to this place. I liked the horror of being trapped in the woods better.

And I think Sam agrees because he says to Dean ‘you can’t save everyone’. They didn’t do as well with the body count as last episode. In Wendigo they only let one guy under their care die and they saved three. Here four die and they save two.

But this wasn’t a bad episode. The brothers make it seem better than it was. Their interactions are all that kept this interesting. From Dean has never talked about their mum’s death before and Sam wanting to know why to Sam being bewildered at Dean getting attached to a child.

We don’t get many Dean sexist moments this episode but we do get something else that’s just as annoying. Dean says to Lucas who’s drawing ‘chicks dig artists’. I don’t like generalisations, assuming all girls like the same things, but it’s also assuming everyone is straight which is another of my favourite things people do.

I wouldn’t go out of my way to watch this episode again. It’s not bad it’s just a bit tedious. And it never felt like Sam or Dean are in danger. I didn’t know any of the other characters well enough to care if they died.

Previously Supernatural: Wendigo                                           Next Supernatural: Phantom Traveler

Liked it? Take a second to support Kathryn on Patreon!