Supernatural - Dead in the Water

After the ridiculously strong Pilot and one of my personal favourites Wendigo we are now three episodes into season one of Supernatural and characters and their traits are starting to become familiar.

PLOT: After a teenage girl dies in a lake Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) head off to investigate her drowning. The circumstances appear accidental however after the girl’s brother dramatically drowns in the kitchen sink it becomes clear that something is terrorising the Carlton family.

The Winchesters interview the local sheriff under the disguises of Agent Ford and Agent Hamill and meet Lucas, his grandson, a mute child who witnessed his father drown in the lake. Dean bonds with Lucas as he too watched a parent die.

Lucas hands Dean a series of strange drawings and upon further investigation it transpires that Peter Sweeney, a young child, was drowned in the lake several years ago.

The lake is now draining and the spirit of the child is taking revenge on his killers before the lake empties.

Sam and Dean must try and figure out who is responsible for Peter’s death before anymore people are killed END PLOT

On the whole Dead in the Water isn’t a bad episode it just isn’t a memorable one.

The spirit of a murdered child is this week’s monster of the week and although the plot isn't particularly strong the episode it does have some decent moments. The action is all water themed and despite knowing that something bad is going to happen the show does a good job of ramping up the tension and anticipation.

The Winchesters trawling through the obituary notices for strange deaths is a very familiar occurrence in Supernatural however this it the first time we see them taking part in a hunt without John sending them coordinates.

Deep in the Water is also the first time that the Winchesters do not save the day. They do not stop the spirit – the spirit stops only because he has killed everyone involved with his death.  Dean is visibly upset at this and Sam has to remind him that they cannot save everybody.  Deans compulsion to save everyone is probably one of his most passionate character traits and one he never loses.

Dean can relate to Lucas watching a parent die and we get to see Dean’s compassionate side as he desperately wants to make sure that Lucas is safe before leaving.  Although Dean finds it easy to open up to Lucas whenever Sam tries to make sure he is okay Dean reverts back to his sarcastic self by quipping that he hopes Sam is not expecting a hug.

Sam’s impatience to find John has calmed down significantly from Wendigo but Dead in the Water is the first Dean episode of the season therefore the focus shifts to him. It is perhaps unfortunate that the first time we get an insight into Dean's view point of the Winchesters' history is in one of the weaker episodes of the show.

Dead in the Water is by no means a classic episode of Supernatural. If this was the first episode of the show you happened to watch you would be forgiven for not being overly impressed.  Every season is entitled to a few duff episodes and unfortunately this episode is one of those. It gets a 6/10. If it wasn't for all the Star Wars references it may have scored less.

Dean line of the week: “Watching one of your parents die is something you just don’t get over”

The death of Mary Winchester is the catalyst for the entire show and it is an event that the Winchester deal with through the shows run. It isn’t until much later on in the show that we get an insight into Mary and her background.

Sam line of the week: “People don’t disappear Dean, people just stop looking for them”

Sam is actually talking about the Carlton family holding a funeral for closure however it is a  purposefully unsubtle dig at Dean about John.

Guest line of the week: Sheriff Devins: “You get in your car and put this town in your rear view mirror and never darken this door again”

Dean and Sam are constantly dealing with the sceptics and on occasion do get ran out of town.

Musical cue of the week: “Zepplin Rules”

Not so much a musical cue but if you leave Dean with a previously mute child this is what his first words become.

Monster of the week: Vengeful Spirit

The ghost of a murdered child starts to take revenge on the people who killed him and their families