Supernatural Fodder

Supernatural: Dead in the Water

Impressions

Bleh. Another weak episode. It was about this time that I was considering giving up on the series, I'm sad to say. However, I was encouraged by the well-made sink and bathtub scenes.

Recap and critique of Episode 3, Dead in the Water

Sam and Dean go to Lake Manitoc, Wisconsin to investigate disappearances at a lake. They discover a vengeful spirit taking revenge on the families of the living perpetrators of his murder. In a neat twist, the brothers are unable to put the spirit to rest. Only claiming the final victim satisfies the spirit, which then rests.

Once again, my main complaint is the lack of personal cost to the family. They are never really in any danger, nor is anyone they care about.

Really, this is a weakness of this type of show. You know nothing will happen to the main protagonists, so it's hard to take any threat to them seriously. Fortunately, the writers do find a way to address this problem later in the series, much like they did in the Pilot when they killed Sam's fiance. They do this by creating potential losses of things other than their lives, and in some cases, by threatening people close to the family. I'll discuss those when I get to the relevant episodes (like one of my favorites, Skin). That will also give me a chance to discuss where I think the writers are going with the future of the show.

Trivia

This episode was directed by Kim Manners, who also directed several episodes of The X-Files, as well as several episodes of Over There. This is interesting, because Nicki Aycox, who plays Meg on the show, also worked on some episodes of both shows. Personally, I would try to work with her more often myself. Ahem. Anyway.

Scenes in this episode visually pay homage to both Jaws (remember the poster with the swimmer at night?) and Friday the 13th. But it also seems to pay a bit of homage to What Lies Beneath, with the bathtub scene.