Amy Acker fans, prepare to squee. Supernatural’s third episode is great all on its own, but the fact that Amy stars in it catapults it into my all-time faves. I adore her so much.
Herein, you will find the episode summary and counts. Zeroth and I will have posts up exploring various themes of this episode shortly.
Our episode opens in Manitoc, Wisconsin, at a rustic gabled cabin with an idyllic family: Bill Carlton and his teenage son and daughter, Will and Sophie. I will give you three guesses as to which of them is going to die in a few minutes.
After some sexist banter from Bro, Sis goes outside to swim in the lake. This turns out to be a fatal mistake, as she’s pulled under the water by an unseen something. For a horror show, it’s a very understated death scene, which makes it all the more chilling.
We cut to Dean, who is circling Sophie’s obituary in the paper. His efforts at flirting with an obviously-interested waitress are blocked by Sam, who’s obviously all business. Dean shows him the obit and mentions two other people who’ve also, like Sophie, gone missing in the lake this year, presumed dead. The brothers start arguing: Sam wants to concentrate on finding their father, while Dean wants to hunt while their dad’s trail is cold. I suspect Sam gives in because it’s either that or having to put up with Dean hooking up with their waitress.
They head to Manitoc and pose as US Wildlife Service agents Ford and Hamill. They talk to Will Carlton and Sheriff Jake Devins. We get slapped in the face with a lake monster red herring. The boys find out that the dam holding back the lake is crumbling, so the lake is being slowly drained: it’s only got six months to live. The sheriff’s daughter, Andrea Barr (AMY!!!) walks in, and all the Angel fans in the audience promptly lose their shit.
Good thing, too, since the sheriff was getting suspicious about the boys’ ignorance about the dam.
Andrea, it turns out, has a mute little boy, and the family is suffering from some mysterious trauma. Dean uses his Manly CharmsTM to persuade Andrea to show them a good hotel. Unfortunately, in two blocks, all he manages is a lousy pickup line about kids being the best (which she parries brilliantly), and so the Mysterious Trauma remains mysterious. Sam gives Dean a lot of shit about not even liking kids. Yes, this will become important.
At the hotel, Sam does some further research, and discovers that there have been six more mysterious drownings over the past 35 years. Sam decides the lake monster theory isn’t holding water (c wut I did thar?), and then they discover that one of the victims is Christopher Barr, Andrea’s late husband. Mysterious Trauma solved!
Mute son Lucas turns out to have witnessed his father’s death: the only witness. So the boys track Andrea and her son to the park, where Dean attempts to connect with Lucas by playing with his army men and drawing with him. He’s awkward at first, but once he starts drawing and talking about his own past trauma, he finds all the right words. He also barely avoids shedding a Man Tear while remembering what happened to his mom. He invites Lucas to draw him a picture, leaves him with a terrible drawing of his family, and it’s extremely touching. Lucas doesn’t seem to react, but after Dean walks away, he looks at Dean’s picture and quickly draws one for him, which he delivers while Sam and Dean are talking to Andrea about the effect his dad’s death has had on him.
Well, hey, at least this body hasn’t gone missing. And we know it’s definitely not the Loch Ness monster.
They realize the creature is escalating due to the lake being drained. And the recent victims are all related to Bill Carlton: Christopher Barr was his godson. So they go try to talk to Bill Carlton, who’s staring at the lake, completely broken. He gives them nothing. But as they go back to the car, Dean realizes Bill’s cozy gabled cottage is the exact same house Lucas drew for him. So they go to talk to the kid who’s been rendered mute by his trauma. Dean realizes the kid’s scared, and tells him about how scared he was when something bad happened to his mom, while Sam listens intently. Connection established, the kid hands Dean an already-completed drawing of a little church and a house.
They go in search of the little yellow house, during which hunt Sam unsuccessfully tries to draw Dean out further on their mother’s death and they discuss how Lucas might be coming by the information he’s giving them (could it be … psychic powers?!).
They find the house, and inside, talk to old Mrs. Sweeny about the boy Lucas drew in his picture. She tells them it’s her son Peter, who went missing 35 years before. She echoes Bill’s words about how losing a child is worse than dying. Also, he had toy soldiers – just like Lucas! They find an inscription on the back of an old photo showing that Bill and Peter were friends. Dun-dun-DUN.
We cut to Bill talking to the lake, telling Peter’s spirit it’s taken everything. Yep. Meanwhile, the boys are driving to his house, putting together all the clues and determining that Bill may have killed Peter. When they arrive, Bill’s heading out to the middle of the lake in a motorboat. They watch helplessly as the boat gets knocked into the sky and Bill vanishes into the water.
At Andrea’s house, Lucas frantically scribbles circles. Meanwhile, the boys start to drive out of town, but Dean turns back. Sam argues with him while Andrea draws a bath. Dean refuses to leave because Lucas is scared: he wants to make sure the kid’s okay, which astonishes Sam. Then we cut back to Andrea in the bath tub with the water running: as she leans back and closes her eyes, it begins to run dark green. Yoicks!
Well, of course, Peter’s angry lake-monster spirit attacks her, trying to pull her under, and there is much screaming and near-nudity as she struggles. A ghostly voice says “Come play with me!” as Lucas pounds on the bathroom door. The boys arrive, are let in by a panicked Lucas, and Dean keeps the kid safe as Sam dashes in to save the lady. As the sun rises, Sam gently questions her as Dean searches through old notebooks and keepsakes on a shelf. He finds a photo album that shows Sheriff Jake as a kid with a group of scouts. They put together the connections between Bill, Peter, and Sheriff Jake, but are interrupted as Lucas goes trooping out of the house and down to the lake, using a significant look to show Dean a spot. The boys dig, and find Peter’s bike, which they uncover as Sheriff Jake shows up to threaten them with a gun. The boys have to explain what Peter’s spirit is up to as the sheriff is about a split second away from shooting them, which he might have done if his daughter wasn’t in his face demanding answers.
It turns out Bill and Jake drowned Peter by accident while bullying him. Unfortunately, they dumped the body in the lake, so the old salt-and-burn technique isn’t going to save anyone this time. He amusingly tries to play the ghosts-can’t-be-real card, which is abruptly trumped by Peter’s spirit luring Lucas down to the lake and snatching him. Sam and Dean dive in to save him, while Jake wades in apologizing to Peter and offering himself instead. The eerie corpse of Peter floats up to drag him down, Dean saves Lucas, and all is well as can be. Lucas, who is verbal again, sends them off by making them sandwiches.
D’aw.
Episode 3 counts:
Woman in the Fridge: 1
For Sophie Carlton being the first to get murdered by the vengeful spirit. It’s obviously meant to hook us harder: I mean, nobody would care as much about obnoxious brother Will, right?
Revenge from Beyond the Grave: 4
Sophie Carlton, Will Carlton, Bill Carlton, and Jake Devins.
Brotherly Love: 2
I had to give one to Sam for cock-blocking his brother right at the start. Another point goes to Dean’s sick-of-your-attitude lecture to his little brother, throwing Sam’s decision to go to college while Dean stayed behind with their dad in his face.
Toxic Masculinity: 1
For Dean downplaying his grief when Sam draws him out about the aftermath of their mother’s death.
Swimming in Sexism: 2
For Will Carlton’s comment to his sister that “guys don’t like buff girls.” I added a point for all the times they had Dean hitting on any available woman. They do want us to be extra-very sure he’s hetero, don’t they?
Cumulative Counts:
Dean’s Man Tears: 3
One point awarded for all Dean’s choking up about Mom. We’re now three for three, folks.
