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1.3 Dead in the Water

Dean: "No wonder that kid was so freaked out. Watching one of your parents die isn't something you just get over."

I wasn't all that wild about this episode. The kid who sees something terrible and stops talking, but is skillfully brought out by our hero and starts talking again? Done so many times that it's an uncomfortable cliche.

But fear of what lies in the darkness under the water, or down the drain? That was done really well. And why? Because they didn't show us the monster. (Well, just a little. Enough to freak us out.) The scene where the guy got pulled into the sink was so well done that I was cringing and yelling, "Don't put your arm in the sink! Haven't you ever seen a horror movie?" And when Andrea Amy Acker got in the bathtub, we all knew she was in serious crap. (Although she did get rescued, stark naked in Sam's arms. It would almost be worth it.)

In the sibling relationship department, Sam was obviously not amused by Dean actively flirting with a waitress as well as Andrea. Although that didn't make much sense. Sam may be in mourning, but Dean wasn't engaged to Jessica, after all. The strongest scene in the episode was Dean telling young Lucas that he thought about his mother's death every day, and the expression on Sam's face as he listened. Sam had probably never considered that Dean experienced trauma that Sam did not.

And even though it was a cliched plotline, Dean's uncomfortable but ultimately successful attempts to relate to Andrea's traumatized son Lucas were kind of fun.

Bits and pieces:

-- Great episode title.

-- The opening scene was a deliberate homage to the opening scenes of "Jaws."

-- I could swear that I've seen that particular lake before in episodes of Smallville and The Dead Zone. Closest lake to Vancouver available for filming?

-- Sam's hair was actually obscuring his face. Product, people. Scissors. Something!

-- Amy Acker (Andrea) was a cast member on one of my favorite series, "Angel." I got to talk with her at a fundraiser for ten minutes once. There, I name-dropped. Couldn't resist it.

-- This week's itinerary: Lake Manitoc, Wisconsin.

-- The guys masqueraded as Agent Ford (Dean) and Agent Hamill (Sam) of the U.S. Wildlife Service. I don't need to point out the Starwarsian reference, do I? Or that Dean thinks of himself more as Solo than Skywalker?

Quotes:

Andrea: "Must be hard with your sense of direction never being able to find your way to a decent pick-up line."

Sam: "Kids are the best? You don't even like kids."
Dean: "I love kids."
Sam: "Name three children that you even know."
Dean: (long silence) "I'm thinking."

Dean: "I just don't want to leave this town until I know that kid's okay."
Sam: "Who are you? And what have you done with my brother?"

Dean: "If you're going to be talking now, it's a very important phrase and I want you to repeat it back to me one more time."
Lucas: "Zeppelin rules!"

Two out of four stars,

Billie





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