Creep: It's a "whale" of a tale indeed, my fiendish friends, as a local legend rears its ugly "head", teeth and all. Nessie has nothing on "Champy", in this delightful dirge I like to call...
By the Silver Water of Lake Champlain
On Columbus Day weekend 1984, in the lakeside town of Mansi, teenager Rose Phillips (Sydney Wease) has become obsessed with searching for Champ, the legendary monster that is rumored to live in the waters of Lake Champlain. Her late father William was obsessed with finding the monster, spending all of the family's money to search for it. His obsession with finding Champ made the townspeople think he was a lunatic and unfortunately cost him his life. In the present, Rose vows to find Champ herself to finish what her late father started, and to prove that his claims of having seen the creature were not the delusions of a madman.
Rose's mother Leigh (Gena Shaw) refuses to accept any talk about the monster at home, as it spurs an argument between her and Rose about what the legend of Champ did to William, which causes the latter to angrily run from the house. Eventually, Rose, her little brother Joseph (David Alexander Kaplan), and her love interest Thomas (Connor Jones) discover what appears to be Champ's corpse washed up on the shore of the lake. Realizing that her father was right all along, Rose sends Joseph to fetch their mother and tell her about the discovery. To solidify their evidence, Thomas carves his and Rose's names and the date of their discovery into the creature's skin. Rose also manages to take several pictures of the corpse for further evidence.
At that moment, Rose's stepfather, a sadistic and abusive Vietnam veteran named Chet (James Devoti), finds them and the corpse of Champ. Seeing the opportunity of a financial windfall, Chet plans to take credit for the discovery himself, plotting to display the corpse to the public and become rich. After crumpling up the photos Rose took, he begins to assault the kids, ultimately holding Rose and Thomas at knife-point. This is when the actual Champ, several times larger than the creature on the shore, shows up and swallows Chet whole, saving the kids. It is revealed that the corpse is that of Champ's own child. When Champ doesn't receive a response from her child, she tenderly drags the corpse back into the lake, costing Rose and Thomas their evidence. Joseph then returns with Leigh, having missed the entire ordeal. Despite the apparent lack of proof, Leigh manages to glimpse Champ's silhouette disappearing into the fog, finally realizing that William wasn't as crazy as everyone thought he was. The reunited family return home as Chet's severed leg washes up on the shore.
This episode contains examples of:
- Actor Allusion: Adrienne Barbeau once again portrays a radio DJ who warns people of fog, right down to having nearly the same name.
- Always a Bigger Fish: It's revealed near the end that the creature washed up on the shore is actually Champ's child. The real Champ, who is several times larger, ultimately comes to the kids' rescue by devouring Chet whole.
- An Arm and a Leg: The only thing left of Chet by the end of the episode is his severed leg, his "Shitkicker" boot still attached.
- Asshole Victim: Chet, one of the biggest in the series.
- Bastard Boyfriend: Chet. If you need proof, just keep reading.
- Big Damn Heroes: Champ emerges from the lake in the nick of time, eating Chet alive and saving the kids.
- Bittersweet Ending: Despite losing the proof of her discovery, Rose finally realizes that her father was right all along about Champ, who managed to rid her of her horrific stepfather and repaired her fractured bond with her mother.
- Bookends: This episode serves as a bookend for the first season, as many similarities to first episode of the series are made:
- Adrienne Barbeau, who played Dixie in that episode, reappears here in a voice-only role.
- Also like the first episode, Chet drinks Harrow's Supreme.
- Rose is seen looking at the math book Timmy was studying in that episode as well.
- Break the Cutie: Poor Rose has really had it rough. The girl's becoming estranged from her mother, tragically lost a loving father who was believed to have been a lunatic by everyone in town, and is subject to the abuse of her mother's sadistic boyfriend. It's no wonder over half of the girl's dialogue sounds like she's on the verge of tears.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: Chet claims to have slowly killed a VC in 'Nam by twisting a knife into his stomach over and over, watching as the guy bled out. He nearly does the same to Thomas to scare the boy away from Rose.
- Collector of the Strange: Rose keeps a scrapbook filled with illustrations of Champ and articles about purported sightings of her.
- Cryptid Episode: Rose, Joseph, and Thomas discover the corpse of a lake monster that Rose's father had gone insane looking for. The corpse's mother comes to their rescue, and devours the asshole stepfather that tries to take credit for the discovery and kill them.
- Darker and Edgier: This story is significantly bleaker than a typical Creepshow episode, having absolutely no comedic moments whatsoever and lacking the over-the-top Bathos that makes Creepshow what it is. The story itself deals with a broken family that's still dealing with the fallout from the father's death, as well as the intrusion of a horrific new stepfather, with plenty of anger and sadness thrown around.
- Disappeared Dad: Rose's father William, who was mocked by the townsfolk for going out night after night searching for Champ, ended up drowning in Lake Champlain in the midst of his endless pursuit of her. Leigh paints him as a monster fanatic who ignored his family in his pursuit of Champ, but it could be said that this is a mask to hide her sadness.
- Domestic Abuse: Chet inflicts this onto Rose and her family constantly, though the physical stuff is mostly shown near the end.
- Due to the Dead: Thomas carves the names of Rose and her father into the corpse of Champ's child, giving the deceased dad credit for the corpse's discovery.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: Even if she loses the proof that her father was right about Champ, Rose and her mother finally make amends with one another, and both them, Joseph, and Thomas are free from Chet, able to live their lives anew, without fear.
- Extreme Doormat: Leigh is unable to stand up for herself whenever Chet walks all over her. Rose calls her out for not willing to take charge of her own life, and making up shameless lies to cope with the fact that she doesn't want to admit that she's in pain after her husband's death.
- Feet-First Introduction: Chet is introduced by a shot of his foot, wearing a boot that says "Shitkicker", coming into view.
- Foreshadowing: The constant bellowing sound heard throughout the episode turns out to be Champ, who is panicking and trying to find her child.
- Gold Digger: Chet is established to be one when Rose admits that he only became her mother's boyfriend to spend the insurance payout she received when William died on booze. He even plans to ditch Leigh and the kids after he takes the corpse of Champ's child and becomes filthy rich off of it.
- Hate Sink: Chet. Even for a franchise that features intentionally evil, greedy, and otherwise unlikable characters, this man takes the cake. He's not a Large Ham who tries justifying their actions with a flimsy Freudian Excuse. He's a violent, aggressive, soft-spoken sociopath who has a relentless desire to prove himself an alpha male without any excuse whatsoever. All the horrific things he does to Rose and her family are listed further below.
- Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday: The episode takes place around Columbus Day.
- Implied Love Interest: Rose and Thomas seem to share some romantic tension with one another, but it doesn't go far as long as Chet's around. Even by the end of the episode, we don't know if their relationship upgraded.
- Infodump: Rose gives one to Thomas about how her father grew obsessed with Champ and died trying to hunt her down.
- It's All About Me: Chet plots to take full credit for the discovery of the corpse of Champ's baby, hoping to get rich by displaying it to the public.
- Kick the Dog: Chet does this to Rose and her family nonstop, even throwing her beloved scrapbook of Champ articles in the trash, where he claims it belongs.
- Laser-Guided Karma: After everything Chet has ever done to Rose and her family, seeing him get devoured by Champ, the very same monster that tore her family apart, is immensely cathartic.
- Lazy Bum: Chet does nothing but laze around when he's not abusing the family. He claims to be out and about trying to find work to support the family, but Rose counters that he's always getting drunk at the local bar.
- Monster Is a Mommy: The dead lake monster on the shore turns out to be Champ's baby. When Champ senses her child is dead, she lets out a roar of sorrow, then tenderly pulls the corpse back into the lake.
- Mythology Gag:
- This story is written by Joe Hill, who is not only the son of Stephen King, a producer of the original film, but he also played Billy, the abused boy in the framing narrative of said film.
- The "Father's Day" ashtray can be seen on the Phillips' kitchen table.
- Joseph plays with a paper boat named the "S.S. Champy" in the sink.
- Nothing Is Scarier: Whatever happened to William when he went out on the lake and had his first encounter with Champ is left unexplained. Rose only says that the ordeal left him utterly shellshocked, and when he snapped out of it, he became determined to prove to the town and his family that the monster was real. And as for how he drowned, there's no full explanation for that either.
- Not What It Looks Like: Champ surfaces from the lake just as Chet is wielding Thomas' knife before her child's corpse, jumping to conclusions and eating him alive, saving Thomas and Rose in the process.
- Ominous Fog: To illustrate its status as the home of the mysterious and unseen Champ, Lake Champlain is completely shrouded with dense layers of fog. There's so much of it that Mansi's Parks & Rec committee is forced to announce an immediate water travel ban. The fog was no better in the past, as William disappeared into it while fishing one day, and he didn't return until the next day, driven insane by his desire to prove Champ was real.
- Properly Paranoid: In spite of all the ridicule he received for his obsession with Champ, William was right that she was real, as his daughter finds the corpse of her own child on the lakeshore.
- Riddle for the Ages: It's never revealed what actually killed Champ's offspring. The only indication we get of what could've done it are three colossal gashes in the creature's neck.
- Shout-Out:
- Chet refers to Thomas as "Rambo" whenever the two meet.
- Related to the above-mentioned Actor Allusion, Barbeau's DJ character, Jolene Payne, is similarly named to Stevie Wayne, her DJ character from The Fog (1980).
- National Geographic is mentioned by Thomas as a place to showcase Champ's child's corpse when Rose finds it.
- The fridge in the Phillips house is adorned with homages to John Waters.
- Slashed Throat: This is how Champ's child was killed, but we get no indication as to who or what is responsible for it.
- Sociopathic Soldier: Chet was one of these in the military, and hasn't changed a bit since then.
- Soft-Spoken Sadist: Chet is an abusive sadist who has no problem with killing his step-daughter and her possible boyfriend, but he hardly ever raises his voice.
- The Vietnam Vet: Chet is mentioned to have served in 'Nam.
- Watch Out for That Tree!: After the argument she has with her mom, Rose runs all the way to the shores of Lake Champlain. She's only stopped after she runs right smack into the corpse of Champ's baby.
- Wicked Stepfather: Chet. He becomes Leigh's boyfriend and moves into her house solely to drink away the insurance payout she received when her husband died, helped spread the rumors that Rose's late father (who he callously mocks) was crazy, and treats the family like absolute crap. If that isn't enough, the audio commentary for the episode even implies that he harbors a sexual attraction to his teenage stepdaughter. Considering the style in which the story's author's father wrote abusive parents, that last option is entirely possible.
- Would Hurt a Child: Once again, Chet. When he comes across Rose and Thomas with the corpse of what they believe is Champ washed up on the shore of the lake, he destroys their photographic evidence and attempts to take all the credit for the discovery himself, hoping to display the corpse to the public and become rich. When Rose and Thomas try to stop him, he physically attacks the kids, then holds them at knife-point. Had Champ not shown up when she did, Chet would've killed them both in cold blood.
- You Have to Believe Me!: William spent every hour of every day after his first outing on the lake trying to prove that Champ was real, and Rose spends the episode trying to carry on his beliefs. When Leigh reaches the lakeshore and doesn't see the corpse of Champ's baby, she doesn't believe her daughter once again... only to witness Champ herself disappearing into the fog, finally realizing that William and Rose weren't crazy after all.
