Courtesy of CBS
As Under The Dome reaches the 3/4 mark of its first season, we continue to get more questions than answers about the (mini) Dome. Meanwhile, the criminal activity in town is about to skyrocket.
Let’s bitch it out…
Each week we break down the good, the bad and the meh. Here’s our list for ‘The Fourth Hands’:
The Good
- Missing mini-Dome: I’m probably leaning a little closer to ambivalent than psyched about the new developments involving the mini-Dome, but I can’t think of much else to put in the “good” category. Initially I had hoped the mini-Dome could disappear and re-appear at will. Instead it appears that it just wants to remain hidden from everyone but Joe (Colin Ford), Norrie (Mackenzie Lintz) and Angie (Britt Robertson). Sorry Julia (Rachelle Lefevre)!
- Dodee (Jolene Purdy): Oh…I like Dodee! Maybe it’s just because we don’t see much of her, but she’s cautiously snarky and on this show, that’s a pass
The Meh
- Max (Natalie Zea): Like nearly everything on this show, I’m on the fence with this character. I like Zea from her time on Justified (not The Following), and introducing this character helps to bring together all of Big Jim’s (Dean Norris) propane-related criminal activity and Barbie’s (Mike Vogel) backstory. At the same time, suggesting that this character has just been hiding out in a house for 8 DAYS without a single person noticing a strange woman with perfect make-up and hair? Absurd. Are we expected to believe that she has her own food and water supply, or that no one raised an eyebrow at the appearance of a woman no one knows in between the looting and general madness? If nothing else she should have showed up when the missile nearly decimated the town in 1×05 ‘Blue On Blue’ and the town headed to the concrete factory
- Hoarding guns: Despite the coming together of the new Chester Mill criminal club, I can’t say I’m excited to see Big Jim striking out on his own and stockpiling weapons in the fall-out shelter. We knew that he would keep them for himself and we’re meant to care / wonder why, but it’s so predictable that all I can do is shrug
- Phil (an unseen Nicholas Strong) is alive! We don’t get to see him or anything, but at least we know he’s okay
- Timeliness: What’s up with everyone telling us how much time has passed? Max and Big Jim confirms the Dome came down eight days ago. Joe references the monarchs from three days ago. Julia reminds everyone that the mini-Dome was in the woods the day before. Are the writers concerned we’re losing track of how much time has passed or something? Because there is a preponderous amount of references in this single episode
The Bad
- Angie’s acceptance: Under The Dome has done a terrible disservice to this character over the last nine episodes. Besides getting stuck in a fall-out shelter for the first five episodes, Angie has been a complete flake: one day she wants to leave town, and a few days later she wants the deed to the diner. Everything about Angie feels driven by the needs of the plot: she accepts Junior’s (Alexander Koch) BS story about why he locked her in the shelter just as easily as she accepts that she’s part of the key to opening the mini-Dome. Why? Because it’s more convenient than having her act like a real person, who would be having way more difficulties processing what she’s gone through. Instead Angie is just kind of fine with all everything and it’s completely unbelievable
- Junior’s explanation: Perhaps I missed something, but how does Junior’s mom painting a picture of him standing on a hill with pink stars falling lead him to believe that Angie is sick and needs to be locked up? I can understand why he would think that now that she’s had a seizure and said the words, but nothing in his lame-o story explains his behaviour for the first six episodes. Sorry – not buying it
- Also, those paintings were crap. Like pre-school levels of bad
- Linda (Natalie Martinez): I can see the writers trying to tie her into the Big Jim / Max / Barbie stuff, but she’s just so inept and boring, I can’t begin to care. You know it’s time for ‘Character Rehab’ when they visit an abandoned, creepy area and you hope that they get shot. Plus Martinez’s line delivery gets worse every episode. AWFUL
- Carolyn’s (Aisha Hinds) grief: Apparently Under The Dome thinks that death is totally fine when people are dying, but once they’re dead, there’s nothing interesting to explore. And so we see nothing of Carolyn; just a casual mention from Norrie that she wants “time to herself”. Weak. I’m not saying I want to see crying and depression, but if we’re going to have to go through the melodrama of someone dying, then at least dedicate some time to the aftermath. Otherwise it’s just manipulative
- As predicted Carter (Andrew Vogel) and his kneecaps go unmentioned. Oh show…can’t you aim for even just a bit of follow-up?
Courtesy of CBS
Dome info for the week:
- This week’s Dome factoids:
- The monarch in question is indeed Angie
- The mini-Dome requires four people to open/unlock it
- Contrary to initial speculation, the mini-Dome sadly lacks the capacity to fly like the sphere in Phantasm
- Number of deaths/injuries: Shockingly none – this is a first for the series
- This week’s drinking game: Drink everytime someone says “mini-Dome” or “propane”. Set 911 on your speed dail
What’s your take on episode nine: are you excited to see Natalie Zea show up as a potential villainess? Does anyone care about Barbie’s dilemma with Julia? Is there any doubt that the fourth hand belongs to Junior? Finally, same question as last week: Why is Linda still on the show? Hit the comments with your thoughts below
Under The Dome airs Mondays at 10pm EST on CBS. *Remember: we’re discussing the show as its own entity, so please refrain from including spoilers from the book