As the title implies, there was indeed a reconciliation of sorts on Under the Dome this week. It was an unnecessary one between Julia and Barbie that never should’ve been an issue in the first place if Julia wasn’t so dumb to believe Big Jim’s lies. That’s just the first of a few complaints with this weird episode.
Julia refused to even talk to Barbie after Jim told her that Barbie was on board with his plan to release the flu virus into the population. For whatever reason, she won’t listen to Barbie until Rebecca confirms that Jim lied. I don’t understand that logic either but like I said, everything about this episode was strange.
Elsewhere, Phil the former DJ turned sheriff was all sorts of annoying. When Julia was holding a public trial for Jim and Rebecca, the townspeople are very vocal about their devotion to Big Jim. They start rioting and Phil shoots and kills Wendell, one of the citizens. Julia sees Phil’s action as harsh and because she’s the newly self-appointed leader of Chester’s Mill, she fires him. He’s fresh off the job and drinking already when he visits Big Jim in prison. It’s there that they come up with a plan to frame Julia as the wrong leader for the people.
As of last week, the food supply wasn’t a major concern yet. One good thing about Julia is she’s proactive about preventing any future disasters. That’s why she organizes a food exchange, where people can bring any spare food they wish to donate for their neighbors who may be in need of it soon. It’s a good idea in theory until the building is blown up. It doesn’t take them long to figure out that Jim was probably behind it, and Barbie is shocked to hear that Phil actually was responsible for enacting the plan.
By the end, Barbie has to shoot Phil to make him let Carolyn go. In case you forgot, Carolyn is Norrie’s mom who hasn’t been around much this season. She was only partially relevant this episode when she served as Jim and Rebecca’s lawyer. She later caught Phil in the aftermath of the explosion where she realized he was responsible and he violently chased her. I know Barbie only shot him in the shoulder, and he could recover, but at this point his character is pointless. I can’t recall the last time he was ever actually important to anything going on.
Back to the more pressing matters at hand, the Melanie mystery is in full swing. Joe and Norrie bring her to the edge of the dome to see if touching it would offer her any visions like it did for them. When that didn’t work, she kissed Joe which only made Norrie hate her more. She’s never liked Melanie ever since she came out of nowhere, and now she has even more proof to not trust her. For now, Joe tells Norrie that he only loves her but she’s as ignorant as Julia and doesn’t believe him. The one productive idea the kids have is to take blood samples from each other and see if there’s any visible difference comparing Melanie’s blood to Joe’s. It looks as though that storyline will carry into next week when Rebecca takes a look under the microscope.
Rebecca’s weird friendship/agreement with Jim seems to be in jeopardy now that she’s starting to side more with Julia. Jim made a public appearance when he was freed from jail to present a solid front to the citizens who didn’t agree with Julia running things. Rebecca’s starting to question her own beliefs as she thinks science might not be the right approach.
Last but not least, Junior is desperate to find Lyle. He’s convinced he’s responsible for murdering Angie when we actually know that his uncle Sam did that. Junior’s trusting his uncle when he shares his theory with him as to why Angie was targeted: she was one of the four hands that hold power over the dome. He basically just put targets on Joe, Norrie, and his own head. I know it was probably thought up as good storytelling to have Sam “apologize” as he was about to smother Junior in his sleep, but it was pretty cheesy. Sam is already established as the villain hiding in plain sight so that was silly.
Junior and Sam break into the locker that Angie was murdered at only to discover it leads to a tunnel. Junior thinks Lyle escaped through it, but we have to wait and see where the tunnel even leads. It would be too easy if that’s an escape route out of the dome. My theory is Lyle got out of the dome another way, but this tunnel was Sam’s only hope. He probably set it up to appear as if Lyle could have gotten out but he will only be leading people into another trap of some sort.
What did you think? Could the tunnel really be the way out from under the dome?
[Photo via CBS]
