‘Under the Dome’ Review: Who is ‘The Fourth Hand’?

Last night’s episode of Under the Dome set up some intriguing potential storylines as it reminded viewers that the town has only been trapped under the dome for eight days (each episode takes place over the course of one day). “The Fourth Hand” also introduced viewers to Natalie Zea’s Maxine, who is the kind of dynamic character this show has been sorely lacking.

But before we talk about how awesome Max is, let’s talk about that fourth hand. The hour began with Julia leading Barbie into the woods to show him the egg and mini dome, but when they reached the spot, all they found was a hole in the ground. Barbie was less than impressed and headed off to do some deputy work with Linda while Julia went to see if Jim and Norrie knew what happened to the dome.

Meanwhile, Angie was at the diner, which she asked Big Jim to give her free and clear so that she could be responsible for the first time ever. He promised to think about it and then went about his business (more later). Junior showed up and Angie attempted to throw him out, but then she had a seizure and started chanting about the pink stars. The next thing she knows, she’s waking up in the back of his police cruiser, but Junior was just taking her home.

Joe and Norrie tell Angie that they’ve had the same seizures and Julia heads out to see if Dodee can help her find the egg. Joe and Norrie set out to find it too along with Joe’s dog and Angie tracks down Junior to get answers. He takes her to his mom’s abandoned studio and tells her about a dream his mom had. When she woke up from it, she painted a picture of Junior surrounded by pink stars.

The kids find the dome and egg in the barn and Angie joins them, but for some reason, they decide to keep Julia out of the loop. It turns out that Joe moved the mini dome when he was sleepwalking and/or possessed. There are four sets of handprints (get it?) and Angie says the need to find the fourth hand so they can…do something. I’m not really sure what all this means or if the audience is even supposed to have a guess at this point. I hope Junior is not the fourth hand because while I do think he might not be as crazy as originally thought, he’s still annoying enough that he should not be vindicated for his kidnapping efforts.

Could Julia be the fourth hand? She did see that vision of Joe, which ties in with the vision Norrie saw when she had to get home to her mom. Dodee seems like a possibility too since she’s afraid of the kids and the things she’s seen them do. Then again, maybe those connected to the egg are the evil ones and Dodee is good and recognizes their evil? Time will tell.

The call that Barbie and Linda took was a disturbance in town where a neighbor accidentally shot his neighbor as he tried to get a drug addict out of his house. The drug addict was on something called “Rapture” and told Barbie that he got it from the reverend. So Barbie and Linda head to the funeral home and find a casket filled with drugs and a conveniently placed list of the ingredients for the drug, which includes propane. They’re baffled, but smart enough to suspect that Big Jim is somehow involved.

After the neighbor on neighbor violence, Big Jim decides to ask everyone in town to voluntarily turn in their guns. I have to admit that I was surprised by how quickly everyone complied. But one guy was holding out so Big Jim and Barbie headed over to try and talk him into it. His family was killed when the dome came down and Big Jim did his best to reason with him while Barbie sat outside ready to shoot. The guy had a grenade, but Big Jim managed to stop it from going off and everyone let out a relieved sigh.

Big Jim headed back to his place and Maxine was waiting for him. Apparently, she’s from the next town over and she’d been in Chester’s Mill the day the dome came down to see Big Jim. She’d found an abandoned house and stayed there for eight days before resurfacing. Does this make sense? Not really, but it doesn’t matter (at least to me) because Maxine is all kinds of awesome and she’s the first person ever to make Big Jim fall in line.

Maxine is tied to “Rapture” and she’s been working with Big Jim and Duke and the reverend and she was not happy about the way things went down. Big Jim quickly assures her that he took care of that. Barbie shows up and Big Jim tries to introduce Maxine to him, but the lady walks over and kisses Barbie. It turns out they know each other too. Like Big Jim, Barbie has been working for her.

But Barbie doesn’t seem enthused to see her and makes it clear that he wants no part of whatever is happening with the drugs and propane. Maxine is quick to point out that she could tell his new girlfriend about how Barbie killed her husband. Maxine still has the frantic message that Barbie left for her.

This might be my favorite twist yet on the show. The last few episodes seemed like they were building toward a Big Jim and Barbie showdown, but now they’re stuck on the same side because Maxine basically owns both of them and it’s pretty awesome. The show should have brought her on sooner.