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As it builds toward the season finale in two weeks, Under the Dome is once again picking up speed. Last night’s episode gave us more potential answers and it was one of its most action-packed hours since the pilot. On the downside, it was also a little too over the top with the good vs. evil metaphors, but we’ll get to that.
“Speak of the Devil” began with the four teens on the floor of the barn, trying to process what the hell happened with the pink stars. They figured out that the dome was trying to tell them something, but the message was getting lost in translation. Angie finally relented and agreed that they could tell Julia the truth and sent Joe to do it.
Once Angie and Junior were alone, Crazy Eyes started spouting about their great love and how they’re meant to be and then he tried to kiss her, which Angie was not onboard with. She coldly told him that the second the dome was gone, so was she. Obviously no one should blame the girl for this because Junior is insane, but he didn’t take the rejection very well and told her that he was done with the mini dome club.
Barbie spent the night on Julia’s couch and things were pretty awkward in the morning. Julia wanted to see her husband’s grave because she needed closure. Barbie agreed and headed upstairs to get dressed. There was a knock on the door and when Julia answered it, Max was standing there and she proceeded to shoot Julia in the chest (or shoulder, really). Barbie rushed to help her and then radioed Linda to tell her that they needed a ride to the hospital.
Unfortunately, Linda is a complete moron. Big Jim was at the station for their talk and even though Linda had all this evidence that he was the bad guy, he easily manipulated her into being suspicious of Barbie. Linda resisted for about five seconds, but Big Jim kept getting in her head once Barbie told her about Julia. Linda headed over there to help, but someone had stolen her gas so she ended up sort of carjacking the radio guy whose name I don’t remember.
Luckily, Joe showed up at Julia’s and Barbie got him to drive them to the hospital. While this was happening, the dome was throwing some sort of weather tantrum. It was kind of like a tornado forming and spinning the wrong way. They got to the clinic in time, but the place was short on doctors and supplies so Barbie had to open up Julia’s chest with a pen and then suck the extra air out of her chest as Joe stood by and watched in awe.
Max found her dead mother when she floated to shore and then she was out for revenge. But once Julia was stable, Barbie and Big Jim teamed up to track her down. Barbie insisted that they do things his way and take Max into custody. But Barbie forgot (or maybe he didn’t know?) that Big Jim’s favorite hobby is killing people and the second Barbie’s back was turned, Big Jim shot Max (RIP to you and what could have been so many great storylines) and her henchman.
Barbie was next on the hit list, but he wasn’t going down without a fight. Of course Linda showed up at an inopportune time and Big Jim pretended he was scared for his life because Barbie had shot Max and the henchman. Barbie was smart enough to knock Linda out and run like hell, but Big Jim got exactly what he wanted. He went to the radio station, where Dodee tells him that the military outside the dome were talking about Barbie being ‘the one’ and then Big Jim tells the whole town that Barbie’s a multi-murderer.
Elsewhere in the dome, Angie tracked down Junior and tried to convince him to come back to the group so the dome will calm the hell down and stop attacking them. Junior is hesitant, but he saves Angie from flying debris and all of a sudden the storm stops. This of course makes Junior think that he’s more important than he is, but Joe points out that the storm stopped when Barbie brought Julia back to life. He’s convinced Barbie is the monarch they’re waiting for and Junior is not buying it.
The teens decide to go to the spot on the big dome where the stars pointed them to and once there, they agree to all touch the dome at once and not let go, no matter what happens. A vision of Big Jim appears in front of them and he slowly starts bleeding from various wounds. As this is happening, knives appear in each of their hands. Junior freaks out and runs off to find his father, but the other three realize what the message means: the dome wants them to kill Big Jim.
Again, some of this good vs. evil stuff was a little too ‘hit you over the head’ for my tastes, but at this point, I’m just happy they’re doing something to move the plot along. The showdown between Big Jim and Barbie has been coming for a long time and Junior is once again being put in a position to choose between helping his father and killing him. Julia is the only other person that knows the truth so odds are that she will wake up and clear Barbie’s name, assuming Big Jim doesn’t kill her first.
For me, the biggest question at this point is how does this show build a second season? Up until now, I’ve been fine defending the argument that it’s only been 10 days and there’s still plenty of story to tell. But assuming they do finally kill Big Jim, where do they go from there? And if they don’t kill him, how is anyone supposed to take the show seriously when the bad guy will always win? As someone pointed out on Twitter last night, Big Jim isn’t even a good villain. No one is rooting for him.
What do you guys think? Has the show written itself into a hole? Is there anyone who wants to see Big Jim hold onto power? Hit the comments and let us know your theories!
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