You know how you can tell this is the next-to-last episode of Under the Dome? The episode actually moves for a full hour. Too bad it’s rushed.
This episode is basically cramming in all the villainy Big Jim should have been committing throughout the season. He seizes total power of the town, instead of trying to be all subtle about it. He kills Dodee, something that will probably fill the comments section with celebration, and torches the radio station, since, surprise!, the military has been watching the town all along and knows Big Jim is a murderer. And he forces Barbie to take the fall, although how long that’s going to last with a plan that’s already falling apart is an open question.
By the end of the episode, most of the town is realizing that, hey, maybe a used car salesman isn’t the most ethical leader, except for Linda, because Linda is an idiot. Hey, Linda, remember when you found out Big Jim was a drug dealer? Last episode? Linda’s inevitable “heroic death” can’t come soon enough.
Honestly, it’s kind of irritating, because to this point Big Jim has largely been a crafty power player who generally does the right things for the wrong reasons. Now he’s turned into the crappy, unsubtle character from the book, minus the Bible-thumping. There’s no way they’re killing him off: He’s the most compelling character on the show. And yet it’s hard to see how he’ll make it past this season.
Also, this show’s streak of having an incredibly creepy scene with Junior continues, with Angie forced to make out with her kidnapper. The show’s continued refusal to admit that Junior went beyond the point of no return in the first episode is probably the worst thing about it right now.
Oh, right, the egg. They move it, to Stoner Friend’s bedroom, and it yells a lot. Also the military knows about it, and really, really wants it and Barbie. Beyond that it’s the usual vague babble about monarchs and the Dome and whatever. All I can say is that this had better have an amazing payoff considering how much of it we had to sit through. Junior getting Dome-sliced would be a good start.
A few thoughts:
- Thanks to football, this started twenty minutes late, because God forbid we don’t see coaches looking constipated and players wandering around the field during a timeout, which is what ninety percent of any football game broadcast actually is.
- Ten bucks says Julia is knocked up.
- Lesbian mom recovers from her Chuck Cunningham Syndrome long enough to bitch that Big Jim is acting unconstitutionally. NO! You think?
- The episode seems to imply that we’ll be seeing a finale similar to that of the novel. Good. Is anybody actually rooting for Chester’s Mill to make it at this point? The show has shown it’s packed full of jerks repeatedly.
- The final shot of the episode was unsubtle, even for this show.
- Is it bad that the only characters I want to live past the finale are Big Jim, Barbie, and Truman?
Let us know what you thought in the comments.