Under The Dome needs to stop screwing around and just make every episode about Dean Norris’ Big Jim. This episode in particular really underlined that Big Jim is morally complex, interesting, and compelling in a way that everybody else isn’t.
The a-plot in this episode, introduced in an accidentally hilarious way in the form of a pregnant lady cockblocking Julia and Barbie after a night of bad decisions, isn’t the weakest one the show’s unfurled, but it’s a bit cliched, especially when we get to the actual childbirth. It does actually help the show in some ways; the lesbian couple gets an actually sweet and touching moment, and the dome is revealed to be passive-aggressive in its dickery in a moment that’s simultaneously funny and face-slappingly dumb.
Actually, this episode marks the first time the show has actually bothered to get into what’s actually going on with the Dome. It only took seven episodes! It’s being generated by a little black egg! That also has a Dome! But at least we’re starting to see an endgame take shape here. Oh, and Hipster Glasses dies, thanks to diabetes, in a scene that will give you diabetes.
The b-plots are more interesting, especially Big Jim slapping Junior around, revealing his grip on the town runs fairly deep, and finally, getting drunk and kicking some ass. Sadly, he does not give Ollie the douchebag farmer the summary execution he so richly deserves, but it’s coming if the trailer for the next episode is any indication.
And that’s really the thing. Big Jim may be a monster, and he may want control of the town, but Ollie is such a miserably petty jackass that you can’t help but root for Big Jim. Keep in mind, Ollie is being this petty because Big Jim ruled against him in a land dispute a decade and a half before the dome dropped. Not even the show is pretending Ollie is anything other than a moustache-twirling villain, but it makes for a nice contrast between somebody who’s just a selfish ass and somebody who, even if they’re doing it for the wrong reasons, is trying to do the right thing.
The Big Jim plotlines are complex and engaging, partially thanks to Dean Norris, that the rest of this show pales in comparison. That said, we are seeing more and more momentum on this show, and if the writing staff can step up its game, or just winnow out all the plots and focus on Big Jim, we might have a better time of it on the back half.
A few notes:
- Truman finally turns up again. He’s not Horace the Corgi, but it’s nice to see he hasn’t been completely forgotten about.
- Linda once again demonstrates that she’s pretty much completely ineffectual in this episode, which makes you wonder how she managed to make it this long.
- The show tries to give Junior a moment of character growth. This goes every bit as terribly wrong as you’d expect considering he’s a psycho. But Bennie, AKA Stoner Friend, stands up to him in a nice moment.
Any thoughts? Let us know in the comments.
Complex? See, that just demonstrates how low the bar has been set for this show. A big man stole big Jim’s propane and sort of beat him up so he took his rifle and killed him. If Big Jim is a king he just took himself a pawn. Complex would be taking Ollie’s daughter prisoner… or destroying the propane supply itself. Or colluding with the aliens. Kinda wish I had read the source material. Oh well!
Well, he DID destroy the propane supply.
What I like about Big Jim is that he is undeniably a bastard, but he’s also a guy who regularly does the right thing for absolutely terrible reasons. It’s pretty obvious he wants all of Chester’s Mill under his thumb, and anybody who crosses him he will brutally murder, but by the same token, he’s saved the town about five different times now.
I’m still not entirely sure why i should be rooting *against* Big Jim?? he’s done nothing but help a town so full of morons and incompetence, that they should just crown him king and let him rule through this dome debacle. He let his psycho son’s prisoner go. He promised to make things right for her and her family (a true gentleman). He showed compassion for the diner owners bludgeoning. He’s fought for and took back what was rightfully his w/ the propane (granted, he might have gained these goods nefariously, but still, that hasn’t been fleshed out yet). He helped put out a fire (again, even though he may have had a hand in its start, but still)…….(and he killed a priest, but who cares)
In contrast, Barbie (who i guess is the series good guy?) killed the husband of the chick he’s now banging, chased down and beat the hell out of one of MAYBE forty looters when the town went to shit, has a shitty scruff beard that perma looks 3 days old and is perfect, but HE’s a good guy.
Bottom line, I’m rooting for Big Jim.
Oh I’m absolutely on Big Jim’s side. Bad good guys are awesome.
Walter White, Ray Donovan, Tony Soprano
That’s the point…there’s no black and white…but pretty soon you’ll shift.
That birth/death scene was the most cliche-iest of cliches. Ugh, why do I keep watching this show? Should have given up once they renewed it for a 2nd season, now I feel like I have to stick with it.
I was cringing through a fair chunk of it. Really? A dead guy junior? Really?
Sigh….
I am not sure Barbie got cock-blocked. Pretty sure he got some of that. Julia looks damn good lying in bed. Better looking than intelligent. Hmm, here is a pretty poorly constructed roadblock, I better stop this SUV instead of ramming through it.
Linda is seriously the worst cop ever. When Junior is the voice of reason between those two, you know she may not be redeemable as a character.
As bad as the show has been written, and lord is it bad, I am actually intrigued by the egg in the dome. Maybe I am trying to rationalize why I am still watching.
Yeah, that’s a decided departure from the book.
Also, Barbie was totally going for a morning followup. Ten bucks says the Dome tells Julia about him offing her husband.
At first, since he did get with her without telling her everything, I was sure that the lump in the woods that they found was Julia’s husband. Was surprised that it was not.
Oh! and watching 2 14 year olds make out and talk about banging against the dome was kinda awkward.
It doesn’t matter what they decided to name the newborn. To her all of her peers, she will always be “Dome Baby.”
I’m still trying to figure out how that episode served any purpose. Except:
Big Jim gets slapped around for second, gets drunk to grow his balls back (obviously alcohol isn’t in short supply), and then blows up Bubba Sparks real good!
Hipster Glasses and Buzzcut Manhands finally get to act they’re not bargain-bin versions of Oprah Winfrey and Gayle King, which meant one of them had to die (the Dome seems to have some anti-gay marriage/Prop 8 vibe going).
Teenagers will “try” to screw anywhere. (I mean, this is network TV)
Linda Lack-lace is too busy talking or falling down at critical moments to be an effective top cop, while Junior Mint can’t stop running and shoot one-half of The Redneck Bros. from 100 feet with a high-powered assault weapon but no one will notice how a point-blank shot will blow a baseball sized hole out the dead guy’s back (yes, a little picky. I know).
A pregnant neighbor just shows up out of no where to ask for yogurt (which would have gone bad by now), act shocked that her attractive neighbor with the attractive stranger, break water, and have Dome Baby (thanks, earlier poster)
The best place to keep a dead body is in the diner she where was killed because, have you smelled that diner on a good day?
Sorry, but how could anyone miss a truckload of “Alien” jokes after seeing the black egg in the Baby Dome? Especially after the pink stars appeared (waiting for the yellow moons and green clovers — it’s magically delicious!)
Still gonna keep hate-watch. These reviews and comments make my week!
The dome will come down if teenagers rub they boners on it. Wasn’t that the point of the make out scene?
I’m guessing the crazy preacher destroyed all the Effient or tPA the clinic had, but don’t they at least have some aspirin somewhere? Or just go steal a lifepak from the clinic.
Also, heart attacks =/= wait around long enough to slog off after saying your goodbyes. I wish it was liver or brain failure or something, I can get over those being imperfect.
Hipster Glasses managing to stave off death after her heart attack is just another example in a long line of medical marvels this show has forced down our throats. It was bad enough that during the meningitis episode not only were people dying almost the same day as first showing symptoms, but apparently Chester’s Mill has mega-meds that can cure meningitis with just 1 dose (GIMME NOW). Then during last week’s tribute to Wilfred Brimley & the Diabeetuss, Hipster Glasses slips into what looks like a diabetic coma but is back on her feet the next day with just 1 vial of insulin.
Combine this show with Dexter’s miserably boring & pointless final season & my level of hate viewing has never been higher.
this show makes absolutely no sense. I am waiting for something good to happen, but what? i think jr’s gonna blow up the egg. now that would be crazy, I wonder if they got any weed in there cause thats the first thing i would be growing, …lol