‘Under The Dome’ Gets A Little ‘Blue On Blue’

Under The Dome continues to turn it around this week. Last week’s episode was a substantial step up, and this week continues the trend as a few annoying plotlines are finally shut down or paid off.

First off, Angie is finally out of that damned basement, and Dean Norris actually gets some good moments when confronted with irrefutable proof his son is a nutjob. Where her plot goes from here is anyone’s guess, but Norris plays the revelation for all it’s worth.

Beyond that, it’s mostly about families saying goodbye as the military plans to huck a big-ass missile at the dome, mostly for what’s got to be giggles at this point. Norrie the drug addict teen gets to meet her dad, and we learn that Hipster Glasses has been epically crappy to her daughter, on top of everything else, lying to her about her father. Yeah, that was an amazing idea that would totally end well, Hipster Glasses.

We also learn more about Barbie as he unloads his inner pain on Julia, for some reason. It’s an odd choice considering how awful she’s been to him, but Mike Vogel isn’t given enough to do on this show sometimes. And the episode ends on a joltingly gory note that picks off Coggins and reminds us that Big Jim might be fairly even-keeled and practical… but he’s still a bad guy.

The main problem is that beyond Big Jim, Barbie, and Phil of all people, a lot of the characters are running in place and not developing. Linda is still overwhelmed and ineffectual, Junior is still annoying and a nutjob, Julia is still annoying and lousy at her job. We’re not seeing who these people are in the dark, not yet, and for this show to become more than solid, it’s going to have to let its characters loose. It looks like we’ll start seeing that in the next episode, and we can’t wait.

  • The Windows 8 stuff was stunningly annoying. Really, CBS? Really?
  • Phil turns out to be a pretty good DJ. Who knew?
  • Dodee keeps getting new powers as the plot demands. By the end of the series she can probably bench-press trucks with her mind.

Any thoughts on the episode? Let us know in the comments.

×