ALL CAUGHT UP: Under the Dome (Season Two, Episode One – “Heads Will Roll”)

 What did we tell you?

–The Editor

First aired June 30th, 2014.

Under the Dome picks up immediately where last season left off. The blinding white light that filled up the dome knocked out several people who attended Barbie’s execution. Linda stops Big Jim from going through with it so they can deal with the latest dome development.

The dome has become magnetized and anything metal close enough gets drawn to it, Linda is crushed by her car while saving Barbie before the opening credits. What’s rendering people unconscious is a magnetic pulse from the dome that is steadily growing stronger. Rebecca Pine, the high school science teacher, comes up with a plan to use copper wire to make a homemade magnet to counter the pulses. It doesn’t work, leaving everyone except Barbie, Big Jim and Julia standing.

Linda’s death felt like it was done more for the shock value of killing off a main character than anything else, and if someone had to go I’m glad it was Linda. She was always around but never integral to any of the main plots so killing her wasn’t a major blow to the series’ narrative. I knew Rebecca’s plan was never going to work because whenever something happens with the dome a logical solution is rarely the case.  My first thought re the magnetic dome was that it had to be another message directed to everyone in Chester’s Mill.

Big Jim spends most of the episode talking to hallucinations of those who had died inside the dome, berating him for his actions. They tell him that, in order to save everyone, especially his son, Junior, he will have to make the ultimate sacrifice. He resolves to hang himself and Julia is all too happy to pull the lever, but at the last minute she cuts the rope and the magnetic pulses stop. The message from the dome was not to kill Big Jim but to stop all of the killing in Chester’s Mill.

So the dome’s solution to stop everyone from killing each other was to kill a few more people. There was probably a more subtle way of doing that but who am I to question the dome’s wisdom? I couldn’t believe how Barbie and everyone else seemed to just let Big Jim off the hook for the murders afterwards. Sure, he’s embracing the new mantra of peace for now, but this is a man who just days ago shot a woman. At the very least he should be arrested.

Meanwhile, after throwing the egg into the lake, Julia sees a young woman (played by Grace Cox) drowning and saves her. They’re met by Sam Verdreaux (Eddie Cahill), who gives them medical care and is the brother-in-law of Big Jim. The brother of Big Jim’s deceased wife Pauline, Sam, notices a sketch Pauline made that resembles the mystery woman. The woman disappears and a later scene shows Pauline alive painting in a city outside the dome. Angie sees the woman go into the school and sees her looking into a locker. When Angie goes to take a peek inside, she’s killed by someone with an ax.

Angie started off slow last season but became a major character in season one. Because of this, her death was more impactful than Linda’s, although it played out like a horror film death. However, it felt like the writers were killing people to make room for the new characters, Sam and Rebecca, and so far I’m not too invested in them. I’m more interested in the mystery woman and Pauline and how they are connected to the dome. Season two isn’t holding back with new mysteries and I’m excited to see how everything plays out.

Quotes & Thoughts

“It won’t just be you who pays if you keep using the dome to make yourself king of Chester’s Mill.”

When the dome sees that people are still killing after that warning, it’s going to be pissed.

“It’s a good thing that I wasn’t up on those gallows with you, ’cause I’d have kicked down that trap door and danced while you hung at the end of the rope.”

It’s so obvious the mystery lady was hatched from the egg.

If you enjoyed Manny’s review and would like to read other pieces like it, you can find the rest of his work HERE. You can also follow him on Twitter @KN_Manny.

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