2.03 “Force Majeure”
Directed by Ernest Dickerson, written by Kelly Soulders & Brian Peterson
Rating: 6/10 (C)
Next Episode: 2.04 Revelation
Under the Dome has never been quality television and in the first three offerings of its sophomore season, the quality took a nosedive and seems to be headed to the depths of Challenger Deep. There are many things that contributed to the sudden plunge of quality. One of them is Angie’s unexpected departure. I wasn’t quite sure how her absence will affect the show when she was murdered but after two episodes without her, I can wholeheartedly say that killing off the only person who was relentlessly working towards exposing Big Jim for who he really is, was a grave mistake. It is so strange seeing Big Jim without any opposition. Can someone let Phil know that who Dodee’s real killer is? BTW, where was he anyway in this episode? He makes a brief appearance but as the new sheriff shouldn’t be play a more prominent role?
Another thing is that none of the new additions to the ensemble are engaging. Melanie is bland at the moment which will hopefully change given the newsest twist, Lyle is Lester Coggins 2.0 with an awful haircut for a barber, Rebecca has turned completely nuts and Sam is uncharismatic and quite frankly, boring but his smirky “At least not yet.” did raise a red flag and reinforced my suspicions about him being Angie’s murderer.
We are stuck with yet another “crisis-of-the-week”. This time around Chester’s Mill has to deal with red acid rain which finds Lyle and Rebecca on completely different sides. While the former suggests they have a biblical plague on their hands, the latter believes it is a scientific phenomenon. So naturally, when someone disagrees with you, you abduct them and torture them until they abandon everything they believe in and they agree with you.
Looking for clues about Lyle’s whereabouts Julia and Barbie find a photograph of Sam, Pauline and Lyle and with the help of Junior they determine he’s at the shed and they barge right in which apparently was the best plan they could come up with. Julia tries to talk Lyle down and succeeds but Rebecca frees herself, burns Lyle's face with the rain, basically tells Julia to stick it where the sun don't shine and is on her way to the lake.
I’m not entirely sure how pouring chemicals into the lake stops the acid rain instantaneously - Oh, no wait, let me guess… It’s the magnetism. It must have accelerated the evaporation process. That must be it. Just like the magnetism created a wormhole which granted temporary access to the internet.
After solving the weekly crisis, Rebecca discusses her contingency plan of “thinning the herd” which explains the surveys that were conducted at the beginning of the episode. For someone as “smart” as her, you’d think she can come up with something better than putting elderly people in a tree and shake until they drop.
Meanwhile, Joe, Norrie and Melanie are sent to the school just days after Angie is murdered because that makes perfect sense. The episode doesn’t even acknowledge that there is an axe-swinging murderer on the loose. Once there, they realize they have internet access. It’s ridiculous that the first thing Norrie does is check her Twitter feed. Good to know she has her priorities straight. Joe reading his parent’s email was a touching moment and it’s nice that the show acknowledges one of its deceased characters. Junior receives a video message from Pauline and he learns that she is actually alive and she urges him to talk to Lyle. Before the video abruptly ends, Pauline looks away from the camera as if something or someone suddenly appeared in front of her.
Joe’s attempt to triangulate the signal to regain access to the internet again leads him to the crime scene and after Melanie manages to open the locker, Norrie corners her. I think we can all agree that this outburst of anger wasn’t just about the locker. Norrie has been seething with jealousy the entire episode and she finally reached her boiling point. To find out more about how Melanie could have possibly known the locker combination, they browse through the yearbook and discover that she was a student in the class of 88.
It’s safe to assume that Melanie has been murdered and that Pauline, Sam and Lyle are involved in it. Can we expect Sam to receive an unmarked letter saying “I know what you did in the summer of 88”? I’m not quite sure what to make of this development. We have repeatedly seen dead characters appear as apparitions but this is the first time someone came back to life. Or maybe Joe is right and the magnetism of the dome created a wormhole, making Melanie travel 25 years into the future. Yeah, no…
Despite the usual antics and redundant plotlines, this was a more enjoyable episode than last week's installment.
Other thoughts:
- Lyle, Sam and Pauline are supposed to be around the same age which would be 40. So why would they cast someone who looks like he has been living off his pension for a decade to play a middle aged man? Because Magnetism, that’s why. Or stunt casting which I guess is more likely.
- Did you notice that the locker combination was Pauline’s birthday?
- “I thought I knew you. I was wrong. Don’t follow me.” I guess there are no plans to cease the over-dramatization of Julia and Barbie.
- Umbrellas seem to be another thing the town doesn’t have enough of.
- The rain during the car scene with Big jim and Rebecca was very distractingly bad.
