Previous Episode: 2.08 Awakening
2.09 "Red Door"
(Directed by Peter Weller, written by Kelly Souders, Brian Peterson and Adam Stein)
Rating: 7/10 (B-)
Next Episode: 2.10 The Fall
Splitting the location with the outside world revitalized the show, resulting in its best episodes (last week’s snoozefest aside) and one can only hope that the reversion to the repetitive crisis-of-the-week won’t be a by-product of having Barbie and the others back in Chester’s Mill. With two new characters in town and the egg at the center of everyone’s attention, nobody is interested in Big Jim’s pursue for power.
At the beginning of ”Red Door”, Barbie is being held and pressured into retrieving the egg. When even Don can’t convince him to do it, he tells his men to do whatever it takes to get Barbie the power source of the dome. Shortly after, Barbie overpowers his guard and escapes which was later revealed to be part of the guard’s plan as they intended to follow him but lost him just after a few minutes.
Elsewhere in Zenith, Pauline inspects a red door at the playground, albeit to no avail. She does however get another vision and starts drawing a spiral into the mud, making her wary of returning to Chester’s Mill. Looking for a safe place to stay, both parties find themselves at Hunter’s which makes for an awkward reunion. Pauline learns about Angie’s murder but doesn’t seem too affected by it, simply stating that they need to get back to atone for their sins, whatever that means.
The search for the red door comes to an end when Barbie leads the group to his old house. They descend into the caves and are suddenly surrounded by swirling grey smoke which causes Sam and Barbie to have flashbacks: The former’s takes place on the day of Pauline’s funeral while the latter sees himself as a child who gets a visit from Melanie. For Pauline, the smoke induces some kind of premonition in which she faces a robotic Melanie cryptically telling her “This is where it began, this is where it ends, for all of us.” They all appear in the middle of the lake - except for Lyle - and decide to lay low for now.
I’m not sure how to feel about them being back so soon. Watching them outside the dome was the show at its best. Hopefully, we see more of Don trying to get his hands on the egg and that this aspect of the show won’t be ditched completely.
In Chester’s Mill, everyone is as headstrong about getting the egg as the characters outside of town. Julia and the Four Hands return to the school when Junior suggests he’d rather keep an eye on his dad. Joe receives a video from Don, pleading Julia to bring the egg to save Barbie’s life. What irked me the most about this entire situation was how much Melanie was ignored and turned down. She remarks she recognizes Don’s voice. Sure, don’t show her the video to see if perhaps she knows his face as well. And what makes them so sure that whoever wants the egg in exchange for Barbie even knows how to bring the dome down? If I was Melanie, I would have run off as well. That level of gullibility is just too much to handle.
Junior being paired up with his father had me instantly worried, especially with how much he told him but to my surprise, Junior keeps the location of the egg to himself and even hides it in the bomb shelter to prevent Big Jim from finding it. Another surprising and surreal sight was Melanie and Junior laying together in the bomb shelter. That. Was. So. Awkward.
Meanwhile, Big Jim makes a deal with the soldiers to get the egg for them if the whole town is allowed to escape the dome. Just when I thought Big Jim might actually have the town’s best interest in mind, he quickly changes the terms to him and Junior for the egg after his initial offer is declined. He is shown the egg’s location but later on, he is confronted by Julia about the whereabouts. Both suspect the other when in fact neither of them have it which begs the question: Why didn’t Big Jim just go back and ask for the new location?
Spending most of the time outside the dome and featuring Rebecca as little as possible made ”Red Door” this season’s best episode. I’m not quite sure what to expect from the final four episodes. I would have liked to see more from the outside world but with changed circumstances and new characters, there should be enough story left to tell without having to include another crisis-of-the-week.
Other thoughts:
- "Art Theory 101: A door always symbolizes a way in somewhere." Wow, I need to sign up for Art Theory ASAP. It sounds like there’s a lot to be learned from it.
- How awfully cheesy was that chair spin? I’m surprised they didn’t make him finger-tent on top of that.
- I hope the egg is more than just the dome’s power source.
