Previous Episode: 2.11 Black Ice
2.12 "Turn"
(Directed by Peter Leto, written by William Kendall & Daniel Truly)
Rating: 6.5/10 (C+)
Next Episode: 2.13 Go Now
For the most part the penultimate episode of Under the Dome's sophomore season feels like another installment that spends most of its time with a weekly crisis by having everyone trying to save Melanie but to my surprise, I find myself oddly excited to watch the finale after the closing minutes completely threw me off (even if it was partially for the wrong reasons). I exclaimed a few confounded “What?” here and there because of how ridiculous some scenes were.
With the egg still outside of the dome, Melanie's condition begins to deteriorate. Everyone seems determined to save her though each character has a different approach to accomplish that goal.
Rebecca continues to look for a scientific explanation for everything despite the fact she has been living in an impenetrable sphere for the last few weeks that is powered by a sentient egg. Even after learning how Melanie ended up in Chester’s Mill, she is still trying to rationalize it, saying to herself that she might have faked her death like Pauline did. I’ve never been the biggest fan of her but she annoyed me in this episode. I understand that she has a certain mindset and values but when you are faced with something like the dome, this kind of adamance is rather irritating. Her solution this week involves lima beans and a blood transfusion. Again, I’m not quite sure how exactly this works but let’s just roll with it.
On the other side of the “Science v. Faith” debate, we have Julia who still firmly believes that the dome is there to protect them even though the only thing it has done so far is put them in danger. When Melanie doesn’t seem to improve, she goes to the enclosing dome wall and makes it a deal: Her life in exchange for Melanie’s but it doesn’t seem like she actually meant it because as soon as the dome starts to contract again, she runs to car and drives away like a scared little kitten. What? Wasn’t she just willing to sacrifice herself?
Since Melanie is connected to the egg, Barbie plans on getting it back with the help of Hunter who confessed that he used to work for Don but has switched sides because he doesn’t want her to die. It’s beyond ridiculous that they are more upset with Hunter than with Big Jim. I guess people can only be mad in this town whenever it’s convenient for the plot. He manages to get Don to come to the dome by holding Hunter at gunpoint. It was pretty hilarious how Hunter and the soldier completely paraphrased what Barbie and Don were saying. Upon finding out his daughter is alive, Don stops the negotiations and tells them he will him bring the egg at which point Barbie is reluctant to tell him how to get inside the dome. This was one of those “What?”-moments. What is Barbie so worried about? The only thing they are interested is the egg; Nobody outside the dome cares about Chester’s Mill, so the apprehensiveness of Barbie makes no sense to me.
Just like last week, we only get a glimpse of the outside world and in those few seconds, we see Don picking up the egg but his own men refuse to let him go. I wonder how long it will take for us to find out who these other forces are considering it’s been almost an entire season since the powers behind the dome directly spoke to the characters. So bringing the egg back is a no-go which brings us to what saves Melanie: Pauline’s paintings.
Yes, they are back. I don’t really wanna get too much into how because it involves Big Jim and Pauline forgiving each other and making up which is probably the oddest development of this episode (after the last few minutes of course). In Pauline’s newest masterpiece, Melanie is depicted with eight hands underneath her i.e. the old and new generation of The 4 Hands. Everyone gathers at the woods and prepare to touch Melanie but since Angie’s dead, they are one hand short but.. Io and behold! Leave it up to Pine-Science to save the day. Rebecca makes use of quantum physics and by making Junior and Sam grab one of her hands they manage to save her and this is were I was completely thrown off:
A hole forms underneath her, Melanie falls through it, Pauline runs off blaming herself, Big Jim comforts her, they kiss, Lyle stabs her in the back, Bim Jim retaliates and stabs him as well, the camera then pans over the group regretfully staring into the hole. Given the show’s nature, this whole sequence came across as comedic rather than dramatic but it achieved something I didn’t think I’d ever say about this show: It genuinely surprised me. It was still pretty ridiculous but it’s been a long time since I’ve been this entertained watching Under the Dome.
The pieces have been (re)moved for next week’s season finale. I’m not sure how it will all play out but I do hope we get some definitive answers given how little we have actually learned about the dome and the forces behind it over the course of this season.
Other thoughts:
- I despise the way Junior is being depicted as the romantic hero who seems to fall in love with Melanie. It just nullifies the great love he supposed felt for Angie who died like what? A week ago.
- The argument about the gun between Norrie and Joe felt so awkward and random. I feel like Mackenzie asked for more screentime and this is what she got.
- Look, Ben is ba-- Nevermind, he’s gone again.
- Why was Lyle suddenly wearing a suit?
