Under the Dome delivered yet another mediocre episode with "The Fourth Hand".
MEET MAXINE. The episode introduced us to the new character Maxine (portrayed by Natalie Zea) who was trapped in Chester's Mill trying to take care of business. You know.. Make sure that Duke keeps quiet and Lester stops making his own badges of the super-drug "Rapture". They're both dead, so good for her but bad for us because now that she is stuck under the Dome, she needs to find other ways to occupy herself and she does so by putting up Evil Jim to collect the weapons of the whole town. I was surprised at how many were actually doing it but I guess having food is better than a gun you might need to use on your fellow citizen.
I'm not too happy with this development. Following the events of last week, I was hoping for a big showdown between Evil Jim and Barbie. Though the friction between them is still there, I'm fairly disappointed that they have basically become Maxine's minions. Maybe they will team up to take the newcomer down but she clearly has some other people working for her so it's not gonna be that easy.
RAPTURE. Meanwhile, Linda finds Rapture in Lester's home and starts investigating the warehouse where the unusually high amount of liquid propane is being stored. She finds out that Duke was involved and she also caught a glimpse of Maxine in the camera footage. So can we expect
THE DREAM. It clearly is no coincidence that Angie had her seizure while Junior was near her. It seems like the Dome has found itself another pair of star-crossed lovers. Again, not too happy about this. I just want Junior as far away as possible from Angie but they somehow always end up with each other. It was also no coincidence that Junior's mom had a dream about him standing on top of a hill gazing into pink stars. They've already ruled out Angie as The Monarch and Junior is obviously somehow connected to the Dome. Could he be The Monarch? Who knows, maybe he secretly has an orange butterfly tattoo. It wouldn't be the craziest he's done.
THE FOURTH HAND. After Joe showed Julia the mini-dome, it was her turn to show it to Barbie but it was gone, vanished into thin air. Well, not exactly. The Dome used Joe to move the mini-dome somewhere else. My gut tells me that he wasn't alone in doing so and that someone helped him. Angie, Joe and Norrie find the mini-dome in a barn and they realize that they need a fourth hand to unlock whatever it is that's inside the mini-dome. My guess is Julia. She is the only other person who has seen the mini-dome and I think it is about time to include an adult character into the mythology aspect of the show (so far, Junior's mom is the only adult connected to the Dome) but I have a feeling it'll be Junior which I really don't wanna see happening because I don't want him around Angie. At. All.
OTHER THOUGHTS:
- No tea, no shade but Junior's mom wasn't the best artist. Just saying.
- I'm surprised nobody died in this episode since someone has always died in every episode so far.
- I've already mentioned it in my last review but I need to say it again: I don't like the way the shortened timeline is being handled. It's been only around a week since the dome came down and yet sometimes it seems like they've been stuck there for months. If I was Norrie, I'd be up there with Carolyn bawling my eyes out and mourning over Alice.
What do you think about Maxine? Will Linda be able to uncover the whole truth? Who's the fourth hand and who's The Monarch? Will Barbie tell Julia what he did to her husband? How is Junior connected to the Dome? Sound off in the comments below!
Rating: 3/5
Watch the promo for next week's episode "Let The Games Begin" here!
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Good review Mark.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the myth part of this episode with the mini-dome but was not too pleased with the introduction of Maxine. Seemed too convenient that she suddenly appeared out of no where.
I LOVE the mini dome arc, its so cool and clever - the shot of the 3 kids + the handprint really reminded me of Roswell. I hate Maxine, i'm just so uninterested in Big Jim in general I don't need a female version. I can't be bothered with the whole town turning on itself thing. I want more mythology. It would also be cool to have an episode dedicated to life outside the dome.
ReplyDeleteThanks, I enjoy the myth part too and agree about Maxine appearing out of nowhere. It would have been better if we had seen her in the past episodes standing in the background for watching from the car. It would have been a good build up.
ReplyDeleteI agree about the townspeople turning against each other is getting jared. They've already done that with the riot at the stores and the fight over the well. I think they need to tone down on the drama a little and focus more on the myth.
ReplyDelete"It would also be cool to have an episode dedicated to life outside the dome."
I never thought about that but I think that would also be cool to see.
Yeah! There are a bunch of possibilities they could take in season two with the mythology, I just hope they don't drag it out for the sake of the ratings. While I don't want it to take the LOST route and get to complicated, I want a lot more mythology, and having an episode outside of the dome could do that. Similar to the Widmore and Eloise Hawking arc on Lost.
ReplyDeleteYeah, my only real complaint right now is how they've put so many events in just a little over a week. It just doesn't make sense. I feel like they shouldn't have had so much trouble with food and water if it's only been a week.
ReplyDeleteI would give anything in this world for the fourth hand to be anyone, literally ANYONE, but Junior. And I think your theory about Julia would be interesting. She's already touched it and nothing happened to her (unlike what seems to happen to Dorrie next week) so it could be her. But it's probably gonna be Junior..... UGH!
ReplyDeleteI agree with you there. The riot at the grocery store was kind of ridiculous for me. The townspeople went from zero to apeshit-crazy within a few hours. And then they literally went from almost killing each other over food to carrying plastic containers filled with rain water. The whole thing just seemed odd to me.
ReplyDeleteBut I think the fight over the well is understandable since the water tower of the town is empty because of the truck that crashed into it.
Yeah, I would really love it for Julia to be the fourth hand. I think Junior is trying to make it up to Angie but she is still very scared of him. I could see the show taking him down the tragic hero path to fully redeem herself to Angie.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't "love" it to be Julia because frankly she annoys the hell out of me too. But she would absolutely be better than Junior.
ReplyDeleteI'm still holding out some hope it turns out to be someone random, like Ben or something.....
Yeah, I guess the water thing does make sense. Was the tower just drinking water or general town water?
ReplyDeleteIn the book, Rennie had basically established a police state in five days, so comparatively speaking, things are progressing slowly here....
ReplyDeleteHave you read the book? the TV series Junior is a boy scout in comparison.
ReplyDeleteI haven't read the book actually. Thanks for letting me know they've actually watered him down on the show.
ReplyDeleteBut I maintain he's not redeemable. Not even if he's less horrible on the show than he is in the book.