With the penultimate episode of its freshman run ”Exigent Circumstances”, Under the Dome delivered what is arguably its best episode yet. While not flawless, I really liked how every move, every action and every step the characters made had consequences and repercussions, some of them even of “life or death” proportions. Let's break it down, shall we?
I CAN BE USEFUL. So I guess I was wrong about Dodee remembering the miniDome but after she hears the military talk about it, she finds a photo she made of it. Smart move, homegirl but your next one? Not so much. She goes on to tell Evil Jim about it and she overhears the military talk about how he killed The Reverend. I would have dropped everything and gotten out of there as fast as I could. Trying to make him believe that she believed him just resulted in Evil Jim knowing more than he should. At least Dodee got to tell him what she really thought of him before she was killed and she's damn right: We are gonna smile when he dies, I know I will. It might not be of significance but I thought it was unnecessary to shoot the radio device if the radio station is gonna be burned down to the ground anyways. With limited resources available, you'd think they'd use them sparingly.
YOU'RE BEING WATCHED. The military is still trying to get a hold of Barbie which just left me with a lot of questions: What exactly is it they want with him? Even if they do find him, how do they plan on communicating with him when the only person inside the dome who had sort of access to the outside world is now dead? And what exactly are those “necessary expertise” they keep talking about? How do they know about the miniDome? How do they know it was moved from the woods? Just how involved is the military with the Dome? With the season finale airing next week, we might not get the answers to those questions until next year.
PARTNERS IN CRIME. Barbie and Angie work on a plan to get Julia out of the clinic. It was nice seeing these two again. I really liked them in the pilot and am rather bummed they didn't have a scene together until now. Once they get into the clinic, they realize that Junior is guarding Julia, so Angie puts on her former candy striper uniform and tries to concinve Junior that his father is the bad guy. When that failed, she plays the “I need you” card and manages to lure him away, alllowing Barbie to sneak Julia out into an ambulance. He stays behind to prevent Linda from following them but somehow she knows about Angie escaping with Julia when the ambulance was clearly out of frame before she arrived at the clinic? At first, I thought Junior might have told her but she made the call to Evil Jim right after arresting Barbie, so he was still lying on the floor at this point. So how does she know? Bad writing, that's how. (While we're already at it, they also forgot to include Dodee's name when Evil Jim was stating Barbie's crimes in front of the town.)
DON'T LIE TO ME. It seems like Angie did get into Junior's head as he starts to question Evil Jim about why he is so insistent about getting Julia back when they already got Barbie. Conflicted about what to believe he turns to the Dome and I genuinely hope that he will do what's right and turn against Evil Jim.
STATE OF EMERGENCY. Evil Jim invokes a state of emergency over Chester's Mill, granting him even more power than he had before. Of course, Linda doesn't even try to stop him from doing so. She's by far the worst part about the show. I just can't believe how easily manipulated she can be. You'd think the fact that teenagers are working with a man who supposedly killed several people would make her realize that something is fishy about Evil Jim's story. She even went along with his decision to lock up Norrie and Joe because these two really are such a great danger to the rest of the town. She didn't even bother to talk to them to hear their side of the story. The show had the opportunity to create a strong female character and decided to make her weak and incompetent. Good grief. I really loved how Carolyn and Norrie wouldn't have any of his bullshit. Take note, Linda!
Meanwhile, the miniDome is moved to Ben's house to keep it safe from Evil Jim. It starts to emit a screechy sound and just like with the storm last week, there's some ambiguity on what caused it: Barbie's life being in danger by accepting Evil Jim's ultimatum or Julia waking up. Based on some promotional photos for next week's finale and the fact that Julia is one of the possible triggers for both, the storm and the screechy sound, makes her the frontrunner for The Monarch in my book. After being released from jail, Norrie, Joe and Carolyn check on the miniDome which had started to glow in an orange hue. Now that Linda has discovered the miniDome as well, maybe she'll finally start asking some questions. Of course, Evil Jim didn't release them because of the good in his heart but rather under the condition of Barbie publicly confessing to his crimes. I just loved it. Barbie essentially told him to screw himself by pleading not guilty and bought the group some time to figure things out.
What do you think? Whose side is Junior on? Is Barbie gonna die next week? Who's The Monarch? How is the military involved with the Dome? How do you think S1 will end? Sound off in the comments below!
Rating: 4/5
Watch the promo for the season finale "Curtains" here!
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Thanks Marc, good review as always.
ReplyDeleteIt certainly felt like a pre finale episode.
I have a sneaky suspicion that Junior will end up doing the right thing. Having spent most of the season hating him, I think we might end up rooting for him in the finale.
I gotta say, a review like that made me re-think my original impression of the episode in the What did you think of...? poll. At first viewing, the episode didn't really appeal to me, but this review is actually quite impressive and manages to change my mind on a lot of it.
ReplyDeleteYou did a good job at remembering all the people who have died. I did not catch the fact that he doesn't mention Dodee's name, I only caught that he didn't mention his own that time as he did when he went on the radio earlier, so obvious writing glitch there! (Kinda fun to find them, don't you think? :D)
Overall, very impressive review! You certainly put things in a very different perspective for me, and i thank you for that! It's still not my favorite episode, but it's not one of the worst any longer either!
Thanks for the feedback, really appreciate it. :)
ReplyDeleteIt's fun noticing these mistakes made by the writers. I mean, I'm not actively searching for them but sometimes it's so obvious that you can't help but notice. Oh, and I forgot about Evil Jim painting himself as one of Barbie's victims in the last episode during the radio broadcast.
I'm not his biggest fan either but since the last episode revealed that he might have to kill his own father, I started to cut him some slack. I'm still wary about him but surprisingly, I warmed up to him more than I thought I would.
ReplyDeleteAgreed on pretty much everything.
ReplyDeleteRe the female characters on the show:
When the show started I had really high hopes for Julia and Linda being strong female presences in the show. BOY were they a let down...
Dodee was becoming a fave but alas she died....
Maxine for me was a great adversary but she too died was too fast.
Norrie still bugs me but I think that has more to do with the actress not the character.
Thank goodness for Caroline, because she is definitely gaining major points from me lately. (and on the deceased list I'll add Alice who was really working out great before she died)
Also glad to see Angie smartening up. It's was a bit of a relief. There might be some hope after all.