Previous Episode: 2.01 Heads Will Roll
2.02 "Infestation"
Directed by Ernest Dickerson, written by Kelly Soulders & Brian Peterson
Rating: 6/10 (C)
Next Episode: 2.03 Force Majeure
One of the weaker aspects of this show is how nothing ever seems to have any real and lasting ramifications. Looking back at Season 1, the first handful of episodes made the show feel like the typical CBS procedural. There was a fire, a manhunt, an outbreak, a missile attack, the discovery of a miniDome and yet none of those things are relevant now. ”Infestation” brings back the dreaded crisis-of-the-week and it was unspectacular to put it nicely. Problems are solved as quickly as they arise and given that this show has 13 episodes per season, it should stop wasting its limited screentime on these little disasters that won’t be of any importance the following day which is probably due to the lousy short-term memory. It’s just laughable how much can change in one day on this show. Remember Barbie and Rebecca who were getting along just fine? Yeah, she’s jealous of the praise he has gotten for his plane stunt. People also seem to forget that Dodee's murderer is still out there but who cares.. Let's give the man we were willing to hang just a day ago a round of applause for saving the crops.
This episode’s crisis is an infestation of caterpillars. While the abundance of monarch butterflies is nice to look at (except for when they are covering Angie’s corpse), that’s pretty much the only thing it has going for it. Rebecca takes drastic measures and starts a controlled burn. To cover more ground, Big Jim suggests the use of pesticides. Despite everyone repeatedly pointing out how dangerous flying a plane would be, it is pretty clear that Barbie would remain unscratched. The show was unwilling to hang him on the gallows, so it’s doubtful he’ll go up in flames navigating a plane.
The townspeople of Chester’s Mill think of Big Jim as a hero ever since he was willing to sacrifice himself. It’s almost hilarious how self-involved and self-centered he has become since the last episode. He has finally emerged as a “man of the people” and the people’s almost cult-like response is somewhat unsettling. With Linda out of picture, Rebecca seems to have become Big Jim’s new henchman but it’s hard to tell where this duo will be going. She is clearly a lot smarter and more capable than Linda ever was, there is also an underlying darker side to this character as she insinuates that something has to done about the current population which, according to her, is too big for everybody to survive.
In the aftermath of Angie’s murder, Big Jim and Junior start pointing the finger at each other but the new girl Melanie quickly becomes the primary suspect and even gets locked up. Julia and Sam work together and find out her murderer was a man and they arrive just in time to prevent Joe from killing Melanie (yeah, like Joe has it in him to kill someone…). What could have been an emotional episode turns out to be flat and uninspired. Joe’s vengeful state of mind isn’t convincing and the only scene that is somewhat touching is the exchange between Joe and Barbie. At the end, it is revealed that Junior might have done it while he was wasted. Oh boy...
Alliances and relationships shift faster than on Big Brother, it took 15 entire episodes for Big Jim to understand that resources are limited (and yet there seems to be a never-ending supply of coffee available) and everyone talks about doing what the dome wants them to do even though they aren’t sure what exactly that is. Yep, just another day in Cherter’s Mill.
Other thoughts:
- I guess Rose and Linda aren’t important enough to have a funeral.
- "Neither of us would do something like this." Oh, the writing. It never fails to make me laugh.
- How has it never occurred to Julia that Melanie might be connected to the egg, especially after Sam shows her Pauline’s drawing? She throws the egg into the lake and minutes later a girl appears in the same spot and she doesn’t even think there might be more to it?
- So Sam is the only person in Chester’s Mill with medical training. What happened to Nurse Adams? Maybe she turned into a Giant Monarch Butterfly and layed all these eggs. That surely would make more sense than blaming the magnetism of the dome.
- Barbie mentions Sam during his argument with Julia. Brace yourselves, a love triangle is coming.
my Aunty
ReplyDeleteAllison recently got a nice 6 month old Jaguar by working from a macbook.this website Cashduties.COM
This is a great review -- hits all the points I was thinking, especially the endless supply of coffee!
ReplyDeleteI keep hoping Big Jim will become less that egocentric narcissist he appears, but I don't think that's going to happen. Julia and Barbie, well, after they slept together within days of her losing her husband and then realizing he killed him (last season) I guess a squabble and not the looming love triangle shouldn't surprise. While I dislike Rebecca intensely (and I think we are meant to) at least she is smarter than Linda. Too bad the writers couldn't make and keep Linda smart and then not kill her, but oh, well.
The series is pretty bad, but it is a way to kill some of this summer hiatus. I'll admit to likely watching a few more episodes -- even as I only made it to about episode 6 maybe 7 of last year. Still, I don't feel like I've missed much having skipped the rest.
If nothing else, your reviews are great! I'll be back weekly for those if nothing else. thanks for writing!
The writing for this episode is downright laughable.First they concoct a ridiculous theory-Magnetism altering the caterpillar's feeding pattern.Next,this rebecca chick coming out of nowhere and telling big jim about killing chester mill's people,julia and barbie's argument was looking like a comedy.A romantic fling-i understand,but the writers are trying to put them as an epic couple down our throat and on top of that,there is an obnoxious love-triangle coming as if we haven't had ennough of that in tv up until now.They didn't ever bother to show us angie's face once! Lastly,everyone apparently have forgotten all of Big Jim's misdeeds and are seeing him as the next Jesus of Chester's mill.I'm just about to give up on this show!!
ReplyDelete- I didn't really buy into Angry Joe. He came across as a puppy trying to be a wolf. Maybe I'm just too used to nice Joe or perhaps it was the awful dialogue but something was off to me.
ReplyDelete- I wouldn't say Rebecca is this smart, the show is just changing how magnetism works to make her look smart. They should just stick to "It must be dome." if eating patterns altered by magnetism is the other option.
Thanks for the kind words, I really appreciate it.
ReplyDeleteI think Jim is even worse, now that people are actually on his side.
The writing was indeed bad for this episode.
ReplyDeleteI particularly loved his scene near the end with Barbie.
ReplyDeleteShe is very smart, compared to the likes of Linda. But still, why hadn't she come forward before this? But yeah, magnestism altering eating patterns? Ugh. Terrible writing.
I love your "other thoughts" -- they prove how ludicrous the writing of this show is.
ReplyDeleteHow long has been since the dome appeared? According to "previously on" it's two weeks. Let's say its more than that: it doesn't justify the torridness of the love affair between Julia and Barbie, the killer of her husband. It's just not believable that in such a short period she'd sweep her husband's death under the rug as she was never married. That's what bugs me the most.
I really like your review. It's all so true. They could even go for a love quadrangle. And I didn't buy angry Joe as well. I was relieved when he cried at last - that would have been the right reaction in the beginning. And it seems like we're stuck with the half-cow a little bit longer.
ReplyDeleteThis show is horribly written, that's true, you're right about EVERYTHING!!.
ReplyDelete