Welcome back to the Dome everyone. The episode had some very interesting, very surprising, and gross scenes. We meet 3 new characters, say goodbye to 2 old characters, and have an age-old debate looked at....
Science v. Faith is a debate that is very, very old. While I do think it was present last season as a (very) subtext (Dodee and Julia investigating the Dome v. the kids doing "what the Dome wants"), this episode brought the debate out swinging. If you remember last season ended with the a bright light emanating from the Dome as Barbie was set to be hung by Big Jim and Junior. Tonight's episode showed the results of that light and how various people reacted to it.
On the side of "We have to do what the Dome wants," we have Julia, Junior, Angie, Norrie, Joe, and (maybe) Big Jim. On the side of science, we have a new character, the new science teacher Rebecca Pine who insists that what is going on is fully explainable by science. Barbie is stuck in the middle. He seems to be purposefully taking an agnostic position to keep everyone happy, although he seems to lean towards the science side because that means that there is something he can actually do about what is happening.
I do love that the show left what happened open to interpretation. The massive magnet that Rebecca and Barbie (with others) set up had been up for a while just as Big Jim was ready to sacrifice himself to save the people of Chester's Mill and Julia was ready to save him right before the Dome cleared up. Was the timing of what Big Jim and Julia did coincidental? Or did they actually cause something to happen? We don't know and, frankly, I like it that way.
Rebecca said that the light was being caused by the Dome giving off electromagnetic waves which is why people have been hallucinating. The kids would insist that the Dome is sending them visions to tell them what to do. And don't forget, this episode was not the first time people have collapsed from the Dome. Joe and Norrie last season had seizures on at least 2 or 3 occasions. Also, they have been seeing a majority of the visions, so is it possible that whatever forces the Dome is giving off affects the developing teenage mind more than it does a grown adult's mind?
You could keep on picking up examples of this. Basically think of any time that the kids have seen something under the influence of the Dome. Although not explicitly asked last season, we now have to wonder if they are really having visions, or if the Dome is somehow causing them to hallucinate things. The problem with the hallucination theory is that they are mostly seeing dead people (the scene with a bloody Big Jim being a major exception), and they don't always know that they are dead (remember Norrie and her mom from last season?). Unless their subconscious is somehow what is giving them the visions, in which case (for example) Norrie's concern for her sick mother could have caused her to hallucinate about her and the kids' anxiety over what Big Jim was doing could have made them see him all bloody. Thoughts anyone?
Now for our characters. Angie and Linda bit the dust. Linda bought it while saving Barbie from being permanently attached to the Dome. Getting squashed by a truck cannot be a fun way to die. And Angie got hit with an axe. Also, not a fun way to go.
As for our new characters, we have the previously introduced Rebecca Pine, Sam Verdreaux (Junior's uncle and Big Jim's brother-in-law), and Pauline Rennie (Junior's mom!) who is somehow alive in a city that Junior dreamed about when he collapsed and is still painting things that are happening inside the Dome.
Assume that my Under the Dome reviews will always be out the Tuesday or Wednesday after the episode airs since I will never be able to watch and review it the night it shows. Just an FYI. Until next week!
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