The dome giveth and the dome taketh away. While the crisis-of-the-week was somewhat isolated to a small cluster of people, tonight's episode of Under the Dome ("Imperfect Circles") had a substantial body count, with one major character taking their final breaths before the episode's end. That's as vague as I can be before the obvious spoiler warning. If you haven't seen tonight's episode of UTD, turn back now!
CBS wasn't shy about telling us that the episode would see the start of one life and the end of another. So those of us who read the official episode description knew a death was coming, but we didn't know if it'd be a major character or some random person introduced for the purpose of being killed off. Like the guy Jim Rennie torched tonight. Is anyone mourning his loss? Not really. The focus on that scenario wasn't on the man but on Jim Rennie getting really drunk and setting a guy on fire just to prove he's still the man. The only thing he left out was the "Got'em" line that Junior dropped after picking off one of the Dundee brothers. Like I said, a lot of bodies tonight.
The major crisis of the week was with Harriet. Odd choice of name for a young character, no? Are we supposed to tie Harriet with Truman, the dog? Is there some presidential connection at work there in those two character names, or am I just grasping at straws to try to make sense of naming a young woman Harriet. Let's move on…
Harriet is Julia's neighbor and she's very pregnant. She came by Julia's house begging for yogurt, interrupting Julia and Barbie's morning-after snuggle time. Yes, Julia and Barbie took their kiss all the way to the bedroom and enjoyed some intimate smiley-moments in the morning before the pregnant woman came by for yogurt. Later, Harriet thought she saw her husband and wandered toward him, only to find herself touching the dome and instantly going into labor. Julia rallied the troops (Barbie, Alice and Carolyn) and they helped Harriet give birth. There was some minor trouble with the umbilical cord but they got past that and the little baby girl was born. By that time, Alice was showing signs of illness.
We should go back a step here and note that Alice was doing ok at the start of the episode. She was out of the woods after last week's insulin fiasco, and she and Carolyn had a very loving moment together, which probably should have been a warning that something bad was going to happen. Elsewhere, Norrie and Joe were out in the woods trying to make the dome do stuff. You know those apathetic teenagers who don't want to do anything but sit around the house all day? These two aren't them. The closest thing they got to acting like average teens tonight was when they made out against the dome. It didn't do anything, but they both seemed to enjoy it. And then they discovered Dome Junior.
Dome Junior was buried under a pile of leaves, and if Joe's right, it's the nucleus of Big Dome. Inside Junior is a black egg that doesn't respond to commands, but is willing to communicate. It showed a quick glimpse of Alice standing nearby - appearing out of nowhere very briefly - that told Norrie she needed to get to her mother. Norrie was at her mother's side just as she was about to die. Maybe Alice's heart attack had to do with her illness, but she seemed to think it had to do with the dome and the birth of the baby (a.k.a. Alice 2.0). And let's face it, she's probably right. Alice had her heart attack right after the baby was born.
The last we saw of Dome Junior's egg, it was glowing purple in response to Norrie pressing her hands up against Big Dome and begging it not to take her mother. So what happens next? Does Alice come back to life? Or is she gone for good? From a writing standpoint, Alice's death does eliminate any further (relevant) diabetic crises down the line. So at the very least, the writers wouldn't have to worry about trying to get around Alice's next required insulin dosage. But from a character standpoint, it leaves Carolyn and Norrie brokenhearted. And from a story standpoint, it leaves us wondering why the dome felt it needed to take a life when so many of them are being eliminated through more violent means. Were the Dundee brothers not enough? Or the guy Rennie killed? Or Rose? Or anyone else who's died since the dome came down?
That brings us to the rest of the episode:
Picking up where last week's cliffhanger left off, Jim Rennie let Angie go after telling Junior to stay away from her or he'd make him sorry. Angie spent the episode dealing with Rose's body and the diner, along with Ben, Joe's friend. We learned that Jim owns' Sweetbriar Rose diner, apparently. Which may or may not prove to be relevant beyond tonight's episode. And Angie finally reunited with her brother, who barely seemed to notice she wasn't around.
Ollie Dinsmore's holding a lot over the town these days. He has a well. He has crops. And he has the mysterious stockpile of propane, some (all?) of which was torched tonight when Rennie drank a whole bottle of whiskey (or something brown) and set the guy guarding the propane on fire.
Big Jim wasn't the only one to commit murder tonight. After the Dundee brothers' killed Rose, Linda and Junior set out to track them down. Junior may or may not have gone by the book on this (not that he's ever been trained to be a deputy) if not for Linda mentioning that the two men tried to rape Angie. With that in mind, it seemed obvious that Junior was out for blood. When Linda and Junior cornered the two men and tried to apprehend them, the Dundees opened fire. Well, one of them did. Linda shot the guy who was shooting at her, while Junior chased after the one who ran. When the guy fell down and promised he'd go quietly, pretty much begging for his life, Junior responded by aiming his rifle and putting two bullets into him. His casual "got 'em" response demonstrated absolutely no remorse for unnecessarily killing the guy, who seemed like he was still almost a kid. As if to confirm that the kill was vengeance for what the guy and his brother almost did to Angie, Junior got back to Angie and assured her neither of those guys would come near her again. I think he was going for gallant, but it really just came off as creepy.
The question is, did Linda see it? I mean, did she really see it? Or is she going to force the situation out of her mind and try to convince herself that he did what he had to because she really can't afford to lose her only other deputy?
And that wraps it up. We're left to wonder why the baby dome egg is glowing, why Alice died and whether or not Angie will ever change her clothes or get a shower. Until next week…
