TV Review: Under the Dome 1×12 “Exigent Circumstances”

With one episode to go before this summer blockbuster comes to an end,things in Under the Dome has exponentially heated up; characters absent in previous episodes (Norrie’s mother- the living one, Phil- radio announcer guy, Joe’s Native American friend and Dodee) make their appearance once again. The power struggle between the dome and Big Jim escalates into one of the biggest battles the series has ever seen. And Junior comes to the saddening realization that he just might have to join the Pink Stars Group (what I call the teens who’ve all had seizures about pink stars falling) in assassinating his father.

Big Jim, having finally risen to the plate in becoming the show’s only and power-crazed villain, is once again seeking total control of the town and tries to eliminate anyone who hinders this goal. And currently, the biggest hindrance standing in his way of domination is Barbie. Unfortunately for Big Jim, he only knows that Barbie is a witness to all the demented deeds he’s done so far and is oblivious to the fact that he might just be the dome’s “monarch”. This is why the dome christened the Pink Stars Group with the task of killing Big Jim.

So Big Jim makes a public announcement via the radio station that anyone who comes across Barbie should immediately turn him over to the “authorities” for the murder of Max, Max’s mother, the guy who was Max’s back-up and for shooting Julia. When this seems ineffective, Big Jim – for the second time since his near death experience with Ollie – seems anxious that he might be exposed for the heinous criminal that he is and manipulates the townspeople into allowing the “authorities” (which is really just Deputy Linda, himself and whoever else is willing to join them) to search their houses for Barbie.

Back at the radio station, Dodee figures out that Barbie is somehow connected to the dome and the egg-like thing she saw in the mini dome when she touched it. She – just like the Pink Stars Group – believes that this egg-thing is the answer to bringing down the dome and immediately contacts Big Jim. But she overhears whoever is on the other side of the radio, discussing the pastor’s murder; one of Big Jim’s first kill since the dome came down. Big Jim realizes that Dodee heard everything and gets the rest of the info about the dome from her before rewarding her with a shot to the chest for her discovery and burning down the radio station.

Scrambling to keep his secrets in a bag, Big Jim realizes that Julia – knowing what she knows – is also a liability if she ever wakes up from her coma and so he relies on Junior to guard Julia and to call him up if she ever wakes up.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Pink Stars Group members realize that since Big Jim ordered a house search, they’d need to stash the mini dome somewhere that he or anyone else won’t be able to find it. And I guess the best place to hide a possibly 3 foot glowing structure is at Joe’s friend’s house. But before they could even place a finger on the mini dome, they notice that the mini dome’s lone resident is looking about ready to spring from its cocoon.

On the other side of this crazy town, Barbie finds Angie and gets her to help him remove Julia from the hospital since he knows that once she wakes up, Big Jim will try to shut her up with another bullet to her chest. To do this, Angie distracts Junior by just being what he wanted her to be in the beginning. Dazed, confused and dependent on him. This gives Barbie the amount of time he needs to get Julia into the ambulance. However, Junior tastes cigarette smoke when Angie tries to distract him with her lips and immediately he knows that she’s working with Barbie. But it’s already too late. Barbie had already gotten Julia to the ambulance. With no one to blame but himself, Junior’s face twists into an evil grimace as he rushes towards Angie who begins to run. Fortunately for Angie, Barbie takes on Junior and gives him a real hard gun-butt and lets Angie escape with Julia in the ambulance while he stays behind to lead the “authorities” off their trail.

Big Jim, on the other hand, is in search of the mini dome that he saw on Dodee’s phone. Luckily, the remaining Pink Stars Group members already stashed the mini dome. So when Big Jim arrives at the barn, he only meets upon Norrie’s surviving angry mother and an empty barn. He is more than livid and arrests the remaining Pink Stars Group members and locks them up in cells at the police station until they give him info on the mini dome.

Angie actually redeems herself by playing Ms. Brains in this episode by returning to the clinic with Julia after suspecting that the clinic would be the last place they’d look for them. This is when Julia decides to wake up from her coma and tells Angie about the woman who shot her and how Barbie rescued her from going into a permanent slumber.

Meanwhile In jail, Norrie returns to her usual doom and gloom self and prods Joe about the possibility of the dome being right about having to kill Big Jim. What happens next is why Norrie gains my respect and “got some guts” award. When Big Jim enters her jail cell to interrogate her, She swallows her fear and actually takes a chance and plunges after Big Jim with her knife that the dome gave all the Pink Stars members. But fails and even gets her knife taken away from her.

Feeling as if he’s gaining back control, Big Jim threatens the captured Barbie that if he pleads guilty in front of the public congregated outside the police station, then he’d not harm Julia or Angie. By now we all know that that’s utter BS and that as soon as Barbie confesses to Big Jim’s crimes, he and the rest of the people who know more than Big Jim wants them to, will be at his mercy. Still, Barbie agrees.

Yet when Barbie is brought before the people on Big Jim’s charges, he surprises Big Jim and all the townspeople by pleading not guilty.

While all this is happening, Norrie and Joe (who got released from jail but were tailed by Deputy Linda) rush to Joe’s friend’s house and they all witness the hatching of whatever is inside the cocoon inside the mini dome.

And then the television screen goes blank.

I literally screamed at the television screen like a mad woman when the advertisement for the next episode aired and had to come to terms with the fact that this is how they chose to end this adrenaline-pumping second to last episode. Under the Dome‘s finale is just around the corner and I am just absolutely salivating with anticipation. Even more fitting, the 13th episode is titled “Curtains”.