TV Review: Under the Dome 2×02 – “Infestation”

Everything about episode 2 of Under the Dome was seriously ridiculous. The last episode ended with Angie’s death and the way everyone finds out is inane. Big Jim orders Junior to go open the school so that Rebecca can start teaching again and Junior is the one to uncover Angie’s body which is covered by butterflies. They could’ve made-up a better reason for Junior having to visit the school. Maybe to get certain supplies? Or even to retrieve something that Rebecca might need to figure out what’s happening with the dome now.

Even more ridiculous is how poor Colin Ford’s (Joe) and Mackenzie Lintz’s (Norrie) acting is. I mean, when they both find out that Joe’s sister is dead he keeps repeating how he’ll kill whoever hurt Angie in a melodramatic tone of voice. Norrie tries to console him by agreeing to go after the murderer when they find them but the way she acted out the scene wasn’t quite up to scale at all.

Also everything is happening and being uncovered at a ridiculous rate. When Angie turns up dead, Big Jim and the rest of the makeshift “police force” find a girl’s footprint near the place Angie was killed. Without hesitation, everyone seeks to lay the blame on the new girl who appeared from out of the lake. It could’ve been any girl in the town but it’s like every time a new person emerges they’re going to blame them for something that’s going wrong. In that case, Sam needs to watch his back. Or maybe this episode is just absolutely B-rated.

Junior seems to be the only one who doesn’t believe The Lake Girl killed Angie but his father instead. And he’s got good reason too. I mean, Big Jim has already done half the killing in the town AND he didn’t seem to be very fond of Angie. However, after his near death experience in the last episode, he claims to be a “changed man”.

Anyways, the latest crisis they have going on is that the town is being overrun by hungry butterflies who’re laying eggs like crazy. So Rebecca goes and burns the fields with caterpillar eggs on them to prevent further infestation but she later informs Big Jim and Barbie that it’s not enough to stop the butterflies and that they need another plan. Somehow Big Jim thinks the reason for all this is that the dome wants him to prove himself. Because, you know, it’s always all about Big Jim.

Rebecca tells Barbie that they should just play along with Big Jim’s mantra as long as they figure out how to stop the situation that’s threatening to demolish their food source. Eventually, they come up with the idea of exterminating the butterflies by using an old airplane to spread insecticide over the fields. Of course, Big Jim feels as if it’s his responsibility and says that he should be the one to fly the plane. They argue a bit more before it’s decided that Barbie will do it.

Meanwhile, Julia and Sam visit the morgue and find Junior holding Angie’s dead hand saying that he didn’t want her to be alone. Out of all the characters so far, none have held my interest like Junior. From the beginning Junior has been nothing but his crazy ass self and I’ve always loved every second of it. Most of the times he seems like the maniac of the group and the rest of the time he seems like the only one who knows exactly what’s going on.

Anyways, Phil (remember the radio guy who got promoted to police officer?) arrests Lake Girl on the words of Norrie and Joe who brought the Lake Girl’s shoe to him. Apparently, he’s also taken over Linda’s point of view on situations as he totally ignores logic and Julia’s plea for the girl’s release after she tells Phil that the girl saw who the real murderer was. Maybe Phil has complications seeing things any other way because he has absolutely no police training and isn’t capable of running any kind of investigation?

After learning that Lake Girl might be the one responsible for Angie’s death and not his father, Junior’s crazy streak returns as he decides that Lake Girl deserves the same pain as Angie. It’s also funny how all these “adults” are going on the hunches that the teens keep giving them and not doing any real investigation of their own.

On the other side of town, Barbie has a near death experience when he attempts to spray the insecticide over the fields and he runs out of fuel after damaging the right wing of the plane. Big Jim tells him (via walkie talkie) to flip some switch and it apparently turns on some back-up fuel or something and Barbie makes a phenomenal landing. When Barbie gets out of the sky, he asks Big Jim how he knew about the switch and he explains that it came in handy when he was doing his drug dealings. But all that’s in the past since he’s a totally different man now.

Meanwhile, Julia and Sam examine Angie’s body and conclude from the marks and where she was hit that her assailant was a man and couldn’t be Lake Girl.

The run around for who Angie’s killer continues as Joe, Junior and Norrie visit Lake Girl’s jail cell and try to kill her. Fortunately, Julia and Sam come in time and say that Angie’s killer was a man. Julia tries to coerce Joe to put down the gun (like he had the balls to even pull the trigger) and more poor acting ensues as Joe hyperventilates before he lowers the gun.

When all seems to have settled down Barbie and Julia try to figure out what exactly is happening (for the umpteenth time). There convo turns into a mini lover’s quarrel as Julia blurts out that she feels as if she’s losing Barbie’s trust and then Barbie is all like “so does Sam Verdreaux agree with you?” Where’d that come from? Where’d this whole argument come from?! I kind of figured from Barbie’s first encounter with Sam that he felt like the guy was intruding on his territory but he didn’t have to throw it in Julia’s face like that.

Anyways, the town has a funeral for Angie and Rebecca tells Big Jim that she, just like the rest of Chester’s Mill, believes he’s a good leader and that Barbie is just the hero. I’ll forgive her idiocy since she wasn’t around for the whole of season 1 and wasn’t there to witness Big Jim’s murder spree. Still, Big Jim gives the ceremony of a lifetime and seems to have found religion while everyone else seems to still be holding on to his every word like mindless sheep. It suddenly dawns on the main characters that the townsfolk would do anything for Big Jim. Maybe even kill.

My dislike for Joe’s character grows even more as he decides to skip the funeral. Barbie goes to search for him and finds him in the café frantically looking for a bracelet Angie always used to wear like he’s going off the rails. Barbie tries to console him. They have a bromance moment (google the term if you don’t know it) and gets Joe to go to the funeral.

So Junior now resides in a jail cell and under his makeshift prisoner bed he discovers Angie’s bracelet. Yup. I so wouldn’t put it passed him if he “blacked-out” and murdered her but, somehow, that’s a big piece of meat to swallow. I mean, sure, Junior has his insane moments but I doubt that he’d ever harm Angie. Then again, he did lock her in a bomb shelter for half of season 1 and nearly made her drown…

Anyways, the last scene ends with Junior visiting his uncle and saying that he might be responsible for Angie’s killing. Somehow, I think that Sam just might be the one responsible for Angie’s death. Not because he had anything against her but because she probably saw something she wasn’t supposed to see in that locker in the school. Maybe he even knows what’s going on. That’s just my hunch.

*sigh* I guess we’ll have to wait till episode 3 to find out more…

Rating: 4/10