In the tenth episode of Under the Dome, the drama and action heat up as the main characters realize that there just might be a way out of the dome.
The show picks up right where it left off. Big Jim is staring at his “dead wife” and can’t believe he’s got her back after mourning her years ago. She explains to him why she had to leave and how she got back. Big Jim seems to be in a state of confusion and hurt (which is probably new for him) and leaves the room.
Meanwhile, Julia and Rebecca realize that the dome’s weather is worsening by the minute and that it will be hazardous to them if something isn’t done. Julia gets distracted from the conversation when she notices Barbie walking towards her. In true Notebook style, they run up to each other and have a moment.
Somewhere in the town, Joe and Norrie are snuggling up together when Norrie comments that they haven’t seen Melanie in a while. Joe tries to ignore it but Norrie moves from beside him and checks Melanie’s bag for some clue. That’s when the duo realizes that Melanie took the egg.
Melanie and Junior are getting cosy in the bomb shelter where they decided to hide the egg. Junior believes that the egg would be safer in the bomb shelter since Big Jim would never figure out it was there. Then Melanie tells Junior that she should go find Julia since Julia might be wondering where she went. However, she doesn’t leave without first giving Junior a deep kiss. What exactly is wrong with this girl? Just a few episodes back, she was making out with Joe and now Junior? What is she really, and what part exactly does she play in all of this?
After Melanie leaves, Junior hallucinates about seeing Angie. She warns him about falling for Melanie since he hasn’t had quite a good reputation when it comes to women. Then, Angie’s head starts to bleed as she continues to warn Junior.
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Big Jim and Pauline catch up and Big Jim confesses that he shouldn’t have thought that Pauline was so crazy since she was right about everything. He questions her motives for coming back. Pauline says that she came back for Junior and (5 seconds later) she adds that she also came back for him. As the two reminisce, Big Jim is convinced that he’s slowly getting his wife back while Pauline just plays along.
Joe and Norrie meet up with Hunter, who readily agrees to help them make an egg-finder to figure out where Melanie hid the egg.
Meanwhile, Melanie finds Julia and Barbie. They ask Melanie to release the egg so that they can use it as a bargaining chip to get everyone to Zenith. However, Melanie is strongly against giving up the egg and thinks she should protect it no matter what. Barbie tries to coerce Melanie into giving up the location of the egg by reminiscing with her about how they met. Barbie comes to the realization that Melanie might just be his half-sister and that it’s important for her and his father to reunite. But that can’t happen if Melanie doesn’t give up the egg.
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Big Jim and Pauline are looking through some old photographs when Junior comes in. He rushes to hug his mother and Big Jim leaves them alone to go play sheriff. Now that they’re alone, Pauline asks Junior if he told anyone about the video she sent him and he says he didn’t. Junior tells her that Big Jim is of the idea that, with Pauline back, they could be a family again. Pauline says she could care less what Big Jim thinks as long as he leads them out of the dome. Pauline really deserves some kudos here. She knows exactly how to play people like Big Jim so that she can get closer to her goal. Junior gets upset when he hears that Sam is back and goes to search for him.
Out of nowhere, the egg starts glowing white and screaming. Somehow Pauline hears this from in the kitchen and I can bet that it’s like having a really bad migraine.
On the other side of town, Barbie, Julia and Rebecca try to coerce Andrea and Tom (people who are the voice of Chester’s Mill residents) into getting people to jump down the pit and into Zenith. Rebecca stresses that the food source can’t withstand the weather changes of the dome. Andrea says that she’s not making a move until she knows how Big Jim feels about it and Tom says that he’ll join them since he doesn’t think there’s anything left for them in the dome. After Andrea and Tom leave, Big Jim bursts in to the café and declares that he wants “in” on their plans.
Meanwhile, Norrie, Joe and Hunter (mostly Hunter) create a device that’ll be able to hunt down the egg by using equipment from the police station. And then Hunter gets dumped because Joe doesn’t trust him. Just like Barbie wasn’t going to allow him to follow them to Chester’s Mill. I’d like to think that Hunter doesn’t have any ulterior motives but, as gorgeous as he is, I can never be too sure.
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Back in the café, Big Jim decides that he has to go first to negotiate; he says that love him or hate him, he gets things done, which is true. Julia and Barbie are wary at first but agree after a while. 
Big Jim rushes home to inform Pauline of the good news but she’s busy doing another painting. She’s painting a picture of her, Big Jim and Junior in the midst of some kind of earthquake with fire at the base of the painting. Her head is still ringing with pain and Big Jim goes through a Pictionary-like mode where he tries to guess what this new painting means. Eventually, Pauline feels as if he’s mocking her and pushes him away. In a panic, he locks Pauline in the shed with all her paintings and says he’s going to get help. And then he hears the egg screaming from the pits of the bomb shelter. He heads down there and finds it glowing. I can’t remember if he knew what happened to Linda when she tried to touch the egg, but he probably thought it wouldn’t affect him. To his despair, the egg harshly pushes him back and knocks him out.
The scene quickly switches to Junior as he bursts open his uncle’s cabin door and holds his uncle at gunpoint. Sam is already in despair and doesn’t fight back when Junior gives him a beating. Then, right as Junior is about to murder his uncle with an axe, he sees a hallucination of Angie that the dome might be manipulating. He has a heartfelt conversation with the hallucination before returning to his uncle. As Junior’s about to bring down the axe on his uncle he switches last minute and slams the axe into the floor.
When Big Jim comes to, Joe and Norrie are already inside the shelter and holding the egg. Realizing he could easily manipulate them, Big Jim threatens to shoot Joe if Norrie doesn’t comply with his demands. Even though Joe says that Norrie shouldn’t worry about him, his facial expression says otherwise.
Big Jim takes them to the portal to Zenith where he demands that Norrie throw the egg over the edge of the cliff. It’s started screaming again and Big Jim hits it out of Norrie’s hand and into the dark pit. Shortly after the egg’s disappearance an earthquake shakes the entire town. Norrie, Joe and Big Jim abandon the portal. Pauline stands perfectly still in her studio as everything around her shakes. Barbie, Julia and Melanie realize that the egg isn’t inside the shelter, but before they can vacate the shelter, Melanie faints. Phil manages to escape from prison.
In a panic, Barbie and Julia bring Melanie to Sam’s cabin. After a while, Melanie is awake and breathing normally again. Without skipping a beat, Melanie asks Junior if he has the egg. When he says that he doesn’t, Julia and Barbie go in search of Norrie and Joe. They find them in the school with Hunter and they tell Julia and Barbie everything. Just as they’re discussing what to do, Phil rushes past them and down the locker to the pit. When Julia and Barbie chase him, they find Phil’s body being pierced by a shard of rock sticking out of the pit. Due to Big Jim’s stupidity the pit now has a bottom.
The eleventh episode keeps the action rolling as the town deals with the worsening climate and other phenomena that the dome is causing.
In the first scene of the episode, viewers see that the egg reached Zenith. Still, it hasn’t stopped glowing and when the people in protective gear try to touch it with tongs, it throws them back. Apparently, Melanie is connected to the egg since every time the people in protective gear touch the egg it seems to hurt Melanie.
Chester’s Mill has more problems than just being trapped under the dome. People are still trying to recover from the earthquake and the dome’s weather is changing drastically. It’s cold all over and even the walls of the dome are freezing over. Stupidly, Joe decides to touch one of the walls of the dome and can’t get his hand back. Worse yet, the dome begins to rotate and is taking his hand with it. After pulling desperately, Joe manages to remove his hand with minimal bruises.
While everyone is gathered at the high school and trying to stay warm, Pauline decides to go and speak with Melanie. She apologizes to Melanie for what happened that fateful night 25 years ago and that she isn’t going anywhere this time around.
Rebecca informs Barbie and Julia that the makeshift camp site is going to run out of food shortly if something isn’t done. Using the ambulance, Barbie and Julia agree to head to the café in search of food. Unfortunately, the wheels of the vehicle freeze and cause the ambulance to go spinning down the middle of the road. The ambulance tumbles and lands on its side. Barbie rushes to see if Julia is okay and finds that her foot has been impaled by some steel rod. If I had to choose anybody to be in a life and death situation with, it’d definitely be Barbie. Without hesitation, Barbie utilizes the equipment in the ambulance to help stop the bleeding. He sets up flares outside the ambulance so that any one passing by will know they need help and uses some kind of wool material to keep him and Julia warm. Unfortunately, luck isn’t on their side and a window breaks from the cold and lets cold air in.
Whenever the people in Zenith tweak and fumble with the egg, Melanie’s condition seems to worsen. It gets so bad that Sam doesn’t think she will live much longer. To add salt to the wound, the fuel in the generator runs out, which means the entire school is left with no light or heat. Things start to look even worse for the residents of Chester’s Mill.
Jim decides that the least he could do is head out to look for generators. Rebecca worries that he’ll freeze to death before he even finds one, but Big Jim assures her that he knows his town.
When Hunter starts to ask too many questions, Joe holds him under suspicion. I really hoped that he was a good guy because Barbie and Junior can’t be the only handsome guys left in the show. Plus, Hunter has an innocent face and would make a terrible villain.
Later they find out that he’s reluctantly helping Barbie’s dad because of his criminal record. However, he has a heart and lies to the men in army wear by the dome about the egg so that Melanie won’t be in any more pain.
Meanwhile, on Jim’s excursion he sees someone out in the lake and when he looks closer, it’s none other than Lyle. When Big Jim turns away, I swear he’s just going to leave poor Lyle to die. Instead, he throws something out to Lyle and reels him in to safety. When Lyle is in the car and isn’t dying from frost bite he tells Jim about his vision. He says he saw the end of the world and that the entire earth was on fire.
Back at the ambulance, Barbie finds a way to remove the steel from Julia’s leg but it also means risking her life; he has to wait until Julia becomes hypothermic. When she does, he pulls out the steel and carries her to the café. Barbie rests Julia near the oven and turns it on. For a second it seems as if Julia is gone forever, but after a few CPR moves Julia is breathing normally again.
In the morning, the sun comes out and the temperature rises a bit. The cold weather slowly leaves Chester’s Mill as all seems to be going back to normal. Unfortunately, when Joe, Norrie and Hunter go to examine the dome, it starts to make screeching noises. The dome starts shrinking and closes in on the poor inhabitants of the town. At the same time, Melanie wakes up abruptly and all she says is “It’s starting”.
Yes, Melanie, it is definitely starting. I have waited so long for this show to finally get started and it’s only in the last few episodes of season 2 do I really see some good action. I absolutely can’t wait until next Monday!
Rating: 8.5/10
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