Under the Dome: Redux

July 4, 2015 6:01 AM - Season 3, Episode 3

As information about the dome is revealed, residents of the town aren't sure where to place their trust; new threats emerge and surprising alliances form. [IMDb]

The Domites adjust to being back under the Dome after their alternate reality year in the pods. Big Jim is still bad and Junior is still morose. There's a fast-talking "therapist" with a lot of exposition. Barbie/Julia and Joe/Norrie focus on their altered relationships. Melanie might really be dead this time.

Note: The premiere was Episode 1 and Episode 2

AV Club review
Entertainment Weekly synopsis

posted by TWinbrook8 (18 comments total)

I forgot this was on until it was half over and never managed to catch up during the broadcast re exactly who/what Marg H was supposed to be and I'm not sufficiently motivated to rewatch it. But in general, it seemed like a continuation of last year's desultory story-telling. The two love-triangles was a bad decision. It might have worked if Eva was a character since the first season, ie with a background, but now she's just shoehorned into the story.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 6:11 AM on July 4, 2015

This is the only time I've been impressed by Alexander Koch's performance - that whistling scene was chilling.
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 10:33 PM on July 4, 2015

#Juniorslam
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 10:33 PM on July 4, 2015

Not thrilled by the return of Angsty Pouty Joe.

What's the deal with Big Jim's Big Symbolic Dog?
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 10:47 PM on July 4, 2015

It's a Symbolic Dog - you decide what it symbolizes. I think it means Big Jim is a big doo-doo head.
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 10:53 PM on July 4, 2015

(Lowering the tone quite a bit for the Under the Dome discussion thread. Then again, it is Under the Dome...)

This was an awful episode for pig-lovers.
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 10:54 PM on July 4, 2015

I kind of miss all the Microsoft product placement. So much for Joe having to figure something out using a Hololens.
posted by Gary at 2:16 AM on July 5, 2015 [1 favorite]

The writing and acting are still bad, but I do appreciate the show trying to do interesting sci-fi things. It's a lot better than bickering townspeople or having the high school science teacher solve problems through Mr. Wizard experiments.
posted by Gary at 2:19 AM on July 5, 2015

The problem with this show is that rather than becoming more amusing when you're stoned, it becomes completely forgettable. I'm still on board, though, so I'll definitely give this another watch later today.

I kind of miss all the Microsoft product placement.

Oh, I believe you're looking for Surface Gone, the Surface web-series companion to the show Wayward Pines, in which a man uses a Surface device to lay out the back story of the TV show discovers his wife's sudden disappearance may be related to a mysterious "Mountain Project."

That actually got me thinking about how there's a certain "simpatico" between Dome, Wayward Pines, and The Strain: in the future, an isolated mountain town is threatened by bald, naked Zompires and they erect a dome to protect themselves. Their only means of communication: a Microsoft Surface.
posted by Room 641-A at 6:49 AM on July 5, 2015 [2 favorites]

Oh god I made the mistake of waiting a few days to watch this and now I feel all alone, more than two days after the last fanfare post. Someone please hold me and tell me it's going to be OK. Oh god this show.

My favorite moments are two. The idea that a cassette tape labelled "NYC Punk" indicates "serious taste in music". And the idea that the butterfly cocoon goo is pure oxycontin. I've been worried about the underground rave scene of Chester's Mill, where have they all gone? Maybe they ran out of club drugs? But with a cave full of hillbilly heroin the party's never gonna stop.

Full credit to the show for completely embracing some crazy sci-fi story though. I like the Evil Therapist Alien Anthropologist Lady, she's really quite delicious. And I love the continuance of the redhead goddess moon magic theme.

Perhaps the show's finale will star Tilda Swinton.
posted by Nelson at 9:29 PM on July 7, 2015 [1 favorite]

Oxytocin, sadly.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 11:29 PM on July 7, 2015

Although isn't there still a warehouse full of meth left over from the S1 somewhat-following-the-book what's-Big-Jim-doing-with-all-that-propane plot?
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 11:32 PM on July 7, 2015 [2 favorites]

People are getting paid to make this show. Lots of people are getting paid a lot of money. For this show.
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 12:24 AM on July 9, 2015 [1 favorite]

Oxytocin, sadly.

The funny thing is I knew the pod goo was Oxytocin but instead of making a mental correction I read "Oxycontin..." "underground rave scene of Chester's Mill...." "cave full of hillbilly heroin...." and it made sense.
posted by Room 641-A at 7:39 AM on July 9, 2015 [3 favorites]

I think we should write some fanfic, Room 641-A. Might as well go full ship, too. Junior / Hunter to start. Also Joe / Hunter. And Big Jim / Hunter. Really any guy / Hunter works for me.
posted by Nelson at 9:45 AM on July 9, 2015

I liked this from the AC Club recap:

This development only serves to remind us that this greatest love of all between Barbie and Julia has only been going on for three weeks, some of which he spent outside the dome in Zenith and some of which he spent in a slimy alien cocoon. Their actual time together can be measured in hours without the use of a calculator, and lest we forget, it all started with him killing her husband.

They also note another abandoned storyline: "is Julia still the Monarch? Or are we pretending that never happened?"
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 9:35 AM on July 11, 2015 [2 favorites]

Julie knows that Barbie killed her husband too, right? That's some pretty twisted shit.
posted by Nelson at 9:47 AM on July 11, 2015

I think we should write some fanfic, Room 641-A.

As soon as I'm done with this spec script for my Hannibal/American Horror Story crossover featuring Mason Verger and Dandy Mott!
posted by Room 641-A at 9:29 PM on July 13, 2015 [2 favorites]