Under the Dome: Caged

July 28, 2015 4:11 PM - Season 3, Episode 6

Big Jim is captured and forced to manipulate Christine; Norrie and Joe get into trouble after questioning the town's new rules.

The A.V. Club:

"Over on Bird Island, Big Jim and Christine are sharing adjoining cages. Most of the episode’s fun comes here as Dean Norris and Marg Helgenberger compete in a scenery chew-off. There’s nothing subtle about the differing viewpoints they represent: Christine is able to point to the improvements in Chester’s Mill since her arrival as proof of the superiority of the collective, while the ever-arrogant Big Jim espouses Great Man theory. Each is using the other to try to escape their current predicament, and their banter and one-upmanship is enjoyable in the way that two old pros can elevate run-of-the-mill material. I was more than done with Big Jim by the end of last season, but the creative team has managed to keep him viable simply by putting hm on the anti-Kinship team. (The dog doesn’t hurt either, even though the addition of Indy is such a transparent attempt to humanize Big Jim, it shouldn’t work at all. But it does!)"

Den of Geek:

"And, oh yeah, we learned the origin of the dome. Before the dome went up, Eva and Christine (before they were possessed), were sent to Chester's Mill to retrieve the egg. When Christine touched the egg, she triggered the activation of the dome. So that revelation is pretty darn big and made Eva and Christine even more important. Let' see if they remain so or are quickly forgotten like every character reintroduced in season two."

posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome (7 comments total)

And, oh yeah, we learned the origin of the dome.

There has to be an award for laziest retcon. I guess they've technically explained how the dome (and mini-dome) got there. But only if you ignore all the psychic paintings, four-hands nonsense, Julia being The Monarch, and almost everything else from the first two seasons. Even the kinship is run more like a small-time cult than an alien master plan.
posted by Gary at 6:12 PM on July 28, 2015 [2 favorites]

What is Stephen King's involvement at this point? Cash the checks?
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 6:53 PM on July 28, 2015

I liked the book so, so much. I think that's why I cut The Strain more slack and give Dome the tough love. Now I need to find the notes I took.
posted by Room 641-A at 8:09 PM on July 28, 2015 [1 favorite]

Physically wincing in pain at various parts of that episode. Or maybe my afternoon's swim was too vigorous. The "origin of the dome" retcon really is hideous and terrible. So is the reboot where suddenly everyone's a Pod Person. Props to the showrunners for namechecking Body Snatchers though.

My favorite part was when Julia told Joe and Nori to "keep doing what you're doing" to resist the psychic kinship sex orgy oxycontin zombies.
posted by Nelson at 9:27 PM on July 28, 2015

I liked the book so, so much.

Interesting; because I hated the book's nihilistic bleakness. Still think it would have made a better show -- as indeed would a one-and-done miniseries instead of this "spin it out for as many summers as we get the orders for" stretch. I don't know if they'd have been able to stick that ending, though.

(Although arguably the book's "origin of the dome" revelation is pretty much a Twilight Zone twist, I think?)

psychic paintings, four-hands nonsense, Julia being The Monarch

All gone. But I think I like the pod-people version better; feels like there's more chance of this season having an actual arc and a resolution versus the last two seasons' endless ooo-here's-another-mysterious-thing plate-spinning.

I suspect it's not getting renewed this time; look at the ratings. Maybe they're winding up to a series finale.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 11:04 PM on July 28, 2015 [1 favorite]

I am so amazed that it made it this far, I wouldn't be surprised if it were canceled.
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 2:16 PM on July 29, 2015

4.6 Million viewers is not bad, but the freefall in ratings is the more worrying aspect. It will either be cancelled after a cliffhanger or anyone with a big salary gets killed off in the first episode next season.

Actually what hurts it most is that on CBS it's the low point of Thursday night. Hard to justify any sort of special effects budget when you can't beat Big Bang Theory re-runs or Big Brother.
posted by Gary at 2:38 PM on July 29, 2015