Round Two: Under the Dome

Under the Dome: Season 1, Episode 2 “The Fire” (F)

I’m not sure what compelled me to tune in for a second hour of this show, but this was certainly be the last time I’ll make that mistake with this particular series. The pilot presented a few interesting ideas that could have led to something, but this second effort solidifies the fact that it’s going to be all about the people within and their perfectly normal secrets rather than the grandeur of what’s going on around them. Testing whether water comes in is one step in the right direction, but the revelation that they’re under a dome is far from groundbreaking considering that’s the title of the show! Most importantly, of course, the characters are so irreconcilably stupid that it’s unbearable to watch them do things. That the priest, who was devious enough to be able to conspire with Big Jim and keep something major hidden from the entire town, was dumb enough to chuckle and say “The Lord works in mysterious ways” before burning down Duke’s house because he wanted to destroy a few small sheets of paper was unbelievable. Worse still was Paul getting cabin fever and shooting at the dome, which quite conveniently struck Freddy right in the heart and killed him. This show is losing its only decent characters quickly, and now any viewer will have to contend with more of the idiocy of Junior’s plotline and Angie’s extremely unproductive efforts to escape her captivity, the best of which resulted in Junior attacking and trying to kill Barbie.