Under The Dome = lot of summer fun.
Allison Keene at Collider wrote that there was a "there was a lack of urgency to develop characters past what we already knew..." Truth is, we learned a lot. More than that, the story moved forward, fleshing out several subplots introduced in the pilot. We get a fuller taste of what was hinted at.
Keene also said that Barbie's need to retrieve his dog tags and his accidental killing of Julia's husband was "not all that interesting yet to really care." I didn't know I didn't care until Keene told me -- because I found it pretty engrossing. Seems no matter what the storyline, some people are going to roll their eyes and dislike it. Murder, big domes, affairs, serial killers, a thickening plot. . . and it can't hold some peoples interest.
Then again, my mother in laws review, "It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be." Hummm.
I like the opening line, "Now that we're trapped under the Dome, none of our secrets are safe."
Some quick notes:
Under The Dome With The Kids:
- Teen perspective: Students happy that they will not have to endure a math test.
- Guys disheartened, they may have met every girl they're ever going to meet!
- Students figuring out the radius of the dome using math.
- I like seeing things through Joe's phone video.
- Angie might be a nice girl -- but I'm starting to question her IQ. Is it smart to argue with Junior while she's chained up? Shouting, "I will never love you" does not seem like a good idea while in his clutches. That's the kind of thing you say before slamming the phone down or riving away at full speed -- not what you say when chained up.
- Blood on Linda's uniform is a nice touch.
- Rev. Coggins has showed up. Not at all as I imagined him from the novel.
- The story works to paint Barbie as a good-bad guy. Difficult to feel too close to a lead character who had been little more than a thug. What the show does well is make Big Jim a bit likable. Which is great character development for the bad guy!
- Big Jim is Santa.
MYSTERY:
- Big Jim, "If you're gonna be stuck somewhere, this is the place to be." The mystery is back!
- I'm really happy CBS said they changed the cause of the dome, because it heightens the suspense. Even if it turns out to be aliens, CBS had a great idea in telling us they changed it.
- "Your only source of news from. . . Under The Dome." What's that mean? "It means we're all gonna die in here."
- Realization that the military doesn't know what it is.
Well, that puts us in a bit of a minority when it comes to liking things so far, I'm afraid.
ReplyDeleteI knew going into this episode that one or a handful of things could happen:
1. The fire would be the first test of the town to see how capable they were in their situation. A good comparison is with The Mist where everyone somehow fails to gel together, whereas here, the outcome, at least initially, is different.
2. The other possibility was this episode would see the town picking sides, who would ultimately join Rennie, and who Dale.
As it turns out, a little of both happened last night, not bad, as the whole point of both Rennie and Dale saving the day determines how the townspeople will view them from now on.
Of course there's still the matter of that dead body in the field, but I'm sure we'll get to that when the time comes, perhaps midway through the season.
As for Coggins, unfortunately, the argument could be made that the proud (?) King tradition of preachers with a bad reputation continues, even if King's only peripherally involved.
I did wonder though if maybe his setting the fire was, well, maybe the result of subconscious guilt, I mean setting a fire like that takes deliberate effort. Maybe some part of him was punishing himself.
Yeah, it was just an idea.
ChrisC
Wow, those ratings! 11+ million people still watching... in the summer! Like the series or not (I'm kind of in the middle myself so far), UtD is a definite hit!
ReplyDeleteI suspect they will be down sharply for the third episode.
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