Catching Up On THE DOME

I gave up on Under The Dome when Max just magically appeared from the beauty salon. The show slipped into serious soap opera.  My feeling at the time was that the show was actually insulting out intellegence.  CBS seemed to think we would just believe and buy anything with Mr. King's name on it.

Time for a second attempt.

I watched the entire season last week on DVD.  What I found was that now, even episodes I'd originally been  more forgiving toward because I thought they were "going somewhere with this" were now pretty lame.  Junior chains Angie up in his basement, but later they're pretty cool with each other.  She has the amazing (AMAZING) ability not to tell everyone she meets what just happened.  You get kidnapped and chained up, and when you break free your first  thought it, "well, maybe if they let me run the local diner, I won't say anything about this.  After all, they chained me up for my own good."

Can Linda get any more dense?  If a new season can offer us anything, it would be her welcome demise.  But somehow I suspect the producers are pretty taken with her.  I'm sure we'll be expected to root and cheer when she finally figures out one plus one is two and Big Jim isn't really that nice a guy.  Of course,  by then it will have taken her over an entire season to put the clues together.

Should we despair the promise of more characters? Chesters Mill has plenty of room for more towns people to be highlighted.  What I hope they don't do is more magic acts where people just step onto stage and tell us they've been hiding out the entire time.

At times preachy and at times melodrama, Under The Dome is difficult because I so much want to like it.

Was that really a cliff hanger?  I've got to say, I have  not spent my time away from The Dome wondering if they would really hang Barbie.  But I do feel a little Annie Wilkes about this.  In Misery, Annie Wilkes rants about going to see Rocketman.  The episode cut off with Rocketman going off the cliff and his car exploding, with him in it.  When the next episode came, guess what -- Rocketman is shown quickly jumping out before the car goes over.

Annie says, "‘That isn’t what happened last week! Are you all too stupid to remember? Did you all get amnesia?’ And my brother said ‘You’re crazy, Annie,’ but I knew I wasn’t. And the manager came and said if I didn’t shut up I’d have to leave and I said ‘You bet I’m going to leave because that was a dirty cheat, that wasn’t what happened last week!’"

I'm not expecting the writers to cheat us with Under the Dome like with Rocketman.  But I do wonder if they really think we are on the edge of our seat thinking, "what will  happen to Barbie?  Will they hang him?"  Hey, I say -- give us a surprise and hang the dude.  What was a likable character iun the book is a thug in the miniseries.  He might be the only one able to stand up to Big Jim, but it odesn't change the fact that his own moral compass is seriously broken.

I guess what I'm wondering is -- where are  the producers going with this thing?  They run down different plot avenues, seemingly unsure what this thing is really about.  It's like watching a teenager with an identity crisis.  Can they pull this off?  King writing the first script gives hope, but once it falls into new hands, hope fades.  Remember Lost?  Started strong, but limped its way to the end.

By the  way, I do enjoy Under The Dome, but I don't have confidence in where this is going.  More characters are being introduced, meaning there will be a lot more deaths.  Will the Dome have  a logical explanation?  I hope so.  Will it be better than the book?  It's already lost that potential.  Is it fair to compare the book to the show?  Of course it is! Because the novel was so incredibly strong both with characters and plot, it is fair for us to expect the same from the show.

4 comments:

  1. It's interesting you mention running down different plot avenues. I was just thinking that the best way to describe the first season is to compare it to a group of people gathered in a pre-arranged spot and then just waiting for something to happen, and that seems like a good description of the first season.

    People wait for something to happen, and then something begins to happen just as the season ends. It could be the writers original intention was to keep the audience in the in the dark, yet expectant in order to generate both suspense and enthusiasm for next season.

    I don't know, and that's all speculation. Even if it's true, I'll admit the one element that seemed like filler was that woman who tries to start a fight club in the Dome; I forget her name, and that's telling. perhaps that should have been cut out.

    I still like a lot of the episodes in the first season, particularly where it looks like the town may pull together. Other than that, however, we'll have to wait and see what next season brings.

    ChrisC

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  2. Exactly. A lot of the show is waiting to happen. It hasn't found itself. Since the Dome itself is unexplained, the town is not pulling together to solve the problem, they are just waiting to be acted upon. This makes the story kind of illogical. There is no reasonable explanation for the Dome, not big attempt to get out -- so instead they are just ticking down the clock. The outside world has much less influence in the series than they did the book.

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    1. I don't know if this counts as good news or not, however the showrunners say two characters are getting axed according to this TV Line article:

      "Exec-producer Neal Baer tells TV Guide Magazine that two of the following six players will say goodbye: Sheriff Linda (played by Natalie Martinez), Norrie (Mackenzie Lintz), Norrie’s mom Carolyn (Aisha Hinds), DJ Phil Bushey (Nicholas Strong), slacker kid Ben (John Elvis) and hoarder Andrea (Dale Raoul).

      "A big hint about one of the possible deaths: Martinez was recently cast in ABC’s drama pilot Secrets & Lies."

      In a way, it makes sense that Linda might be axed, as it would tie into the element of the book where Big Jim gets carte-blanche control of the police force, and makes it his own army of thugs.

      I hate to say it, but taking Linda out of the picture would tie thing in between book and show very easily.

      Another character I wondered about was Phil, as he knows Barbie's past. The only problem with that is the town seems more or less against Dale now (I say more or less because I can't tell what anyone in the story was thinking in the middle of a season capping white out).

      ChrisC

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    2. The TV Line article can be found here:

      http://tvline.com/2014/02/10/under-the-dome-season-2-spoilers-deaths/

      ChrisC

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