In the latest episode of “Under the Dome,†the town of Chester’s Mill faced a decidedly unexpected foe when they found themselves the subject of a mass “Infestation,†courtesy of a whole lot of caterpillars running amuck on their crops. It started off endearingly enough, with lots of beautiful butterflies fluttering about, but as Rebecca Pine (Karla Crome) pointed out, that wasn’t actually a good thing. Eventually, it became a sort of creepy thing, too, as Junior Rennie (Alexander Koch) discovered Angie’s body covered in them. Leave it to Stephen King to make something as pretty as a butterfly freaky.
As the finger-pointing began about who killed Angie, Rebecca took matters into her own hands, setting fire to the crops in an attempt to kill off the aforementioned caterpillars. Kind of a dopey move on her part, if you ask me, as it would have made more sense to let people know what was going on and stage a coordinated effort to do something about it, rather than risk a wildfire spreading all over the place. You’d think someone relatively smart would know better than that.
Of course, I’m not so sure she has the town’s best interests at heart in the first place, as evidenced by the ominous scene in which she implied that the crops weren’t the only things that might need to be eliminated. (This plotline was shades of the recent show “The 100,†in which people on a spaceship were faced with a similar dilemma.) Rebecca seems to be one of those people that go off-book at the drop of the hat without thinking things through.
Sure, she might have been right about the infestation and the defusing of the magnetization thing, but then again, she might be going down the wrong path as well in thinking that anything rational is the way to go in a nutty situation like this. Either way, her methods are a bit extreme, and I’m afraid that is going to lead the denizens of the town down a dark path. Can you say “The Lottery� If you don’t know what that means, think “Hunger Games,†only without the games part. In other words, if you win this lottery, you lose, period- though the show may do a variation of that, as in if you win, you live, and if you don’t, you die.
Eventually, they did find a more rational scenario than laying waste to everything via fire, by spraying the crops with pesticide. Originally, Big Jim (Dean Norris) wanted to do it, ever wanting to be the town hero, but Barbie eventually did, having more experience than him in the flying department. This led to a tense moment in which he scraped the wing of the plane against the dome and rapidly started losing fuel. Big Jim could well have used this instance to get rid of the competition, and the old one might well have, but post-near-hanging Big Jim opted to take the high road and tell Barbie about the plane’s fuel reserve and thus save the day- and Barbie’s bacon.
Meanwhile, the Angie situation reached a fever pitch, as many eventually felt compelled to point the finger at the new girl, Melanie (Grace Victoria Cox), as tends to be the case when something unfamiliar arises in a scenario fraught with tension already. As it turns out, she was there at the school when it happened, and saw a man attacking Angie, but wasn’t able to get a good look at him. This didn’t stop both Joe and Junior from attempting to kill her in her holding cell, which led to another tense stand-off. Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed and Marcie emerged relatively unscathed, save not making the best first impression on the town.
Of course, with somewhat good reason, as Sam (Eddie Cahill) pointed out that his dead sister, Pauline (aka Junior’s mother and Big Jim’s late wife), who committed suicide long ago, once drew a picture of that very girl. What this means, I don’t know, either, but we do know two crucial pieces of information: Pauline’s paintings seem to predict the future, and Pauline herself seems to be very much alive. How either of these things is possible I do not know, but I’m sure that those very subjects will be delved into in the weeks to come.
Also on the agenda is who actually did kill Angie. Junior, who found Angie’s bracelet under the cot he was sleeping in at the jail, thinks it might well have been him, and given his past behavior in regards to Angie, I’m not so sure he’s wrong. After all, he did keep her chained in his fallout shelter for who knows how long. The question is, why would he do that now, after things had taken a turn for the positive in their relationship and she was starting to trust him again, finally? That leads me to believe that there may be more to the story. But then, isn’t there always on this show?
What did you think of “Under the Dome†this week? Who do you think really killed Angie? How will the town- or the town’s leaders, more likely- determine who lives and who dies if the scientist is right and they need to cut their losses while they’re still ahead? Will Big Jim continue to behave himself? Will Sam come between Barbie and Julia? What’s the deal with Melanie? Or Pauline, for that matter? Sound off on this and more down below and see you next week!