Under the Dome – Season 1 - 2013
I am not sure when I learned about the making of the Stephen
King novel, Under the Dome was going to be made into a television series, but I
do remember being very excited to see it.
I was also very excited to learn that two podcasting friends, Wayne
Henderson and Troy Heiritz, were planning to produce a podcast (Under The Dome
Radio) to accompany the show. Well,
Under the Dome has just finished its first season and since it was touted to be
a science fiction drama, I feel the need to discuss my take on what was good
and what was not so good.
The Book:
I listened to the audiobook version of Under the Dome last
year. I really enjoyed it during my
drives to school and back finding that I couldn’t wait to listen to it. The story itself is a very long account of
the people in the fictitious town of Chester’s Mill being trapped under a
mysterious dome and how they coped with life following such a disaster that
might cut a community off from the outside world. At first, the community pulls together, but
then begins to fall apart as resources become scarce. As always, there are those who try to find
ways to take advantage of the situation to grab power that they would normally
not have. Under the Dome by Stephen King
was a brilliant character study that looked into the lives of several of the
Mill’s residents as they either tried to help others or tried to help
themselves in surviving a disaster.
The novel is not for the weak stomached or those that may be
overly sensitive as King doesn’t hold back anything as far as the language used
in the book, or the descriptions of the activities. It is very graphic and carries a very dark
tone.
One complaint that I have heard about the book concerns the
ending. Apparently the dome was erected
by some child-like aliens that were playing around with what they considered a
lower life form, much as a child would use a magnifying glass to concentrate
the sun’s rays to burn insects. To those
who read the book and complained about the ending I would say that the story
wasn’t about the alien children as much as it was a character study. Only a very small part of the book at the
very end was about what actually about how the dome came to be. I would like to think that I actually got
what Stephen King was communicating with his yarn. If you decide to read or listen to the
audiobook (which was and excellent performance by the reader), you should
approach it from the point that the characters and not the how or why is the
main point.
The Show:
Right from the very beginning, it was announced that the
television production was only based on the novel, and would not be a simple
visual retelling of the Under the Dome story.
After listening to it, this was obvious to me since the extremely
graphic nature of the novel could not be played out word-for-word on broadcast
television. Many of the characters have
the same names and personality traits as their Stephen King counterparts in the
book, but there are some major differences in their stories as the show unfolds. Many of the characters for the television
series seem to have been cleaned up a bit and have had their characters made
acceptable for the average viewer. Big
Jim Rennie, for instance has had his overtly hypocritical religious stripped
from him for the most part. Dale Barbara
isn’t the pure heroic figure as presented in the book; he has a darker
background story. Junior Rennie is far
less psychotically disturbed in the show than he was in the book. These are just a few of the changes from the
original story. So, before the show
aired, I had made up my mind to forget about the book and take the television
show as a separate entity.
The Good:
Visual Effects: The visual effects used in the show are
magnificent. Right from the very
beginning when the dome descends on the town, there are some sunning scenes of
planes and truck crashing into the invisible barrier. One of the most iconic scenes is when Barbie
witnesses a cow being cut in half while the half inside the dome falls away to
reveal the other half sticking to the outside.
Along with that are scenes of electrical discharges as people contact
the dome, a storm inside the dome, and a scene as the military attempts to
break the dome with a large cruise missile.
Characters: For the most part, the acting is well done, that
is when the characters are well written.
For me, the best of the cast is Dean Norris as Big Jim Rennie. He portrays the “big fish in the small pond”
personage to a tee. Here’s a guy who is
totally out to better himself under the guise of caring for the community at
large. He is so well written and acted
that even I watching the show have occasionally believed that he was working
for the good of his community. But
nothing Big Jim does is for the betterment of anyone but himself, if others are
made better off along the way, it’s okay.
But don’t try to get in his way because anyone who does either
mysteriously turns up dead, or he finds a way to manipulate others into doing
his dirty work for him. For me, he is
the most interesting element of the show.
Linda Esquivel portrayed by Natalie Martinez finds herself
becoming the chief of police following the death of her mentor and friend. She is a very strong female character who
takes her job seriously and is obviously well trained and experienced. With the exception of the last few episodes
of the series, Linda is the only character who seems willing to stand up
against Big Jim to keep law and order in the town.
Ollie Densmore appeared in five episodes of Under the
Dome. He is played brilliantly by Leon
Rippy, an experienced character actor.
Ollie goes into a head-to-head conflict with Big Jim over the town’s
resources. As a farmer with a well, he
sees an opportunity to snatch power away from Big Jim and run the town
himself. He believes that he has many
friends in the community and recruits them to help guard his well, the only
major source of water for the town for a time until Barbie destroys the
well. Ollie finds himself left out in the
cold by his “friends” as one of the extras tell him “you think we were here for
you?” and they head for the hills as Big Jim again gets the upper hand.
There were definitely other good things about the show, but
the above were the items that really stood out for me.
The Bad:
Barbie: hero or villain?
I honestly cannot tell if Barbie is good or bad. He is obviously ex-military and perhaps some
former member of an elite combat group.
He seems to have a lot of knowledge of weapons and is very good in a
fight. He also seems to have some extensive
knowledge of emergency medical procedures.
But let’s face it, he came on the scene as a collection man for some
entity that wanted him to use brutal tactics.
In the very first episode, we see him burying the body of Peter Shumway,
then we learn later that he killed Peter collecting a large gambling debt. On the other hand, we see Barbie acting on
numerous occasions as a “deputy” without a badge, helping to keep law and order
in the town. But that’s not all folks;
more on Barbie later.
Science Fiction?
There is lots of fiction Under the Dome, but very little science. If a show is going to be touted as a science
fiction series, shouldn’t there at least be some science? Even made up science would be a welcome
addition. As I recall, there were perhaps
two instances when any real science was actually explored; first when Joe was
using math to try to figure the actual size of the dome, and second when the
mini dome projected the star field in the barn.
Even that second one was more of a metaphysical instance since it turned
out that the dome was pointing the way for the “teen quartet” (my term for the
mini dome club of Joe, Angie, Norrie, and Junior) to go to the dome and get
another premonition. In actuality, Under
the dome seems more like a paranormal series than sci-fi, or perhaps even more
so, a study in abnormal psychology.
Everyone seems to have some kind of baggage they are carrying around.
Linda Becomes Big Jim’s Nazi Cop: One of the worse turns in
the show is how Linda, the Police Chief, stops being a strong female character
who has taken it upon herself to uphold law and order during the crisis and
becomes Big Jim’s lacky. Rather than
doing what a good cop would do and investigating to learn the facts, in the
last few episodes she just begins to take Big Jim’s word for everything and
follows his agenda of the character assassination of Barbie. The plot hole here is that Linda has gotten
to know Barbie as they worked together.
I suppose it didn’t help much when After Big Jim killed Maxine and her
henchman, Barbie knocked Linda out and headed for…
Speaking of that, after Barbie cold-cocked Linda, where did
he expect to go? After all, isn’t the
Dome relatively small?
In a later episode, Big Jim dispatches Linda to track down the location of the mini dome and take it into custody. When she finds it, she goes way out of character and begins demanding that the object be turned over to her. I didn't even recognize Linda's character in that performance, and I was quite puzzled at her gestapo-like tactics.
Barbie and Bushie: Phil Bushie, the radio station DJ spends
a lot of time exchanging knowing nods with Barbie in the early episodes of the
show, almost like they know each other.
Well perhaps they share a common bond as ex-military, or at least it
would seem that way, but like Linda, Phil is more than willing to accept that
Barbie is a cold-blooded murderer and even offers to build the gallows that Big
Jim intends to hang Barbie from.
The Ugly:
Barbie and Julia: One
of the most convoluted parts of Under the Dome is the relationship between
Julia Shumway and Barbie. In several
instances, Julia seems to be pining away for her deceased husband, Peter, but
as soon as Barbie comes on the scene, she invites him into her home. Now Barbie didn’t know that Peter and Julia
were married, not at least until he saw pictures of the two of them together,
but then really, he killed Peter SHUMWAY and begins cohabitating with Julia
SHUMWAY. Did he go in to kill Peter
without knowing what his name was? Even
after discovering that Julia was Peter’s widow, that he killed, Barbie has the
conscious of a snake and begins cohabitating with Julia anyway? Now I realize that this show is not about
reality, but come on, I cannot imagine anything like this happening with
someone who is supposed to be a hero!
This plot is Hamlet gone completely wrong.
And while I am thinking about that, I should like to point
out that when Maxine threatened to expose Barbie to Julia as Peter’s killer,
Barbie decides, nobly (?) to confess his crime to Julia. In a very Swiss cheesed scene (with a plot hole
big enough to fly a jet liner through), Julia listens patiently to Barbie’s
confession and then tells him, more or less, it’s okay, just don’t lie any
more. Barbie’s punishment for offing
Peter? A night on the couch in the
Shumway living room. As my friend Hank Davis said on a call-in to
Under the Dome Radio: “Where do you find a woman like that?” Well, the answer to that, my good friend, is
nowhere, except Under the Dome.
One of the biggest plot twists, or twisted plots, if you
will, was that of the (thankfully) brief appearance of Maxine Seagrave. Out of nowhere this character appears on the
scene to spend two days trying to make Big Jim’s and Barbie’s life a living
hell. Apparently, she was the entity
behind Barbie being a collector of gambling debts, as well as being the one who
was bankrolling and distributing the drug that Big Jim was producing to “save”
the town of Chester’s Mill. She blows
into town from wherever she was and opens a fight club in the concrete works
and is taking loaves of bread and salt for admission; all in less than 24
hours. She says that she is doing this
so she can maintain the lifestyle that she has become accustomed to. I can only imagine what that lifestyle must
have been; not good I suspect.
Blame Barbie: Julia
Shumway is shot, Maxine’s mother is drowned, Dodie is killed and the radio
station is burned, Maxine and her henchman are shot. It’s all Barbie’s doing! So Barbie is finally captured and the people
of the town are assured that he will receive a fair trial, and then taken out
to hang. In the final scenes, Barbie has
the noose around his neck, Big Jim is presiding and Junior has his hands on the
lever, and a large crowd has gathered to watch the execution. The trial was Big Jim telling them that
Barbie is guilty and not one citizen of this little friendly town is going to
stand up and protest a public execution.
Okay.
The ending of the season is probably the second ugliest
thing about Under the Dome. The
butterfly hatches inside the mini-dome and begins flying around. Everywhere the butterfly touches turns
black. At the same time, the large dome
is also turning black. Then the “teen
quartet” lays hands on the dome, it shatters and the butterfly crowns Julia the
much awaited “monarch.” Julia was
further informed by Norrie’s mother that the done was not to keep people in,
but rather to protect them. Huh? Then Julia takes the egg that was under the
mini dome and drops it into the lake.
The much talked about pink stars appear and Big Jim who is presiding
over Barbie’s execution says that it is a sign that Barbie’s impending neck tie
party has been blessed by the lord, which is accepted by the crowd. Huh?
Then the dome turns white and the show is over. Huh?
What?
I have heard this called a cliff hanger. Understatement? You bet!
There are so many unfinished stories and loose threads with this series
that I cannot even remember it all. It
is hard to believe that Spielberg and King are involved with this.
But the ugliest thing of all is how CBS loaded the series
with seemingly unending strings of commercial interruptions. Most of those commercials were selling other
shows that were either already on, or soon to come on CBS. At times, there was less than seven minutes
of Under the Dome followed by an ad
nausium number of ads.
So we are going to get another 13 episodes of Under the Dome
next summer. We can only hope that
someone at CBS will take some time to watch this sad, shark jumped series and
perhaps listen to those of us who aren’t willing to just accept just the label
Science Fiction getting slapped on something that went from being pretty good
in the beginning to a mere paranormal soap opera complete with “cliff hangers”
couched in huge plot holes.
Will I be watching the second season of Under the Dome. Most definitely. There is way too much to laugh and make fun
of that I cannot pass it up. Along with
that is the Under the Dome Radio podcast, which is fun to listen to
If you watched Under the Dome and loved it, well more power
too you. If you are accepting it as
sci-fi, you need to re-examine your definition of sci-fi. Not only isn’t it very good sci-fi, it isn’t
even very good television for the thinking viewer.
While I started really liking the show, I watched it deteriorate over the weeks into something that was barely watchable. I also realize that I am in the minority on my assessment and am quite okay with that.
If you are looking for a more positive twist
to Under the Dome, I urge you to listen to Under the Dome Radio with Troy andWayne. They have a podcast episode for
every episode of the show along with great interviews with Kevin Sizemore, Dale
Raoul, and John Elvis.
Well, there it is…
Q’aplaH!
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