Episode Report Card Daniel: C+ | 25 USERS: D YOU GRADE IT Angie, You Can't Say I Never Tried
By Daniel | Season 1 | Episode 3 | Aired on 07.08.2013
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.“This is a small town,” characters are told repeatedly in the third episode of Under the Dome, generally in the revelation that someone knows someone else's secret. Everybody in Chester's Mill has them, with some of them darker than others, and the darker ones, by and large, haven't bubbled up to the surface yet.
The town deals with the aftermath of the accidental shooting of Policeman Freddy, and the lynch mob that surrounds the town jail is the most excitable the residents have been since the dome came down. It's Big Jim who calms them down and urges them to let the law do its job. Not too well, presumably, given the headaches that would likely cause for him. And the residents get back to normal, which is being largely unconcerned about being trapped inside an invisible dome.
Paul seems to be remorseful about accidentally shooting Fred, but then tricks Linda by faking some sort of asthma attack or panic attack, and when she enters his cell to help, he jumps her and locks her in before stealing a rifle and fleeing, leading to the "Manhunt" title. Big Jim enlists some of the menfolk, urging them to take a break from being homophobic towards Carolyn so they can smoke Paul out of the woods. Barbie comes along too, although Big Jim and Julia are becoming increasingly suspicious of him; Junior has told both of them that Barbie beat him up for no reason, but Junior always kinda looks like he serves a punch in the face, so neither Big Jim nor Julia ask Barbie about it. Julia, becoming increasingly convinced that Barbie was in Chester's Mill for a reason, snoops in his stuff before finding a map of the area with a location on it. Big Jim, meanwhile, is becoming more concerned with being in charge, and — more important — being seen to be in charge. He's boring Barbie to death with football stories from his school when Randolph manages to get the drop on him, only to be felled by Linda, that hardest working cop under the dome or outside it. Randolph may have been helped by the fact that somehow Phil Bushey is narrating the manhunt over the radio in real-time somehow, despite phones not working under the dome. Good job giving away where the search party was over the radio, Phil!
Meanwhile, Norrie has snuck out to Joe's house, because she heard he has a generator, and she's hoping to avail herself of it, because without her tunes she's apparently not the ray of sunshine we've already come to know and love. She neglects to tell her moms where she's going, though, which seems pretty shitty of her. But Carolyn does arrive in time to see Norrie and Joe engage in some synchronized seizuring.
Elsewhere, Angie plays up to Junior and encourages him to check the cement factory where they used to have sex for a way out. Julia — puffing herself up mightily as the one, as a journalist, with the responsibility of finding answers about the dome — follows him, and then they get lost on their way out, giving Julia the chance to explain why she, clearly an awesome journalist, is in a backwater like Chester's Mill. The reason does not make her more sympathetic — in her zeal to take down a politician, she published damning documents that were fake, which she suspected they were. And she doesn't appear to have learned enough as a reporter to use a notebook or some kind of recorder when interviewing someone. Oh, and her news reports on the radio include such great muck-raking dirt as, "Presumably, [the authorities] will keep at it until they get some answers." Nothing makes for good journalism like making assumptions and placing unmitigated faith in authorities! Or maybe she was talking about the audience?
Daniel is a writer in Newfoundland with a wife and a daughter. It's not that hard to portray journalists accurately on television. Not that Aaron Sorkin has figured it out either. Follow him on Twitter (@DanMacEachern) or email him at danieljdaniel@gmail.com.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!Over in the cells, a frantic Paul is still blaming the Dome for Freddy’s death, and wants Linda to break the news to Rusty. Then he starts to have trouble breathing, and Linda doesn’t seem to recognize an obvious ruse, but rushes in to help him instead of maybe giving it a moment. Paul knocks her flat, steals her gun and locks her in the jail. “I warned you, Linda! I warned you what would happen!” he yells, railing about people going crazy under the dome, when the only person going crazy so far is him. He says the dome’s going to kill him if the town doesn’t kill him first. No, don’t worry. The mob quietly dispersed and they’re all praying now.
Time for an instructive scene over the Rennie household, where Big Jim wants to know where Junior was yesterday when the whole town was pulling together to fight a fire (you know, the one started by Big Jim’s own partner in crime?). Big Jim’s not asking out of concern for Junior or anything. “People are looking to me to lead, to stand up like a man does,” he says, and it reflects badly on Big Jim if his own son is such a puking little shit (paraphrased). Big Jim is also viewing this dome situation as an “opportunity,” which also lets him lay into Junior for squandering all the opportunities his father has provided for him, like being on the football team that Junior never wanted to be on.
Eventually, Big Jim notices the cuts and bruises on Junior’s face and wants to know who did it, and Junior tells him Barbie did it, unprovoked. If Big Jim doesn’t buy this, he doesn’t challenge it, but contemptuously says Junior’s still hiding behind his mother’s skirts, nine years after she died. “Best toughen up now, Junior. Don’t let me down,” he says. Well, it’s no wonder Junior has kidnapped a woman and is holding her hostage underground!
Speaking of which, Angie has found a radio in the bomb shelter that gets amazing reception, and she must be devastated to find out that the only available station is WYBS, currently featuring Phil Bushey giving “shout-outs” to the volunteer bucket brigade and “big ups” to Linda Esquivel for keeping Lester Coggins from getting all crispy. She stashes the radio as she hears Junior come in with some eggs for her, and then there’s a little rehash of their previous conversation, where Junior insists, “It’s the dome that’s making you act like this,” and Angie countering with the suggestion that she’s acting like this because he’s kept her locked up for two days. He says things will be different when they’re out from under the dome, and Angie asks if anyone has tried going under it. Sure, with shovels, he says, but she’s talking about the old abandoned cement factory that was closed after it flooded and killed some kids or some damn thing — you know how stupid dead kids ruin the fun for everyone else in small towns — but they used to visit all the time, cross over into the next town and hitchhike back. She turns on the sugar as she suggests that maybe things would be different if they could get out. “Maybe we could start over,” she purrs, and Junior smiles and says he’ll be back later.
Speaking of rehashed scenes, Big Jim has gone over to the hospital so he and Lester Coggins can tell each other things they already both know about how Lester was burning the evidence of propane sales. Now the only evidence is in their heads, so they both have to be able to trust it’s secure, says Big Jim menacingly, and he tosses Lester his clothes and tells him to get over to the mortuary and take care of Freddy Denton’s corpse. So I guess the mortuary will be burning down within minutes.