In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.
It's what, day three? The episode opens promisingly with the townspeople spray-painting the dome and raising a ruckus over what appears to be the army pulling out (Ollie has gone from "don't worry, the feds will save us" to "can't trust any gummint!" literally overnight) but then that just peters out and goes nowhere. It's like this place is a Sims-like game where the townspeople were given the task "riot" and it lasted a set amount of time and the experience points were earned and now they'll wander aimlessly until they're given something else to do (like come down with meningitis, I guess).
Yes: the Weekly Crisis this week is a meningitis outbreak, which has the good folks of Chester's Mill all coming down right at the same time. Well, they seem to come down in reasonably spaced intervals so they can be taken to the hospital in an orderly fashion. Alice (who we didn't see at all last week) volunteers her medical training (she's currently a psychiatrist), since she happens to be at the hospital to get Joe and Norrie, the seizure twins, checked out. The complication with the fire -- I mean the outbreak -- is that the hospital has no fire department -- I mean antibiotics. This leads to the forced sentimentality of Linda being given the hospital's last dose of meningitis medicine over her third-grade teacher, introduced to the show for the first time just so she can die because Barbie and Big Jim discover someone has stolen all the drugs from the pharmacy. The good reverend is going full religious freakjob now, and stole the drugs not to take them himself but to burn them because getting sick and dying is all part of God's plan, and he also gives Big Jim his share of the proceeds from their nefarious doings, since he's washing his hands of the whole thing.
Big Jim gives Junior the task of keeping everyone quarantined at the hospital. The best method the Rennies have is not "let's tell everyone how important it is that they keep the contagion within the hospital" but "give Junior the psychopath a loaded shotgun and have him stand guard at what is I guess the hospital's only entrance and exit."
But at least major plot points are advancing elsewhere. Angie's attempt to stab Junior and then presumably starve to death in the bomb shelter after killing the only person who knows where she is goes awry. But while Junior is out earning people's respect by not blowing them away with shotguns, she pulls loose a water pipe (she's pretty strong for an eighty-pound woman who's been shackled underground for three days) and almost dies of hypothermia. Fortunately, Big Jim hears her cries for help through his house's plumbing, and discovers her. I have no illusions that he's going to free her, but I'm looking forward to seeing this play out.
And in contrast to what I said in disparaging the show's subtlety last week, Barbie does already know Phil Bushey, who is the P.B. marked on his map. Julia follows the map to P.B.'s place, where she discovers that her husband sold his Beemer. Phil inconveniently comes down with meningitis before he can answer too many questions. Thankfully, so does Julia, and she manages to drag out a reference to the cabin, and then gets the location from Junior, who's all too happy to drive a wedge between Julia and Barbie. Julia manages to escape the quarantine and find the cabin, where she discovers that her husband has emptied their savings and the house will be foreclosed on. She collapses but is brought back to the hospital by Barbie, who confesses to being an enforcer collecting on Pete's gambling debts, but claims Pete must have taken off somewhere. Julia doesn't believe that Pete was a gambler. Fortunately, Barbie is a stupid enforcer and has incriminating evidence on his phone (a voicemail) that links him to the person he killed shortly after the voicemail was left.
Linda, impressed by the way Junior talked down a minor freakout by people quarantined at the hospital (and disregarding the way he first fired off the shotgun and then later left a loaded shotgun lying around a group of people who moments earlier were freaking out) and deputizes him. When the inquest happens, there's a lot of poor decision-making to ask questions about.
Daniel is a writer in Newfoundland with a wife and a daughter. He's really impressed that Norrie is aware of such pop culture obscurities as Star Wars and X-Men. Follow him on Twitter (@DanMacEachern) or email him at danieljdaniel@gmail.com. Want more? The full recap starts right below!
It's morning and Julia is studying the map she filched from Barbie's things, which is why she's acting conspicuously shady enough when he comes down that he asks if something's wrong. She says she has a headache, which happens when she gets stressed. He notes she took her last pill and notes the pharmacy is out but maybe the gas station has some. "You know this town pretty well for someone who is just passing through," she says. Uh, he's been trapped for three days under a dome. How much time does he need to know this jerkwater burg has a pharmacy and a gas station? She says she's going over to the radio station -- not at all obviously stuffing the map into her purse -- and he says he'll catch a ride with her. Ass, gas or grass, Barbie. What's it going to be?
Outside, a group of angry Chester's Millers are chester milling around the dome, angrily yelling at the army, which is pulling out. "Orders are in: Pack it up, we're out of here," is what we can hear (but the residents can't) on the outside of the dome, broadcast on some strange "Here Are Your Orders That You Are Already Carrying Out" public address system. Linda tries to get the crowd to disperse, warning them of the danger of the dome, but no one's listening, so she pulls her gun. Then Reverend Lester starts in with the preaching, pontificating on "the pride of evil men" and says the dome is God's wish for a new Eden. Fortunately, the increasingly agitated mob quiets down enough to Big Jim can have a whispered conversation where he -- not unreasonably -- wants to know why she pulled her gun. Then he talks the crowd down, except for Ollie, who has gone from having utter faith in the feds to distrusting everything at any level of government literally overnight. Nevertheless, the crowd disperses. Linda says she had things under control, but before they can debate the point, she collapses.
In Junior’s Sex Fungeon, Angie has managed to separate the scissors into its two blades, but only has a moment of sawing at her chain before she hears Junior come back. She hastily stashes the scissors and Junior comes in, bearing some comfortable clothes as well as the prom dress she wore to the junior prom the first time they danced. Angie pretends to be touched and affectionate, and slow dances with Junior for a moment. "You’re starting to act like the old Angie I knew before the dome came down," he says. She tells him to turn around, pretending it’s so she can change, but she grabs a blade. Junior turns just in time to grab the knife before she sinks it into his neck, and he winds up getting only his hand bloodied. He throws her back on the bed. "I should have known. You’re not better. You’re just pretending," he says. She starts to cry as he leaves, promising she won’t tell anyone anything if he lets her out. “You can leave whenever you’re ready. But not before.”
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.
It's what, day three? The episode opens promisingly with the townspeople spray-painting the dome and raising a ruckus over what appears to be the army pulling out (Ollie has gone from "don't worry, the feds will save us" to "can't trust any gummint!" literally overnight) but then that just peters out and goes nowhere. It's like this place is a Sims-like game where the townspeople were given the task "riot" and it lasted a set amount of time and the experience points were earned and now they'll wander aimlessly until they're given something else to do (like come down with meningitis, I guess).
Yes: the Weekly Crisis this week is a meningitis outbreak, which has the good folks of Chester's Mill all coming down right at the same time. Well, they seem to come down in reasonably spaced intervals so they can be taken to the hospital in an orderly fashion. Alice (who we didn't see at all last week) volunteers her medical training (she's currently a psychiatrist), since she happens to be at the hospital to get Joe and Norrie, the seizure twins, checked out. The complication with the fire -- I mean the outbreak -- is that the hospital has no fire department -- I mean antibiotics. This leads to the forced sentimentality of Linda being given the hospital's last dose of meningitis medicine over her third-grade teacher, introduced to the show for the first time just so she can die because Barbie and Big Jim discover someone has stolen all the drugs from the pharmacy. The good reverend is going full religious freakjob now, and stole the drugs not to take them himself but to burn them because getting sick and dying is all part of God's plan, and he also gives Big Jim his share of the proceeds from their nefarious doings, since he's washing his hands of the whole thing.
Big Jim gives Junior the task of keeping everyone quarantined at the hospital. The best method the Rennies have is not "let's tell everyone how important it is that they keep the contagion within the hospital" but "give Junior the psychopath a loaded shotgun and have him stand guard at what is I guess the hospital's only entrance and exit."
But at least major plot points are advancing elsewhere. Angie's attempt to stab Junior and then presumably starve to death in the bomb shelter after killing the only person who knows where she is goes awry. But while Junior is out earning people's respect by not blowing them away with shotguns, she pulls loose a water pipe (she's pretty strong for an eighty-pound woman who's been shackled underground for three days) and almost dies of hypothermia. Fortunately, Big Jim hears her cries for help through his house's plumbing, and discovers her. I have no illusions that he's going to free her, but I'm looking forward to seeing this play out.
And in contrast to what I said in disparaging the show's subtlety last week, Barbie does already know Phil Bushey, who is the P.B. marked on his map. Julia follows the map to P.B.'s place, where she discovers that her husband sold his Beemer. Phil inconveniently comes down with meningitis before he can answer too many questions. Thankfully, so does Julia, and she manages to drag out a reference to the cabin, and then gets the location from Junior, who's all too happy to drive a wedge between Julia and Barbie. Julia manages to escape the quarantine and find the cabin, where she discovers that her husband has emptied their savings and the house will be foreclosed on. She collapses but is brought back to the hospital by Barbie, who confesses to being an enforcer collecting on Pete's gambling debts, but claims Pete must have taken off somewhere. Julia doesn't believe that Pete was a gambler. Fortunately, Barbie is a stupid enforcer and has incriminating evidence on his phone (a voicemail) that links him to the person he killed shortly after the voicemail was left.
Linda, impressed by the way Junior talked down a minor freakout by people quarantined at the hospital (and disregarding the way he first fired off the shotgun and then later left a loaded shotgun lying around a group of people who moments earlier were freaking out) and deputizes him. When the inquest happens, there's a lot of poor decision-making to ask questions about.
Daniel is a writer in Newfoundland with a wife and a daughter. He's really impressed that Norrie is aware of such pop culture obscurities as Star Wars and X-Men. Follow him on Twitter (@DanMacEachern) or email him at danieljdaniel@gmail.com. Want more? The full recap starts right below!
Elsewhere, Julia’s followed the map to a trailer park, where she finds a BMW parked to an Airstream. She seems to recognize the car, and is peering into it when a helpful neighbor asks what’s up. She starts to introduce herself, and just a few words are all the fella needs to recognize her voice from the radio and set up his contrived dialogue about how she must be here to see Phil Bushey then, who must be home since his car is parked outside. Because no one in tiny Chester's Mill walks anywhere? Julia says it’s her husband’s car, and starts hammering on the door of the trailer. He comes out, appearing groggy, and Julia wants to know what he’s doing with her husband’s car. He says Pete sold it to him and that’s all he says, apart from “I feel like crap,” before collapsing, while Julia yells for help.
Meanwhile, Alice and Carolyn have dragged Joe and Norrie, the seizure twins, to the hospital to get them checked out, despite their protests that they're fine. Alice gives detailed instructions to the nurse on duty, only to find that the closest MRI machine is five miles outside the dome. Also, they’re fresh out of doctors, since one was on holiday and another crashed his car into the dome. "The third the audience knows, so he’ll be the one I mention by name and tell you Dr. Shumway is MIA," says the nurse. Alice volunteers to do the tests herself; she’s a psychiatrist, but has a background in medicine. The nurse tells them to follow, but Joe hangs back because he’s spotted Junior getting his hand bandaged and asks if Junior has seen Angie. Junior says he saw her a couple nights ago "around," following it up with "Anything else, little man?"
And here’s Big Jim with Barbie, carrying Linda in, Junior making up a story about hurting his hand while chopping wood to placate his suspicious father. There’s not much time to probe the story, though, because a steady stream of people with headaches and fever is now coming in, including Julia with Phil, who is lying on a cot. Barbie goes to get more cots for sick people, and Big Jim tells his son to go help him. “What’s going on?” asks Julia, when she sees all the other patients, including Linda. Big Jim calls her “Mrs. Shumway” for the benefit of those just tuning in and not knowing the relationship. “Sure could use your husband,” he says. You don’t have to tell Julia twice. The washing machine isn’t -- oh, Big Jim means at the hospital. Julia goes to question the unconscious Phil Bushey and this dubious tactic is thwarted when the door is closed in her face.
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.
It's what, day three? The episode opens promisingly with the townspeople spray-painting the dome and raising a ruckus over what appears to be the army pulling out (Ollie has gone from "don't worry, the feds will save us" to "can't trust any gummint!" literally overnight) but then that just peters out and goes nowhere. It's like this place is a Sims-like game where the townspeople were given the task "riot" and it lasted a set amount of time and the experience points were earned and now they'll wander aimlessly until they're given something else to do (like come down with meningitis, I guess).
Yes: the Weekly Crisis this week is a meningitis outbreak, which has the good folks of Chester's Mill all coming down right at the same time. Well, they seem to come down in reasonably spaced intervals so they can be taken to the hospital in an orderly fashion. Alice (who we didn't see at all last week) volunteers her medical training (she's currently a psychiatrist), since she happens to be at the hospital to get Joe and Norrie, the seizure twins, checked out. The complication with the fire -- I mean the outbreak -- is that the hospital has no fire department -- I mean antibiotics. This leads to the forced sentimentality of Linda being given the hospital's last dose of meningitis medicine over her third-grade teacher, introduced to the show for the first time just so she can die because Barbie and Big Jim discover someone has stolen all the drugs from the pharmacy. The good reverend is going full religious freakjob now, and stole the drugs not to take them himself but to burn them because getting sick and dying is all part of God's plan, and he also gives Big Jim his share of the proceeds from their nefarious doings, since he's washing his hands of the whole thing.
Big Jim gives Junior the task of keeping everyone quarantined at the hospital. The best method the Rennies have is not "let's tell everyone how important it is that they keep the contagion within the hospital" but "give Junior the psychopath a loaded shotgun and have him stand guard at what is I guess the hospital's only entrance and exit."
But at least major plot points are advancing elsewhere. Angie's attempt to stab Junior and then presumably starve to death in the bomb shelter after killing the only person who knows where she is goes awry. But while Junior is out earning people's respect by not blowing them away with shotguns, she pulls loose a water pipe (she's pretty strong for an eighty-pound woman who's been shackled underground for three days) and almost dies of hypothermia. Fortunately, Big Jim hears her cries for help through his house's plumbing, and discovers her. I have no illusions that he's going to free her, but I'm looking forward to seeing this play out.
And in contrast to what I said in disparaging the show's subtlety last week, Barbie does already know Phil Bushey, who is the P.B. marked on his map. Julia follows the map to P.B.'s place, where she discovers that her husband sold his Beemer. Phil inconveniently comes down with meningitis before he can answer too many questions. Thankfully, so does Julia, and she manages to drag out a reference to the cabin, and then gets the location from Junior, who's all too happy to drive a wedge between Julia and Barbie. Julia manages to escape the quarantine and find the cabin, where she discovers that her husband has emptied their savings and the house will be foreclosed on. She collapses but is brought back to the hospital by Barbie, who confesses to being an enforcer collecting on Pete's gambling debts, but claims Pete must have taken off somewhere. Julia doesn't believe that Pete was a gambler. Fortunately, Barbie is a stupid enforcer and has incriminating evidence on his phone (a voicemail) that links him to the person he killed shortly after the voicemail was left.
Linda, impressed by the way Junior talked down a minor freakout by people quarantined at the hospital (and disregarding the way he first fired off the shotgun and then later left a loaded shotgun lying around a group of people who moments earlier were freaking out) and deputizes him. When the inquest happens, there's a lot of poor decision-making to ask questions about.
Daniel is a writer in Newfoundland with a wife and a daughter. He's really impressed that Norrie is aware of such pop culture obscurities as Star Wars and X-Men. Follow him on Twitter (@DanMacEachern) or email him at danieljdaniel@gmail.com. Want more? The full recap starts right below!
Back in the Sex Fungeon, Angie decides that maybe she should fully explore her space, and she finds some sort of air vent on the wall by the top bunk. She opens and starts screaming for help, but not for long, because she slips and falls, banging her head on the floor, knocking herself out, while the water from the pipe she somehow managed to pull out of the wall starts flooding the fungeon.
Over at the hospital, Alice pulls a blood sample from Norrie, who is not shy about shitting all over her mom’s needle technique. Joe has his head wrapped in sensors for the EEG, which Alice declares is as normal as she’s ever seen. Norrie calls him "a mutant, like Wolverine." "You know X-Men?" asks Joe, because he’s surprised that someone his age is aware of a widely beloved character who has appeared in wildly popular comic books for four decades not to mention several hit movies in the last ten years. Big Jim comes in, looking for some help from Alice, who tells the seizure twins to stay put.
Big Jim takes her to the waiting room, nearly every seat full of people coughing and sick. She gets ready to go to work, but the hospital is already out of basic supplies like gloves. After just a few days?
Elsewhere in the hospital, Junior and Barbie are hauling cots down the hallway, where a pissed Julia tells Barbie she came in with his friend, Phil Bushey. Barbie tells a smirking Junior to head down the hall without him. “If you’ve never been to Chester’s Mill before, how do you know Phil?” she asks. Barbie says he has no idea what she’s talking about, so she shows him his map, and she doesn’t have much time for his indignance over her going through his stuff, but she says he lied about getting into fight with Junior, and she wanted to know what else he was lying about. Barbie walks away while she yells about wanting the truth, but then she collapses herself. Barbie got lucky there!
Over in Linda’s room, her third-grade teacher, Ms. Moore, is being wheeled in. They greet each other warmly -- Linda declaring Ms. Moore an awesome teacher, Ms. Moore saying Linda was a terrible student. Ms. Moore might as well have a red shirt on.
In the waiting room, Big Jim asks Alice what’s going on and she says she thinks it’s a meningitis outbreak. They don’t have spinal tap kits, but all the symptoms are there. After quickly explaining that they have all been vaccinated and are therefore safe, Angie warns them that it’s highly contagious and therefore nobody can leave the hospital. But a more pressing problem is that they don’t have enough antibiotics to treat everyone, and Barbie gets the bright idea to go to the pharmacy for more.
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.
It's what, day three? The episode opens promisingly with the townspeople spray-painting the dome and raising a ruckus over what appears to be the army pulling out (Ollie has gone from "don't worry, the feds will save us" to "can't trust any gummint!" literally overnight) but then that just peters out and goes nowhere. It's like this place is a Sims-like game where the townspeople were given the task "riot" and it lasted a set amount of time and the experience points were earned and now they'll wander aimlessly until they're given something else to do (like come down with meningitis, I guess).
Yes: the Weekly Crisis this week is a meningitis outbreak, which has the good folks of Chester's Mill all coming down right at the same time. Well, they seem to come down in reasonably spaced intervals so they can be taken to the hospital in an orderly fashion. Alice (who we didn't see at all last week) volunteers her medical training (she's currently a psychiatrist), since she happens to be at the hospital to get Joe and Norrie, the seizure twins, checked out. The complication with the fire -- I mean the outbreak -- is that the hospital has no fire department -- I mean antibiotics. This leads to the forced sentimentality of Linda being given the hospital's last dose of meningitis medicine over her third-grade teacher, introduced to the show for the first time just so she can die because Barbie and Big Jim discover someone has stolen all the drugs from the pharmacy. The good reverend is going full religious freakjob now, and stole the drugs not to take them himself but to burn them because getting sick and dying is all part of God's plan, and he also gives Big Jim his share of the proceeds from their nefarious doings, since he's washing his hands of the whole thing.
Big Jim gives Junior the task of keeping everyone quarantined at the hospital. The best method the Rennies have is not "let's tell everyone how important it is that they keep the contagion within the hospital" but "give Junior the psychopath a loaded shotgun and have him stand guard at what is I guess the hospital's only entrance and exit."
But at least major plot points are advancing elsewhere. Angie's attempt to stab Junior and then presumably starve to death in the bomb shelter after killing the only person who knows where she is goes awry. But while Junior is out earning people's respect by not blowing them away with shotguns, she pulls loose a water pipe (she's pretty strong for an eighty-pound woman who's been shackled underground for three days) and almost dies of hypothermia. Fortunately, Big Jim hears her cries for help through his house's plumbing, and discovers her. I have no illusions that he's going to free her, but I'm looking forward to seeing this play out.
And in contrast to what I said in disparaging the show's subtlety last week, Barbie does already know Phil Bushey, who is the P.B. marked on his map. Julia follows the map to P.B.'s place, where she discovers that her husband sold his Beemer. Phil inconveniently comes down with meningitis before he can answer too many questions. Thankfully, so does Julia, and she manages to drag out a reference to the cabin, and then gets the location from Junior, who's all too happy to drive a wedge between Julia and Barbie. Julia manages to escape the quarantine and find the cabin, where she discovers that her husband has emptied their savings and the house will be foreclosed on. She collapses but is brought back to the hospital by Barbie, who confesses to being an enforcer collecting on Pete's gambling debts, but claims Pete must have taken off somewhere. Julia doesn't believe that Pete was a gambler. Fortunately, Barbie is a stupid enforcer and has incriminating evidence on his phone (a voicemail) that links him to the person he killed shortly after the voicemail was left.
Linda, impressed by the way Junior talked down a minor freakout by people quarantined at the hospital (and disregarding the way he first fired off the shotgun and then later left a loaded shotgun lying around a group of people who moments earlier were freaking out) and deputizes him. When the inquest happens, there's a lot of poor decision-making to ask questions about.
Daniel is a writer in Newfoundland with a wife and a daughter. He's really impressed that Norrie is aware of such pop culture obscurities as Star Wars and X-Men. Follow him on Twitter (@DanMacEachern) or email him at danieljdaniel@gmail.com. Want more? The full recap starts right below!
So Big Jim goes and gets the loaded shotgun that he apparently has lying on the backseat of his SUV and brings it to Junior, telling him to make sure no one leaves. “I’m counting on you, Junior.”
A somewhat nervous Junior heads inside, brandishing the shotgun. "The clinic is now closed. No one leaves, you understand? No one," he says, while everyone looks shocked. I mean, given that all these people came to the hospital voluntarily, did either Rennie think of maybe telling them how important it is they stay there? Also: does this hospital have just the one set of doors?
Angie wakes up in the fungeon, which now has a few inches of water on the floor and the pipe is still spilling. She climbs up on the top bunk, screaming for Junior and futilely trying to stop the water.
Over at the hospital, a pale Julia accosts Phil -- lying on a hospital bed in the hallway -- but he’s in no condition to tell her anything because he’s hallucinating: “Peter, man, I can’t make it to the cabin tonight,” he says. Julia was not aware of any cabin and presses for more information, until Alice happens along to tell Julia to get back to bed and leave Phil alone until the antibiotics kick in. But the prospect of getting more medicine is iffy, because Big Jim and Barbie discover that the pharmacy has already been looted.
At the hospital, Alice tells Carolyn that there are at least thirty people with advanced symptoms and another two-dozen with early warning signs. Carolyn’s worried both about how Alice is holding up, and how much insulin she has. At least a few days’ worth, says Alice, although she admits to having taken her last insulin without eating. Alice is then called away…
… to where you knew the Linda/Ms. Moore plotline was going, although they might have stretched it out a little bit to give us the chance to care about Ms. Moore. You see, both Linda and Ms. Moore are now in critical need of antibiotics, but there’s only one dose left. "Give Linda the medicine," croaks out Ms. Moore (Linda is pretty catatonic), adding she’ll wait for the round. Alice looks at Ms. Moore for a moment -- "there’s no way I’ll take it," adds Ms. Moore, making it clear she knows that there may not be a round in time for her -- and then tells the nurse give Linda the dose, which she does.
In the waiting room, Julia wants Shotgun Junior to let her out, but he says he can’t. She even calls him "James" and everything! She explains that Phil mentioned something about a cabin, and that gets Junior’s attention: "Like the one I found Barbie at?" he says, explaining to a shocked Julia that he found Barbie in a cabin at the end of Sparrow’s Lane. But he’s still not letting her leave. So she pilfers the access card from her husband’s office (which isn’t locked) so she can get out through another exit (which is).
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.
It's what, day three? The episode opens promisingly with the townspeople spray-painting the dome and raising a ruckus over what appears to be the army pulling out (Ollie has gone from "don't worry, the feds will save us" to "can't trust any gummint!" literally overnight) but then that just peters out and goes nowhere. It's like this place is a Sims-like game where the townspeople were given the task "riot" and it lasted a set amount of time and the experience points were earned and now they'll wander aimlessly until they're given something else to do (like come down with meningitis, I guess).
Yes: the Weekly Crisis this week is a meningitis outbreak, which has the good folks of Chester's Mill all coming down right at the same time. Well, they seem to come down in reasonably spaced intervals so they can be taken to the hospital in an orderly fashion. Alice (who we didn't see at all last week) volunteers her medical training (she's currently a psychiatrist), since she happens to be at the hospital to get Joe and Norrie, the seizure twins, checked out. The complication with the fire -- I mean the outbreak -- is that the hospital has no fire department -- I mean antibiotics. This leads to the forced sentimentality of Linda being given the hospital's last dose of meningitis medicine over her third-grade teacher, introduced to the show for the first time just so she can die because Barbie and Big Jim discover someone has stolen all the drugs from the pharmacy. The good reverend is going full religious freakjob now, and stole the drugs not to take them himself but to burn them because getting sick and dying is all part of God's plan, and he also gives Big Jim his share of the proceeds from their nefarious doings, since he's washing his hands of the whole thing.
Big Jim gives Junior the task of keeping everyone quarantined at the hospital. The best method the Rennies have is not "let's tell everyone how important it is that they keep the contagion within the hospital" but "give Junior the psychopath a loaded shotgun and have him stand guard at what is I guess the hospital's only entrance and exit."
But at least major plot points are advancing elsewhere. Angie's attempt to stab Junior and then presumably starve to death in the bomb shelter after killing the only person who knows where she is goes awry. But while Junior is out earning people's respect by not blowing them away with shotguns, she pulls loose a water pipe (she's pretty strong for an eighty-pound woman who's been shackled underground for three days) and almost dies of hypothermia. Fortunately, Big Jim hears her cries for help through his house's plumbing, and discovers her. I have no illusions that he's going to free her, but I'm looking forward to seeing this play out.
And in contrast to what I said in disparaging the show's subtlety last week, Barbie does already know Phil Bushey, who is the P.B. marked on his map. Julia follows the map to P.B.'s place, where she discovers that her husband sold his Beemer. Phil inconveniently comes down with meningitis before he can answer too many questions. Thankfully, so does Julia, and she manages to drag out a reference to the cabin, and then gets the location from Junior, who's all too happy to drive a wedge between Julia and Barbie. Julia manages to escape the quarantine and find the cabin, where she discovers that her husband has emptied their savings and the house will be foreclosed on. She collapses but is brought back to the hospital by Barbie, who confesses to being an enforcer collecting on Pete's gambling debts, but claims Pete must have taken off somewhere. Julia doesn't believe that Pete was a gambler. Fortunately, Barbie is a stupid enforcer and has incriminating evidence on his phone (a voicemail) that links him to the person he killed shortly after the voicemail was left.
Linda, impressed by the way Junior talked down a minor freakout by people quarantined at the hospital (and disregarding the way he first fired off the shotgun and then later left a loaded shotgun lying around a group of people who moments earlier were freaking out) and deputizes him. When the inquest happens, there's a lot of poor decision-making to ask questions about.
Daniel is a writer in Newfoundland with a wife and a daughter. He's really impressed that Norrie is aware of such pop culture obscurities as Star Wars and X-Men. Follow him on Twitter (@DanMacEachern) or email him at danieljdaniel@gmail.com. Want more? The full recap starts right below!
Elsewhere, Big Jim and Barbie are driving around yelling, "Drugs? Anyone see some drugs?" out the window of Big Jim’s SUV. Barbie figures whoever took them couldn’t have gotten far. “Because of the dome?” asks Big Jim, which made me do a spit-take. Also, there’s no one way someone hauled off that much drugs on foot, so they’re looking for a truck or a van. "Or a hearse?" asks Big Jim, who seems a little quick to reveal Lester’s potential shadiness.
But sure enough, over at Lester’s place, the reverend is dumping drugs into a fire, freely admitting to stealing all the drugs when he heard about people getting sick. "Those people are supposed to die. It’s God’s plan," says Lester. He doesn’t put up any fight as Big Jim starts taking the drugs back, making it kinda funny when Barbie just shoves Lester to the ground for no immediate reason.
Back at the hospital, Linda wakes up thanks to the fast-actin’ antibiotics she took, and Ms. Moore tells her she should be on the mend soon. Ms. Moore herself, however, doesn’t feel so great, but admits to being surprised that the prospect of Junior Rennie wielding a shotgun fills her with some comfort. Linda’s brow furrows at this Shotgun Junior business, but Ms. Moore adds that likewise, she would have been surprised even a few years ago to see where Linda had ended up, and now here she is sheriff. Linda -- perhaps thinking that the reason she’s sheriff right now is that her mentor/dad’s heart exploded just a couple of days ago -- says she had a lot of help, and Ms. Moore tells her not to sell herself short. Then Ms. Moore starts to flatline and Alice runs in to perform chest compressions that everyone knows aren’t going to do any good.
And while Julia is discovering the cabin, Linda is recuperating in a hospital hallway when she hears the patients in the waiting room getting antsy with Junior and deciding he can’t shoot all of them. She struggles to her feet and rolls her IV rig into the room while the patients are rushing Junior, who fires the shotgun into the ceiling, causing everyone to scream and scatter. Linda stands there staring at him, looking shocked, and Junior then calms down and reminds Ollie ("Mr. Densmore") of when his wife made cornbread for him after his mother died. His point -- and he gets to it eventually -- is that he’s there with a shotgun because he believes in the town, and his dad and all of them, and he leans the shotgun against the doorframe and leaves the waiting room. Ollie walks to the door, thinks better of it, and goes back to sit down, as does everyone.
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.
It's what, day three? The episode opens promisingly with the townspeople spray-painting the dome and raising a ruckus over what appears to be the army pulling out (Ollie has gone from "don't worry, the feds will save us" to "can't trust any gummint!" literally overnight) but then that just peters out and goes nowhere. It's like this place is a Sims-like game where the townspeople were given the task "riot" and it lasted a set amount of time and the experience points were earned and now they'll wander aimlessly until they're given something else to do (like come down with meningitis, I guess).
Yes: the Weekly Crisis this week is a meningitis outbreak, which has the good folks of Chester's Mill all coming down right at the same time. Well, they seem to come down in reasonably spaced intervals so they can be taken to the hospital in an orderly fashion. Alice (who we didn't see at all last week) volunteers her medical training (she's currently a psychiatrist), since she happens to be at the hospital to get Joe and Norrie, the seizure twins, checked out. The complication with the fire -- I mean the outbreak -- is that the hospital has no fire department -- I mean antibiotics. This leads to the forced sentimentality of Linda being given the hospital's last dose of meningitis medicine over her third-grade teacher, introduced to the show for the first time just so she can die because Barbie and Big Jim discover someone has stolen all the drugs from the pharmacy. The good reverend is going full religious freakjob now, and stole the drugs not to take them himself but to burn them because getting sick and dying is all part of God's plan, and he also gives Big Jim his share of the proceeds from their nefarious doings, since he's washing his hands of the whole thing.
Big Jim gives Junior the task of keeping everyone quarantined at the hospital. The best method the Rennies have is not "let's tell everyone how important it is that they keep the contagion within the hospital" but "give Junior the psychopath a loaded shotgun and have him stand guard at what is I guess the hospital's only entrance and exit."
But at least major plot points are advancing elsewhere. Angie's attempt to stab Junior and then presumably starve to death in the bomb shelter after killing the only person who knows where she is goes awry. But while Junior is out earning people's respect by not blowing them away with shotguns, she pulls loose a water pipe (she's pretty strong for an eighty-pound woman who's been shackled underground for three days) and almost dies of hypothermia. Fortunately, Big Jim hears her cries for help through his house's plumbing, and discovers her. I have no illusions that he's going to free her, but I'm looking forward to seeing this play out.
And in contrast to what I said in disparaging the show's subtlety last week, Barbie does already know Phil Bushey, who is the P.B. marked on his map. Julia follows the map to P.B.'s place, where she discovers that her husband sold his Beemer. Phil inconveniently comes down with meningitis before he can answer too many questions. Thankfully, so does Julia, and she manages to drag out a reference to the cabin, and then gets the location from Junior, who's all too happy to drive a wedge between Julia and Barbie. Julia manages to escape the quarantine and find the cabin, where she discovers that her husband has emptied their savings and the house will be foreclosed on. She collapses but is brought back to the hospital by Barbie, who confesses to being an enforcer collecting on Pete's gambling debts, but claims Pete must have taken off somewhere. Julia doesn't believe that Pete was a gambler. Fortunately, Barbie is a stupid enforcer and has incriminating evidence on his phone (a voicemail) that links him to the person he killed shortly after the voicemail was left.
Linda, impressed by the way Junior talked down a minor freakout by people quarantined at the hospital (and disregarding the way he first fired off the shotgun and then later left a loaded shotgun lying around a group of people who moments earlier were freaking out) and deputizes him. When the inquest happens, there's a lot of poor decision-making to ask questions about.
Daniel is a writer in Newfoundland with a wife and a daughter. He's really impressed that Norrie is aware of such pop culture obscurities as Star Wars and X-Men. Follow him on Twitter (@DanMacEachern) or email him at danieljdaniel@gmail.com. Want more? The full recap starts right below!
Julia searches through the mess at the cabin, eventually finding some documents in an envelope that make her sigh slightly. "Peter," she whispers, and then she slumps to the floor, unconscious.
At the hospital, Norrie is wasting her phone’s battery by taking a hundred selfies. Joe strolls in, having scrounged up some sandwiches for them. They get to talking about the seizures, wondering about the fact that they started seizing up when they touched. Hey, maybe the fact that we had identical seizures right after we touched is significant, they figure, and decide to touch again, this time filming it. They set up the phone camera, get on their knees on the floor and clasp hands. Nothing happens, though, at least not until Norrie says she feels stupid. Then they both fall over.
Outside, Barbie and Big Jim pull up with the antibiotics. Junior meets his dad outside and tells his dad there weren’t any problems. Not at the hospital, anyway. Angie is still screaming in vain while the water rises higher and higher.
Barbie at the hospital finds a still-groggy-but-now-conscious Phil Bushey in the hallway, and asks him where Julia is. Phil’s not overly concerned with being too cooperative, at least not until Barbie gives his wheelchair a good kick. He’s unsure about what he told Julia, since he was swimming in and out of consciousness, but we learn that Pete came to Phil about a month ago asking about finding a hitman. And he knows Pete is "gone." I can’t figure out if he knows Barbie did it, though. He’s not acting like he does. So maybe he thinks Pete just actually left, since that was Phil’s advice when asked about the hitman.
Over at the cabin, a dying Julia hallucinates her husband standing over her…
…and back at the hospital, Joe and Norrie come to on the floor. You’re telling me Alice didn’t check on them once or had Carolyn do it? Joe grabs his phone and says he’ll "rewind" the video which is not a thing anyone has ever said about a video on a phone. They watch themselves seize up, with the twist that Joe sat up, put his finger to his lips and said "Shhhh" while looking right at the phone. He wonders if maybe it means they’re not supposed to tell anyone. You mean apart from Norrie’s moms and Joe’s idiot friend who already know? "The dome doesn’t want us to," says Joe.
Junior’s unloading drugs from his dad’s SUV when Barbie comes by asking after Julia. Junior revels in telling Barbie that he told Julia about the cabin where they had their little tussle. Barbie demands the keys to Junior’s truck, and Junior tells him where he can go, but is convinced when Barbie points out that Julia left the hospital under Junior’s watch and will die out there if she doesn’t get antibiotics (not to mention potentially causing another insta-outbreak). So he hands over the keys, and Barbie runs over to the truck and then amusingly stops the truck a good enough distance from the cabin that we can have a dramatic slo-mo shot of him carrying Julia (who calls him "Peter") out of the cabin.
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.
It's what, day three? The episode opens promisingly with the townspeople spray-painting the dome and raising a ruckus over what appears to be the army pulling out (Ollie has gone from "don't worry, the feds will save us" to "can't trust any gummint!" literally overnight) but then that just peters out and goes nowhere. It's like this place is a Sims-like game where the townspeople were given the task "riot" and it lasted a set amount of time and the experience points were earned and now they'll wander aimlessly until they're given something else to do (like come down with meningitis, I guess).
Yes: the Weekly Crisis this week is a meningitis outbreak, which has the good folks of Chester's Mill all coming down right at the same time. Well, they seem to come down in reasonably spaced intervals so they can be taken to the hospital in an orderly fashion. Alice (who we didn't see at all last week) volunteers her medical training (she's currently a psychiatrist), since she happens to be at the hospital to get Joe and Norrie, the seizure twins, checked out. The complication with the fire -- I mean the outbreak -- is that the hospital has no fire department -- I mean antibiotics. This leads to the forced sentimentality of Linda being given the hospital's last dose of meningitis medicine over her third-grade teacher, introduced to the show for the first time just so she can die because Barbie and Big Jim discover someone has stolen all the drugs from the pharmacy. The good reverend is going full religious freakjob now, and stole the drugs not to take them himself but to burn them because getting sick and dying is all part of God's plan, and he also gives Big Jim his share of the proceeds from their nefarious doings, since he's washing his hands of the whole thing.
Big Jim gives Junior the task of keeping everyone quarantined at the hospital. The best method the Rennies have is not "let's tell everyone how important it is that they keep the contagion within the hospital" but "give Junior the psychopath a loaded shotgun and have him stand guard at what is I guess the hospital's only entrance and exit."
But at least major plot points are advancing elsewhere. Angie's attempt to stab Junior and then presumably starve to death in the bomb shelter after killing the only person who knows where she is goes awry. But while Junior is out earning people's respect by not blowing them away with shotguns, she pulls loose a water pipe (she's pretty strong for an eighty-pound woman who's been shackled underground for three days) and almost dies of hypothermia. Fortunately, Big Jim hears her cries for help through his house's plumbing, and discovers her. I have no illusions that he's going to free her, but I'm looking forward to seeing this play out.
And in contrast to what I said in disparaging the show's subtlety last week, Barbie does already know Phil Bushey, who is the P.B. marked on his map. Julia follows the map to P.B.'s place, where she discovers that her husband sold his Beemer. Phil inconveniently comes down with meningitis before he can answer too many questions. Thankfully, so does Julia, and she manages to drag out a reference to the cabin, and then gets the location from Junior, who's all too happy to drive a wedge between Julia and Barbie. Julia manages to escape the quarantine and find the cabin, where she discovers that her husband has emptied their savings and the house will be foreclosed on. She collapses but is brought back to the hospital by Barbie, who confesses to being an enforcer collecting on Pete's gambling debts, but claims Pete must have taken off somewhere. Julia doesn't believe that Pete was a gambler. Fortunately, Barbie is a stupid enforcer and has incriminating evidence on his phone (a voicemail) that links him to the person he killed shortly after the voicemail was left.
Linda, impressed by the way Junior talked down a minor freakout by people quarantined at the hospital (and disregarding the way he first fired off the shotgun and then later left a loaded shotgun lying around a group of people who moments earlier were freaking out) and deputizes him. When the inquest happens, there's a lot of poor decision-making to ask questions about.
Daniel is a writer in Newfoundland with a wife and a daughter. He's really impressed that Norrie is aware of such pop culture obscurities as Star Wars and X-Men. Follow him on Twitter (@DanMacEachern) or email him at danieljdaniel@gmail.com. Want more? The full recap starts right below!
At the Fungeon, the water is almost up to the bottom of the bottom bunk. Angie is shivering and trying to hold her legs out of the water.
Big Jim is gladhanding in the hospital and getting the rundown on how Junior stopped a riot from breaking out (not mentioning that it was the riot that Junior himself caused or that he then left behind a loaded shotgun in a roomful of scared jittery people). Big Jim calls him a "chip off the old block" and asks his son if he’s ever considered a career in law enforcement. Junior says, "I’m not going to answer, just slowly walk down the hall smiling."
Elsewhere in the hospital, Julia wakes up and asks Barbie -- sitting by the bed -- if it was him who saved her life. He confirms it with his silence. "I learned about Peter in that cabin," she says. Barbie waits to see just what she means, and it’s that Peter emptied their bank accounts and the house is in foreclosure. "So what were you all into? Drugs?" she asks. That makes Barbie laugh a little, which isn’t the best idea. He says that when he got out of the military, he had a bunch of jobs, including line cook (which was his job in the novel if I remember right) and construction, until he hooked up with a bookie in Westlake (everything not in Chester’s Mill is over in Westlake). "Taking bets?" says Julia. "Making sure people paid what they owed," says Barbie. Julia gets it: Barbie’s an enforcer. He says guys like Phil usually pay what they owe. "Peter never gambled," says Julia, so Barbie plays a voicemail on his phone of Peter saying he’s got the money, but his wife is at home so Barbie should meet him at the other spot. Might I ask why Barbie would have kept a voicemail linking him to someone he killed not long after that voicemail was left?
Julia asks where Pete is now and Barbie takes a long time to answer before saying he doesn’t know, and thinks Pete might have skipped town, since that sometimes happens when guys get in too deep. He tells Julia that he’s sorry, but she’s not impressed with her houseguest. Make that her former houseguest. She wants him gone by the time she gets home.
Meanwhile the seizure twins are asking if the outbreak is over, and since it’s pretty much the end of episode, yes, the weekly crisis is over. Carolyn has returned with food for Alice, and Joe and Norrie are keeping their most recent seizure to themselves. When Norrie whines about having to return to their room in the diner, Joe offers them his place and after very little deliberation, they accept. But before they go…
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.
It's what, day three? The episode opens promisingly with the townspeople spray-painting the dome and raising a ruckus over what appears to be the army pulling out (Ollie has gone from "don't worry, the feds will save us" to "can't trust any gummint!" literally overnight) but then that just peters out and goes nowhere. It's like this place is a Sims-like game where the townspeople were given the task "riot" and it lasted a set amount of time and the experience points were earned and now they'll wander aimlessly until they're given something else to do (like come down with meningitis, I guess).
Yes: the Weekly Crisis this week is a meningitis outbreak, which has the good folks of Chester's Mill all coming down right at the same time. Well, they seem to come down in reasonably spaced intervals so they can be taken to the hospital in an orderly fashion. Alice (who we didn't see at all last week) volunteers her medical training (she's currently a psychiatrist), since she happens to be at the hospital to get Joe and Norrie, the seizure twins, checked out. The complication with the fire -- I mean the outbreak -- is that the hospital has no fire department -- I mean antibiotics. This leads to the forced sentimentality of Linda being given the hospital's last dose of meningitis medicine over her third-grade teacher, introduced to the show for the first time just so she can die because Barbie and Big Jim discover someone has stolen all the drugs from the pharmacy. The good reverend is going full religious freakjob now, and stole the drugs not to take them himself but to burn them because getting sick and dying is all part of God's plan, and he also gives Big Jim his share of the proceeds from their nefarious doings, since he's washing his hands of the whole thing.
Big Jim gives Junior the task of keeping everyone quarantined at the hospital. The best method the Rennies have is not "let's tell everyone how important it is that they keep the contagion within the hospital" but "give Junior the psychopath a loaded shotgun and have him stand guard at what is I guess the hospital's only entrance and exit."
But at least major plot points are advancing elsewhere. Angie's attempt to stab Junior and then presumably starve to death in the bomb shelter after killing the only person who knows where she is goes awry. But while Junior is out earning people's respect by not blowing them away with shotguns, she pulls loose a water pipe (she's pretty strong for an eighty-pound woman who's been shackled underground for three days) and almost dies of hypothermia. Fortunately, Big Jim hears her cries for help through his house's plumbing, and discovers her. I have no illusions that he's going to free her, but I'm looking forward to seeing this play out.
And in contrast to what I said in disparaging the show's subtlety last week, Barbie does already know Phil Bushey, who is the P.B. marked on his map. Julia follows the map to P.B.'s place, where she discovers that her husband sold his Beemer. Phil inconveniently comes down with meningitis before he can answer too many questions. Thankfully, so does Julia, and she manages to drag out a reference to the cabin, and then gets the location from Junior, who's all too happy to drive a wedge between Julia and Barbie. Julia manages to escape the quarantine and find the cabin, where she discovers that her husband has emptied their savings and the house will be foreclosed on. She collapses but is brought back to the hospital by Barbie, who confesses to being an enforcer collecting on Pete's gambling debts, but claims Pete must have taken off somewhere. Julia doesn't believe that Pete was a gambler. Fortunately, Barbie is a stupid enforcer and has incriminating evidence on his phone (a voicemail) that links him to the person he killed shortly after the voicemail was left.
Linda, impressed by the way Junior talked down a minor freakout by people quarantined at the hospital (and disregarding the way he first fired off the shotgun and then later left a loaded shotgun lying around a group of people who moments earlier were freaking out) and deputizes him. When the inquest happens, there's a lot of poor decision-making to ask questions about.
Daniel is a writer in Newfoundland with a wife and a daughter. He's really impressed that Norrie is aware of such pop culture obscurities as Star Wars and X-Men. Follow him on Twitter (@DanMacEachern) or email him at danieljdaniel@gmail.com. Want more? The full recap starts right below!
…and after a quick cut showing Barbie getting his stuff and leaving Julia’s house…
…Alice catches Carolyn stealing some insulin, because she’s worried they might not have enough. "What if the dome lasts forever?" she says. Well, an extra few days of insulin won’t matter then, really. She puts it back.
Junior has taken Linda -- her hair done for the first time this series -- back to the station, where Linda feels bad about Ms. Moore giving up her medicine for her. "She knew how important you are to this town. To all of us," says Junior. Linda returns the favor by telling him he saved a lot of lives today. "Duke always said the greatest weapon we have as police is a good heart," says Linda. Not a good judgment of character so much, as Linda offers Junior a shiny deputy’s badge.
Over at the Rennie household, Lester is waiting for Big Jim on the porch swing. He’s got a bag of money that he says represents his share of the profts. "Keep all the propane. I’m going to wash my hands of our dirty little business," he says. Big Jim says it’s a little late for that. Lester says it’s never too late to repent, and that Big Jim has damned the town for defying god’s will.
In a surprise move, Big Jim, pours himself a belt of scotch in the kitchen -- which is where he hears Angie’s screams coming up through the pipework and out of the sink. He makes his way outside, and into the bomb shelter. He’s surprised to see a foot of water on the floor -- and even more surprised to see a shivering, terrified Angie in the bunkroom. Angie does not look overly relieved to see Big Jim -- probably because she knows this doesn't necessarily mean she's rescued now.
Daniel is a writer in Newfoundland with a wife and a daughter. Maybe if they get the power back on at Joe’s house, they can put the X-Men movies “on a loop.” Follow him on Twitter (@DanMacEachern) or email him at danieljdaniel@gmail.com.
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