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Big Jim throws Junior out of the house because of his propensity for kidnapping Angies and killing Dundees. But Big Jim needs all the allies he can get when he decides to expropriate Ollie Densmore's land and do it well so that people can use the only water source available to grow food. Linda and Barbie are in favor of negotiation (although in Big Jim's defense, Ollie seems past that himself — Big Jim blowing up his propane last week may have something to do with that), and Barbie suggests some sort of water-redirection plan that Big Jim rejects.
During a standoff at the well that sees Carter (poor, thankless Carter) take a bullet in the kneecap, Junior offers his services to Ollie, who reveals to him that his mother's death was not accidental as Big Jim told him. Later, after a full-on assault (which leaves five people dead), Big Jim — kneeling at the business end of Junior's rifle — confirms that Junior's mom apparently intentionally slammed her car into an oak tree after they had a big fight. It was a fact Big Jim conspired with Duke to cover up so that Junior would never know she committed suicide — or "chose to leave" them, as Big Jim puts it.
Ollie is disgusted by Junior's hesitation in killing his own (kneeling, crying) dad and is about to shoot Big Jim himself when Junior kills Ollie instead. Blood is thicker than water, after all. Nice spoiler title!
Junior later tells Linda his defection was a Trojan horse kind of thing, but I'm not convinced that it wasn't genuine in the moment, or that Junior knows anything about the Trojan War. The outcome of the water battle is to pit Barbie even more against Big Jim, who Barbie thinks is dangerous. Big Jim warns Barbie that he doesn't want him as an enemy, and Barbie warns him to tread lightly.
If anyone cares, Joe and Norrie have a little spat. Well, it's mainly a grieving Norrie taking out her grief on Joe (so… still no sex up against the dome?), blaming him for being the one who led them to the black forest egg and therefore killing Alice somehow. Again, if anyone cares, they make up by the end, and along the way Joe clumsily blurts out the secret of the egg to Julia. She visits the egg (which is aglow with moving pink lines) herself and hears the phrase "the monarch will be crowned," which we are led to believe is connected to Angie and her shoulder tattoo of a monarch butterfly.
Daniel is a writer in Newfoundland with a wife and a daughter. Hey, Big Jim! Easy on the whiskey! That's gotta last you at least into another season!
Follow him on Twitter (@DanMacEachern) or email him at danieljdaniel@gmail.com.
Want more? The full recap starts right below! Big Jim wakes up in his bed to the sound of someone entering his home. He grabs a gun from the bedside table and cautiously makes his way downstairs, where he finds Junior coming in. "What the hell are you doing here?" he growls at Junior, keeping the gun pointed at his son the entire time. Junior asks him to put the gun down, and Big Jim says, "What are you doing in my house?" so you know Junior’s response "It’s my house too" isn’t going to met with affability or agreement."Not anymore," says Big Jim. Junior points out that Big Jim only told him to stay away from Angie, who isn’t there. But Big Jim’s not super-impressed that Junior killed Clint Dundee, even if he has "no sympathy" for the Dundee brothers, and says Junior doesn’t get to be judge and executioner since he’s not in his right mind. (Not even if he was, though, right?) Big Jim says Junior sounds just like his mother did "at the end," which hurts Junior, who asks his dad not to say that. "I’ll tell you this, though. You’re no son of mine. Not anymore," says Big Jim, and orders him to get out. Sad Junior walks past, then turns back, and angrily tells his dad not to talk that way about his mom again, ever.
Daylight, and a distractingly huge monarch butterfly (it’ll be important later) flaps around over the bucolic scene of Barbie digging a goddamn grave right in the back lawn (or it could be the front, but that would be dumb, right?) of Julia’s house. She comes out to praise the job he’s doing, with the nice military corners. He tells her she’s thinking of a bed (yeah she is!) and she points out it’s the same shape.
She’s brought him some water, and he takes a break, asking when Norrie and Carolyn want to bury Alice, like what’s your hurry, Barbie. Julia says she can’t imagine losing a spouse, since she doesn’t yet know that Barbie killed hers. And then Barbie has to put up with Julia’s eye roll-inducing trite pseudo-philosophizing about the "circle of life" wherein Harriet has a baby and Alice dies in the same house, on the same day. Oh, put it on a Lululemon bag, Julia.
Inside, Angie surveys the mostly empty fridge, and then gives Joe the gears about how he was too busy with his new girlfriend to go grocery shopping, and Joe corrects Norrie’s status as "girl space friend," and points out that the stores have all been looted. So she gives him the gears for not doing that.” He points out that’s stealing, and is aghast at the idea, as well as Angie’s blasé admission that she stole lipstick from the pharmacy, and Duke made her do community service, which is why she started candy striping AS IF her brother doesn’t know all this already.
So he asks her where she was all weekend, adding that the only one who said he saw her was Junior. Angie flinches a little and then says of course she disappeared. "I’m the screw-up, right?" Poor Joe says he never thought she was a screw-up. Looking a little embarrassed, Angie suggests they go to the diner, but not before Norrie comes skulking down the stairs. Joe asks her how she’s feeling. "Well, my mom just died twelve hours ago, so how do you think?" she snaps. Joe apologizes, and then asks if she wants to come to the diner, but she’d rather not, and when he presses the issue she snaps at him again about how she doesn’t need him to take care of her.
And the diner has magically not been looted, and now Angie is pouring Julia coffee when Big Jim comes in, surprised to see she’d let herself in. "You know who let himself in last night? Your insane son!" Angie hisses at him.
Big Jim hustles her into the kitchen so they don’t have to have this fight in front of the journalist, and Angie tells him Junior was talking about how Clinton and Waylon Dundee will never hurt her again: "Like a wildcat bringing a dead mouse! A sick offering! It freaked me out!" she says. Not to mention the fact that Big Jim promised he’d protect her. "It won’t happen again. I give you my word," he says, and asks what he can do to make it up to her.
She says the diner needs food. It would be good to open it up again, and that Rose would have wanted that. Big Jim says he’ll talk to Ollie Densmore and come to an arrangement. "You know, the day’s coming when the only way any of us are going to get food is by taking it out of the ground," he says, and Angie reacts like she’s never heard of farming before. She asks if he thinks the dome is going to be here forever, and he doesn’t answer, but shares an awkward hello with Julia as he leaves.
Julia wanders over to where Joe is sketching the domed egg thing, and when she asks what it is, he says it’s nothing, and crumples it up and throws it on the floor. You may be living under a dome, Joe, but you weren’t born in a barn. I mean, probably.
Speaking of the domed egg, out in the forest, wind blows off the crafty leaf camouflage, and the egg starts glowing with pink lines running up the surface. Like pink stars, you might even say, falling upwards.
Big Jim rolls up at Ollie’s place, where a guard calls Ollie out. "I don’t expect you came out here to apologize for casting aspersions on my good name," says Ollie. Jim says they’ll be having a food shortage soon, but the two of them can work together to prevent it. Ollie’s all, I have the water, and what do you have again? Big Jim’s propane currency is meaningless, all of a sudden: "My ancestors made do without irrigation systems or DVD players. I expect we can get by without them now," he says.
Big Jim can’t believe Ollie would starve people to get back at him, but Ollie figures the townsfolk would blame Big Jim for that (I’m not sure that’s sound logic) and says when Chester’s Mill realize Big Jim’s responsible for their empty stomachs (again, they’d blame Big Jim and not Ollie why?). "They’re going to drum you out faster than a knife fight in a phone booth," he says. I’m not sure that analogy makes any sense either. But Ollie figures he’ll … take over as councilman once Big Jim is … recalled? Killed?
Anyway, over at the town hall, Linda and Barbie take a breather when they hear someone skulking around in the other room. It turns out to be Junior, helping himself to another rifle "for patrol." Linda, probably assuming that would be another dead resident, wants him to leave the gun here, and she takes it from him. "So what, you don’t trust me now?" he whines, and she’s all well, now that you mention it, NO, and says if they weren’t so short-handed she’d have fired his ass.
She says he’s on probation, and doesn’t get a gun until she says he’s earned it. And then Big Jim shows up, looking for Linda. And Barbie too, but that really seems it’s just because Barbie’s already there. He doesn’t say a word to Junior, who rolls his eyes.
Barbie and Linda follow Big Jim into his office, where he tells them about Ollie needing to satisfy his "power-hungry whims" which is of course an attitude Big Jim is an expert on. Linda suggests negotiating with him, but Big Jim has a better plan: eminent domain. Barbie’s skeptical that Ollie will react favorably to having his land seized. "That’s why I’m bringing the police," says Big Jim. Yeah, Barbie, you dumbass. Big Jim tells Linda to get Carter and Junior and meet him in front of the town hall in an hour.
Julia, Angie and Joe come back to the McAllisters with their arms full of food. Norrie is moping in the living room. Carolyn is still upstairs, "sitting to the corpse of her dead wife," as she puts it. Norrie’s blaming Joe because it was his idea to go to the centre of the dome, and Alice had her heart attack right when they touched it. "She died because we touched it. Bad things happen when we’re together," says Norrie, adding that when Carolyn’s ready, they’ll find somewhere else to stay. Joe pleads with her, and Norrie drama-queens that she’d like to be alone now. You mean, in the living room? Joe doesn’t move, until she yells at him to leave her alone.
Over at Ollie’s place, Big Jim and his posse roll up, but Densmore is nowhere to be found. Jim orders Carter — who might as well have on a red shirt — to secure the well, which I guess means "go stand by the well," and then Ollie rides up with an armed posse of his own. "You’re trespassing on private property," he tells Big Jim, who says it’s not private anymore, under the authority of the township.
Ollie says he doesn’t recognize Big Jim’s authority, or Linda’s, for that matter, or anyone standing with Big Jim. "Whatever food we produce with my water stays with us. Tell that to your precious township," says Ollie, who tells Carter to move away from the well. An uncertain Carter looks to Big Jim, and stands fast. "Wendell? Kneecap," says Ollie, and this Wendell looks through the sight on his rifle and fires into Carter’s leg. Linda draws her gun, and the rest of the posse cocks their rifles, so Barbie urges her to put the gun down. Ollie says any attempts to commandeer the land or the well will be met with "most serious consequences," and orders them off the land.
Junior strolls over to Ollie — "Junior!" yells Big Jim — and asks if he needs any help. Ollie, not looking terribly surprised, tells him to take Big Jim’s gone. Smirking, Junior does so, and sticks it in his own belt, and then Ollie repeats his request for them to leave before anyone else gets hurt. Big Jim starts to move, glaring at his son the entire time.
Joe is glumly looking at the open grave in his yard when Julia comes out to see how he’s doing. He whines about how Norrie thinks it’s his fault her mom died, and Julia says she doesn’t, and lets him in on a little secret: "Women say a lot of things they don’t mean, especially at that age," she says. Kinda disappointing that Julia goes all "bitches be trippin'" on Joe her. Like, way to sell out your own sex, JULIA.
Joe is still over the moon on Norrie, saying he’s never really met anyone like here, and they have this connection, and "it’s even more intense at the egg." A clumsier slip-up there could not be. Julia’s all "egg?" and now Joe doesn’t want to talk about it, but Julia says he can trust her, and if it has something to do with the dome, they all have a right to know. So he fills her in, and she orders him to take her to the egg right now.
Linda, Barbie and Big Jim regroup in front of town hall, having dropped Carter off to get treatment at the hospital that ran out of supplies like the day after the dome appeared. Jim’s making big plans for their return, and Barbie is needling him about how Ollie clearly had more support than Big Jim counted on. Big Jim says the other farmers are only backing Big Jim because they need the water, so they’ll be loyal to whoever controls the well. Over Linda and Barbie’s protests, Big Jim is intent on rounding up a posse — "He shot a deputy, there’s no diplomatic solution," he says — and heading back out there. He leaves to drum up some volunteers to get shot at, while Barbie pulls Linda into the town hall because he thinks he’s got a better solution.
He shows her the map of artesian wells in Big Jim’s office, but Linda points out that the other ones dried up — as did a town reservoir — by Ollie’s own well. Wait, what happened? He dried up everyone else’s well? I’m not sure this storyline makes much sense, so it’s almost fitting that Barbie’s stupid solution is to destroy Ollie’s well, and presto the other wells and the reservoir will be full again. I guess the plan is to explode all the water back into the other wells? Anyway, Linda’s on board, but for some stupid reason the only blasting caps for all the explosives they’ll need are at Ollie’s place. Barbie hopes to get Big Jim to call an audible.
Big Jim has already rustled up a diner full of people ready to mount an attack on Ollie’s place. Linda chats with Phil, who is the only notable (as in person we know) presence in the group, and the fact that we’re purposefully made aware he’s there means something is going to happen to Phil, of course. Jim tells the crowd, "Argle bargle! Foo faraw!" and gets them all riled up, and afterwards Barbie and Linda lay out Barbie’s plan, which Jim dismisses because if it goes wrong, they could contaminate the town’s only water source. He also wants to make an example of Ollie. That means Barbie’s just going to try his plan anyway, and Linda says she’ll delay Big Jim as long as she can.
Over at Ollie’s, Densmore wants to know why Junior is a free agent essentially applying to be Ollie’s No. 2, and Junior — after warning Ollie not to call him "son" as he does at first — says Big Jim kicked him out. From there, Ollie tells Junior that the car accident that killed his mom was no accident, as Big Jim told him, but a suicide. Junior doesn’t believe him, and Ollie asks what reason he’d have to lie to Junior. Well, to earn Junior’s trust and turn him against his dad. That’s an easy one, really. But Junior seems to buy it. Ollie gives him a shotgun, saying when this is over, the town will be "well rid of Big Jim Rennie." Ollie goes to give Junior some time to think about joining him, but Junior has just one request: "Promise me you won’t kill him — 'cause I wanna do it."
Joe leads Julia through the woods, and he still is sticking to his "the dome is awesome because it brought us together" philosophy, like I guess it doesn’t matter how many people have died because of it, and at any rate Barbie’s a little taken aback that Joe seems to have noticed that she and Barbie are "like, a thing" but before she can refute that, they come across the egg, which is glowing pink, to Joe’s surprise. Julia kneels in front of it and touches the mini-dome, gets jolted, and then puts both hands on it. Suddenly, Joe is saying "The monarch will be crowned," only it’s a second Joe, because Famous Original Joe is still standing to her. This is, to say the least, surprising, and Joe asks her what she saw, after she takes her hands off and Joe II is gone. "You," she says.
After a commercial break, they’re walking back through the woods, Julia quite freaked out about the whole thing. Joe’s surprised the other him said anything, because when they saw Alice, she didn’t say anything. This is another piece of information Joe apparently didn’t share: "That’s something you could have mentioned, Joe," Julia says. Joe, meanwhile, is getting freaked out because Alice died after they saw her.
Over at Ollie’s place, Barbie manages to cross open field in broad daylight without being seen by the patrols, and he gets into Ollie’s barn to MacGyver the shit out of the fertilizer and other bomb components.
Over at the McAllisters’, Angie finds Norrie moping about on her bed, and Angie apologizes to Norrie, who is all, "It’s your bed," and yet makes no move to leave. They make small talk, and Norrie explains that she was on her way to some deprogramming camp. Angie says she knows Second Horizons well and that she had "preferred guest membership" for a while there. It was Norrie’s mom’s "stupid idea" for Norrie to go there, so "it’s the bitch’s own fault she’s dead," apparently.
Angie’s not quite sure how to respond to that, so she asks if Norrie’s ever been to New York, since she’s turning over the New York snow globe over and over again. Yeah, lots, says Norrie, and Angie says she got the snow globe from someone she "used to know" who always used to bring her back snow globes and she’d vow to visit everyone of those places. But now "you’re in a snow globe," says Norrie, which I agree is rather on-the-nose dialogue, except I do think it’s the kind of stupid on-the-nose thing a person might actually say. Then Angie gets an idea, and the thing we know, she and Norrie are smashing the snow globes against the dome. Take that, New York! See you in hell, L.A.! Well, that’s actually the last one, as Norrie picks it up and starts crying, since she actually blames herself for Alice’s death. Angie does her best to comfort Norrie.
And here’s Big Jim’s posse stealing up under cover of darkness to Ollie’s farm. A scout gives Big Jim the lowdown on how many people are there, although he didn’t see Junior anywhere. Linda makes a last-ditch appeal to reason (and I’d like to point out to Linda that she doesn’t have to be there), pointing out that Junior is among the men that Big Jim is deadest on attacking. Big Jim is all, "He made his choice!"
Big Jim finally notices that Barbie is not there, and Linda’s silence is pretty much all Big Jim needs to know that Barbie’s following through on his well detonation plan.
Then a firefight breaks out between the two sides, and Barbie is attacked before he can set off his well bomb. Phil is shot, like, immediately, but he’s OK. Don’t worry, Phil fans! Barbie fights off his attacker and sets off his well bomb. "Dammit, Barbie!" says Big Jim. And then the fighting completely stops, what with the point of the siege completely obliterated. Big Jim’s men just head for the hills despite him ordering them to stand their ground. Then Big Jim gets the butt-end of Junior’s shotgun in his face, knocking him cold.
After a break, a bloodied Big Jim is hauled into Ollie’s living room, and Ollie is, to put it mildly, displeased that Jim wasn’t satisfied with blowing up the propane tank but had to dynamite the well too. Big Jim tries to say it wasn’t him. That’s true, but his goal pretty much was to kill Ollie, so it’s not like the alternative’s too appealing. Junior’s there, and soon he’s the only other one, since Ollie’s men are now deserting too, what with the well gone. "You thought we were fighting for you?" sneers one as he leaves. Big Jim’s not too beaten-down to point out the fair-weather friends. "He’s all yours, just like you wanted," Ollie tells Junior, lifting up the rifle Junior’s holding for good measure.
Elsewhere, Linda — rushing with a bloodied Phil in the back seat of her patrol car — almost runs down Joe, dazedly crossing the road. This outwardly pointless scene appears to exist solely to let us all know that Phil’s going to be OK. That’s good, I guess.
Back at Ollie’s, Junior’s not interested in listening to anything Big Jim has to say: "You told me she died in a car crash," says Junior. Pssst! Junior! That’s the true part! With Junior’s shotgun pointed at his head, Big Jim admits that it wasn’t an accident. She’d been unsteady for a while, and then she and Big Jim had a big fight and she took off in the car. "A witness said she stopped, pointed the lamps at a 200-year-old oak. She must have hit the tree going eighty miles an hour," says Big Jim. Right through the windshield. Duke helped him cover it up by bribing the witness.
Junior lowers the gun and asks why Big Jim lied. "I don’t know," says Big Jim, and up goes the shotgun again, and an angry Junior asks again. And Big Jim starts crying. "I didn’t want you to know that she chose to leave you. She chose to leave us," blubbers Big Jim. Ollie’s thoroughly disgusted by the display, with Junior softly asking if that was the truth. Big Jim apologizes, but Ollie’s had enough and — apparently terrible at reading the mood of the room — announces he’ll kill Big Jim himself, only to get shot in the gut by Junior instead. Junior gives Big Jim his gun back, and says he believes him.
And Julia and Joe are still walking back, and they finally arrive at the house, where they see Norrie staring at the open grave. Joe wonders if he should tell Norrie what happened, and Julia advises just being her friend for now. She’ll be all right, and so will he. So he goes to her, and she runs into his arms, apologizing for what she said. She said she’s ready to bury her mom now, but they waited for him, on Angie’s instructions. Sure, I’d take directions from a stranger on when it’s OK to bury my mom too. "She’s all right, your sister," says Norrie. Joe says he knows, and they walk hand in hand towards the house.
You’ll never believe this, but Big Jim is pouring himself a drink. He’s in his office, when Barbie comes in to cross his arms and furrow his brow and tell him that five people died today, who’d lived if Big Jim had listened to him. "It worked. The town’s got a reservoir again," says Barbie. Big Jim will drink to that! Barbie accuses Jim of wanting to control the well so he could control the people. "You don’t want to make an enemy of me, Barbie,” says Jim, and instead of saying "tread lightly," Barbie tells him there’s two sides to that coin.
Meanwhile, Junior is bedding down for the night in the cells when Linda comes by, and he tells her about killing Ollie, and she takes it kind of in stride and points out that she thought he was on Ollie’s side. "It was kind of a Trojan horse thing," says Junior. Linda asks why he doesn’t go home, and Junior says it’s because he doesn’t have one. Well, Ollie’s not using his place any time soon, so?
Barbie heavily sits down on Julia’s bed and they compare their days in broad, vague strokes. She asks what he thinks of when she says "the monarch will be crowned," and he asks what she’s talking about, and let’s presume she fills him in beyond just saying, "I wish I knew," which is all we see. Apart from the monarch butterfly tattoo we see on Angie’s shoulder, that is.
Daniel is a writer in Newfoundland with a wife and a daughter. His thoughts and prayers are with the Phil Bushey family. Follow him on Twitter (@DanMacEachern) or email him at danieljdaniel@gmail.com.