Saturday, July 25, 2015

Under the Dome, Season 3, Episode 6: Caged



Ominous bad guy shows Big Jim a video of Christine when she first touched the egg, of her and Eva being absorbed by butterflies which, in turn, set off the Dome and the mini-Dome. And Christine is an alien. Big Jim isn’t that fussed with this revelation; but evil guy still doesn’t know exactly what she is or what she wants so is going to torture her by inflict Big Jim’s presence on her

Such things should be banned by international treaty.

Big Jim agrees when threatened with medical experimentation. He’s put in an adjacent cell to her and Christine stops pretending to be human, merrily imitating various human emotions and being quite disturbing. His dog doesn’t like her either. Christine insists that the people will come for her trying to mock him with James’s loyalty – of course Jim isn’t impressed with her “preying on the weak.”

After she tries to make him feel bad and lonely they argue with her thinking humans and her beings can co-exist, all happy and peaceful (look at the peace she’s brought the town) while he thinks she’s destroying humanity and turning them into pod-people. We have a clumsy debate about individuality verses nice peaceful clones.

It doesn’t go too well so Jim has to convince the evil-doc his plan is working and he is convincing Christine they’re on the same side.


In town Barbie wants Eva to explain everything (while a reflection shows Eva made up of static). She tells him about working for Acteon and finding the egg which only causes him minor ructions, which I put own to woo-woo. She also wants him to give Christine another chance. Barbie agrees to speak to her – but wants everyone to know the truth as well.

While Julia finds the whole town standing around and acting like uber terrifying pod people. They’re stood still because they’ve finished the beds for the camp but can’t move into them without their glorious leader’s permission. Yes it’s very very creepy. Very creepy indeed. She searches Christine’s office and finds a sketch of several crystals – and her incriminating voice recorder.

She hides when Eva and Barbie arrives looking for Christine and finding James instead. When Barbie leaves Eva and James talk about their plans to assimilate the whole town. And their plans to “put Hunter down” if he is actually paralysed after his fall. All is overheard by Christine.

Norrie and Joe are locked up and afraid when Carolyn arrives – yes, she still lives! She’s also become a full kinship pod person. They take them both away and James tries to get Joe to work alone while everyone watches as some kind of punishment. Julia tries to intervene and James knocks her out.

She wakes up with James brandishing a gun and lots of town people refusing to let her leave until Christine comes back.


Sam leaves the side of his dead girlfriend to return to the Kinship and find it very creepy indeed. Being smarter than Julia (not hard) and pretends to go along to where Norrie and Joe are being taken to Hunter’s side where they plan to scan to see if the damage is permanent.  They leave and Sam learns that Christine is taking everyone’s meds – and that Hunter is permanently paralysed. He leaves her alone with Eva who then tells him how keeping him alive would be terribad for the kinship. Being a good little drone, he agrees to commit suicide.

Joe and Norrie manage a moment alone to discuss that only Julia has resisted Kinshipness and they need her (oh how terrible it must feel to have to rely on Julia!). Julia is all tied up and gets to see Barbie kiss Eva through a window as Barbie reports that evil Christine has been taken by Acteon. Eva goes to Christine to tell her how she must join them and die (or be a happy threesome if she joins the kinship)

Norrie and Joe rescue Julia who tells them to rescue Hunter before Eva kills him when she runs to stop Barbie and James doing something stupid on Bird island with Acteon.

On the island, Jim’s plan seems to work, Christine seems genuinely afraid and wants his help. She tells him about her basic collective philosophy and how she can bring the Dome down which is, apparently, all Acteon needs to know. But that’s when Barbie arrives and starts causing havoc. During which Jim kills evil Doctor. He leaves – and then Barbie and James arrive for Christine

Christine tells Barbie a partial truth about evil Acteon while she looks all tearful and regretful – which is when Julia arrives with a gun and a very different narrative. She tries to tell him about the pod-peopleness. Barbie doesn’t listen especially when it all turns into a “who loves Barbie more” conversation. He is sure Christine is all good and leaves with her.

Norrie catches Eva mid injection and tackles her while Hunter yells about not wanting to be a burden, Norrie slams Eva against a wall and they carry Hunter off.

Back in town Eva and Christine are happy about getting Barbie onside with Christine pointing out how easy Barbie is to manipulate – all she had to do is become a victim for him to save. And she wants Eva to sleep with him asap.

Eva sets out for that very task but after the events of the day Barbie isn’t exactly in a horny mood.

This leaves Julia to team up with Big Jim. Team The Worst is reunited again.

But it’s not all going all Christine’s way – her office has had all its incriminating things ransacked. And Sam arrives and says he realises that Christine killed Abby, pretending to believe it was for the best. Christine admits it, is all huggy over the murder and Sam stabs her. Alas he doesn’t repeat it to make it stick.

James finds her terrible injured and takes her to the caves by a crystal that performs some purple woo-woo to pod her up – but drains more crystals as it does.








I would like to thank the Dome. Because I find myself unable to support any side at all, the fact all these people are now separated from the general population seems like a good thing

Ok Barbie… why? I get that they want everyone in the kinship and Barbie seems to be an asset, but isn’t Christine spending an awful lot of time and energy going all softly softly around him (especially compared to Joe and Norrie).

Surprisingly, I do actually like the way Christine got at Barbie (and I can’t blame him for not listening to Julia, she’s hardly the source of sense and goodness is she?). It’s a nice little poke at the whole alpha male hero thing. Barbie's need to protect has led him right into her trap

I am much less thrilled with Eva - completely in Christine's thrall and not even as a useful minion like James. Eva literally has one task and one task only - seducing Barbie

I want to see where Hunter, Norrie and Joe go. The whole idea that he needs to die because he’s disabled is, of course, extremely ableist but, depending on how it goes, it could be challenged. Norrie and Joe, who see more to a person than how much physical labour they can provide, know that Hunter isn’t a burden and how wrong the kinship and their limited view of worth and value is. Now I want to see how this goes – whether Hunter becomes someone who is involved and part of the plot or just a plot device they have to carry around and protect.