Under the Dome Review: "Speak of the Devil" - The Beginning of the End

Junior takes off again in "Under the Dome"

Goodbye, Max.  We barely knew you.  You didn’t really do anything other than finally set Big Jim and Barbie against each other—which they kind of already were before you got here—but, whatever.  I’m sorry you had to learn of your mother’s death but you’re dead now, and I hope you find a better show to be on.  Oh, crap. 

Ultimately, “Speak of the Devil” disappoints because its sole purpose is to finally set up the big conflict that we’ve seen coming for several weeks now, ever since Barbie blew up Otto’s well to keep dozens of people from dying in a firefight.  Here, again, it’s Barbie who wants to keep Max alive and Big Jim who wants to put her down, which admittedly seems like the right call given that all Max has done in the last two weeks is threaten to expose the two of them, organize a violent black market, and shoot Julia.  She’s a dangerous animal better put down than kept locked in a cage.  But for whatever reason Barbie can’t see that and his unwillingness to go along with Jim finally sets the big man off and he puts in motion the play that he hopes will bring down Barbie.  All of this is fine and good but we’ve been waiting for the showdown between Jim and Barbie for several weeks now and, once again, this all just seems to be coming in too late.  Also, the key piece of evidence that Jim is able to use against Barbie is Max’s shooting of Julia, which makes no sense.  First off, why did Max do it?  The only possible outcome of that decision is to piss off Barbie which, congratulations, she did.  But why does she want him to upset him?  We don’t really get any answer before she kicks the bucket, nut Jim somehow convinces Sheriff Linda that Barbie shot Julia.  Seriously, Linda?  That’s just some shoddy detective work there.  Why would Barbie call the sheriff to report the shooting he just committed?  Either way, Barbie’s on the run, Jim’s got a bounty on his head (figuratively speaking) and the final two episodes are set to pit the two against each other.

Over in mystery land (which really does seem like an entirely different show at this point) the kids reveal themselves to be the other major players in the final standoff as they all touch the big dome together and are treated to a vision of Big Jim with multiple stab wounds and them all holding bloody knives.  It’s nice to see the two storylines at least sort of starting to converge, and I imagine that we’re going to get a father-son showdown before this is all over but, man, are they really stringing this whole thing along.  I also don’t understand Junior at this point.  At first he takes off because he doesn’t want to bring the dome down if it means Angie will leave.  Then he comes back because Angie convinces him that the storm that appeared out of nowhere and disappears just as quickly means he’s special?  Ugh. 

So here we are with two episodes left in this season.  Barbie’s on the run with, presumably, the entire town on his tail.  Joe, Angie, and Norrie think that taking out Big Jim is the key to lifting the dome.  And Junior is torn between the two.  It’s not a terrible setup for the season closers, so let’s hope Under the Dome can pull out of its recent skid.

A couple of spare thoughts –

Correct me if I’m wrong, but the US government did just drop the Mother of All Bombs on the dome like three days ago, right?  And it obliterated everything around the dome, right?  Then why are the street and house right outside Julia’s house still completely unscathed?  Anybody?

So thoughts?  Comments?  Just want to tell me my blog sucks?  Let me know in the comments or on Twitter @TyTalksTV