“Reconciliation” was a shitty episode of television. Under the Dome is uneven at best, and “Infestation” and “Force Majeure” were surprisingly good episodes, but “Reconciliation” was a good showcase for everything wrong with the show: wooden performances, uninteresting plot twists, and zero sense of character consistency. And it was slow. I think it would take less time to read Under the Dome than to watch, and Under the Dome is 1,200 pages long. Don’t get me wrong, I’m gonna review this crap, because I’m an American and I follow through, but I’m gonna spend most of the time thinking about better adaptations of Stephen King books. I recommend you do the same.
I don’t know where to begin. I guess with Phil Bushey’s subplot, which I can summarize in one word: FAAAARRRT. “Reconciliation” tries to turn him into a villain, and not only does it not work, but you can actually see Nicholas Strong forgetting how to act. With Big Jim behind bars, Julia is running the show, and when Jim and Rebecca are marched out in front the town gazebo – why this doesn’t happen in City Hall or the courthouse, I have no clue – someone we’ve never seen before rushes at Big Jim and Phil shoots him. Remember what Phil did before he was a cop? He ran the radio station and presumably had never killed anyone. He has ZERO reaction to taking a life, and needless to say I don’t buy his overnight transition to bad guy. Moreover, I don’t care about it.
Everyone in “Reconciliation” is fighting to have the most boring subplot, and it’s an everyone-way tie. Joe, Norrie, and Melanie are still trying to piece together Melanie’s past, and the writers have no idea what to do with this. Norrie in particular gets short shrift, as she juts makes bitchfaces the entire episode, which is at least justified when she catches Joe and Melanie kissing. I have to repeat what I said last week: imagine that with the genders swapped. Some 17-year-old dude, probably with a little bit of facial hair, bumping uglies with a middle-schooler. Jesus Christ. At the end of the episode, Joe pulls Norrie aside to tell her that he loves her, and to her credit she tells him to fuck himself. Also, why are the three of them still hanging out? Are they swingers? Are they trying polyamory? If I had a girlfriend and she caught me making out with another girl, I can guarantee we wouldn’t go to a fucking diner afterwards to get the Chester’s Mill equivalent of Moons Over My Hammy.
Junior and Sam…ugh, I’m losing interest as I type this. My hands are falling asleep because my body physically doesn’t want to write about this shitpile anymore. Sam definitely killed Angie, because of some prophecy of Pauline’s that said “Four hands hold up the dome; if they fall it does too” or some shit like that. Guys, I REALLY don’t like the Pauline stuff. Anyway, Junior leaves to check on “the other hands,” which is actually how he refers to Joe and Norrie, which is hilarious. Sam gets this glint in his eye that’s supposed to be menacing, but Under the Dome isn’t the kind of show that would kill a kid, so all this falls flat.
Sam gets Junior drunk so he can suffocate him while he sleeps. “Hey kid, you need to unwind. You know what always helps me? Warm vodka in the middle of the day.” Sam decides not to kill Junior after Junior says “I love you, Uncle Sam,” which is what I say every night before going to bed, but that’s because I’m American as fuck. Remember just a few episodes ago, when Junior hated Sam? Because Under the Dome sure doesn’t.
It’s almost as though “Infestation” and “Force Majeure” were a bait-and-switch, like CBS wanted us to think this show was getting good before it dumped shit like this in our laps. I can’t even make any more jokes. At least tonight I get to review – oh shit, Tyrant? Goddamnit.
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