Updates at bottom.The third and final season of this pathetic excuse for a show didn't come soon enough. This was the quintessential "put it out of its misery already" kind of scenario.
Based on a novel by my beloved author Stephen King, Under the Dome started out as a guilty summer pleasure: a decidedly unlikely and unthinkable event cuts a small town off civilization and we witness the people's reactions to it.
While the show was really supposed to have lasted only one season, the producers decided to ride its unexpected success a while longer.
The problem is that Mr. King did not provide them with fresh material from which to fish for ideas. So the writers were left with the ignominious task of coming up with more and more stories to fill the airwaves and give the cast something to say and do.
Unfortunately, with the action limited by the very nature of the central premise, meaning no way in and no way out, there are only so many food shortages, weather related events, chaotic uprisings, and mysterious murders you can come up with before you have to either start repeating yourself, or start bending the rules to allow for more wiggle room.
The writers had to resort to both techniques of course, because they were asked to spool tales not for one extra season, but two or more. I'm sure a shrinking audience and worsening reviews put a merciful end to it all.
There's more intrigue and betrayals, but there's a major realignment with the introduction of alien forms that take over humans à la body-snatchers, secret passages in and out of the dome, stratagems meant to up the ante that are undermined when a course correction is suddenly required, mind control, a private company hired in secret by the government to decode and harvest the immense power of the egg, weird and unlikely alliances, attempted assassinations, escapes, and more and more and more.
If that's not enough to turn you off, or make you switch channel, then at least you'll be able to enjoy the sight of Mike Vogel, Alexander Koch, Eddie Cahill, and Max Ehrich, but I would recommend setting your speakers to mute.
Update: I just realized there was one thing that really bothered me for virtually the entirety of this show, and I forgot to mention it: Julia's hair.
Rachelle Lefevre is a very beautiful woman with a gorgeous mane of red hair. Unfortunately, the showrunners never seemed to bother trying to make her look realistic in the situation at hand.
While other people (mainly men) looked quite disheveled at times, Julia's hair always looked like she had just walked out of a hairdresser, no matter how much she was running around, either in pursuit or chased by enemies, whether through a thicket of woods or on dusty city streets.
So ridiculous.
They even showed her getting out of bed already perfectly coiffed!!
I wonder if it was in her contract that she had to look great all the times or if the director (or whoever else) had a thing for her and just wanted her to look her best; always.
Either way, it didn't do her any favors; it only made her come across as less professional in her desire to fully commit to the role.
Grade - Season 3: 2
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