In Which I Review Under the Dome (1x6)

Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink. 

 Invariably, at some point in time, a show in which survival and being cut off from the outside or rest of the world informs the core tenants of the show, that show must tackle scarcity of resources. The first arc of Under the Dome has ended and the so-called "Fear" arc now begins, and it begins by playing on a very basic fear: running out of something we all take for granted. Food, propane, supplies, and water are all running low in Chester's Mill and finally some real honest to God panic starts to set in. It was about time. Even during the meningitis fear a few episodes back (I still question the validity of that plot line) no one was panicy. There were no fist fights or neighbor's turning against neighbors. This week, the mob broke out and people realized that if a bomb sent by the United States government couldn't destroy the Dome, very little could.

Scarcity comes into play almost straight away as Alice informs her family that her insulin has run out (indeed, there is no more in the clinic either). A near miss hit by a truck (was I the only one who wanted that truck to hit her?) causes the main water tower of Chester's Mill to loose its holy supply of water. That's bad news part one tonight, folks. Part two? The water drawn into the tower from the nearby lake has been poisoned somehow with methane and the water is thus undrinkable. It literally can be set on fire. It has also killed a bunch of fish, but apparently we are not that concerned with that. When news of the polluted water breaks, the town beings to pillage and plunder; trash cans get thrown into stores, people stuff bottles of water into bookbags and and claw their neighbor's face to get that last precious item. Try as they might, Linda and Barbie are completely ineffective against a town gone mad.

Big Jim tires to come up with a solution. Some old codger (Ollie? Alie? Aolie? Man with funky teeth?) has a very nice well located on his property but unfortunately he is a royal pain and refuses to help out Big Jim and the town unless he gets something in return: he wants Jim's supply of propane. All of it. Weekly deliveries or else he no water for the town. The look on Jim's face was of a man who was watching control--all important power and control--slip away. The next few episodes, I expect to see Jim either become draconian or lose power and control all together. I'm not sure which of those situations is worse. However, unable to control Aolie bad teeth man, Big Jim does strike an interesting bargain with Angie: food, water, money, batteries, ect in return for silence. Angie seems to be leaning toward agreeing but has also realized that she has power over Jim. Angie could destroy his entire career and reputation with just a few words. I hope she holds out for a bit longer; Junior and Jim deserve it.

While the residents of Chester's Mill continue to act totally uncivilized, we are treated to some of Barbie's obvious military techniques. Is anyone else worried that Barbie may have deep seeded anger issues? He nearly smothered one guy and another he smashed up pretty badly. However, Barbie does seems to recognize that he often looses control because he refused a badge (which could give him free license to do what he wanted) and refused a gun because of how it would look to the town. Barbie does find some solace for whatever dark and dreadful sin (besides killing Peter of course) lays on his soul by...making out with Julia. I hereby dub thee, Barlie! Romantic kissing in the rain (miracle rain at that) aside, this hookup was so obvious that I just sort of rolled my eyes and went, "good. They got that over with."

Our other couple--Jorrie--also finds hope in the miracle rain. Dodee and Julia discovered early on this episode that something was jamming all the signals in Chester's Mill. Radio and walkie talkie's suddenly stopped functioning. Dodee constructed some sort of machine that was able to track the jamming signal. Except the signal kept moving. Weird, right? So what was jamming all the radio transmissions in Chester's Mill: why the love struck teenage wonder couple of Jorrie, of course! While I found this explanation to be slightly cringe worthy, I am super happy that finally someone noticed that those two are connected to this Dome in some highly unusual way. Standing in the rain, the two of them touched the Dome together and like magic the jamming stopped. Julia thinks the Dome is using them, but how? And why? It's looking more and more like the Dome is an experiment to see how far you can test a human being before they crack completely but also will keep them alive. The Dome has its own evaporation and condensation system; in other words, they'll never really run out of water which in turn means never running out of food. The Dome is impervious to bombs and other really harmful substances to prevent anything from harming the residents, except each other.

Miscellaneous Notes from The Endless Thirst 

--I know Jorrie had the right intention but stealing insulin isn't going to help in the long run. And from a moral standpoint, it's rather...gray. And maybe that's something to keep an eye on going forward: how do people's morals compare NOW and in the FUTURE than they did back during the Fire episode, where everyone pitched in to save a house. However, at least Joey wasn't forced to give some scientific explanation of everything to date. That was left up to Dodee, who is far more awesome.

--Miracle rain. Convienent plot device is convienent. Or was it timed? Did whoever put up the Dome know when it would rain in Chester's Mill next? Was this all part of the experiment?

--Creepy Rev's body was found but everyone assumes his hearing aid exploded on accident when he touched the Dome. No one, of course, suspects friendly councilman Jim Rennie.

--RIP Rose of the Diner. Or as I know you, Kate's Mom from LOST/ Sabrina's Normal Aunt.

--Six episodes in. Time for another shocking death. Predictions? Alice (insulin running out), Phil (because he has become useless, Dodee is clearly superior), Joey (because I am hopeful).