Josh recaps Episode 6 of Under the Dome, entitled “The Endless Thirst,” where the people of Chester’s Mill realize their resources are scare, which leads to a riot! Following the recap, Josh provides his thoughts about the episode in blue font, and Violet shares her thoughts in pink font.
“The Endless Thirst” Recap
This episode of Under the Dome begins immediately during the aftermath of the missile crisis from last episode. Last episode, at the very end, the crisis is over, as the missile does not destroy the dome. In fact this episode we learn it was not harmed in the least bit.
A crowd has gathered at the dome, examining it, and they collectively come to the conclusion that they may be stuck under this dome for a long time, and discussion regarding resources becomes an issue. Big Jim tries to reassure everyone that they will weather this, but Ollie seems to have a problem with Big Jim’s proclamation, and seems to be calling him out almost.
We also see that Sheriff Linda is having trouble locating her deputies, and that the walkie-talkies aren’t working. She approaches Barbie, asking for his help and handing him a deputy’s badge. He offers to help, but refuses the badge.
As for Junior and Angie, they are still in Angie’s room, and Angie seems to be loosening up towards Junior. She seems to snap out of that though, when Junior tries to reassure her. Angie decides to grab a snow globe and bash Junior in the head with it, and bolts out of the house. She flees into the forest to try to get away from Junior. Meanwhile, Junior heads over to ask for his dad’s help with how to handle the situation. Big Jim washes his hands of the situation, basically telling Junior to clean up his own mess.
Meanwhile, back in town, we see that tensions are becoming increased. A convenience store owner is refusing to accept any payment other than propane or batteries, saying that this is the new currency, since no one has a use for cash anymore. The customers lined up outside are becoming angry, and sheriff Linda tries to calm them down. Eventually they worked out a deal with batteries for payment, and tempers are quelled for the moment.
Norrie had reunited with her moms at the dome, but as tempers flared there, they decided to get away from what they thought would be a dangerous situation. Joe has decided to go with them, since he doesn’t have much in the way of family at the moment. The mother, Alice, has been complaining about being hot during the episode though, and while they are driving she demands the car be pulled over. She gets out of the car not feeling well, and she reveals that she has run out of insulin. She becomes disoriented, and wanders into the street. A semi-truck comes barreling down the street, and to avoid hitting her, the driver swerves the truck, which winds up hitting the town water tower. This causes all of the water to drain from the tower.
Carolyn takes Alice to the hospital, but a nurse explains that all of the insulin is gone. Norrie decides to she is going to get some insulin, one way or another. Joe doesn’t seem to agree with her method, but does help her out. They find patient records in the hospital of other diabetics, and seem to be planning some nefarious ways of getting it.
They end up at a house that seems to be empty. Norrie smashes the window, and both her and Joe break into the house. The homeowner, who is holding a shotgun, confronts them though. He says he has run out himself, and tells them to get out of his house.
Norrie doesn’t want to give up though, and she finds the next house on her list. She and Joe enter the house, and Norrie is able to locate some insulin in the refrigerator. A little kid confronts her before they can get out of the house though. Through their conversation, she learns that he is the diabetic in that house. She secretly hands the insulin back to Joe, telling him to return it to the fridge, but she keeps one vial for her mother. The kid’s mother then returns home, and demands that Joe and Norrie get out of her house, which they do in a hurry.
They wind up bringing the vial back to the hospital, and Carolyn thanks them for finding it, and says she doesn’t really care where it came from, seeming to hint it may have come from less than honorable means.
To follow up on Barbie and Linda’s story, they end up dealing with the water situation, as they inspect the tower. Linda doesn’t seem too worried, as she tells Barbie that the water comes from the local lake. They head to the lake, and make a horrifying discovery—all of the fish have died in the lake.
Barbie and Linda pay a visit to Big Jim, explaining the situation. Barbie’s thoughts as to the reason for the poisoning of the lake must be due to the dome severing a methane line, thus polluting the water. As usual, Big Jim has a solution to solve the problem. Ollie seems to have a well on his property. Big Jim says he will pay him a visit and work out a deal.
Back to Barbie and Linda, they have headed back into town, and we see the crowds becoming rowdy in the shop, until a full blown riot breaks out. There seems to be only 3 to 5 deputies to deal with dozens of rioters, and it seems pretty hopeless. Linda finds some old tear gas from the FBI post-9/11, but they are useless.
Meanwhile, Angie has made it to town, and flees to Rose’s diner, and explains to Rose what is going on. Meanwhile, two looters have decided to crash into her diner and take her food. Rose tries to stop them with a baseball bat, but the episode takes a very dark turn, with the man taking the bat and beating Rose to death with it. Angie tries to go help Rose by attacking the two men, but is quickly knocked unconscious. The scene gets even darker with one of the guys attempting to rape Angie.
Thankfully, Barbie notices something fishy going on at the diner, and quickly dispatches the two men. He rescues Angie, and brings her outside.
Big Jim in the meantime has visited Ollie, and we learn they have a colorful past. We learn that Ollie lost some land 15 years ago, and he blames Big Jim for the loss. Ollie refuses to give any water without something in return, which Big Jim just happens to have–propane. Big Jim returns with the propane, but Ollie demands that he get a regular supply of propane, or the water will be cut off. They exchange threats, before parting ways.
Big Jim heads back into town, and just as all order seems lost, it begins to rain in the dome. The town soon learns that the dome has its own weather system, and they will not be dehydrating to death, as the evaporation from the lake will cleanse the water, making it drinkable. Big Jim rallies the town to grab collecting devices, such as trash cans and buckets, and the troubles seem to fade away.
Barbie talks with Big Jim, revealing that Rose’s diner has been hit. In reaction to Rose’s death, Big Jim demands that Barbie find the two men, likely two brothers. Barbie asks Big Jim to take Angie to the hospital as well to make sure she is ok.
Big Jim doesn’t exactly take her to the hospital though. He brings her back to his house. When she awakens, she is scared, but Big Jim says she can go. Before she goes though, he makes a proposition. If she doesn’t speak a word of anything Junior did, he will make sure that she and Joe are taken care of. He also promises that Junior will not touch her again. She says she needs to think about it, and as the episode ends, Junior walks into the room on them both, not sure what is happening.
One last storyline to go over, is Julia and Dodee. They have been trying to figure out what is blocking the signals in Chester’s Mill, and Dodee creates a device to track the signal of the source of the blockage. Throughout the episode, they follow the signal, but it seems to be moving. Towards the end of the episode, we find out that the signal is emanating from Joe and Norrie. Dodee and Julie confront them, but they have no idea what is going on. The kids show the video of their seizures, but can’t explain any further. Julie and Dodee think they must have something to do with what is going on, but no one can explain how. Dodee wants to bring this information to the town’s attention, but Julia makes her promise not to, as it would be detrimental to the kids.
That about sums up this week’s episode. Barbie, during his stint as a “cop” this episode had a couple rage issues, probably stemming from his military days. He promises to Linda that it will never happen again. This may not be the case though, as rage is by definition hard to control. Also, forgot to mention that Julia and Barbie kiss towards the end of the episode.
Josh’s Thoughts about “The Endless Thirst”
I am curious about the signal emanating from Norrie and Joe. Did her coming into town cause the dome to develop? If they die will the dome cease to exist? I have a feeling some town members may want to find out if they catch wind of this.
As for Angie’s deal, while it is completely wrong what Big Jim did, it would certainly ensure her and Joe’s safety. From what we see with Big Jim, he will probably keep his end of the deal, given there are no complications. One complication could be Junior though. It seems for the short term the deal might be worth it, at least until she is able to put more than a couple miles between herself and Junior. It is an awful situation for her though.
Overall I thought this episode was pretty good. It was pretty dark at times, with Rose’s death and the near rape of Angie. I am enjoying Barbie’s character probably the most of the guy characters, as he seems a pretty good character most of the time, with the exception of his murderous tendencies. I look forward to next week, which if I were to take a guess, may revolve around the criminal trial of the two men who murdered Rose. How does this town handle crime now that they are essentially their own nation? I hope we get to explore this, as it would be interesting to find out what happens next.
Violet’s Thoughts about “The Endless Thirst”
So we finally get to the moment that viewers have probably been waiting on for awhile: when the townspeople realize that resources are limited. But my initial reaction was more like, “Oh, NOW they figured it out? No one thought about this before? Really?” If I had to use one word to describe this episode, it would be “ridiculous.” Or “silly.” There were just too many ridiculous or silly things going on, too many all too convenient or far-fetched or just plain dumb occurrences that gave this episode an unrealistic vibe and made it hard for me to watch, almost from beginning to end. Some of the acting felt a little off this episode as well.
First, with Norrie’s moms, and how Carolyn just let Alice go wander off into the middle of the street, and then didn’t even try to do anything about it when she saw an oncoming truck. And then the truck just happened to swerve enough to plow into the water tower and release all the water. And why is some random appliance truck driving through the middle of town right after the big missile scare anyway? It’s not like he’s just using the road through Chester’s Mill to get to another town! And then the town’s main source of water just happened to have been contaminated by some sort of methane leak? And then the town quickly (a little too quickly) turned into a big violent riot, even with murder and (attempted) rape. When just a few hours earlier, they were all huddled together in the tunnels during the missile scare. No one was rioting then. Speaking of rioting, maybe Ollie should realize that the town could easily riot and get water from him. After what just happened, I don’t know why he thinks he can control the water situation and still get propane out of it.
Oh, and why did Angie run into the woods rather than immediately find other people to be around that could protect her from Junior? I was worried he was going to find her in the woods when he was driving by. (In her defense though, I suppose the woods could have been a shortcut to downtown.) And then it turns out that the one person she does tell about what Junior did just happens to get killed. Also, why was Linda all gung ho about Barbie and Julia getting together? How much does she even know about what happened with Julia’s husband? I mean, we all knew that the Barbie/Julia pairing was going to happen sooner or later, but did Linda really need to put her two cents into that? The only actor I really enjoyed on this episode was Dean Norris as Big Jim. The way that he put himself on the line to try to negotiate water rights from Ollie shows that he really does care about the town, and sometimes you forget about the bad things he’s done and he almost fools you into thinking he’s a halfway decent guy. I think the only scene that I actually enjoyed and that made me want to keep watching the show after this disaster of an episode was the final scene, when Big Jim is promising to take care of Angie and her brother, in exchange for keeping her mouth shut about what Junior did. What he’s saying actually makes sense. Angie and Joe will need Big Jim on their side, especially after what happened earlier. And then Junior walks in. Now I want to know, what’s next?
One more thing. Why does Dodee seem to be the science expert on this show? Last week she knew about the butterflies’ magnetic fields, and then this week she knew about the rainwater being safe to drink because it’s filtered. Not to mention the odd contraption that she built to track down the transmissions (which turned out to be Joe and Norrie). As far as we know, she just works at the radio station. What’s her background?
