Violet recaps the Season 1 finale of Under the Dome, titled Curtains, where the dome goes completely black, Julia and Norrie break Barbie out of jail, the teens convene at the mini dome, and we find out who the Monarch is! Following the recap, both Violet and Josh share their thoughts on Season 1 Episode 13 of Under the Dome!
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Episode Recap of Under the Dome, Season 1 Episode 13: Curtains
Joe, Norrie, Carolyn, Linda, and Ben are in Ben’s room watching the butterfly hatch. Linda pushes her way through and demands to know how long they’ve known about this. The teens tell her that they think the egg powers the dome, and that it can talk to them and told them the monarch will be crowned. Joe thinks that since it’s a monarch butterfly that hatched, they have to get it out of the mini-dome. Carolyn tells Linda that she believes the teens.
Back at the police station, Big Jim is angry that Barbie pleaded “not guilty,” so he punches him in the stomach. Barbie threatens the fact that Julia is still out there and knows the truth, though Big Jim insists that he already told everyone the “truth” that Barbie killed all those people.
Out at the wall of the big dome, Junior is touching it, asking it why it wants him to kill his father.
Meanwhile, Julia drags herself out of bed so she can exonerate Barbie, despite Angie’s protests that Julia stay in bed.
Back in Ben’s room, Linda declares the mini dome to be police property. However, just then, the butterfly begins flying into different spots within the mini dome, and every spot of the dome it touches, it leaves a dark splotch. As the butterfly continues to make dark spots on the mini dome, they notice that outside, the big dome has begun to darken as well.
Big Jim locks Barbie back in his cell, and they have a chat. Barbie says he knows Big Jim is just going to screw him in the end, but at least he can take Big Jim down with him. Big Jim threatens to shoot Barbie in the head right now, but Barbie calls his bluff, saying he won’t do it because there’s no audience there. Barbie observes that this isn’t just about killing him, it’s about making sure the town knows that Big Jim is judge, jury, and executioner. Big Jim notices through the window that it has gotten dark outside all of a sudden, and rushes outside to see what’s happening, along with the rest of the town. We see that there are several dark splotches on the big dome, and they keep spreading. On the other side of town, Junior wonders what is going on with the dark spots that are appearing, and asks the dome what it’s trying to tell him. Then we get an outside view of the dome and see that the darkness has overtaken the entire dome.
Back in Ben’s room, we see that the mini dome has become completely covered in darkness as well. Joe thinks that the dome is trying to tell them that they have to get the butterfly out of the mini dome before it dies. Norrie reminds Joe that they need “the others.” Linda gets frustrated and calls in all available units to Ben’s house, saying that she found another dome and some sort of egg. Angie has a radio, and hears Linda’s message as she helps Julia leave the hospital. It seems that “all available units” means Junior, who responds, and she tells him to get over there. However, Big Jim hears the message as well, and he heads over there too.
The entirely blackened mini dome emits an annoying high pitched noise, and Linda demands that they make it stop, but Norrie says they don’t know how. However, Joe says they kinda do, and Norrie says, “Oh yeah, that time we touched it.” Norrie moves to touch it, but Linda stops her, saying that it’s police property, and if anyone touches it, it’s going to be her. Of course, when Linda touches it, it shocks her and sends her flying, just like what happened when Dodee touched it.
As Angie continues to help Julia walk down the hallway, she tells Julia they have to get to the egg. However, Julia demands that they help Barbie first. Angie reluctantly agrees.
Carolyn checks Linda’s vitals, and says she’ll be okay. It seems that they had meant to trick Linda into touching the dome so that would happen to her. Just then, Junior shows up and sees Linda lying on the floor, and they tell him what happened. They tell him that the monarch is dying and that they need Angie. Junior angrily says, “Screw Angie!” Ben runs in and tells them Big Jim is on his way, and Junior agrees to go with them.
Julia and Angie sneak into the empty police station and release Barbie.
Big Jim arrives at Ben’s house and finds Linda, who tells him that the egg might be the generator, and it could bring the whole dome down, so they have to find it.
Barbie, Julia, and Angie are confronted by Phil and another guy in the police station, but Barbie, still handcuffed, kickboxes Phil and knocks him out, while Angie knocks the other guy out with the fire extinguisher. Joe radios to Angie to go where they hid when they broke Mom’s mirror, and Big Jim overhears the transmission.
It turns out the hiding place is the cement factory. Junior pulls his gun on Barbie, but Julia explains that Maxine is the one who shot her, not Barbie.
Phil radios to Linda that Barbie escaped and is with Julia.
The dome lights up with four hand prints, and the four teens each place their hand on one. The mini dome explodes and disintegrates, and the butterfly flies out and flutters around Barbie. Joe concludes that means Barbie is the Monarch.
Big Jim goes over to the church and sees that most of the town is gathering there, thinking that this is the apocalypse. Big Jim takes the opportunity to make an inspirational religious speech to get the townspeople on his side.
Back at the cement factory, the egg starts glowing and vibrating, and the whole factory starts shaking. Julia picks up the egg, and it stops glowing, and the shaking stops. The butterfly lands on the egg as Julia holds it. Barbie declares that Julie is the Monarch.
Big Jim calls Phil into his office and asks him to put together a work detail – to build a gallows.
Linda goes to the McAllister barn and sees “the pink stars are falling in lines” written on the wall, and radios to Big Jim about it. He seems taken aback, and asks her to meet him at his house.
Junior doesn’t believe what the others are telling him about his dad. He holds Julia at gunpoint and demands the egg, but she tosses it to Angie and tells the teens to run. Barbie tells Julia to run as he and Junior get into a fight.
Big Jim takes Linda into his wife’s art studio, and tells her about how his wife kept saying “the pink stars are falling.” He shows her a painting of pink stars and the egg. Junior radios and says he has Barbie in custody.
Julia and the teens run into the woods. Norrie takes the egg and asks it to tell them what to do. Norrie’s dead mother appears, though it’s not really her, it’s whoever sent the dome appearing in a familiar form. She says the dome was sent to protect them, and that they must protect the egg in order to earn the light. If they fail, then it’s the end for all of them. But she disappears without any further explanation.
Barbie is put back into jail. Big Jim asks about the egg. Barbie calls him a politician.
While Julia and the teens are hiding in the diner, Big Jim sends out a radio message to Julia, telling her to bring back the egg within the hour or else Barbie pays the ultimate price. Junior comes into Big Jim’s office and tells him what the others are saying about him. Big Jim admits that he took lives, but it was for the good of the town. They talk about the paintings, and how it must mean that they’re important. They agree that they are the ones to protect Chester’s Mill, and vow not to keep anymore secrets from each other.
Julia and the teens discuss what to do. She tells the teens that since she’s the Monarch, it’s her decision, and tells them to go get somewhere safe.
The hour passes, so Big Jim addresses the crowd gathered at the gallows, and brings Barbie up. Junior places the noose around Barbie’s neck.
Meanwhile, Julia has taken a boat out, and drops the egg into the water. It glows, then sends pink beams of light into the sky. The darkness of the dome dissipates, and it is light once again. Big Jim tells Junior to do it now, but he hesitates. We see a view from the outside of the dome – it is now covered in white instead of black.
Violet’s Thoughts on Season 1 Episode 13 of Under the Dome: Curtains
So we finally got a little insight into why the dome is there. Kinda. Something or someone (aliens?) put the dome there to protect the town. Protect it from what? Is there stuff that will be going on in the outside world? Will the rest of the world get destroyed and the only survivors left in on Earth will be the citizens of Chester’s Mill? Why them? Why were they chosen?
We also found out that the Monarch is Julia. What does that mean though? She’s going to be the new leader and overthrow Big Jim? That she’s going to be the one to save them from the dome? But if the dome was put there for their protection, why would they even want to remove the dome?
Speaking of Big Jim, he seems to be going even more crazy and power hungry. He entered that church almost like he himself was the Messiah, acting like the’s the one who brought them all together at the church. Then he decides to have a gallows built to hang Barbie? The town just seems to be regressing more and more into the olden days.
More crazy dome stuff happening with the pink beams of light coming out of the lake. How did Julia even know to do that? I guess because she’s the Monarch and the dome subconsciously sent the message to her? That makes as much sense as anything that’s going on lately. Also, it looked like the dome changed from black to white, rather than clear. Why is it white?
I guess we’ll find out all those answers and more next season. I’m sure Barbie will get out of being hanged. He’s the hero of the show, can’t let him die. Having read (ok, listened to the audiobook) of the Under the Dome novel, things seem like they should have wrapped up by now. Was kinda hoping for more answers by the season finale. But having attended the WonderCon panel last year, I know that the producers intend for the show to go on and on for as many seasons as possible – with the citizens of Chester’s Mill still under the dome that whole time. Because obviously, we can’t have the show if there’s no dome.
In any case, I guess we’ll keep watching to see what other kind of predicaments the townsfolk can get into, and to learn more about the mystery behind the dome, and why Junior’s mom seems to have known about it well in advance.
Josh’s Thoughts: Under the Dome, Season 1 Episode 13: Curtains
I was really critical of Under the Dome this first season, and I have to say, I really didn’t enjoy this finale either. It really feels that this dome is a silly plot device that will kind of do whatever will (attempt) to make the show more interesting. I guess this can be explained by saying that we really don’t know what the dome is or how it works, so all of these weird phenomena can be explained once the dome is understood, but it still seems a bit much.
I also don’t understand how Big Jim is still being followed by the town. How does nobody know anything about the things Big Jim as done, not only after the dome came down, but even before? Past episodes have shown that he hasn’t been the most upstanding citizen.
I am curious though, as to why Julia dropped the small dome in the water. Was that her decision? Or was it the decision of the dome, influencing Julia’s thoughts? Based on on what happened after Julia dropped the egg, it sure seems like what the dome wanted done. I guess at the start of season 2 we will have to see what this all means. Obviously Barbie will make an escape from the gallows somehow, unless they really plan on showing a public hanging on network television (I would bet against that though).
I guess I will continue next season, and see what happens. Hopefully the show can figure itself out, and make a story that I am more invested in.
Scenes from Under the Dome, Season 2 Episode 1: Heads Will Roll
Here are scenes from the Season 2 premiere of Under the Dome, titled Heads Will Roll:
