Another Day, Another Hole In The Ground That May Lead Out Of The Dome

The Hole Earth Catalog

In the immediate aftermath of the dirt maelstrom that consumed Melanie and left a hole in the ground that everyone is calling a crater when it seems pretty clear that it's a tube IF ANYTHING, Junior impetuously declares his intention to leap in after her! For some reason, people are opposed to this plan on the grounds that it's "too dangerous," as though Junior is too precious to risk! Then there's another earthquake, and the hole starts looking like maybe it's not such a bad option after all! On no evidence, Joe suggests that maybe it's the mouth of a series of tunnels, like under the school! Maybe it'll lead to Zenith! Barbie says they have to check it out, but carefully! There's that military training we keep hearing so much about!

But before any kind of plan can be enacted, Big Jim comes lurching out to the clearing with a still-alive Pauline and everyone has to stop thinking about escaping the Dome and deal with that even though it seems pretty clear she's going to die no matter what SPOILER ALERT! Big Jim is also pretty proud to report that he killed Lyle! As they get ready to load Pauline onto Melanie's former stretcher, Pauline tells Julia she had a vision of Julia with a man who doesn't know he's "the one"! GEE, WHO EVER COULD THAT BE?!

After some more crazy sounds and wild speculation about what the fuck the Dome might be doing now -- "I think it's shutting down!" Joe declares -- they hear Tom yelling for help, which I guess means all of this is happening within screaming distance of Tom's barn? SURE. WHY NOT?!

Tom Tilden, 1961-2013

Julia and Barbie run to Tom's barn to find Tom's leg being crushed under some kind of farm equipment, and Julia demonstrates her Monarch instincts by saying they should get Tom's son Aidan away from the scene -- the kid's mom just died like ten minutes ago -- and then not actually moving him anywhere. Barbie tries to pry the thing off Tom, but it's no use: lightning strikes through a hole in the roof and Tom gets zapped...I guess to death, though they don't actually check and just take off with Aidan. Rest in peace, Tom: you are in a better place NO MATTER WHERE YOU ARE. And Aidan...good luck getting through life with these two dipshits as guardians.

Oh, Now You Love Science

Alert Type: Heroic Measures Alert.

Issue: Pauline has been stabbed and is obviously going to die, like soon.

Complicating Factors: Big Jim can't accept the inevitable. He busts into the school infirmary screaming at everyone to fix her up, even though, as Sam points out, he's an EMT, not a surgeon -- and even if he were, they have no anesthesia or surgical supplies. The most Sam can do is make Pauline comfortable, but Big Jim's not trying to hear that.

Resolution: Pauline waits for Big Jim to take off on a futile search for saline at the clinic (that wasn't been brought to the school along with the other available medical supplies when they turned it into the new hospital? SURE, WHY NOT) and sends Junior to go get her art supplies so she can maybe paint a prophetic image of herself living, and then asks Rebecca to euthanize her with the last vial of morphine THAT SOMEHOW NO ONE IN THIS TOWN LOOTED ON LIKE HOUR 2 OF THE CRISIS, SURE WHY NOT.

Spoiler: Rebecca certainly did Pauline an act of kindness, but that doesn't mean she shouldn't still hide the evidence from Big Jim.

Stage 3: Bargaining

After murdering Rebecca, Big Jim has brought Pauline back to his house to be surrounded by her terrible art (I mean, it's probably what she would have wanted). He smashes the shit out of her painting of her own murder, and then decides to have a little one-on-one with the Dome: "Dome. I'll make you a deal. If you bring her back right now, I won't murder every single one of your special little friends. I won't slit Julia's throat, shoot Barbie in the heart, or burn those kids alive. Okay. You got three seconds." Uh, Big Jim, if you want to talk to the Dome, you're supposed to walk right up to it, JUST ASK JULIA. Since he doesn't, Dome's like, nah, and Big Jim's got his go-ahead to continue his murder spree. I guess technically this should be a thumbs down, but isn't any plan that results in the deaths of the town's most annoying residents really a boon? Think about it. Anyway, then Big Jim burns down the studio. OH NO, BUT THE ARTS!

Everyone Is Going To Parts Unknown!

With the Dome contracting on two axes, according to noted Dome expert Joe, there's no time to get too cautious about this hole in the ground. Get in, everyone!

Hole FAQ

Q: ...What?
A: This hole in the ground mysteriously opened up in the earth and swallowed Melanie -- you know, that girl who died twenty-five years ago?

Q: Why should we be climbing into it, then?
A: Three kids did and they got out just fine!

Q: Did Melanie ever come out?
A: Hmm, what's that?

Q: What reason do we have to think this is safe?
A: The kids saw a butterfly in one of these tunnels.

Q: A lot of earthquakes seem to be happening right now. Is it really a good idea to go underground right now?
A: Let's go!

Julia vs. Big Jim

After an especially querulous radio call for help from Andrea, Julia races to her house, where she finds Andrea being held at gunpoint by Big Jim. Julia is just trying to be cool when Sam radios to ask what's up. Julia's like, everything's fine!, and then Sam tells her that Pauline's dead, and that Big Jim killed Rebecca. When Sam hangs up (or whatever you do on a walkie-talkie), Julia asks Big Jim what he's doing. "Payback," he says. "Against me?" asks Andrea. "What did I ever do except be your neighbour and friend?" Big Jim says it's not about her, and summarily shoots her in the head. He then tells Julia that Rebecca "murdered" Pauline -- at which Julia is aghast, as who wouldn't be by that characterization -- and that he gave the Dome a chance to revive Pauline but it didn't. "Which is bad for you." Julia says that killing her won't bring Pauline back, and Big Jim agrees that it won't, but that it might fuck up the Dome's plans, which is all he really cares about at this point. He comes at her with a hammer -- because, yes, he has a gun, but he wants Julia's murder to be slow, unlike Andrea's -- and she fends him off with a frying pan. She idiotically just runs to the living room to try to hide in the hoard instead of, I don't know, leaving the house? Big Jim finds her pretty quickly, and after some pretty confident wild speculation from Julia about whom the Dome is willing to make deals with, she calls Big Jim an insect and stabs him in the foot with the switchblade that was conveniently left beside the door outside Andrea's. It pays to almost get murdered at a hoarder's house, apparently!

Winner: Julia.

Barbie calls up to the hole edge to ask Julia how many people are left to come in! Hunter has to tell him she's not there and he doesn't know where she is!

But we do! She's running through the woods, getting shot at by Big Jim! She runs into Sam and Junior and tells them about Big Jim! Junior's like, I'm on it!

Dean Norris -- who remembered he should be limping because he's a better actor than Rachelle Lefevre -- is soon confronted by Junior, who announces that he's not Big Jim's son anymore, and that he's not going to let Big Jim hurt anyone else! Big Jim blusters a little, but he's cut short by a bullet to the chest! Junior decides that's good enough, and leaves this homicidal maniac STILL ALIVE and ARMED! NICE POLICE WORK, GENIUS!

Barbie and Julia are reunited! They're so happy to see each other that they immediately send Aidan the brand-new orphan on ahead of them! He'll be fine probably!

Okay, so Barbie and Julia get to this big crack that's opened up between the upper level of the...tunnel and the...floor? I'm sorry, I know they're underground, but it is IMPOSSIBLE to see what the fuck is happening! I guess we have to take their word for it that the crack is too big for Julia to ford what with the leg wound that reopened in all her fighting for her life! So she tells Barbie to go on ahead, and for once, he does, and with a minimum of argument! Maybe because Julia makes her side of the argument using Dome logic, to wit: "The Dome chose you!" She tells him about Pauline's vision, and how Barbie is supposed to be the leader of the town or something! "It's okay! The Dome's gotten us this far! I have faith that if you do what it's asking, it will protect me!" Barbie says he's coming back for her, but after all that nonsense, none of us would blame him if he didn't!

In the tunnel, people are just (Chester's) milling around waiting for Barbie to tell them what to do! Norrie wants to go the way the butterfly directed them when she, Joe, and Hunter went down initially! Barbie's like, sure, why not!

Julia and Junior -- who's barely escaped a still-raging, still-bellowing, STILL-ALIVE Big Jim (but I'm sure the pile of branches that covered up the hole will totally keep Big Jim out forever!!!) -- are left alone at the edge of the crack! She tells him Barbie's coming back! Sure, why not!

And then the tunnelers come to a part of the tunnel where the roof is just glowing with a shitload of butterflies! But then the butterflies fly off and they're just at a dead end! D'oh!

But then one butterfly comes back and lands on a part of the wall of rock, and Barbie puts his hand on it and it glows and cracks! SURE, WHY NOT!

The wall of rock crumbles, and behind it is Melanie! And she tells the assembled survivors, "Follow me, we're going home!" Good! Go! PLEASE DON'T COME BACK!!!!!