S02.E04: Revelation

[morgankobi]

I just re-watched part of the premiere (ugh), and when Rebecca and Big Jim meet up in the diner after the town nap, Big Jim says, "My wife always said you were her best student, now I know why." No way she needed him to tell her about Pauline's death or even that she started to go crazy. Everyone would have known that much.

Edited July 24, 2014 by morgankobi

[Desperately Random]

It's been two weeks already. There's no grocery delivery in. I'm sure there are a few gardens but its a couple hundred people. The grocery stores were looted on day two or so. The growing crops are periodically acid rained and tornadoed. The pigs and cows are frankly just about the only thing to eat and if they eat all the cows and pigs, there's no resupply. Add in the general incompetency of the residents of Chester Mill and I'm surprised the food issue isn't more pressing.

What is the point of having a "resupply" if everyone in town has died off due to starvation? What are you going to do? Eat what is available now and live a little longer or let the citizens die off but hey! there are still pigs and cows left to breed. Just no one left alive to eat them because according to Rebecca, even with the "population reduction", they only had about a month's worth of food. Not enough time for breeding new stock.

Another issue I have with the food supply is why aren't the empty houses being inventoried and picked clean for food, propane, ect.. Maybe they are but they haven't shown or made any reference to that. The empty house that Barbie and the kids went to hadn't been looted. The show made a point of saying in the first few episodes that a lot of the town was gone for the parade which means lots of empty houses with larders full of food and other necessities. That alone should have added considerably to the food and resources supply.

I wish this show would be consistent with how many people are left in the town. If that stack of census forms that Big Jim was looking at is any indication then there are only about two to three hundred people that are still trapped under the dome.

Edited July 23, 2014 by Desperately Random

[Camera One]

I just re-watched part of the premiere (ugh), and when Rebecca and Big Jim meet up in the diner after the town nap, Big Jim says, "My wife always said you were her best student, now I know why." No way she needed him to tell her about Pauline's death or even that she started to go crazy. Everyone would have know that much.

 

Plus it shows even more that the wife was a complete idiot.  No signs that Rebecca was a sociopath with no moral underpinnings?  

 

Added to that, telling his idiot son to trust Lyle via video.

[ZoloftBlob]

What is the point of having a "resupply" if everyone in town has died off due to starvation? What are you going to do? Eat what is available now and live a little longer or let the citizens die off but hey! there are still pigs and cows left to breed. Just no one left alive to eat them because according to Rebecca, even with the "population reduction", they only had about a month's worth of food. Not enough time for breeding new stock.

 

This isn't a mentality I advocate but....

Does everyone have to starve to death or could a chosen few maintain a sustainable amount of food production? It would involve some... shall we say unpleasant choices about who lives and who dies, but a smaller population could hold out on the remaining foodstocks until the crops come in. Its a choice between everyone dying and most of them dying but a few carrying on.

 

If you kill and eat the cows and pigs, you're done with breeding new meat animals. If you want to maintain the pretense of hope, you don't kill all the breeding stock. And pigs do breed pretty quickly, and dogs. Cows not so much.

 

I'm surprised no one has considered the potential upside to a "controlled population reduction" is that along with fewer mouths to feed... rumor has it they call it "long pork" for a reason....

[ae2]

This isn't a mentality I advocate but....

Does everyone have to starve to death or could a chosen few maintain a sustainable amount of food production? 

 

I think this is the idea that the show wanted to explore with Rebecca's plot, but failed miserably in doing so. For example, why a quarter of the people? If there are four hundred people, are they expecting to support 300 people in the dome long term? Even with the woods, 2-3 crop fields, 7 pig farms, and at least 1 farm with cows that's a high population density to support. Most of the area under the dome is developed township, which means a lot less area for crops.

 

But the biggest area they whiffed on before jumping to "let's kill people!" is the loss of all hope of escaping the dome. You don't kill people if you expect to be released next week.

[Desperately Random]

.Hmmm.. cannibalism. Has anyone on the show suggested this as a possibility? . You would think that Rebecca with all her careful planning would have considered this. She was willing to kill off the weak but she never thought about using the bodies of the dead for food? And there are already quite a few dead. I know someone did a tally of the who has died so there is already plenty of "long pork" to sustain them for awhile. They should have been sticking the dead into a freezer (and electricity is no problem since everyone seems to have plenty of propane.) It could become the house special at the Sweetbriar Rose! A garden salad with a side of Rev. Coggins.

@Zoloftbob - I think you and I and most of this board have given more thought to the story lines of the show than the writers ever have which is a shame because there are some really good ideas here. Instead we get Lake Girl murder mystery, red rain and Jr.'s notdead!Mom and her crappy paintings.

Edited July 23, 2014 by Desperately Random

[ZoloftBlob]

Yeah, to me a significant flaw in the plot is that no one seems to give a shit what is happening outside the dome at all. No one goes to the border, no one holds up signs to communicate with reporters or army guys... no one tries to tell the possible scientists outside the dome what's happening or tries to ask for scientific advice....

 

You'd think Rebecca, of the science, would have more interest....

 

@Desperately Random - Yeah, I have to admit, with all the batshittery that the second season has brought us, I am quite shocked that no one, preferably someone calling it a holy sacrament, has loudly suggested that it's time to crack open the heads of their neighbors and feast on the goo inside.

 

More seriously, in a genuine survival situation, and this could devolve into one, that taboo would be broken pretty easily.

Edited July 23, 2014 by ZoloftBlob

[Dowel Jones]

I think the reason no one has approached the dome is that early on, if memory serves, Big Jim gave strict orders for everyone to stay away from it.  The townspeople, being obedient little pod creatues, turned away without a second thought.  He's the mayor, after all.

[ottoDbusdriver]

.Hmmm.. cannibalism. Has anyone on the show suggested this as a possibility? .

 

@Desperately Random -- Barbie very briefly hinted at that as an option at the start of the episode when he was with Big Jim in the diner.  He said something along the lines of "when this place runs out of food, let's hope we're not on the menu".

[Desperately Random]

 Barbie very briefly hinted at that as an option at the start of the episode when he was with Big Jim in the diner.  He said something along the lines of "when this place runs out of food, let's hope we're not on the menu".

Thanks ottoDbusdriver, I thought someone had mentioned it but I wasn't sure who or in what context. I guess the writers don't want to go there and are trying to keep this more as light summer fare than say a Hannibal type show.. I understand that to a certain extent but if Under the Dome is a serious drama about a serious situation then they need to not avoid the obvious issues that will arise given the circumstances the Domites find themselves in. We all knew they really weren't going to have Rebecca or Jim commit mass murder but this show is going to get even more ridiculous if they try to sugarcoat what would, and should, be happening with lessening resources and no sign of rescue.

Edited July 24, 2014 by Desperately Random

[izabella]

Are all the fish in Methane Lake dead?  I expect they are, but that could have also been a food source for them. 

[Camera One]

I cannot accept plotlines on a population cull or cannibalism when they haven't even carried out a tallying of existing food stocks, identification of areas of possible food growth and implementation of rationing.  How about catching and eating caterpillars if there are so many.  But no, people are being assigned to catching graffiti artists while citizens are eating full American breakfasts (in episode 2 this season).  

 

Why would they need a population cull when it's been two weeks and every few days the Dome does something which wipes out a bunch of red shirts anyway?  

 

They're saying within a week of the Dome forming, Rebecca already identified the need, and was able to use recombinant DNA to create a swine flu to infect humans?  She didn't think that meningitis or whatever it was outbreak the week before might do the trick?  And she managed to do this, while doing experiments on electromagnetism and making windmill prototypes, while interrupted by Crisis of the Week which pretty much occurred on a daily basis?  Forget aliens, it's Superwoman in Chester Mills.  

Edited July 24, 2014 by Camera One

[LoneHaranguer]

 

I cannot accept plotlines on a population cull or cannibalism when they haven't even carried out a tallying of existing food stocks, identification of areas of possible food growth and implementation of rationing.  How about catching and eating caterpillars if there are so many.  But no, people are being assigned to catching graffiti artists while citizens are eating full American breakfasts (in episode 2 this season).

How about telling people to sack out and avoid any unnecessary expenditures of energy? You don't need to eat as much if you're not doing anything.

[shapeshifter]

If you want to maintain the pretense of hope, you don't kill all the breeding stock. And pigs do breed pretty quickly, and dogs.

But all the dogs have disappeared. I think they slipped through a wormhole (or butterfly hole) and are now on Leftovers.

How about telling people to sack out and avoid any unnecessary expenditures of energy? You don't need to eat as much if you're not doing anything.

Like building gallows.

[Actionmage]

And why does Big Jim have an access card to a high tech med lab?

 

Why would a used car magnate and city councilman/alderman have a key card to either the town high school or a high tech medical lab? Big Jim is big under the dome, but before it?  Still well-known, but not trusted , evidenced by Duke's actions and words in the first episode.  My guess is that Jim went around off-screen and collected every piece of anything that was potentially "important".  Just because someone is on the town council doesn't mean I want them to have unlimited access to the high school or a medical lab.

 

Yeah, the jumping to "kill them all and let God sort them out" from Rebecca would make more sense if...

* her formulae included vegetarians/vegans and adjusted

*there was rationing and portion downsizing at the Sweetbriar

*groups of folks were sent into the woods to gather herbs and plants growing wild

*chickens, like at the McCalisters, were dealt with (if they were, ignore this)

*other birds and wildlife were being rounded up, like squirrel, the aforementioned deer, the wild hogs (from the manhunt episode) and lizards and bugs.

You'd think that if people couldn't work on big stuff, like gallows and electromagnets, that going out and finding the wild plants and animals would be Plan A, as it seems the easiest. If folks were concerned about hunting and fishing laws, I truly think that everyone would get a pass. There could be intrigue as more than just the folks in the credits started to organically drift into "they don't need to live, but I do!" Then Rebecca and her combo of swine flu and influenza (if I remember that piece of dialogue correctly) get to scare the jeebers out of self-righteous Julia. (See? Not averse to scaring the stuffing out of Ms. High-Falutin' Journalist, just blend with the crowd better. Not that Rebecca's such a blue ribbon holder herself.)

 

I watch a bit, then someone says or does something too stupid for me to endure and I change the channel. Then I sneak back to see if it's any better. *sigh*

[3jt]

I really want to like the show, Love the premise, but the execution is just too stupid. I love shows and

movies about people struggling to survive when the world gets flipped upside down---- but there needs to be some kind of intelligence happening. As others have stated above, this was a huge opportunity missed!

[marieYOTZ]

I hate it when a slow roll down a short slope ending with a low velocity tumble into a rock kills me. 

[candall]

Am I the only one who, every time they mention the town of Zenith, thinks it must be an asteroid near Venus or something?

I'm so disappointed!  I had a huge guffaw because I thought they went to Drownsie's house in Zenith and so Zenith was ALSO under the Dome.  Perhaps a small cluster of buildings down a dirt road off Route 14.  Out past the pig farms.  Same zip code as Mare Winningham's place.

 

Yes, I know this would mean it's crazy no one ever bumped into fake dead Mrs. Big Jim and "Mysterious Stranger" Barbie would have had a place to sleep that first night besides his car.  Obviously I've been successfully conditioned to accept ANY level of nonsense this show hands me and I'll just laugh and say, "Oh, it's The Dome!"

[needschocolate]

I hope if they ever have internet again, there is a post on Joe's facebook wall with a picture of skateboard dude and Joe's dog relaxing on the beach, with the caption "So glad we found the secret passageway :-)"

 

I have a theory that would explain all the inconsistencies in this show - Despite what it may say in the credits, each episode is written by a different person - someone who hasn't watched the series, but has been given some general information, but not always the same information.  They are all told that it is the story of a dome trapping a town and told who is dating whom, but other info isn't passed on to everyone - some are told that it has been 2 weeks, others aren't, some are told that the power was cut off, others aren't.  This would explain why there is a new crisis every week, but the following week there is rarely a hint of the crisis of the week before. It explains why these couples act like they have been together for years and why the characters no longer mourn friends and family members that died a few days before.  It explains new characters popping up and having large parts, while some of the original characters completely change personalities.

 

As far as trying to explain this within the show itself, the only think I can come up with is that no one has realized yet that the dome has distorted the concept of time - for some, 25 years is the same as a couple of days, for others, 2 weeks is the same as 5-6 months.

 

Junior's mom faked her suicide with the help of Rev. Coggins and Lyle the Barber (replacement body and everything).

Who is the replacement body?  It is not Drownsie - she dies in 1988, Junior was born around 1996, and his mom "died" when he was 9, around 2005.  Besides, Drownsie's body was never found, until it came bobbing to the surface.  So the reverend/Sam/Lyle killed someone else as a stand in for suicide mom? 

 

My theory is that Sam did indeed recognize her and wanted to re-kill her.  He complained to Lyle about how they had made a deal to "keep the past buried."  I think maybe he followed Melanie AKA Drownsie to the school and was going to axe her.  However, she was startled by Angie and hid.  So when Sam sneaked up on Angie, he thought it was Melanie

 

That is what I was thinking too.  It even makes sense that he would mistake blond, short Angie for tall, brunette Melanie - he probably figured that the girl who just surfaced from the lake would be the only one going around without shoes on. 

 

If Melanie thought Barbie looked familiar, why didn't she think Sam looked familiar?

 

Well, Big Jim and Mad Scientist weren't trying to infect everyone, just the Catholics, since they planned to put the virus in the holy water.

 

In his defense (I am defending Big Jim now?), Big Jim was going to infect those who were lazy/useless enough to hang out at the diner all day.  I found it humorous that Rebecca, the wonder-scientist. decides that Big Jim wouldn't be able to put the virus into the water, but he was about to do just that, when Julia and Sam stopped him.  Rebecca was the only one of the two of them that wasn't willing to pour the stuff. 

 

UTD ranked 6th in the ratings last week - three of the top five were Big Brother episodes, and number one was the all-star game, so, if we are talking about weekly series (not individual episodes, not specials), UTD came in third - yikes! Are there that many people out there enthralled by the mystery, or do most of them watch for the comedy (maybe part of a dirinking - take a swig every time something ridiculous or inconsistent happens)?

 

.

[Shermie]

Surely people aren't watching this seriously, are they?

 

I have to give kudos to whoever coined "Drownsie". Heh. Even though she has a name now, I prefer Drownsie because I know exactly who we're talking about. The character names are pretty generic. Maybe everyone needs a nickname this way - Bigsie, DJ Copsie, Sciencsie, Joesie, Fiveheadsie, Barbsie, Annoysie (Julia, of course), Not Dead Mumsie...

[bmoore4026]

Are there that many people out there enthralled by the mystery, or do most of them watch for the comedy (maybe part of a dirinking - take a swig every time something ridiculous or inconsistent happens)?

 

Quite a few really are watching because they like it.  Most of us on this forum keep watching the same way some people watch a multiple car accident: so much wreckage but the morbid side of you demands you keep looking.

[Camera One]

I suppose the show could be akin to a really dumb popcorn movie.  Maybe that's why people tune in?  The audience from last week to this week dropped 23% though, so maybe all the Linda fans are on their way out.

[shapeshifter]

I hope if they ever have internet again, there is a post on Joe's facebook wall with a picture of skateboard dude and Joe's dog relaxing on the beach, with the caption "So glad we found the secret passageway :-)"

I may have to tweet some version of this. Will give credit.

 

I have a theory that would explain all the inconsistencies in this show - Despite what it may say in the credits, each episode is written by a different person - someone who hasn't watched the series, but has been given some general information, but not always the same information.  They are all told that it is the story of a dome trapping a town and told who is dating whom, but other info isn't passed on to everyone - some are told that it has been 2 weeks, others aren't, some are told that the power was cut off, others aren't.  This would explain why there is a new crisis every week, but the following week there is rarely a hint of the crisis of the week before. It explains why these couples act like they have been together for years and why the characters no longer mourn friends and family members that died a few days before.  It explains new characters popping up and having large parts, while some of the original characters completely change personalities.

Even more likely: The script writers play that game where each one writes a line, folds back the paper so the next person can only see that one line, and passes it on to the next person to write a line, and so on, until they have the required number of lines for an episode.

[Accidental Martyr]

Quite a few really are watching because they like it.  Most of us on this forum keep watching the same way some people watch a multiple car accident: so much wreckage but the morbid side of you demands you keep looking.

Just for fun a couple of weeks ago I looked at another message board to see what people were saying about the show. The people on there seriously think this is the most awesomely awesome show ever. Some people had screen names like "Pink Stars" and avatars of Barbie and Julia kissing. One thread I read started with posts like, "OMG! Only 12 more hours until tonight's episode! I don't know if I can wait that long! OMG! What do you think will happen with Julia and Barbie? OMG! OMG!" These people are absolutely enthralled with all the awesome and clever twists and turns.

[random chance]

If water can get through the Dome, couldn't they dash off a note to the outside world and try getting nutritional liquids through? Like those clear protein drinks? I sure would have taken a crack at it anyway.

Edited July 26, 2014 by random chance

[FAU]

Just for fun a couple of weeks ago I looked at another message board to see what people were saying about the show. The people on there seriously think this is the most awesomely awesome show ever. Some people had screen names like "Pink Stars" and avatars of Barbie and Julia kissing. One thread I read started with posts like, "OMG! Only 12 more hours until tonight's episode! I don't know if I can wait that long! OMG! What do you think will happen with Julia and Barbie? OMG! OMG!" These people are absolutely enthralled with all the awesome and clever twists and turns.

 

After the way they wrote them this season with Julia snapping at Barbie's 'betrayal'?  XD.

[bmoore4026]

After the way they wrote them this season with Julia snapping at Barbie's 'betrayal'?  XD.

 

But, but, but...Julia and Barbie encapsulate twu luv!

[KaveDweller]

Some people had screen names like "Pink Stars" and avatars of Barbie and Julia kissing.

 

When I was 13, my AOL screenname was PinkStar81.  It had nothing to do with this show obviously, since that was ages ago, but it weirds me out whenever I hear them talk about the pink stars falling.

 

In this last episode, Rebecca said she'd been experimenting with the pigs for weeks.  So, I'm thinking it has been more than two weeks and they are just to lazy to change their opening credits.  Not that that excuses any of the crappy writing on the show.

[Camera One]

In this last episode, Rebecca said she'd been experimenting with the pigs for weeks.  So, I'm thinking it has been more than two weeks and they are just to lazy to change their opening credits.

The showrunners confirmed at Comic-Con it's only Week 3.  

[KaveDweller]

The showrunners confirmed at Comic-Con it's only Week 3.  

 

Well that's just ridiculous then.  I would think less of them about a continuity error than thinking that timeline makes sense.

[needschocolate]

This is week three.  They had 13 episodes the first season, and this was episode 5 of the second season, 18 episodes so far.  This means each episode is roughly a day under the dome. Wow, these people heal fast - physically and emotionally. 

 

Frankly, I have gotten so much enjoyment out of finding mistakes in this show that I was a little disappointed that Big Jim and the barber both had scars/wounds from the acid rain, I figured it would be gone and forgotten.  However, it seemed like Big Jim's wounds were smaller at the beginning of the episode, then got larger or more pronounced, and the barber's wounds should have been worse than they looked this episode, if it were really the next day -- So, I wasn't too disappointed that they remembered to put wounds, since they did such a bad job of it. 

[dr pepper]

I got curious, so i went to Zenith yesterday to poke around. The first thing i discovered was that there is no nearby town named Chester's Mill and no one has ever heard of such a town. There's no Pauline Rennie there either. In fact the only significant news there was about a mysterious airplane crash that killed a bunch of Hollywood writers. No bodies have been found so far, but then the plane was split in two, so it could take a while. The names of the writers have not been released yet, but rumors are that they were all passionately hated by a large segment of the viewing public for some reason.

[Jamoche]

Fortunately, the atheist scientist stereotypically knows nothing about use of the Holy water. To be fair, neither do I, but from http://catholiceducation.org/articles/religion/re0133.html :

As the priest passes through the congregation sprinkling them with the holy water...

 

 

...so it's highly unlikely the water would get in anyone's nose or eyes

Especially since that's only done on certain special occasions, mostly around Easter, and you barely get hit with enough water to even notice.

[AngelKitty]

UTD ranked 6th in the ratings last week - three of the top five were Big Brother episodes

 

Well, that explains it.  People just think it's a bigger version of Big Brother.

[random chance]

If they dumped the virus into the communion wine would the alcohol kill it?

[morakot]

300 people in a rural, farming area of about 78 square miles in late summer should be able to find or grow food sufficient to their needs. Even if some individuals do not have a garden, there must be abandoned gardens and farms belonging to the majority of the population who left town. Did no-one in the larger Chesters Mill community preserve anything? There would be no imported food like coffee, oranges or bananas, but that should be plenty. It's more than many a small self-sufficient medieval town would have had. (Of course, this is dependent on Joe's original estimate of a five mile radius and the center of the dome being in the middle of the woods. He is obviously not as brilliant as his science teacher.)

[random chance]

Well that's just ridiculous then.  I would think less of them about a continuity error than thinking that timeline makes sense.

I agree, it is completely absurd that this is only the third week. How are they running out of food inside of a month? Especially since electricity doesn't seem to be a problem, and it's not like they had a huge influx of outsiders, it's mostly people who lived there and presumably keep food in their homes.

In any case it's way too early for anyone to accept the idea of wiping out half the town with a virus. Which Virus Girl must have put into motion about ten minutes after the dome came down if this is the third week.

[shapeshifter]

How are they running out of food inside of a month?

Well, restaurants are known for wasting enough food to feed all the starving people in the world, and it seems like everyone eats at the diner, so...

So I guess they could run out of food, in which case they are probably all too stupid to live. Literally.

[Actionmage]

The showrunners confirmed at Comic-Con it's only Week 3.

 

I agree, it is completely absurd that this is only the third week

Not really; I covered the timeline up to the second episode of this season. (link:http://forums.previously.tv/topic/9338-past-seasons-talk-come-enjoy-half-a-bbq-cow/page-1; the sixth from the bottom.) At that point, I had calculated that it was from 12 to 19 days. At Episode 4, being into Week 3 isn't too far fetched. But this?

 

 

How are they running out of food inside of a month?

and this?

 

In any case it's way too early for anyone to accept the idea of wiping out half the town with a virus.

Is redonkulous.

 

Edited July 29, 2014 by Actionmage

[FAU]

This is week three.  They had 13 episodes the first season, and this was episode 5 of the second season, 18 episodes so far.  This means each episode is roughly a day under the dome. Wow, these people heal fast - physically and emotionally. 

 

Frankly, I have gotten so much enjoyment out of finding mistakes in this show that I was a little disappointed that Big Jim and the barber both had scars/wounds from the acid rain, I figured it would be gone and forgotten.  However, it seemed like Big Jim's wounds were smaller at the beginning of the episode, then got larger or more pronounced, and the barber's wounds should have been worse than they looked this episode, if it were really the next day -- So, I wasn't too disappointed that they remembered to put wounds, since they did such a bad job of it. 

 

That just makes all the characters' actions/reactions in the dome all the more ridiculous in that short amount of time.

[Sofie Fatale]

In the book crazier shit goes down in a much shorter space of time, so I'm not surprised by the length of time in the show. These people are living in

an alien

dome after all ;)

Edited July 31, 2014 by stacey
Spoiler tag

[Totale]

 

We all expect the faceless townspeople to instantly and without question believe whatever is being shouted at them.

 

Well, as far as the writers can see it works on the TV audience, so why not?

[Dobian]

I hate that I keep making myself watch this show, the writing, directing, and acting are so bad.  I can forgive plot inconsistencies and illogical behavior, people coming to the cafe every morning for their big pancake breakfasts when food is running low, but what does this show in is that I don't like any of the characters.  Give me someone I can root for, whether it's a good guy or a villain.  The closest they came was with Big Jim, but his act has already gotten old.  All of these characters are TV Trope 101.  None of them has a personality or is interesting in any way.  Even the teenagers are drips, it's like watching a bad soap opera.  But this is a trend on major network shows.  You look at a show like Breaking Bad, you have a villain in Walt you can root for.  (And you can also see how good Dean Norris can be when he's given a good script)  In the old Buffy the Vampire Slayer shows you have characters both good and bad with personality off the charts.  In Walking Dead the characters are so deeply drawn you really understand what they're all thinking and feeling.  The same with Lost.  The plot of that show may have been a train wreck, but at least the characters were well-written and heavily explored.  But this show is full of people I couldn't care less about, they're just cardboard cutouts, devices for the plot.

[Tippi Blevins]

I don't know why, but I decided to start watching this show again.

 

Aside from all the other reasons the swine flu plan was ridiculous, why did nobody consider that sick people would use up more of their precious resources? It's not like people just drop dead instantly, unless they're like those piglets. No, they get sick and start blowing through more toilet paper and tissues and Nyquil and fluids.

 

Also, Lyle and Sam and Pauline are supposed to be around the same age? Because yikes. Something in the Barbasol must be wreaking havoc with Lyle's aging process.