S03.E12: Incandescence

[formerlyfreedom]

When the Dome’s calcification process accelerates, Chester’s Mill has 24 hours before the barrier’s breakdown will suffocate everyone inside. While the new deadline puts added pressure on Joe to bring the Dome down, Barbie and Julia race to save his child from The Kinship. Also, Big Jim tries to manage the increasingly volatile Hektor, who is adamant that infected townspeople never escape the Dome.

 

 

[ottoDbusdriver]

When the Dome’s calcification process accelerates,

 

Because the Dome has been drinking more milk recently ?

 

Chester’s Mill has 24 hours before the barrier’s breakdown will suffocate everyone inside.

 

Not 23 hours, not 25 hours, but exactly 24 hours because ..... science !!!  Where's Rebecca when you need her ?  And if the air is so oxygen deprived at the walls that animals are dying, how come none of the humans are even acting a little sluggish from the lack of oxygen ?  And shouldn't they be more concerned about the buildup of carbon dioxide inside the Dome because that would kill them all before oxygen deprivation would since it's heavier than oxygen ?

 

While the new deadline puts added pressure on Joe to bring the Dome down

 

I guess that means fewer Pat Benatar music breaks, but seriously Christine has no backup plan to bring down the Dome -- this was "the plan" all along to get Joe to bring down the Dome based on that shitty very non-specific schematic (rocks and wavy lines are a little vague and would require a ton of trial and error to figure out).

 

Barbie and Julia race to save his child from The Kinship.

 

Racing around in the Prius, no doubt -- since it's the only working car under the Dome -- but who are they racing against ?  Each other ? Or does Christine have Junior and some Kinship redshirts pulling her around in a wagon ?  Shouldn't that statement have said that Barbie and Julia race against time to save his child from the Kinship ?  Because the time deadline is the big thing in this season finale, right ?  But won't Barbie's child still be infected with the Lifeforce -- and how will they cure the baby ?  And who will be nursing the baby all this time ?  And who is taking care of Harriet's baby since Fivehead gunned her down for no apparent reason ?

 

Also, Big Jim tries to manage the increasingly volatile Hektor, who is adamant that infected townspeople never escape the Dome.

 

And by "manage" you know that Big Jim is going to kill Hektor -- that's pretty much a given.  What is unknown is who else he will cap in the process -- Aktaion security guys, that lady scientist, Lily or maybe Hunter ?

Edited August 30, 2015 by ottoDbusdriver

[melonhead]

I've been binge watching this, and I wonder how Barbie has any teeth left. Seems he gets punched hard in the face pretty often.

[needschocolate]

Racing around in the Prius, no doubt -- since it's the only working car under the Dome -- but who are they racing against ?  Each other ? Or does Christine have Junior and some Kinship redshirts pulling her around in a wagon ?  Shouldn't that statement have said that Barbie and Julia race against time to save his child from the Kinship ?  Because the time deadline is the big thing in this season finale, right ?  But won't Barbie's child still be infected with the Lifeforce -- and how will they cure the baby ?  And who will be nursing the baby all this time ?  And who is taking care of Harriet's baby since Fivehead gunned her down for no apparent reason ?

 

Maybe it is a different sort of race against time and they are racing against baby Alienqueen's sped up aging proccess.  They don't have to worry about nursing because she was already feeding herself solids by her next feeding.  If they don't find her soon, they won't recognize her.  

[morgankobi]

Maybe it is a different sort of race against time and they are racing against baby Alienqueen's sped up aging proccess.  They don't have to worry about nursing because she was already feeding herself solids by her next feeding.  If they don't find her soon, they won't recognize her.  

It's a pretty white-bread town. They'll find her.

[ottoDbusdriver]

And we open the episode with Junior running through the woods.  Because, why not ?  As Junior comes to a road and watches Barbie and Julia drive by in the product placement Prius, Julia and Barbie are fighting about why, oh, why Barbie abandoned his baby.

 

After Barbie brings the car to a halt so he can go back and get "his baby", Julia finally gets through to him that the baby isn't human -- what with the 3 day gestation and all.  And that they need the cure to fix Barbie's baby -- and Barbie, being a complete idiot, states that "his baby" is the first one that gets it.  WTF ?  And you wonder why this show was canceled with writing like that.

 

Here's my question -- if the motel was withing walking distance of the town hall, where are Julia and Barbie driving to ?  Christine and the Kinship redshirts walk back and forth to the Dome wall regularly.

 

Big Jim and the rest of the rebellion have relocated to some industrial building.   Yet another building with lots of floor space that wasn't crushed by the Dome -- so why was everyone camping outside in tents back at the start of the season ?

 

Lily and Big Jim are up because Big Jim "can't sleep either", yet there is sunshine streaming in the doorway.  Why are they still sleeping ?  And wasn't it just pitch black out when Barbie and Julia were out for a drive ?  Lily and Big Jim discuss not murdering everyone that was infected.

 

Hector only came under the Dome to make things right -- uh no, he came to get the cure for Patrick, he's already said so.  So why is he sounding like he was so concerned about everyone else too.

 

This building they are in is a paper mill -- since when has there been a paper mill in Chester's Mill ? Or is this building the mill that was previously owned by Chester.  A building that we haven't seen before in 3 seasons of show.

 

Lady doctor declares that the umbilical cord of Barbie's baby contains the purest form of the virus -- how would she even know that ? Were there plenty of lifeforce-infected pregnant women OUTSIDE the Dome ?

 

Finally, the drone that was spotted at the daycare last episode comes into play -- they are going to use it to spy on the Kinship.  What have they been waiting for all this time ? FFS !!

 

Christine is touching the Dome wall and touching Barbie's baby/the Queen at the same time and draining the last of the Dome's energy into the baby.  Because the new Queen has to be cocooned.  Then for good measure, the purple Dome energy coalesces into tentacles that encircle the Queen's bassinet as the Dome continues its calcification.  Whatever.

 

As the Dome calcified, Christine tells Sam that "if the Dome seals up before the Queen is ready, the Kinship won't make it out of here alive."  Sure, why not ?

 

Big Jim questions Hektor and the Lady Doctor about the whole stem cells from the umbilical cord theory.  Hektor shows BIg Jim a canister filled with aluminum phosphide that's a grain fumigant that Hektor brought into preserve the cattle feed (really?) -- despite the fact that its poisonous.  Big Jim convinces Hektor to dispose of the fumigant as the camera pans back and we see the Lady Doctor was eavesdropping on their conversation.

 

Junior is back in Christine's office telling his tale of the cure and how he killed two guards.  Did Christine and Sam just leave the baby by the Dome wall ?  Junior is a little concerned about Eva, but seems to have completely forgotten about his harem of hotties (that are now all dead).  Junior is all pissy about Sam getting to help with the Queen.

 

Meanwhile, seniors are starting to drop like flies because of the lack of oxygen inside the Dome.

 

Christine brings Joe a glass of water -- which just seems random, plus isn't he worried she might have spiked the water with something since he's not of the Kinship ?  Stupid, stupid Joe.  Christine tells Joe that the heat is rising as the Dome hardens and she thinks that they have 24 hours left to breathe.  I wonder what the margin of error is on that guess -- plus or minus a billion percent ?

 

Joe needs to come up with a replacement energy source in lieu of the egg.  Christine gives Joe a pep talk and promises not to kill Fivehead.  Joe looks out the window and spies the radio transmission tower through the windows and you can almost see the lightbulb go off over this head.

 

Barbie and Julia find poor dead Eva in the motel room as Barbie looks for the umbilical cord in the trash -- except I don't remember anyone putting the umbilical cord in the trash after the birth, so WTF ?  As Julia covers up Eva's body she notices Eva's eyes have petichial hemorrhaging so they determine that Eva was suffocated.  In fact, she was MURDERED.

 

Lily is driving the drone as they watch the Kinship march in lines patrolling the Dome wall as Hunter notices the Dome calcifying. 

Where did all these senior citizens come from in Town Hall ?  Because none of them were in the cocoons at the start of the season.  Junior suggests it would be a good idea to start killing off the old and the weak to save air and resources for the rest of them.

 

The New Queen is going to get to choose a new Alpha -- oh goody, who will it be ?  Junior ? Sam ?  Indy ?

 

And Christine orders Junior to take the elderly to the lake and "do what needs to be done".  So first they killed off a dozen hotties for the Queen, and now they are going to drown a whole bunch of senior citizens.

 

Fivehead sneaks into Joe's lab because none of the Kinship are even bothering to guard, and Joe tells Fivehead he is going to use the radio tower transmitter to amplify the tones from the device.  Seriously, that is the plan ?  Fivehead at least has enough common sense to not trust Christine and her promises

 

Christine has found another voice recorder and is leaving even more messages for the Queen.  So why wasn't she using that one all along instead of using Julia's recorder -- WTF ?

 

Fivehead returns to the paper mill to give an update to everyone on Joe's progress as Lily spots some Kinship activity at the cement plant.  Fivehead calls Barbie and Julia -- who are back driving in the product placement Prius once again -- to tell them about the cement plant.  Seriously, Christine walked ALL the way to the cement plant, yet Barbie and Julia drive everywhere ?

 

For some reason, all the senior citizens walking to the lake (which is surprising since most of them couldn't even sit up just minutes ago) are all wearing the same blue shirt and black paint outfit.  Where did all those come from ?  And they all willingly walk into the lake like the good Kinship members that they are.

 

Big Jim meets the product placement Prius (seriously, the Prius is getting a lot of screen time this episode) to pick up the bag containing the umbilical cord and Barbie promises Big Jim that he will kill Christine -- and Big Jim asks that Christine's death not be slow.  As the Prius drives off, Big Jim tells Indy that there is no curing the mutants and pitches the bag into the ditch.  Somehow, I think some animal will eat the umbilical cord and become ALL POWERFUL with the LifeForce.

 

Turns out that Christine stashed the Queen in her purple tentacled bassinet in the cement factory so she could become cocooned.  Christine does some monologuing (even though there is no one around to hear it) and then begins transferring more purple LifeForce energy from herself to the cocoon.  And the CGI is just so bad.  Like really, really bad.

 

Barbie and Julia sneak into the cement plant despite the fact there are loads of Kinship guards around the plant, and Barbie shots a guard dead before they move onto find Christine and the cocoon.  Barbie interrupts the energy transfer from Christine and the cocoon explodes as the Queen emerges running like 'The Flash'.  Barbie decides to chase after 'his baby' as Julia keeps a gun on Christine.  Turns out that the energy drain removed all the LifeForce from Christine and now her reflection is back to normal and her stomach wound is healed.  So Christine starts sobbing since she is no longer of the Kinship. 

 

After Barbie returns from chasing the Poor Man's Flash, he returns to the cocoon and asks Christine where his kid is -- because Barbie is not too fast the uptake and expected his baby to still be in the cocoon (having survived the explosion I guess).  Christine tells Barbie that the thing was "his baby".

 

The Lady Doctor confronts Hektor about his lies, but Hektor pulls a gun on her.  Lily is walking around the paper mill and spots blood dripping from above so she heads up to check it out.  Where she finds Hektor hiding a body, so I guess Hektor killed the Lady Doctor (good thing he had that silencer so Lily didn't hear the gunshot).  So much for the cure.

 

Dr. Bloom (the Lady Doctor does have a name) disagreed with Hektor on the plan to kill everyone so he killed her -- Dr. Bloom didn't really think things out beforehand not to see that coming.  So Hektor's plan is to kill Joe so the Dome stays up so the Kinship doesn't get out. 

 

Barbie and Julia walk with Christine and pepper her with questions about the Kinship agenda -- why aren't they taking the Prius ? And why aren't there any Kinship guards around the cement plant -- when Christine spots a pond and remembers ordering all the senior citizens to their deaths, and yells that they have to get to the lake.

 

As Sam watches the last of the senior citizens march to their deaths in the lake, Sam spots Junior walking towards the lake with a troop of children (seriously, where have these kids been all the time, because none of them were in the cocoons either) to usher them to their deaths too.  And for some reason, all the kids are wearing matching blue shirts and black pants -- WTF ?  Was there a sale somewhere ?

 

For some reason, Sam thinks that killing the children is too much as they are needed for the future, but Junior is insistent that they have to go, so Sam agrees.

 

Hunter finds Lily tied up in the paper mill and calls Fivehead to help untie her.
 
Meanwhile, Big Jim is down in the bomb shelter with Indy taking money out of a vault in the wall.  Lily calls Big Jim to warn him about Hektor and tells him to get to the radio station before he kills Joe.  Big Jim leaves Indy in the bomb shelter -- I hope he put out a bowl of water for Indy, because Big Jim might be gone at least 24 hours.

 

Joe and a Kinship redshirt are searching the remains of the radio station (yet another building that Big Jim burned to the ground that no one put out), and find the transmitter.  Joe just assumes that there was no heat damage from the fire and no impact damage from things falling on it.  And then there's the fact that there is no power since the solar panels are back at Town Hall.

 

And the product placement Prius is back again (Toyota must have paid big for this episode) as Barbie, Julia and Christine arrive at the lake to see Junior leading the children into the lake.  Christine tells Sam to take the children back to Town Hall, but one kid keeps heading for the lake behind Christine.  Christine sends Junior to join Sam as she attempts to save the lone child entering the lake.  As Christine saves the child, Junior figures out that Christine is no longer our Queen and tries to choke her to death but not before Barbie hits Junior in the back of the head with the butt of his gun, but this doesn't even phase super-Junior and the fight goes badly for Barbie.  But Julia saves Barbie not only with twu wuv but also a crow bar (where did she get a crow bar from ?  That's not standard equipment on a Prius).  The thing I don't get is that Julia still has her gun -- why didn't she just shoot super-Junior in the head while Barbie was on the ground ?  WTF ?

 

As Joe and Kinship redshirt (technically he is wearing one of these stylish blue shirts that are all the rage with the Kinship) leave the radio station with the transmitter, an Aktaion security guard shoots the redshirt in the shoulder and the redshirt shoots the security guard dead (even though the guard is wearing body armor) but a second Aktaion security guard kills the redshirt.  As Joe hides in the debris, the security guard searches through the burnt out radio station (I'm surprised no one has tripped over the charred corpse of Dodie Miller yet), Fivehead guns the security guard down with extreme prejudice.

 

As Joe and Fivehead go to leave with the transmitter, Hektor gets the drop on them and makes Fivehead drop her gun.  As he goes to kill Joe, Big Jim shoots Hektor in the stomach and then as Hektor pleads with him Big Jim kills Hektor.  Smell ya later Hektor.

 

Meanwhile, back at the paper mill Hunter is having a problem believing that Christine is no longer with the Kinship.  Lily tells Barbie and Julia that Dr. Bloom is dead so there is no cure forthcoming.

 

Barbie is all angsty about "his baby", and Julia finally convinces him that the baby is not human.  Barbie agrees that his child is a monster.

 

As Christine goes to lay down on a cot near a window, she closes the window (because the air is fresher inside the paper mill) and as she nods off a shadow goes over her body.  When Christine looks up she sees a young woman who looks like Eva and is fully dressed.  It's the Queen !!  And the Queen drags Christine to the Dome wall because Christine has something she needs -- and she throws Christine against the Dome wall where she sticks to it via some blue energy.  The Queen pushes Christine into the wall and Christine becomes all Lifeforce shimmery before disappearing as the new Queen marches off.

 

How does the new Queen speak so well -- and dress so stylishly ?  Is that where she ran off to after being born -- a clothing store ?

 

And this episode is called 'Incandescence' because why ?  Were the writers just picking words out of the dictionary ?

Edited September 4, 2015 by ottoDbusdriver

[xaxat]

Little Eva has some fierce fashion sense for a day old baby!

 

Look, it's the radio station! Dodi, DJ Sheriff Phil. . . good times.

 

Was the announcer selling the finale during that teaser or what? Did he actually say "holy moley"? I WILL NOT MISS!

[thuganomics85]

Ha!  I swear I missed last week's previews, so I'm tickled that I was right that Baby Queen ends up getting aged up (due to cocoon bullshit), and she looks like Eva, outside of some funky hair.  I just figured there would have been no point at making Kylie Bunbury a regular, if she was just going to get killed off with two episodes left. Anyway, I would be more excited, but she is pretty dull in the few seconds we saw of her.  Come on, Kylie!  Don't underplay this shit: devour the scenery like it's the last meal you will ever have!

 

So, basically, the big plot was that Christine gave her life-force to the Queen, but since Barbie/Julia interrupted it, we briefly got to see the "real" Christine for a second, only to kill her off.  Whatever, it was lame.  Marg Helgenberger just slummed it like normal.  It's like Dean Norris is the only one who is having fun on this show.

 

Stupid Hektor goes nuts, and decides that no one can be allowed outside of the Dome, so he kills Dr. Bloom (sadly, not Alana Bloom from Hannibal.  What I would give for Dr. Lector to show up here and increase the body-count...), but only ties up Lily, so she tells everyone about his "brilliant" plan to kill Joe, so Norrie takes out the soldiers, and Jim finishes off Hektor himself.  Yep, that's it. A waste of Eriq La Salle.

 

Joe figures out that the transmitter from the radio station can substitute, which delights me since that reminded me of Sheriff DJ Phil. I miss him.  I mean, yes, he was lame, but I at least found that whole story-line stupidly entertaining.

 

Junior and Sam basically send all the old Kinship guys to their deaths, and almost took out the children too, until Human Christine stop them.  I'm guessing they're the ones who are going to duke it out to be the Queen's "alpha."  Either way, The Queen looses that one.

 

Next week is finally it!  I wish I could be more excited; really I do; but I just found this season to be more dull, then entertaining.  CBS made the right call, which is something I rarely type.

[bmoore4026]

Ooooo, that was a bad wig.  I assume it was a wig.

 

And apparently everyone is going to get arrested and carried off by the army for the series finale.  Anyone going to tune in or watch the 25th Anniversary (Christ!  25 years!) of Ken Burns' The Civil War.  I'll be doing the latter but maybe tune in at the last five minutes or so to see everyone get dragged away kicking and screaming and hope a butterfly flutters past and says "We're so sorry for the last three years" before everything goes black. 

[KaveDweller]

My favorite part was when Barbie said the thing from the cocoon couldn't be his baby because she was born a day ago.  The thing was conceived two days before that and he didn't question anything.  So ridiculous.

[wayne67]

Stupid Hektor goes nuts, and decides that no one can be allowed outside of the Dome, so he kills Dr. Bloom (sadly, not Alana Bloom from Hannibal.  What I would give for Dr. Lector to show up here and increase the body-count...), but only ties up Lily, so she tells everyone about his "brilliant" plan to kill Joe, so Norrie takes out the soldiers, and Jim finishes off Hektor himself.  Yep, that's it. A waste of Eriq La Salle.

 

I'm not sure it's such a bad plan. Everyone under the Dome are morons or violent sociopaths with the exception of Joe. Barbie kept going on about the humanity of his baby that went from a gamete to a baby in 2 days. Also letting these violent aliens loose upon the planet to repopulate seems like a bad idea what with their hive mind mentality and their complete disregard for human and others of their species.

 

My favorite part was when Barbie said the thing from the cocoon couldn't be his baby because she was born a day ago.  The thing was conceived two days before that and he didn't question anything.  So ridiculous.

 

Barbie has been even stupider than usual this season. It's been painful to watch.

[Blue Plastic]

Well, not sorry to see Hektor go.  His demise was violent and trademark Big Jim, but Christine's apparent demise wasn't very satisfactory.  She was just as annoying in human mode as she had been as "alien queen," just less bossy, and meekly went to her death at the hands of Jacked-Up Alien Baby instead of getting taken to task by the people she's tormented all these...last couple of days, ahem.  In the end the audience doesn't even get a "big bad" because everything is coming from some glowy CGI alien race that comes and infects humans and makes them do things they otherwise wouldn't do.  We don't even really know Christine at all.  There is no satisfaction from this story at all IMO.  Bleh.  What a waste of air time.

 

Jacked-Up Alien Baby's cocoon looked so bad.  So bad.  And it took Barbie the whole episode to realize his "child" wasn't normal!  Things are getting pretty bad when Julia is the brain trust in the relationship!

 

Now my only hope for satisfaction is that Junior meets a violent end but I suppose even that will be denied me, given this show's track record.

[Dowel Jones]

Well, if the whole thing goes south and the dome completely calcifies, the neighboring towns could always advertise it as the world's largest Sno-Cone.

[Accidental Martyr]

Why did everyone start dressing the same all of a sudden? Who went and found all those matching clothes? Was that supposed to be a nod to the Heaven's Gate cult?

[tv echo]

OK - this episode was bad, really bad. 

 

Once again, someone does evil things but gets 'redeemed' somehow - this time, it's Christine "The Lifeforce Made Me Do It" Price.

 

Joe - a smart high school teen - is the only one who can figure out how to bring the Dome down?  No adult braniacs left in town (or even outside the Dome), really?

 

So they basically killed off all of the senior citizens in town (by walking them into the lake) but saved the children?  Are we sure the Dome isn't over Hollywood and not Chesters Mill?  Wait, I get it.  The Kinship is really a conglomerate of Hollywood and Advertising power brokers.

 

And using the lake for the forced mass suicides is pretty stupid, considering it's their only natural water source.  All those dead bodies are going to pollute the lake pretty quickly.

 

Junior is getting more and more annoying.  When is he going to be eaten by the Kinship? (V reference, in case you're wondering.)

 

I thought Julia was a journalist and not a doctor? Yet she manages to diagnose Eva's cause of death with a visual examination.

 

The same actress who played Eva is now playing her daughter, the Queen, but now has her father's (Barbie's) eyes?  Really?  

 

I am so sick of the supernaturally accelerated growth of baby girl (or boy) trope. Just went through that on Falling Skies, before that on Stargate SG-1 and Angel, and way before that on V.

 

Barbie did a pretty quick 180 from wanting to save his child to deciding she's a monster.  Apparently everything's accelerated on this show (his love affair with Julia, baby growth, villain redemptions, plot changes, etc.).

Edited September 4, 2015 by tv echo

[Julie23]

I laughed out loud when I saw that the same actress was being used for the baby queen as her mother, except with a really bad wig and colored contacts. Wow, that is low budget sci-fy right there!

More of the 2,000 people we've never seen before appear in their first, and last episode (bye senior citizens!)

I agree about the matching outfits, where did those come from. Is there a Farm-n-Fleet under the dome?

Speaking of changing clothes, how have these people showered in the last four weeks? Or releived themselves? They all looked clean, with shiny hair.

Honestly, I can't wait for this show to end my misery of watching it.

.

[Primetimer]

With the Dome coming down 'tomorrow,' it's time to thin the herd so those crowd scenes don't get too expensive in the series finale. In other words: in this penultimate episode, a bunch of people die.

Read the story

[RachelPol]

I love that Julia is still so invested in Barbie when one of the major plot points from the pilot was that he killed her husband and that was 4 weeks ago! I wouldn't put all my intergalactic eggs in basket, Barbie, she'll forget about you in 3 hrs.

[WordsWordsWords]

I missed this episode because my local CBS affiliate thought preseason football was more important (and not my team -- which would have been more important -- but the Carolina Panthers who are never important, to me anyway). What a mishmash the ep must have been, to judge by the comments here and the recap. Now I suppose I'll go look at the CBS website and see if the ep's available for watching. The masochism is strong in me.

[LoneHaranguer]

 

But Julia saves Barbie not only with twu wuv but also a crow bar (where did she get a crow bar from ?  That's not standard equipment on a Prius).

It looked like a tire iron to me, but probably not from a Prius. AFAIK, no modern car has one that big because every ounce counts. Some cars don't have one at all since they don't even have room for a spare tire.

 

If throwing someone against the dome results in the dome converting them into the energy it needs, why wouldn't you do that with the elderly drones rather than drown them?

[Big Mother]

For what it's worth, when is the last time we even saw anyone in this town eat?

 

This season,the show isn't focusing on functioning in their every day lives, but on the alien war. It baffles me, for instance, how the US gov't would just give up on trying to take the dome down. This would be an international news item and the world would be galvanized to help (like with the 33 chilean miners, remember?)  I went and watched the pilot episode yesterday and was amazed at how this is simply not the same show as the first episode. That episode was AWESOME.  It all made sense. Now, nothing makes sense.

[ottoDbusdriver]

It looked like a tire iron to me, but probably not from a Prius. AFAIK, no modern car has one that big because every ounce counts. Some cars don't have one at all since they don't even have room for a spare tire.

 

Yep, upon further review, it was a tire iron.  I liked the fact that when Julia hit Junior in the head it made a steel clanging sound like she was hitting steel on steel.  I don't even think the sound effects guys care anymore.

[Gudzilla]

Big Jim better watch out Norrie is closing in on his kill total.

 

Speaking of kills I'm not very impressed by the Aktaion security guys.

 

Poor Marg Helgenberger. I've heard of actors chewing up the scenery but this is the first time I've seen the scenery chew up the actor.

 

 

I liked the fact that when Julia hit Junior in the head it made a steel clanging sound like she was hitting steel on steel.

That may have been the series highlight for me. Junior was a pothead.

 

So we have 1 more episode for TPTB to prove to us that Junior is just "misunderstood".

 

I hope the kinship all become lumberjacks.

Edited September 4, 2015 by Gudzilla

[Accidental Martyr]

I laughed out loud when I saw that the same actress was being used for the baby queen as her mother, except with a really bad wig and colored contacts. Wow, that is low budget sci-fy right there!

Everything about this show just seems so amateurish. The writing, the acting, the effects....

[Texasmom1970]

Damn thought we had gotten rid of Ava. Now we have alien Ava 2.0 with some ugly ass hair and wearing a slutty shirt.

Barbie you are cute but thus season your stupidity and annoyance is overpowering your looks. I keep wanting to knock the hell out if you.

On the positive side no more sexy, goo time with Junior and Christine!

Damn thought we had gotten rid of Ava. Now we have alien Ava 2.0 with some ugly ass hair and wearing a slutty shirt.

Barbie you are cute but thus season your stupidity and annoyance is overpowering your looks. I keep me from wanting to knock the hell out if you.

On the positive side no more sexy, goo time with Junior and Christine!

Edited September 5, 2015 by Texasmom1970

[WordsWordsWords]

Now I've finally slogged through the episode on the website (and CBS does not make it easy to watch on their website -- just sayin'). I will watch Dean Norris in just about anything, folks, and I'm glad this series is nearly over. Mike Vogel continues to be quite pretty, despite the bruises and lacerations. And I want to see if Indy lives. Otherwise, I'm marking time till The End.

 

As a former actor (I don't care for the term actress and never have -- even back in the '60s and '70s when I was one), I know what it is to work with material you simply cannot believe in. These actors are all showing the signs. As a writer now, I see the signs in the dialogue and plotting of writers who weren't given clear outlines and direction. You can't write believable dialogue that actors can speak convincingly if the overall supervision isn't there. (It's different if you're writing on your own. This type of writing is more collaborative.)

 

Those are my opinions anyway. *grin* And you know what they say about opinions and noses. We all have one.

[FishyJoe]

My favorite special effect was the baby cocoon, which looked like a giant purple penis surrounded by a huge pink turd. Might be the highlight of this show other than Marg Helgenberger's boobs.

[needschocolate]

Well, I was right - sort of - I thought the new queen would grow so fast that Barbie wouldn't recognize her.  He shot at "his baby." Good thing he missed or we would have had to suffer through a scene of him all upset over killing her.  And Julia trying to console him - like she did with her "I know how you feel."  I glad Barbie told her off.  Like she really has any clue what it would be like to parent an alien queen who was born three days after conception.  

 

I had to keep re-watching that scene where Christine is giving up the last of her life force and Barbie pulls her out causing the cocoon to explode and the new queen to go flying through the tunnel and Barbie goes chasing after her - I had to keep re-watching it because I kept laughing so hard that it took me 4-5 tries before I actually saw the whole thing.  That was so incredibly bad, I am almost convinced that they writers think they are writing a parody.  

 

I realize that getting the lifeforce sucked out of you and saving a chiild from drowning and becoming human again and almost getting choked to death can be a bit draining, but Christine just suddenly needs a nap?  The dome is calcifying, the queen is flying loose, the people she left in charge are randomly deciding to kill off hundreds of people, and she decides this is a good time to take a nap?  

 

I guess there must be some rule that a main character can't get shot.  Yeah, Hektor was shot, but he was only there for a few episodes, I don't count him as a main character.  Has this no-shooting-a-main-characer thing been around since the start?  The minister (and the sherriff?) was killed by the dome supercharging his hearing aid, Doodie (and Jr's mom?) died by fire, Joe's sister was axed, Christine was calcified, etc...

 

And because it needs to be asked every episode - How stupid are these people?  Junior with his super strength almost kills Christine and Barbie, until Julia gives him 40 whacks with a tire iron.  Okay, I get that they can't shoot a main character (see last paragraph), but after he is lying there in the grass, no one bothers to check and see if he still has a pulse? No one thinks of tying him up and taking him to one of the many abandoned factories?  

 

And speaking of stupid things --- They decide to get rid of the old people to save oxygen, and the old people, being lemmings, are happy to go along with the idea.  Why waste all that oxygen making the old people walk all the way to the lake?  Why not just shoot them or poison them or give them each a razor blade?

 

 

This season,the show isn't focusing on functioning in their every day lives, but on the alien war. It baffles me, for instance, how the US gov't would just give up on trying to take the dome down. This would be an international news item and the world would be galvanized to help (like with the 33 chilean miners, remember?)  I went and watched the pilot episode yesterday and was amazed at how this is simply not the same show as the first episode. That episode was AWESOME.  It all made sense. Now, nothing makes sense.

 

Amazing that we would consider a dome dropping down out of nowhere, chopping a cow in half in the process, as being something that makes sense, but compared to everything that happened since then, it did make sense.  

 

Hektor attempted explaining the lack of interference by the military - he said something about how the government isn't going to want to admit that aliens landed and took over a town.  Of course, this doesn't make sense either - Did all those people that went to see the parade in a neighboring town just give up on the idea of ever seeing their friends and family again?  

[needschocolate]

What if the entrance to the dome that is under the lake wasn't just an entrance, but it also allowed people to leave and now there are a bunch of wet old people wandering around Zenith?  

[Johnny Dollar]

For a town that had to use cattle feed to feed its citizens, I was very impressed with their ability to rustle up 2,000-odd match blue tee shirts.

Loved the use of the actress who played Eva to play the daughter, albeit with an incredibly cheesy wig. Great money saver in the casting department. Money that was well spent on the blue tee shirts.

I can't believe that next week is the series finale! I am so bummed. This show is like crack to me. Or pizza with extra cheese.

[ottoDbusdriver]

I guess there must be some rule that a main character can't get shot.  Yeah, Hektor was shot, but he was only there for a few episodes, I don't count him as a main character.  Has this no-shooting-a-main-characer thing been around since the start?  The minister (and the sherriff?) was killed by the dome supercharging his hearing aid, Doodie (and Jr's mom?) died by fire, Joe's sister was axed, Christine was calcified, etc...

 

Nope, there's no rule against main characters getting shot -- Julia was shot in the chest by Maxine Seagrave in Season 1, Big Jim was shot in the left shoulder by Junior (and had his right foot stabbed with a knife by Julia) in Season 2 and Junior was shot in the left shoulder in Season 3 (by Big Jim as payback), but it was repaired by the cocoons.  While Julia had her gunshot wound treated in the hospital and nearly died, Big Jim just walked off his gunshot wound completely untreated like it was a splinter.

 

DJ Sheriff Phil was shot on two separate occasions, once in each shoulder, but those weren't what killed him.

 

ETA:  I rewatched that final scene with Queen E and Christine -- Queen E throws Christine against the Dome wall and that blue energy traps and restrains Christine against the wall, yet in the very next scene when Queen E pushes Christine into the wall Christine is about a two feet away from the wall.  But they just showed her trapped against the wall.  WTF ?

 

Not only did Queen E find the time to hit up a hair salon (because her hair is bouncing and behaving and appears to have been professionally cut), a makeup store (since she has lots of eye makeup on) and a clothing store to get herself some stylish clothes (tight black top, green pants and calf high boots) but apparently she went underwear shopping too and found herself a nice bra.  I guess that's why she had to run so fast -- to hit all those stores before they closed for the day, or maybe to browse all the 'Dome Calcification day' specials.  </sarcasm>  And for good measure, Queen E's pants were pre-stressed -- one knee already had a hole in it.

 

The bigger question -- why would aliens care about underwear ?  According to George Lucas, there's no underwear in space.

Edited September 5, 2015 by ottoDbusdriver

[needschocolate]

Nope, there's no rule against main characters getting shot -- Julia was shot in the chest by Maxine Seagrave in Season 1, Big Jim was shot in the left shoulder by Junior (and had his right foot stabbed with a knife by Julia) in Season 2 and Junior was shot in the left shoulder in Season 3 (by Big Jim as payback), but it was repaired by the cocoons.  While Julia had her gunshot wound treated in the hospital and nearly died, Big Jim just walked off his gunshot wound completely untreated like it was a splinter.

 

DJ Sheriff Phil was shot on two separate occasions, once in each shoulder, but those weren't what killed him.

 

I didn't make it clear in my original post, but I meant that there must be some sort of rule that main characters can't die by gunshot wound - they die from other reasons like being crushed (Linda) or by fire (Dodee) or stabbing (Angie) or electrocution (the reverend) or smothering (Eva).  However, gunshots don't seem to affect them much.  Sure, Julia almost died, but she was up and running around a day or two later (in Dome time).  Has there ever been a main character that was shot to death?  

 

And I don't count Hektor as a main character, even if he is played by a "big name," because he was a only in a few episodes and I consider him more as just another plot diversion. But maybe that is because I can't seem to wrap my head around his plan and his motive - was he trying to protect himself from getting in trouble for something and that is why he told tech girl that they will never leave the dome, did he want to kill the drones to keep the infection from spreading and protect humanity, or was he trying desperately to find a cure to save his friend?  

 

Changing the subject - I watched this episode rather late at night and was a big groggy, so when Christine said to Junior that "Children are out future" I expected her to break into song - "...Treat them well and let them lead the way.  Show them all the beauty they possess inside...."  I am really glad she didn't, as I thought she did a horrible job singing the lullaby to Eva, but this show is so ridiculous at this point that if it suddenly became a musical, I wouldn't be surprised.  

 

They keep saying there are 2,000 people, but we have only seen a 100 or so.  The other 1,900 drones were apparently toiling away in the Chesters Mill garment district making matching outfits.

Edited September 5, 2015 by needschocolate

[xaxat]

Were the old people walking into the lake literally wearing cement shoes? They all sank straight to the bottom.

[ottoDbusdriver]

I didn't make it clear in my original post, but I meant that there must be some sort of rule that main characters can't die by gunshot wound - they die from other reasons like being crushed (Linda) or by fire (Dodee) or stabbing (Angie) or electrocution (the reverend) or smothering (Eva).  However, gunshots don't seem to affect them much.  Sure, Julia almost died, but she was up and running around a day or two later (in Dome time).  Has there ever been a main character that was shot to death?  

 

Dodee was shot and killed by Big Jim before Big Jim before set fire to the radio station to cover up her death.  

 

Other than Dodee, I think all the gunshot deaths were reserved for secondary characters.

Edited September 5, 2015 by ottoDbusdriver

[Blue Plastic]

What if the entrance to the dome that is under the lake wasn't just an entrance, but it also allowed people to leave and now there are a bunch of wet old people wandering around Zenith?  

I hope this is what happened!  I think I'm going to pretend it did.

 

And speaking of stupid things --- They decide to get rid of the old people to save oxygen, and the old people, being lemmings, are happy to go along with the idea.  Why waste all that oxygen making the old people walk all the way to the lake?  Why not just shoot them or poison them or give them each a razor blade?

Probably they just needed an excuse to get everybody outside so that later after Christine is de-alienized she can see Junior trying to drown the children, run over to stop it, and have it be discovered that she is no longer the queen.  Poisoning could be done quietly inside and shooting would not require marching around all over creation, either.  But it was dumb.  If the older adults were suffering more from the effects of low oxygen under the Dome, even while just lying quietly on cots, they probably would have been dropping like flies on their way out to the lake.

 

My burning question is why Eva 2.0 has super speed.  Christine was supposed to be an alien queen and she didn't have that stuff.  Maybe it was because she was an "old" queen and wasn't born as an alien.  But I think Eva 2.0 has super speed because she would have been nude after popping out of that ridiculous cocoon so she had to run fast so the audience wouldn't see it and head into town to find some clothes and makeup!  Kinda funny.  I wouldn't necessarily think that would be a bloodthirsty alien's first thought.  Wouldn't she just have killed Christine right there?

 

The actor who plays Joe is bugging me with his acting.

Edited September 5, 2015 by Blue Plastic

[Hobo.PassingThru]

Did anyone else notice how the characters- via their dialogue- raised the issues of contradictions in the storylines?

 

For instance, Joe asked why he was being relied upon to solve the dome calcification problem when he was just a kid, and, Barbie finally realized how stupid the notion of a fully grown offspring was given she was just conceived three days earlier.

 

I'm sure it was just the writers knowing they had to wrap it up because the cancellation was written in stone before the final episodes were shot (that must've been the case). But, the self-awareness of the skewed logic of the  story popped up several times in this episode.

 

As for the people being marched into the lake: I, too, hope they were going to sink down and then drop down into Zenith because I was quite disturbed that there were no floating bodies in the lake. You'd think that people who drown en masse would float for a while. But, there was no sign of that. God forbid they use some of those 1980s movie CGI graphics to show dead bodies in the water, like they used 1980s level graphics to show the cocoon and the purple whatsit that was wrapped around the cocoon.

Edited September 6, 2015 by Hobo.PassingThru

[wayne67]

What I find curious about this entire plot line is that they've completely ignored how Oxygen works.

 

Even if the Dome calcified completely they'd still have the air inside the Dome and they have bloody trees which produce oxygen from the CO2 these morons are pumping out with their babbling dialogue. They wouldn't die in a day...

 

Also if there's no power going to the Dome and the Dome has merely calcified than a simple hammer should be able to crack the non powered dome and evacuate if necessary.

 

As for Hector if he really wanted to stop the problem he'd get the Army to go in (after he told them how to get past the booby trapping) and massacre the infected town folks and quarantine the entire area.

 

If the Lifeforce aliens are the 'good aliens' than they really should work on their communication skills. Inform the government that there are incoming alien hostiles and they need to prepare instead of relying completely on purple eggs and amethysts and teenagers for their master plan.

[Hobo.PassingThru]

It wouldn't surprise me if the new queen is gonna eat up all the Chester Millians who don't end up shooting each other.

 

One of the aspects of the show that amuses me, in a twisted fashion, is the people of that town have run out of gasoline; they don't have power or electricity to run things they take for granted--except for their shiny, new electric car and assorted plot devices; they  barely have enough potable water; they  are probably rationing food, and, they have a dwindling amount of oxygen to breath; but, boy, do they have bullets. Lots of bullets. They don't even need to change bullet clips in their guns. All they need to do is shoot until someone is dead.

Edited September 6, 2015 by Hobo.PassingThru

[Big Mother]

 

 

 

Amazing that we would consider a dome dropping down out of nowhere, chopping a cow in half in the process, as being something that makes sense, but compared to everything that happened since then, it did make sense.  

 

 

What I was trying to say was that in season 1, episode 1, the reactions to the dome made sense. We saw people scrambling to the hospital. We saw big Jim getting on the airwaves and urging people to stop their cars. We saw the military trying to help, we saw a truck crash into the dome, etc. The after-effects of the dome made sense. now, 2 seasons later, this town is just an abandoned  place full of zombies and they're all killing each other. It makesno sense.

[Hobo.PassingThru]

Here's to hoping it ends with a rousing rendition of choreographed song and dance performed by the whole cast, featuring characters alive and previously dead, of "Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto".

 

Domo

Domo

 

Domo

Domo!

[needschocolate]

What I find curious about this entire plot line is that they've completely ignored how Oxygen works.

 

Even if the Dome calcified completely they'd still have the air inside the Dome and they have bloody trees which produce oxygen from the CO2 these morons are pumping out with their babbling dialogue. They wouldn't die in a day...

 

If the writers understood how oxygen works, which is very unlikely, because they haven't shown much understanding of anything remotely scientific, they could have gone with "The dome is calcifying and soon the sunlight won't be able to shine through and it will get so cold that we will all die" but they used that one before.  I suppose they could have gone the opposite route of "the dome is calcifying and without airflow it will be like a greenhouse that keeps getting hotter until we all die."  Of course, if they are going to start have the dome behave correctly in a scientific sense, then they should probably use a different word than "calcify."

 

Actually, now that I think about it, the writers haven't shown much understanding of things that are more general knowledge/logic, either - like a woman falling madly in love with the man 3 days after he killed her husband, or how long it takes to build things, or how people behave when they think they are going to be trapped in a dome forever (except for a few scenes in the beginning), or that having parents that are deaf wouldn't make a person be able to read lips**, or how to wear a bandage, or how long gunshot wounds take to heal, etc...

 

** For some reason, I just can't let go of that lip reading thing.  Perhaps because it was the first really illogical thing I noticed and it started my love of making fun of this show.  There had been other illogical things before this, but they could be overlooked because this is science fiction**** and I could just say it was because of the dome.  But there were better ways to explain why someone would know how to read lips - like working in a radio station where they may want to tell each other information but don't want to keep turning on and off the mics. 

 

**** Maybe, to the writers "Science Fiction" means "none of the science is true"

[Free]

OK - this episode was bad, really bad. 

 

Once again, someone does evil things but gets 'redeemed' somehow - this time, it's Christine "The Lifeforce Made Me Do It" Price.

 

Joe - a smart high school teen - is the only one who can figure out how to bring the Dome down?  No adult braniacs left in town (or even outside the Dome), really?

 

So they basically killed off all of the senior citizens in town (by walking them into the lake) but saved the children?  Are we sure the Dome isn't over Hollywood and not Chesters Mill?  Wait, I get it.  The Kinship is really a conglomerate of Hollywood and Advertising power brokers.

 

And using the lake for the forced mass suicides is pretty stupid, considering it's their only natural water source.  All those dead bodies are going to pollute the lake pretty quickly.

 

Junior is getting more and more annoying.  When is he going to be eaten by the Kinship? (V reference, in case you're wondering.)

 

I thought Julia was a journalist and not a doctor? Yet she manages to diagnose Eva's cause of death with a visual examination.

 

The same actress who played Eva is now playing her daughter, the Queen, but now has her father's (Barbie's) eyes?  Really?  

 

I am so sick of the supernaturally accelerated growth of baby girl (or boy) trope. Just went through that on Falling Skies, before that on Stargate SG-1 and Angel, and way before that on V.

 

Barbie did a pretty quick 180 from wanting to save his child to deciding she's a monster.  Apparently everything's accelerated on this show (his love affair with Julia, baby growth, villain redemptions, plot changes, etc.).

 

It really is, add in a rushed wrap up and it's a complete mess.

 

As for what someone else said, this season focused on a tired alien plot.

[Accidental Martyr]

Yep, upon further review, it was a tire iron.  I liked the fact that when Julia hit Junior in the head it made a steel clanging sound like she was hitting steel on steel.  I don't even think the sound effects guys care anymore.

Maybe Junior now has a super alien titanium skull.

[ByTor]

Here's to hoping it ends with a rousing rendition of choreographed song and dance performed by the whole cast, featuring characters alive and previously dead, of "Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto".

 

Domo

Domo

 

Domo

Domo!

I would actually pay to see this :)

 

 

Dodee was shot and killed by Big Jim before Big Jim before set fire to the radio station to cover up her death.

Thanks for mentioning that, I swore I remembered Big Jim shooting and killing Dodee.

 

And using the lake for the forced mass suicides is pretty stupid, considering it's their only natural water source.  All those dead bodies are going to pollute the lake pretty quickly.and Angel, and way before that on V.

In a perverse way I think it kind of made sense.  If the dome comes down, there will be other water sources; if not they're all dead anyway, so the lake being polluted doesn't make a difference. 

 

Why did everyone start dressing the same all of a sudden? Who went and found all those matching clothes? Was that supposed to be a nod to the Heaven's Gate cult?

Heaven's Gate was exactly what I thought of from that scene.

[Accidental Martyr]

Heaven's Gate was exactly what I thought of from that scene.

I was actually looking to see if they were all wearing matching Nike shoes.

[Gudzilla]

My favorite special effect was the baby cocoon, which looked like a giant purple penis surrounded by a huge pink turd. Might be the highlight of this show other than Marg Helgenberger's boobs.

Right before her death they were the definition of the phrase "heaving bosoms"

[ByTor]

Right before her death they were the definition of the phrase "heaving bosoms"

Yeah, those puppies were really standing at attention!

[morgankobi]

For what it's worth, when is the last time we even saw anyone in this town eat?

Oh, yeah. Remember when they were discussing killing off part of the population so there would be enough food for the more productive members to last a while longer? Sigh

 

I love this bit: black mom + blonde, white dad= black kid with blonde hair. Done!

It's only one step up from Lady and Tramp having puppies (spoiler!) and the boys all look just like him and the girls all look exactly like her.

[needschocolate]

I love this bit: black mom + blonde, white dad= black kid with blonde hair. Done!

It's only one step up from Lady and Tramp having puppies (spoiler!) and the boys all look just like him and the girls all look exactly like her.

 

And  don't forget that she has her dad's eyes, as Christine pointed out. 

[Camera One]

This episode was comic gold.  Suuuure, putting on a bad wig makes you have eyes like Barbie.  If you say it, it's true.

 

I don't get why any of these veteran actors agreed to a stint on this show.  It's embarrassing and it's going to make it very hard for me to like any character they play in the future.

 

"You're our only hope?"  Now they're stealing lines from Star Wars too.

 

Poor Doctor Bloom.  She was becoming my favorite character, but nope.  Now, only that redshirt who was chipping amethysts with Joe is left.

 

Enough about your "baby", Barbie.  And at the end of that meandering speech, did he suddenly proclaim the baby was a monster?  Or will we have more tender father moments next episode.

 

I hope there will actually be some nice endings next week, but I'm not holding my breath.  Some shows insist on doing cliffhangers despite their pending cancellation and somehow, I wonder if this will be one of those shows.  Then again, every good character is already dead, so there's not much they can do.