Under the Dome Recap: “Thicker Than Water”

by Kelly M. Smith:

Under the Dome Recap: “Thicker Than Water”
Original Air Date (CBS): Monday August 12, 2013
Season 1 Episode 9

“I always thought of Chester’s Mill as a prison; now it literally is.”-Angie McAlister

Second Selectman James “Big Jim” Rennie wakes up in the middle of the night to hear strange noises in his house. He goes downstairs with a gun to investigate and finds his son James “Junior” Rennie coming home. Jim tells him that he knows his son killed Clint Dundee, one of the men who, in the last episode, killed diner owner Rose and tried to rape Junior’s ex-girlfriend, Angie McAlister.
“You’re not in your right mind, Junior. You sound just like your mother did in the end,” he says when Junior tries to explain his actions. Junior’s mother died in a car accident. “You’re no son of mine, not anymore.”
He kicks Junior out again. Before he goes, Junior warns his father not to talk about his mother like that again.

At the McAlister house, Dale “Barbie” Barbara digs a grave for Alice Calvert-Hill, Norrie Calvert-Hill’s mother, whose heart stopped in the previous episode when Norrie and her “boy friend” Joe McAlister found a mini-Dome in the woods in Chester’s Mill, touched it and then saw a vision of Alice right before she died. Julia Shumway, local reporter and head of the newspaper, finds it weird that one Alice died and another was born, all in the same house (a woman Alice was helping through labor had a baby girl she christened Alice). Julia can’t imagine losing a spouse like that (because she doesn’t know she already did when Barbie killed Peter in the pilot episode).

Inside, per agreement with Jim, Angie won’t tell Joe where she was all week (she was being held captive by crazy Junior in the Rennies’ bomb shelter). They’re low on food and head to the diner to get some. Joe checks on Norrie, but she’s still in the depths of anger over her mom dying and won’t talk to him or anyone.

Julia joins the siblings for coffee. When Jim comes by, Angie tells him his “insane son” dropped in last night. He tells her he knows and he promises Junior won’t bother her again and agrees to get food for the diner from Ollie Dinsmore, the only local farmer who was still in The Mill when the Dome descended. He is also the only person in town with a clean water supply, which he says he won’t let Rennie use.

Joe doodles the mini dome on a placemat; when Julia sees it, he bunches it up and tosses it and in the woods As he does that, the black egg in the mini-Dome streaks purplish-pink.

Jim approaches Ollie about the food shortage, offering to trade his reclaimed propane in exchange for water to grow crops (again). But Ollie isn’t interested. He’ll do without propane just to show the town that it doesn’t need Jim to run the place. Ollie’s ready to step in when they do.

Barbie drops by the police station and agrees to continue working as a “freelance deputy” until the Dome goes away and they can get back their usual roster from the outside world. They (he and new Sheriff Linda Esquivel) hear noises and find Junior getting a shotgun out of the safe. Linda says after yesterday, he’s on probation and doesn’t get a gun.

Jim comes by the station, saying that he wants their help taking Ollie’s land through eminent domain.

Joe and Angie come back to their house with food. Norrie is still upset and tells Joe she thinks they caused her mom’s heart attack when they touched the mini dome. “Bad things happen when we’re together,” she says, and announces she and Carolyn Hill (her mom’s spouse) are moving out. In fact, she tells him that since weird things happen when they touch each other and the Dome, they had better not touch…ever again.

Jim, Junior, Barbie, Carter Thibodeau, and Linda arrive at Ollie’s farm but they don’t see anyone. Within moments, they’re surrounded by men in trucks with shotguns. They’re completely outnumbered. Ollie tells Linda that anyone who sides with Jim doesn’t get use of his water. When Carter doesn’t move away from the well, Ollie has one of his allies shoot him in the kneecap. Linda draws her gun but Barbie–an ex-military officer–realizes they’re outgunned and tells her to stop.

Ollie says again that it’s private property and anyone who attempts to take it will be met with “most serious consequences.”
Junior assesses the situation and asks Ollie if he needs any help. Ollie tells him to disarm Jim, which Junior enjoys doing. Junior goes and stands with Ollie, the final act of defiance towards his father.

Joe is upset about Norrie. “Women say a lot of things they don’t mean, especially at that age,” Julia tells him, trying to cheer him up. During conversation, Joe tells her about the egg and why Norrie is really angry.

Back at town hall, Jim wants to go back to the well with more armed citizens to outnumber Ollie’s troop. Barbie has another way, a way where less people will die. He goes to the town map, which shows dried out wells. Ollie’s well siphoned from them. Barbie suggests blowing up Ollie’s well to divert the water back to the others, not on Dinsmore property so that Ollie wouldn’t have the monopoly on the town water supply any longer. Jim, however, likes his plan better.
At the diner, Jim is talking to several dozen armed volunteers, including DJ Phil Bushey. Barbie tells Jim his plan, but Jim is worried it’ll contaminate their only water supply. Jim wants to make an example of Ollie. He can’t get over his pique at his son siding with him.

Barbie heads off to blow up the well ahead of Jim’s attack, to try and save innocent, scared people from getting hurt or killed.

At Ollie’s farm, he tries to understand how Junior decided to become a “free agent”. Junior explains his father kicked him out. Ollie mentions Junior’s mom. Junior thought his mom died in a car crash. Ollie says that yes, it was a car crash, but it was also a suicide. Jim had been lying to him for years.
Ollie is looking forward to taking out Jim.

“Ollie, promise me you won’t kill him,” Junior says with an earnest look on his face. “‘Cause I want to do it.”

Joe takes Julia to the mini-Dome. It’s uncovered and the egg is glowing pink. Julia puts her hands on the mini dome and sees a vision of Joe saying: “The monarch will be crowned.”
She’s frightened. When she tells Joe, he worries something bad will happen to him, just like it did to Alice after they saw her in a Dome-induced vision.

Barbie sneaks around Ollie’s farm to get his fertilizer and blasting caps to blow up the well. He puts together a bomb in one of his barns as armed men patrol outside. Barbie is good at staying under the radar and has asked Linda to stall Jim’s men as long as possible so he can execute his plan safely and successfully.

At the McAlister house, Norrie is hanging out in Angie’s room. Angie knows the girls “reprogramming” camp that Norrie’s moms were taking her to: she had been there many times. as her family had always seen her as the screw-up and Joe as the angelic genius. Norrie says if her mom hadn’t insisted on taking her there, she’d still be alive, so it’s her own fault she’s dead. Angie can tell she doesn’t mean it, that this is something to say out of her anger and hurt.

Angie has a collection snow globes from cities around the world that “someone she used to know” brought her (cue Gotye and Kinbra singing, right? haha). She has an idea for what will make Norrie feel better…
She and Norrie head to the Dome and throw the globes against it, breaking each and every one.

“Good-bye, Paris, France. I got Cs in your lame language anyway, so you can suck it. Au revoir, la bibliotech,” Norrie says, chucking Paris and watching the water, glass and sparkles rain down.
Norrie’s enjoying herself until she gets to Los Angeles, her home. She crumples and starts crying that it’s her fault her mom died. Angiek, sensing that that had been coming, hugs and comforts her, seeing her as a kindred spirit.

Later that night, Jim’s volunteer army sneaks onto Ollie’s farm. Linda tries to delay him, but he’s itching to attack, and barbie has yet to execute his plan.

Barbie sets his bomb ready to blow. Jim realizes he’s missing and sends his guys in.

Barbie gets his bombs set and is about to back away to arm them when one of Ollie’s guys finds him hiding out by the well. Barbie jumps on him. A gunfight breaks out between Ollie’s and Jim’s men. Several men are hit, including Phil.
Barbie gets the better of the guy who jumped him and blows the well from here to Kingdom Come.

Jim’s volunteers see the well go up and run off, because bombs were not what they signed up for!

Junior sneaks up behind his dad and knocks him out cold. They capture and drag Jim in the house, where Ollie blames him for blowing up the well. With the well gone, Ollie’s men leave him, saying, “You think we were with you for more than the water?”.

Ollie lets them go–he doesn’t need them for what he is about to do. Ollie stands back as Junior takes aim at his dad.

Joe and Julia see Linda taking Phil to the clinic, and wonder what could’ve happened.

Junior asks his dad about his mom’s death and demands the truth this time around. Jim tells him they argued, she ran out and got in the car. A witness saw her aim right at a tree and drive into it at 80MPH. Sheriff Howard “Duke” Perkins (the man whose pacemaker exploded in the pilot) helped him cover it up and they paid the witness off so no one would know. Junior cocks the shotgun and his dad starts to cry as he says he didn’t want Junior to know that she chose to leave them. Jim apologizes and Junior seems to forgive him, because he lowers the gun from his dad’s head.

Ollie has had enough of Junior stalling the murder. He takes aim at Jim himself. Junior turns the shotgun on Ollie and blasts him through the gut in a spray of blood.

Julia and Joe return to his house and she encourages him to go talk to Norrie, which he does. Norrie hugs him and apologizes for what she said.

Jim pours himself a drink in his office. Barbie goes and visits him. Three of Ollie’s people died, two of Jim’s died. Barbie’s plan worked, the town has a reservoir again. But five people died for nothing and he is upset that Jim hadn’t wanted to use his nonviolent suggestion.
Barbie thinks it’s bad news for Jim because he wanted to control the well so he could control the town.

“You don’t want to make an enemy of me, Barbie,” Jim says.
“There’s two sides to that coin, Jim,” Barbie replies.

Linda finds Junior sitting alone in a cell at the station. He tells her that he killed Ollie when he was about to fire on his dad. She’s shocked, but understands this time. Ollie was certainly a most unpredictable man. He says he planned the whole thing, the turning away from his father, so they could have water again.

Barbie joins Julia in her bedroom. Sarcastically, she says, “And how was your day, honey?” She tells him about “The monarch will be crowned.” They have no idea what it means.

Cut to Angie watching her brother with Norrie. Angie has a tattoo of a monarch butterfly on her shoulder…the same butterfly type that has been around the Dome for a few episodes now.

Great episode this week, though some of the fake blood could’ve probably been a bit more realistic. But I enjoyed this one for sure and am anticipating next week’s!