Under the Dome - S1E4 - Outbreak
Hello everyone! In this episode a couple of very important questions are answered, namely: What the hell was Barbie doing in Chester’s Mill? And: How many doctors does it take to cure a small Maine town of an outbreak of meningitis?
IT’S TIME FOR MILD PANIC
Julia’s about chin-deep in suspicions that Barbie isn’t quite the nice guy she thought he was when she comes down with a mysterious headache. Even so, she decides she needs to have a chat with DJ Phil. When she gets to Phil’s trailer, she notices that her husband’s car is parked out front and she freaks on Phil, who says that her husband sold him the car before he disappeared, then Phil passes right the hell out.
At the dome perimeter, the town is getting anxious because the military has decided the whole situation is no longer worth their time and they’re clearing out. The Reverend isn’t helping matters; he’s telling everybody that the dome is obviously part of God’s plan. This doesn’t help the mood and it becomes a little bit riot-y, enough so that Linda feels the need to pull her gun and wave it around a bit. Big Jim shoulders his way into the thick of things and basically takes the tack that he’s the only authority the town has left anymore. He turns his daddy attitude on Linda, but that goes nowhere because like Phil, Linda thinks this is the perfect time to pass out.
BECAUSE HELL YEAH, MENINGITIS
Norrie’s moms take her and Joe to the clinic to have some tests run in order to determine the cause of their seizures, and Alice (the blonde mom), who’s a psychiatrist with medical training, gets drafted to deal with the oncoming “everybody’s got a headache, fever, and is passing out” crisis. Norrie isn’t impressed that her mom has suddenly become one of the most important people in town. I swear to God, that kid’s mouth needs a sound popping.
Alice comes to the conclusion that there’s a meningitis epidemic spreading through Chester’s Mill, and she tells Big Jim so. There’s barely enough antibiotics for the clinic to hang on for a couple hours. Big Jim gives Junior his rifle and tells him to enforce the brand-spanking-new quarantine on the clinic.
Julia manages to get a delirious Phil to say something to her about the cabin and she decides she’s got to get the hell out of the clinic. Since Junior won’t let her out, she goes through her husband’s office and finds his security badge, which allows her to sneak out the back.
Big Jim heads out to the pharmacy with Barbie to get more antibiotics, but it’s been cleaned out, and they deduce that somebody with a big vehicle had to have done it – a big vehicle, like a hearse. Sure enough, the Reverend is in the process of burning all the precious medicine when they show up. He says this whole mess must be God’s will, so why bother letting science get in the way of God’s will?
Meanwhile, back at the clinic, the meningitis outbreak is ramping up. Linda’s delirious, and her third-grade teacher, Mrs. Moore, makes the selfless decision to give up her dose of the rapidly dwindling stash of antibiotics in favor of Linda. When Linda comes to, Mrs. Moore tells her how proud she is of her and gives her some encouragement. Then she dies. Because Stephen King, that’s why.
People want to leave the clinic, but Junior and daddy’s gun aren’t going to let that happen. Linda’s well enough to confront him about his reckless use of power. He changes tactics and gives a pep talk to everybody about how he’s one of them and they all have to fight together. He then puts the gun down and heads deeper into the clinic. Everybody has a goddamn seat.
FLOODING FALLOUT SHELTER > DRY FALLOUT SHELTER
Angie gets a visit from Junior, who’s made the oh-so-very-generous decision to bring her some clothes. Except apparently generous does not mean practical. He’s brought her a prom dress. She plays along for a bit with his creepy little role-play then makes the unbelievably desperate move we’ve been waiting for and tries to attack him. He’s not having that, of course, so he shortens the chain holding her to the bed. He says something about “You can leave whenever you’re ready, but not before.” Then he walks out without giving anybody any guidelines about what “ready” means.
Angie panics and tries to, I don’t know, pound her way out of the shelter, which results in knocking loose a water pipe. The whole shelter starts to flood, but for a while she’s not aware of this since she knocked her own silly ass out. She screams for a while, then decides to try to scream through an air vent. Lucky girl – Big Jim just got home and, after being confronted by the Reverend (who wants an apology and washes his hands of the propane deal by turning over his cut of the profits), he hears the yelling. He investigates and finds Angie trapped in the shelter.
AT THE CABIN
Julia’s a bit not well when she gets to the cabin, but she’s desperate to find out what’s going on with her missing husband. She rifles through a bunch of paperwork, has a fantastic little hallucination of her husband, then succumbs to the meningitis and passes out.
Barbie managed to get Phil to confess to his hazy conversation with Julia, and Junior admits that he told Julia about their confrontation at the cabin, so Barbie heads out there. He finds her passed out and takes her back to the clinic for some antibiotics. When she comes to, she acknowledges that yeah, he saved her life, but he’s a bookie’s enforcer and is somehow involved in her husband’s disappearance, so maybe he shouldn’t be staying at her house anymore. Probably just as well, since he lied to her and said he thinks her husband took off – instead of confessing that he killed the man and buried him during Episode 1.
ALICE, THE BEST DOCTOR IN THE WORLD
Somehow Norrie’s mom Alice has cured the entire town of meningitis. Everybody who hasn’t died gonna be okay. Also, Big Jim oh-so-humbly takes credit for saving the town (again) by getting the antibiotics everyone needed. Linda tells Big Jim how Junior defused a riot at the clinic, and they drop hints that maybe what the town needs right now is for Junior to start carrying a gun full-time as a deputy. Alice makes it official and hands Junior a badge at the end of the episode.
THE SEIZURE KIDS
Joe interrupts Norrie’s attempt to take way too many selfies by bringing her some PB&J sandwiches. They chat about their seizures and decide to set up an experiment; they’re going to film themselves making contact with each other and see what happens during the seizure. The experiment is a success, and when they play back the video they hear the creepy “Pink stars are falling in lines” chanting – then Joe sits up, looks directly at the camera, puts his finger over his lips and clearly says “Shh.” They decide that the dome doesn’t want them telling anyone.
Later, after the meningitis scare is resolved, Joe invites Norrie and her moms over to his house to stay until the whole mess is resolved.
