Last summer’s biggest hit drama, Under the Dome (CBS, Mondays, 10/9C) returns with an episode called Heads Will Roll – written by Stephen King. It does get around to where the first season cliffhanger left off, but not immediately – if there’s one thing this show does, it’s tease and tantalize.
Before we return to the imminent death-by-hanging of Dale ‘Barbie’ Barbara (Mike Vogel), we get to see Julia Shumway (Rachelle Lefevre) rescue a girl from the lake – a girl who appears out of nowhere, no less – and meet a clearly alcoholic hermit who lives in the woods.
We also get to see the dome light up with the most intense white light – causing Junior (Alexander Koch) to hesitate when his father, Big Jim Rennie (Dean Norris) orders him to release the trapdoor beneath Barbie. And then… magnetism happens. Not a bit of an electromagnetic disturbance, but an overwhelming force that pulls all metal within a certain range to the dome. Bikes, guns, jewelry – eventually, even cars wind up stuck to the dome.
People die – two characters who have been with us from the series premiere among them – and we once again get to see how a character’s death doesn’t mean the actor can’t come back. It’s all very mysterious (and occasionally silly – in a good, summer TV kind of way).
Since the series has evolved away from the events of King’s novel, it’s cool to see how he handles the differing mythology of the series. Indeed, Heads Will Roll is the best episode of the series since its premiere. King has always had a knack for character that made his readers care about the deaths of even his most minor characters and he shows that that knack carries over to his scriptwriting here.
Between the introduction of key new characters (that mysterious girl; the alcoholic hermit – who has an unexpected connection to certain other key characters); the handling of Important Events, and other elements of the series – along with some silliness that underscores the drama (one character seems strangely not overly affected by having a nail drive through his hand!) – King sets up season two of Under the Dome with panache.
Jack Bender, who is probably best known for his work on Lost, adds directorial muscle and pace to King’s script. He makes sure Heads Will Roll moves quickly, but never neglects character. He gets the need for a certain amount of quirk, but never at the expense of the story (it helps that he has a budget to work with, especially for some of the show’s niftier FX work).
Under the Dome nearly lost me at about the middle of the fourth ep, Outbreak, but once I got behind the deliberate bits of summer TV silliness, I couldn’t stop watching. I get the feeling, from Heads Will Roll, that the stakes have been raised and that those bits of daftness will be essential to balance out the growing horrors of the whole Chester’s Mill situation – even as I can’t quite stop thinking about ALF whenever Mrs. Shumway is onscreen (talking about silliness, I still can’t believe that!).
Final Grade: B+
Photo courtesy of CBS