Under The Dome -- The Hunt

This was Big Jim's episode. We had hints to what the man was, and this episode gave us a bigger glimpse. We saw what a horrible father he is to his son. Of course, we never got to see just what he had in mind for Barbie, so we've yet to see just how bad the man truly is.

Big Jim was not pleased that Junior wasn't around to help fight the fire at Duke's. He felt that made him look bad. When Junior tells him Barbie is a psycho and beat him up, Big Jim derides him for still hiding behind his mother's skirts, even though she's been long dead. However, when he runs into Barbie and sees his bruised knuckles, you know he's remembering that Junior said this guy beat him up. So when Big Jim gets Barbie to join his posse of men hunting for the missing Paul Reynolds, you have to wonder just what Jim has in store for Barbie.

Big Jim also gave Linda a mild dose of the treatment he reserves for his son, when Paul tricked her and knocked her out. He suggested she wasn't capable of handling things. Earlier, he'd already was trying to take over control of the town when he calmed the angry crowd wanting Paul's blood for killing Rusty. The only person standing in the way of him taking total control is Deputy Linda and he full intended to use it, until circumstances made that an impossibility.

One thing Big Jim knows about is how to project the right image to the town to curry a favorable public opinion of himself. He's there to help out his fellow neighbor, like helping Rose get power back in the diner so she can keep it in operation. Or when a crisis occurs, there's Big Jim to bulldoze Duke's burning house to save them all. It was also Big Jim who headed a posse to find deranged escaped cop killer Paul Reynolds.

Providence in the form of the dome killing off most of the police force has given Big Jim the chance to be in charge of the entire town. If Duke were alive, he would have stopped Jim by threatening to reveal what he was doing with all that propane he was shipping in town. Now the only person standing in his way is Linda, who from her remarks to Big Jim, may be one of the few people in town who doesn't buy that public image of the good guy he's selling most of the townspeople.

Whether or not Big Jim had nefarious plans for Barbie remains to be seen, as Linda showed up and shot Paul, before he could kill Big Jim. And because of that, he can no longer openly undermine the woman that saved his life, so he has to pretend he supports her as the new sheriff. However, he can undermine her by filling the new Chester's Mill Police Department with people of his choosing who are loyal to him and do what he says, not Linda. She was really a fool to allow him to replace the deputies that were killed. It may take Big Jim a little longer this way, but he'll still get what he wants, which will be total control of the town.

Junior also went on a hunt. Angie decided the "Snap out of it, Junior!" route was getting her nowhere, so she suggested he was right and it was the dome making her behave this way and making her dump him. She suggested he go under the tunnels of the old cement factory to see if he could escape under the dome to the next town over. Really believing his dome theory, he did just that. Julia saw him going somewhere and decided to follow him.

The tunnels under the cement factory reminded me of the sewers from IT where the Lucky Seven journeyed down to kill Pennywise the clown. When Junior arrives at the town line he discovers the dome goes down even further than the tunnels do. Julia reveals herself and they have to find a way back out. Junior thinks because the dome cuts through the tunnels they could cave in. I was glad Julia used matches to find the way out opposed to how the kids from IT found their way out of the sewer.

On the journey out of the tunnels, Junior told Julia he hates to be called Junior and that Barbie is a psycho that beat him up. Julia returns the favor telling how she screwed up her career by not checking her facts before she published a story and ended up in Chester's Mill. When Julia gets home, she notices Barbie's knuckles are bruised and thinks back to Junior's story. While Barbie is taking a shower, Julia goes through his bag and finds a map with something in Chester's Mill marked off proving he came to town on purpose and wasn't just passing through. The question is was the place marked off on the map Julia's cabin where her husband Peter died and if she goes there will she see the place is a wreck?

Big Jim also gave a little of his own history to Barbie. Seems the name Big Jim was a name given to him to make fun of him. He was on the football team and one day he had enough and took down the chief bully, ramming his head into him and crushing his pelvis and from then on the name was said with respect. The sad and ironic thing about Big Jim's tale is that he's turned around and done the same thing to his son that was done to him. Junior is the derisive name he's given to his son and he keeps shoving milk on the kid to make him feel small and that Big Jim is a man and Junior is and always will be just a boy. Who knew you could bully someone with a glass of milk.

Norrie met up with Joe and asked to stay at his place, claiming her parents are outside the dome. Then Ben, Joe's friend inviting everyone over to power up their cell phones and other devices. Unfortunately, that lead to a teen bully showing up and acting like he owned the place. Both Norrie and Joe stood up to him and told him to take a hike. Meanwhile Carolyn was looking for her daughter and experienced a dose of bigotry from a couple of the good old boys in town until Rose told them to cool it.

Carolyn finally tracked Norrie down and Joe realized Norrie lied to him, but the instantly became of secondary concern. When Norrie and Joe touched hands they fell to the floor, both having seizures, and mumbling again about the pink stars and Carolyn and Ben stared in horror.

Linda ended her night sadly removing all the fallen cops name tags from their lockers and bunking down in a cell wearing Duke's hat. Something tells me it'll be the last moment of calm Linda has when Big Jim brings in his new deputies.

And Junior goes to Angie with a first aid kit wanting her to bandage up his bruised knuckles. I think I would have told him to f off. But dumb Junior didn't realize there was a pair of scissors in the box and Angie pocketed it. Now she has a weapon, but is it enough of a weapon to take Junior down and escape?