Under the Dome (2013– ) 7.1
An invisible and mysterious force field descends upon a small fictional town in the United States, trapping residents inside, cut off from the rest of civilization. The trapped townsfolk must discover the secrets and purpose of the "dome" and its origins, while coming to learn more than they ever knew about each other. Creator:Brian K. Vaughan |
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I haven't read the novel but I can't imagine Stephen King could have envisaged his story could be turned into such a hot mess.
The acting is almost its worst feature. Every character has their range limited to either doe- eyed surprise or eye-narrowing meanness. The dialogue manages to be even more dire, with clomping, pointless exchanges between characters who do the most improbable things at the most improbable times.
The general gist is pretty straight forward. Mysterious dome encapsulates an All American village. Cut off from the rest of the world, secrets are unveiled and people either become the best, or the worst, versions of themselves. The morality tale is coupled with a slow reveal of why the dome dropped, and by whom. Predictably, a group of disparate youngsters seem to hold the key but their efforts to do the Right Thing are thwarted at every turn by selfish and cranky grown ups. Throw in a few paint-by-numbers romances between the local (and would-be transient) hotties and there you have life under a dome.
The flesh on those story bones is where things start to go wrong. I'm prepared to live with characters who look runway ready in spite of living in a hamlet with no power and presumably no water or sewerage. After all, the entire premise is that aliens or some such has dropped a big bubble on a bunch of people. But if I was stuck with people who behaved this moronically I'd be begging to get spliced in half like that cow on day 1.
Dome came with plenty of hype and in Australia we're now told that S1 (there couldn't possibly be a season 2) won't wrap until next year.
For a show with the production values and plot development of a soap opera, that's a big ask.
All the above is just my humble opinion of course, lots of people seem to dig it. For myself, I've watched a lot of hours hoping it would right itself, but I'm still not sure if I'll be bothered watching the conclusion in 2014.
A genuine disappointment.