Joe Hempel Walks Us Through Episode Four of Stephen King’s ‘Under the Dome’

Posted on July 18, 2013 in Featured Articles // 4 Comments

Under the Dome Episode 4

Executive Producer Stephen King

Air 7/15/2013

Written by: Joe Hempel (of Top of the Heap Reviews)

This week the town of Chesters Mill had to deal with an outbreak of Meningitis. With little medicine available and no doctors, it was a good test for the town, and good for the viewers to watch how they would handle such a deadly situation cut off from the world.

Any reservations last week I had about Under to Dome started to subside after watching this one. I had almost written the show off as not really moving forward at all, however a couple of the plots are moved forward and a few characters start to develop further. I just wish the acting was better.

My biggest concern with this show, and has been from the get go, is that besides Dean Norris, the acting is incredibly sub-par for such a production. In this episode though, there was a brighter star than even Dean Norris, and that was Alexand Koch portraying Junior Rennie. He has really come into his own and grown over these four episodes. He’s still kind of quirky, but you are starting to see a subtle change in his approach. He’s starting to become more like his father. From handling a could-be riot, to helping the people despite having his own agenda, his portrayal of Junior Rennie is one to watch.

The other plot lines in this episode start to reveal some answers to questions that we’ve had from the beginning. What was Barbie doing in Chesters Mill, how long will it take for Joe to ask about his sister Angie, will Angie even get out of that bunker and provide more than just time filler?

They leave you on a nice cliff-hanger ending, Jim Rennie discovering Angie in the bunker (insert dramatic music here).

What will he do? What lengths will he go to in order to protect his son? I guess we’ll find out next week.

Tune in next week Constant Viewer, and see if after five episodes this will be worth the time to invest in for at least the next eight weeks.

If you fell behind this week, catch up by streaming episode three right here.

Tyler Reedy // July 18, 2013 at 6:12 pm // Reply

He’s right about the acting being sub-par, sadly.

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Matt Molgaard // July 18, 2013 at 6:16 pm // Reply

I would – to an extent – disagree. Koch has done a great job of making Junior a believably awkward menace. Mike Vogel is almost carrying the show exclusively, Norris is top notch and Rachelle Lefevre hasn’t disappointed me yet. I’ll take 4 solid efforts any day. I’ve definitely seen a LOT worse acting in a few other King adaptations. It’s not stellar all the way around, but there are a few who are turning in strong work, IMO.

joehempelJ // July 18, 2013 at 8:38 pm // Reply

See, I don’t think that Mike Vogel is good at all. I really thought Barbie could have been cast so much better than him. Lefevre is okay, but I expected more. Koch did a fantastic job and I’m really looking forward to Junior being a bigger player. Norris is always awesome.

I wonder what’s going to happen next week.

Matt Molgaard // July 18, 2013 at 8:48 pm // Reply

See, I’ve never read Under the Dome (if I did I don’t remember it, which seems unlikely given the fact that its 9 million pages lol), and from that standpoint, Vogel has been awesome. If I knew him as a different personality from the novel itself, that opinion might change.

But having not read it (I really don’t think lol) he works well. Hell, even King said he was very impressed with Vogel’s performance as Barbie. Of course, that could be hyperbole to get us to watch the show… who knows.