Sep 30, 2014

Under the Dome season 2 finale

I don't watch a lot of TV, and lazy writing on series is half the reason why.  I was laughing in agreement with this review on TV.com about the season finale of Under the Dome.  This show is like a dumbed down version of Lost.  Not that Lost was all that brilliant, but at least it took itself somewhat seriously for the first three seasons.  The characters remained consistent that long.

As I watched the season finale of season 2 of Under the Dome, I couldn't help but reflect on how many characters have become a) murderers, b) melodramatic jerks, or c) murderous melodramatic jerks.

In the finale episode:  The high school science teacher (murderous melodramatic jerk) went ahead and murdered/euthanized the prophet-artist (melodramatic somewhat nice person), then got murdered by the used car salesman sheriff (murderous melodramatic jerk), who also punched his hermit brother (murderer), then went on to shoot a nice hoarder in an attempt to murder the lead female (melodramatic jerk), and then got shot by his sometimes-evil-sometimes-sweet son (murderous melodramatic jerk).  Got all that straight?  It's like some kind of weird nonsensical soap opera.

And then there are random monarch butterflies, glowing purple rocks, random dome weirdness, tunnels that lead to mysterious cliffs, some kind of evil corporation/government with an unknown agenda, a suck-hole in the woods, and a time traveling dead teenage girl (melodramatic jerk) who beckons people towards mysterious light.

The show is falling apart under the strain of not making any sense.

I don't know if they'll renew it for a third season, but I can't see how the writers (assuming the show has writers) can possibly salvage any hint of a coherent story.  If this was a novel, I would have stopped reading.  The show bears very little resemblance to the Stephen King novel.
 
And yet I kept watching.  Some of the characters have good chemistry together.  Some of the actors are really great at hamming it up, despite their role's lack of consistency.  Big Jim and Junior are fun.  Their characters have so much potential.