Quick little montage of images: the mini dome glows purple, pink stars rising in lines. Julia sleeps and Barbie hides out in the woods. He is able to escape detection by a search party with flashlights by hiding behind a tree, because instead of spreading out they appear to be walking single goddamn file.
It's daylight now and Big Jim addresses a throng of suddenly concerned citizens that they will hunt down "the murderer Dale Barbara." Some guy named Miles is all, "What if he’s hiding in our homes?" and this Miles (why are they starting to introduce new characters now for the second season?) apparently wants people’s homes to be searched. It's nice that Carolyn is finally back, so she can say it’s illegal to just randomly search people’s homes. Big Jim turns on a dime from initially blustering that they won’t be searching homes because the Constitution still applies, to immediately saying they will search homes, and he’s declaring a state of emergency (which he already did, but much later than he should have). The muttering and cheering of this crowd is ridiculously over the top as Big Jim douses the scenery with HP sauce and just chomps it to pieces.
Linda mutters that she won’t turn the town into a police-state and he says, "It’s not me, Linda. It’s the people." He winds the crowd up by yelling that this is the beginning -- not the end -- of Chester’s Mill, and there are jobs to do (a reservoir that needs protecting! Crops that need tending! Fight clubs that need security!) and sacrifices to be made. But, Chester’s Mill will live to see next year and the year after that. Yes, yes, we know the show was renewed. You don’t have to rub our faces in it.
Over at the radio station, Dodee is listening to the hilariously non-private military channel that consists of nothing but two non-specific military personnel talking about how essential it is that they find Dale Barbara. Oh, also, they’re looking for "the egg," but it doesn’t mean anything if they can’t find Dale Barbara. But the mention of the egg twigs a memory for her, and she goes to her phone, where she finds a picture she took of the egg. "That’s what burned me!" she says. On Under the Dome, they don’t even need a second person in the room for expository dialogue to be spoken.
Three-quarters of the Moron Quartet are watching the lines on the egg and wondering what it all means over at the barn. "I think it’s mad we didn’t kill Big Jim," says Angie. Joe points out that they don’t even know that’s what it wants. But he is sure that the monarch is Barbie, even if the others are skeptical. Angie’s sure it’s not Junior though, after the way he ran off. Yeah, it was pretty suspicious when he took off AFTER SEEING A VISION OF HIS DAD BEING STABBED TO DEATH. Joe’s also excited about the impending hatching of the chrysalis, because he knows things will change then.
Carolyn bursts into the barn, and is stunned to see the egg. "It’s, like, the dome’s heart," Norrie "explains." Joe says they think it’s the source of the dome’s power, and Norrie confesses it’s the thing in the woods that showed her the vision of Other Mom and sent her home to say goodbye. Carolyn wants them to hide it, since homes are going to be searched. "You’re not mad?" asks Norrie, surprised, and Carolyn says she’s always on Norrie’s side and that she doesn’t trust Big Jim at all. Angie tells them to take it to Ben’s, since they can trust him, and I have to wonder if there isn’t some way that they could hide the egg in a goddamn barn rather than make a risky journey with it all the way over to idiot Ben’s place. "You’re not coming?" says Joe. "I have business with Big Jim," says Angie.
Meanwhile, over at the Sweetbriar Rose, Linda is warning the unruly mob to treat their neighbors with respect, to not damage property, and to not kill Dale Barbara. Ugh, why even bother signing up for a lynch mob, then?
Phil Bushey is back to get his car keys from Linda and offer a helping hand. Junior shows up to hug his dad and make sure he hasn’t been killed to death yet. Big Jim is weirded out by the show of affection, and a little concerned when Junior explains that someone is going to try to kill Big Jim…but can’t say how he knows. A little rattled, Big Jim tells Junior to get a hold of himself, because he’s got a job for Junior: he’s got people guarding Julia to make sure Barbie doesn’t finish the job (that Big Jim knows damn well he didn’t start) but he wants someone he trusts on the inside to make sure Julia’s safe).
His real purpose, of course, is that he wants Junior to let him know if Julia wakes up and starts talking. "No one else, just me," he says. Junior agrees, and warns his dad to be careful.
Then Dodee rushes up to tell Big Jim he’s got to come to the radio station. Big Jim doesn’t want "to overwhelm the public with more announcements," whatever that’s supposed to mean. Dodee explains about the military searching for Barbie — and something else.
Angie leaves the barn, only to be grabbed by Barbie, who covers her mouth and carries her, screaming and struggling around the corner. She calms down and tells him a lot of people are looking for him, in case he didn’t know. He warns her that Big Jim’s going to kill Julia, because if she wakes up and starts telling people that Barbie didn’t try to kill her, Big Jim’s story falls apart. He wants her candy striper key card, and wants her to help him save Julia.
After the title screen and commercial break, Junior’s at the hospital, quizzing the nurse about how Julia’s doing. The nurse alternates between telling Junior things like there’s no telling how much neurological damage she’s suffered and "I’m not a doctor, Junior." She leaves to go check on other patients, and Junior takes up his guard post.
Outside, Angie and Barbie are in the bushes sizing up the security at the hospital. Barbie’s plan is to hot wire an ambulance, get Julia, and then leave, essentially. He truly is some sort of Special Forces tactical badass, isn’t he? Angie points out that Big Jim’s likely to have more security inside and may have even moved her already, since he’s got to realize Barbie will be coming for her. "There are a lot of ifs here," she says. Barbie concludes that Big Jim is taking out everyone who stands in his way, so is she in or out? Then he gives her a cigarette, like he did when they first met. Sure, have a cigarette. Julia’s going to live forever.
At the radio station, Big Jim grumbles about how there’s been no sign of the military for a week, and now they want Barbie? And the military wants some sort of egg? Dodee shows him the picture on her phone. Kinda weird how they waited until they were at the radio station to have this conversation, huh? Dodee doesn’t know what it did, but it “burned the crap” out of her hand.
Dodee leaves to go make sure the music is still going, like she promised Phil. Big Jim is left alone with the receiver just in time to hear the soldier and his superior chatting about the location of the egg and the whereabouts of Barbie, as well as who the ranking official in town is: James Rennie. One of the Military Guys asks if they should get in touch with Jim, and the soldier says, "No, because after the missile strike, routine surveillance spotted Big Jim murdering the town reverend." Big Jim scrambles to shut it off, but not before Dodee has come back and apparently heard enough. They stare at each other.
Ben takes half a second to get on my nerves by skateboarding up his front walk instead of walking to talk to that Miles guy, who is pitching in by picking up people’s garbage. Once they’re gone, Ben hears Joe giving him a “Pssst!” from over in the bushes, so he skateboards (of course) over and finds Joe and Norrie and their wagon transporting a large round thing covered under a blanket, which they managed to get here without anyone seeing them, apparently. It’s something they need to hide from the sweeps, and Ben says they already did his house: "My stash house is your stash house," he says.
Over at the hospital, Barbie and Angie make their move, having finished their smoke break, I guess. Angie uses her key card and the two of them skulk around the hospital, encountering zero security until they see Junior, who isn’t so much guarding Julia as starring at her. Barbie, gun cocked, thinks he can take Junior before he has a chance to use his walkie-talkie, but Angie, spotting a candy striper uniform conveniently close at hand, has another idea.
At the radio station, a frightened looking Dodee says she thought what happened to the reverend was an accident. Big Jim says, "He was an accident waiting to happen." Well, that should put her mind at ease. He tells her she doesn’t know the whole story, and neither do the "peeping toms" with their eyes in the sky. She wants to know how many other "accidents" there have been, and has already reached the conclusion that Barbie didn’t do what Big Jim has accused him of doing. "Every one of those people got what was coming to them," he says, adding his usual embellishments of how all he’s ever wanted is what’s best for the town.
Somehow, his megalomania seems to convince her, and she seems fully on board when he asks her about the picture of the egg she showed him, which she remembers now was taken at the McAllisters’ barn. She thinks it could be the generator for the dome, adding, "Maybe, if you get this thing, you can bring down the dome." She offers to get it for him, and it quickly becomes clear that she wasn’t on board with his insanity but presenting herself as useful so Big Jim won’t kill her.
But it ain’t going to work like that: he pulls out his gun and tells her that the dome can’t come down, not now. "You’re a sick bastard," Dodee cries, literally. She figures she might as well go out in a blaze of glory, and tells him someday people will know the truth about him and smile when he dies. Whoa! Neither of those things seem particularly worrisome to Big Jim, who shoots her in the same spot that didn’t kill Julia, and she falls down dead. Then he shoots up the radio equipment, which seems like a waste of ammunition when he then sets fire to the place.
After that, Big Jim gets on the walkie-talkie to Linda, who is "sweeping the southwest quadrant" with Phil Bushey. Jim tells her the radio station is on fire. Phil, concerned, says Dodee was "covering" for him, as opposed to just being at the radio station where she works, and Jim plays dumb when asked if he knows if Dodee’s okay. "The fire volunteers are gathering, but you need to get down there," says Big Jim. This cheap show has apparently used up all its budget and I guess that’s why we will not actually see a fire or the "fire volunteers" who are "gathering."
Phil leaps right to the conclusion that it must have been Barbie, since the radio station has been broadcasting information about him "night and day." That leap in logic is all Linda needs to hear, and they’re on their way.
Up in Ben’s bedroom (where the props department has gone nuts with the generic skateboarding posters wallpapering the room), Joe and Norrie instruct Ben to keep it covered and keep his parents away from it (Ben has parents?) and he promises it’s in good hands. They do have to stop him from trying to touch it, since the last person who did that got burned. I think they should be more worried that he’s going to be trying to pull off some sick skateboarding stunts on it!
Back at the hospital, Junior continues to take his dad’s instructions to watch Julia, literally…staring at her when Angie strolls up in her candy striper’s outfit. Angie should really figure out if her goal is to seduce Junior or get him agitated. She asks if he’s okay after what they saw last night, and he says he is. "Then why’d you run off?" she asks. Instead of saying, "Because me being okay in the present does not preclude me being not okay earlier," Big Jim says he wanted to protect his dad. Then she taunts him about whether he can trust Big Jim or not. He says he does, and she points out he didn’t always, and notes that if Barbie didn’t shoot Julia, then she’s the only witness, and asks him what Big Jim said Junior should do if she wakes up?
She apologizes, explaining that she’s all a-flutter and needs someone to talk to. "You’re the only one who understands what I’m going through," she says, and then takes his hand. Under the guise of claiming to feel like Julia’s watching them, Angie convinces a reluctant Junior to leave Julia’s bedside and go someplace a little more private. Barbie can’t even wait for them to be out of sight for Christ’s sake before he pops into the hallway and wheels a gurney over to Julia’s bed.
In about 10 minutes the fire has decimated the radio station down to a couple of charred boards that are barely even smoking anymore and a "fire volunteer" tells Linda that they "found her body in the station." Phil is crouched by Dodee’s body, blubbering, "Why’d he do it? Dodee never hurt anyone." Linda tries to comfort him, and vows that Barbie won’t get away with it, DESPITE THE ONLY EVIDENCE OF BARBIE’S INVOLVEMENT BEING PHIL’S THEORY. I mean, good GOD.
Over at the hospital, Angie — feeling she’s a safe distance away from Julia’s room — starts in with the "I don’t know how much more I can take" and Junior assures her that she doesn’t have to go through this alone. They embrace, with Angie’s eyes darting back and forth the whole time, and then they face each others. Angie fights back her gag reflex but Junior doesn’t notice because he’s already got his eyes closed and his mouth partly open and he’s looming in for the kiss.
So they make out for a bit -- slurping sound effects and all -- until Junior breaks it off. "You taste like cigarettes," he says. And that’s what lets him know something is wrong, and not the fact that Angie is just all of a sudden coming on to him. He goes racing back to Julia’s room, Angie in pursuit, and he finds Julia gone. He looks accusingly at Angie, who turns tail and runs away.
Over at the McAllister barn, Carolyn is blocking Big Jim and a couple of his goons from entering, adorably acting like Big Jim gives a shit about due process or the lack of a search warrant. He is aware of the fourth way he can enter without a warrant (after she supplies owner’s consent, clear visibility of what’s inside, or suspect already under arrest), and that is, of course, the titular exigent circumstances. He argues that a murderer on the loose is pretty damn clearly exigent circumstances, but Carolyn calls it "just one more day in this damn hellhole."
Of course, now I’m getting the sense she’s not a very good lawyer. She requests they get off the property, and Big Jim is all, "De-NIED!" and his goons physically remove her. It's all just in time for Norrie and Joe to return and have them laughably attempt to get physical with Big Jim’s thugs. Big Jim triumphantly opens the barn but doesn’t see the egg, and doesn’t actually even LOOK IN THE CORNERS or BEHIND anything, like Joe and Norrie didn’t even have to bother moving it all the way to Ben’s place. Royally pissed, he asks them where it is, and Joe and Norrie play dumb, which really isn’t too taxing for them.
"That damn egg…I know all about it and what it’s for," says Big Jim, but Norrie — making damn sure Big Jim knows she’s lying — says she has no idea what he’s talking about. Then Big Jim has them all arrested for obstruction of justice, so it’s off to the pokey for everybody.
Back at the clinic, Barbie is loading Julia into the back of the ambulance -- the patrolling guards absolutely NOWHERE to be found -- when Angie comes racing outside, Junior right behind her. Barbie and Junior, who yells into his walkie-talkie that Barbie’s at the clinic, tackle each other. Some stunt doubles fight each other until Barbie’s able to draw his gun and whack Junior across the head with it, knocking him senseless. He hops into the back of the ambulance and hilariously tells an unconscious Julia, "I love you," and then sends Angie on her way.
She protests, not wanting to leave him behind, but Barbie says they won’t look for her if they’ve got Barbie. That’s obviously untrue, given that this whole mission was to keep Julia safe since she knows the truth, but Angie peels out, just as Linda comes screaming into the parking lot from the other direction. She stops, draws her gun on Barbie and makes him get on his knees. Barbie complies, and as she’s handcuffing him -- the two of them ignore the agitated Phil Bushey at Barbie’s peril -- because Phil flat-out kicks him in the face. Linda hauls Phil off, and radios Big Jim to let him know she got Barbie but Angie got away with Julia, which is NOT SOMETHING SHE HAS ANY WAY OF KNOWING YET.
But this does prove my point that Barbie’s a fucking idiot for thinking that they won’t go looking for Angie too. Looking quite concerned, Big Jim tells her not to worry, that they’ll get her.
Joe and Norrie are in adjacent jail cells, which is good, because then they get to have one of those conversations where Joe comes off like a simpleton and Norrie like a…who knows what. She says Angie was right, that they should have killed Big Jim when they had the chance. I’d like to ask when it was that they had the chance, actually, but Joe is still horrified at the thought, despite Norrie’s listing of the "Nazi moves" that Big Jim has pulled. Joe doesn’t think it makes any sense for the dome to want them to kill Big Jim, but he doesn’t actually explain would it would make sense for the dome to "want." Norrie asks him what he thinks will happen when Big Jim gets Barbie. "Your monarch won’t be crowned, Joe. It’s more like the monarch will be beheaded."
Oh, good, here comes Big Jim. Not good in the sense that he’s enough to make the show good, but at least he can act. He taunts "Little Miss Well-Behaved" (sick burn, Big J) and then appeals to Joe, who was always a good kid, a smart kid. "Not like your sister," says Big Jim, and that makes Joe mad. Well, "mad," anyway. Big Jim says Angie has thrown her lot in with Barbie, and may be past help, but Joe can fix this. "Tell me where it is, and we’ll forget any of this happened," says Big Jim, telling him that if this egg is the generator, then him keeping it squirreled away is a serious offense, as it’s impeding a lawful investigation.
That’s too much for Norrie, who starts laughing, so Big Jim turns his attention to her. She asks why he’s called "Big Jim": "You’re just some loser trying to scare kids," she says. Look, obviously it’s a size thing, Norrie. Big Jim enters the cell menacingly, but Norrie says he doesn’t scare her. Big Jim essentially tells her she can tell him what he wants to know, or her remaining mother is going to have to deal with a little more grief. Can’t say the threats do much for his attempt to keep passing this off as lawful, but Norrie’s not going to debate the point. No, she’s going to slash at him with a knife that she has somehow? Because under the dome police forget to search prisoners for weapons? Big Jim manages to avoid getting cut, and disarms her. Shoulda gone for the balls, Norrie. You had an open cell door right there. Instead, Big Jim just locks her back in. "You want to burn with Barbie? Be my guest," he snarls.
On the side of a road on the outskirts, Angie listens to Linda Update Radio. Linda is apparently making announcements to no one in particular about how they’ve got Barbie in custody but "no eyes" on Julia Shumway, who was last seen in an ambulance driven by Angie McAllister. "Away from the clinic," says Linda. While we’re all wondering why the hell Linda would give such a useless bit of information — you’re sure she’s not driving the ambulance into the clinic, there, Linda? — Angie gets an idea and puts the ambulance in drive.
Now, here's Linda marching Barbie down into a cell and shackling him, hands behind his back, to the wall. She ignores him asking if Big Jim told her to do that, and locks him in. He pleads with her, saying that she knows he could never hurt Julia. "Yeah? What about her husband?" Linda asks, displaying her rock-solid "you did this bad thing, therefore you did this other bad thing" logic. Rather than fucking explaining himself, Barbie just goes quiet.
Upstairs, Carolyn is hanging out in the town office, telling an eye-rolling Big Jim that she’s not leaving until he releases her daughter. He’s all, “"It’s a public building," and then chats with Linda, who’s doing a great job looking for Julia and Angie by sitting behind her desk. Big Jim could not look more shifty as he asks if Julia came out of her coma yet. As for Barbie downstairs? Let him sweat, says Big Jim.
Over at Ben’s house, Ben is -- of course -- working on his skateboard, when the mini-dome starts emitting an ear-piercing squealing. He looks under the blanket -- everything appears to be glowing orange, now -- and then starts piling on blanket after towel after coat. He’s got more blankets than a 17th-century North American fur trader!
Back at the jail, Big Jim gets a couple of his goons to escort Norrie and Joe from their cells to an "undisclosed location," he tells Barbie, who doesn’t take kindly to Big Jim’s suggestion that Barbie will confess publicly to his crimes. "I’ll tell you what will happen if you choose not to cooperate," says Big Jim, which would be charging Angie as an accessory, and linking Joe and Norrie to Dodee’s death. "Then there’s your redhead," says Big Jim. She’ll go down for hiring a hit man to kill her husband. "That’s as cold as cold-blooded gets," says Big Jim. Great simile! He asks Barbie if they have a deal. Barbie says if he lets the kids go and leaves Julia and Angie alone, then yes. "How do I know you’re going to keep your word?" asks Barbie. Big Jim smirks, and everyone watching says with him, "You don’t."
Carolyn is relieved to see Joe and Norrie released, and maybe Norrie can wait TEN GODDAMN SECONDS until she’s OUT OF EARSHOT OF JIM RENNIE before saying, "We need to check on the mini-dome, make sure it’s safe." Jim tells Linda to tail those kids, and it’s not like Linda has anything else to do, so no problem, I guess. To her credit, she asks why first, and he says he thinks they’re hiding something that could help them understand what’s going on. "Something like what?" she asks, skeptical. "It’s tough to say, but it could be our way out," he says, and that vagueness is enough to satisfy her.
Then it’s time for Big Jim to dress down Junior for losing Julia, and Big Jim tells him he’s got a second chance, ordering him to find Angie and Julia and bring them back. But I guess ol’ Marlboro Breath Angie has got Junior thinking, and he wants to know why he needs to find Julia, with Barbie locked up. Big Jim makes up some shit about "who knows how many crazies out there are under Barbie’s spell" or some goddamn thing. "I love you, Dad. But don’t lie to me. That would be very bad for both of us," says Junior. Big Jim manages not to crack up laughing at Junior acting all tough, and tells him Barbie has confessed, and will soon confess to the whole town.
Junior goes, but not before Big Jim can make yet another person suspicious by asking if Julia was conscious last time Junior saw her.
Carolyn, Norrie and Joe arrive at Ben’s house, and nobody notices Linda following them practically on the bumper. Ben is outside, holding his head in his hands -- I take it his parents are picking up garbage or are at their salsa lessons -- and he tells them their sphere is going crazy.
Hey, so you know how Linda, Terrible Cop made sure to tell everyone that Angie was driving away from the clinic? And you thought that was just a typically terrible line? Joke’s on you! Angie brought Julia back to the clinic, to stay in a storage room, figuring it would be the last place anyone would look. And she stashed the ambulance behind a billboard… what? I guess they just nonchalantly wheeled Julia into the clinic from however far away that was. Julia tells Angie she was shot by a woman she’s never seen before, which is the exact opposite of being shot by a man you’re having sex with. Angie explains that Big Jim has been telling everyone Barbie shot her. "He’s lying," says Julia. That’s why we have to hide you, says Angie.
Oh, god. The whole damn town has turned out in front of the steps of the town hall, where Big Jim marches Barbie out and then makes a speech about how the rules still apply and are necessary, and when they’re broken, there must be justice and, where appropriate, punishment. Big Jim rattles off the names of the people Barbie is accused of killing…
…while over at Ben’s house, everyone covers their ears as Ben uncovers the mini-egg, which is indeed glowing orange and shrieking.
Elsewhere, Junior parks, ditches his walkie-talkie, and walks up to the dome, puts both hands on it, and closes his eyes.
At the clinic, Angie asks Julia what she thinks "they will do to him." Julia looks at her solemnly for five fucking minutes before saying, "They’re gonna kill him."
As if this is an actual courthouse, Big Jim asks Barbie how he pleads. Barbie mulls it over.
Linda enters Ben’s bedroom as the shrieking gets louder and the chrysalis wiggles.
Big Jim: “I asked you a question, Mr. Barbara. How do you plead?" Barbie looks at him: "Not guilty,” he says. Now all we need is a gruff judge blustering, "Well, this is highly irregular…"
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