So the stupid goddamn monarch butterfly is emerging from its chrysalis in the mini-dome in That Idiot Ben’s room. Joe and Norrie are delighted, while Officer Linda is confused and wants to know what’s going on. No one answers, and then Linda is still, "How long have you guys known about this?" Good question, Linda! How long have they known about this thing THAT EVEN YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT IT IS YET?
She looks at Carolyn -- who says she’s only known for a couple of days -- and warns Linda not to do anything rash, because acting rashly is this show’s modus operandi. Joe tells her it’s the source of the dome, which they don’t actually know is true, and they can kind of talk to it. "It told us the monarch will be crowned!" says Norrie, as though she thinks that’s supposed to mean something to Linda. Joe admits they don’t know what that means, but that’s a monarch butterfly in there, and they have to get it out "before it hurts itself or worse." What? Carolyn tells Linda she knows how it all sounds, but she believes them. How it sounds is like they’re making it up as they go along, but who would do that? Right?
Over at the town hall, Big Jim is actually mad at Barbie for pleading "not guilty," and he punches him the stomach. Barbie says Big Jim’s taking a big gamble because Julia’s still out there and knows Big Jim is full of shit. "You entered your plea. Now you get your justice," says Big Jim.
Junior is right where we left him, making sweet love to the dome with his face. "Tell me!" he yells, and then he softens his voice, "Why do you want me to kill my father?" For the crime of bringing you into this world, that’s a start. I could go on, really I could smh.
Julia sits up in her hospital bed, despite the protests of Angie, who tells her she’s got to stay hidden. Julia says she’s the only who can exonerate Barbie, and Angie’s all, "Exactly!" Which is why Big Jim will have her killed before you can tell anyone, and this is ground they’ve covered before. But Julia ignores her and says Angie doesn’t have to come with her, but she can’t stop her.
Back in That Idiot Ben’s room, Linda tells the other idiots, "You don’t know anything about this thing," meaning the egg. If I’m not mistaken, that brings the total number of correct things that Linda knows up to two, along with, "This is a safe deposit box." Linda says it could be radioactive. "The big dome isn’t," says Norrie. Her logic, that "one thing isn’t radioactive, so therefore this other thing isn’t", is impeccable, I’ll grant you. But Linda’s not convinced and says the dome is police property. Then everyone notices that the butterfly inside is fluttering around and whenever it hits the dome, it makes little black splotches that spread over the surface.
In the jail cell, Barbie asks Big Jim if he really thought Barbie would make this easy for him. Barbie naively says he can at least try to take Big Jim down with him. Big Jim chuckles at that, and says he could end it right now with a bullet. Big Jim raises a good question: Why doesn’t he just do that and lie about it like he’s done with everyone else? Barbie thinks he knows why: "There’s no audience here." You mean like the audience that wasn’t there when Big Jim murdered everyone else we’ve seen so far? Sure thing, Barbie.
Back at That Idiot Ben’s room, Joe further explains that the butterfly flutters to the ground, seemingly injured or perhaps already weary of Joe being the character equivalent of the described-video button on your remote control. Then That Idiot Ben goes to the window and asks if it’s him or if it’s getting "crazy dark" outside, when in reality what’s happening is black blotches are spreading on the maxi-dome, too. This seems a little more significant and worth pointing out than wondering if it’s "getting crazy dark."
At the town hall, the encroaching darkness thankfully puts an end to Big Jim and Barbie jawing at each other, as Big Jim goes outside to see what’s going on. The street is lousy with the extras who sometimes populate the town and sometimes don’t. They're all getting freaked out, and muttering about how they have to get home, while the darkness descends and the town’s streetlights come on. Junior, meanwhile, yells some more at the dome, wondering what he’s supposed to do. And then the dome is all black, and we can see the wide shot of the entire dome from outside. I believe the area to the left is supposed to be where the mother of all bombs was detonated, but instead of looking like the scorched earth we saw when it happened. It just looks like the rest of the land, only shadowy.
After the opening credits, That Idiot Ben says, "It’s the middle of the day, and it looks like it’s midnight out there." I can see why Ben and Joe are friends. "See? The dome’s trying to tell us something," says Joe. Then Norrie and Joe argue about what the darkness means, which really aught to convince Linda that neither of them speak fluent dome. She’s had enough, and then she gets on her radio and is all, "All available units to Ben Drake’s house," and unless "All Available Units" is Junior’s nickname hehe …WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT, LINDA?! Sure enough, Junior picks up the walkie-talkie he’d dropped earlier, and Linda tells him to get his ass over there. Big Jim has also heard her say she’s "found another dome" which would be utterly incomprehensible to anyone who didn’t already know about the mini-one, and Linda tells him he needs to see this.
Now the mini-dome is shrieking again, and Linda yells for them to make it stop. Norrie says they don’t know how, and Joe is all, "We kinda do, remember?" and then Joe and Norrie spend five minutes casting suspicious looks at each other and are basically, "Oh, yeah! We just have to touch it, that’s the ticket." Then Stupid Linda, for some reason, can’t tell that they’re acting super-shifty, and she asserts that it’s police property so if anyone’s going to touch it, it’s going to be her. She takes off her gun and radio, cautiously approaches the dome, and does what every person does when they’re touching something unfamiliar for the first time: She closes her eyes and puts her entire palm on it. Naturally, it zaps her across the room, knocking her against a wall, and she collapses, unconscious.
Over at the clinic, Angie helps Julia walk down the hall, while the two of them argue about whether they should go after the egg or Barbie first. Angie votes "egg" because if Linda takes the mini-dome and it ends up in the wrong hands. Wait, Angie wasn’t there when Linda showed up, was she? God, this show. Anyway, Julia’s counter-argument is that this might be their only shot to save Barbie’s life, and after a moment, Angie agrees.
Back in That Idiot Ben’s bedroom, Carolyn checks for Linda’s pulse and says she’ll be fine, and I’m no doctor, but I know that "has a pulse" is not necessarily the same as "not going to die." "It was the only way!" says Joe. Then Junior rushes in and has a tantrum and is all "screw Angie" because Angie helped Julia escape "police custody." Ben pops his head in and says, "It’s Big Jim! He’s almost here," whatever that’s supposed to mean, like maybe Ben checked his Marauder’s Map or something. Norrie and Joe appeal to Junior, asking him if he wants his dad to lock the mini-dome up before they can get answers from it. Junior hesitates, and then agrees to come with them.
Then we see Angie and Julia stroll into the town hall. Angie is unnecessarily saying that "everyone must be out dealing with the blackout," as though town hall is normally a hive of activity when we see it. Julia heads to the cells while Angie goes to get the keys, because who doesn’t know where a sheriff keeps the keys to the jail?
The real reason for them to separate is so Julia and Barbie can have a little time to themselves to reunite, with Barbie amazed that Julia’s still standing. Even the characters themselves are pointing out plot holes now. Barbie forgets to add that Julia has the best hair of a bedridden gunshot victim ever. Then they kiss through the bars, until Angie rushes in and tells the lovebirds "that’s enough" because "it’s go time."
Back at the house, Big Jim finds Linda in That Idiot Ben’s room. He helps her to her feet, and she groggily tells him that the kids think it’s the generator, and they need to find it since it’s their best shot at getting out of here.
For now the mini-dome is covered up, in the back of a truck with Junior (who is driving), Joe and Norrie in the front seat, wondering about how the hell they’re going to get in touch with Angie for the big mini-dome reunion. Junior points out she’s got a police radio, but Norrie argues they can’t send out a message that "the entire force" will hear, like what is up with the sudden references to a whole entire police force? Is this just so they can have more police characters next season and pretend they were there the whole time?
Barbie, Angie and Julia head upstairs to the town office looking for handcuff keys (Barbie still has his hands shackled behind his back) but they meet Phil Bushey and some guy we’ve never seen before who has a gun. But Barbie still manages to kick the crap out of Phil, even with both hands tied behind his back -- all Phil can do is yank off Barbie’s dog tag -- and when New Guy puts the gun to the back of Barbie’s head, Angie brains him with a fire extinguisher. Take that, new guy! But we look forward to your role next year as Phil’s Buddy! Angie’s walkie-talkie crackles to life. In That Idiot Ben’s room, Linda and Big Jim can hear it, too, as Joe tells his sister that they’re on the move with the mini-dome, and he wants her to meet them at the place where they hid when they broke their mom’s old mirror. While I appreciate his craftiness in one regard, was it really necessary to announce that you have the mini-dome at all?
As it turns out, Angie and Joe hid out at the cement factory. Did that thing ever actually produce cement? Junior’s skeptical that they’ll be able to do anything, because the butterfly that he didn’t even see that shouldn’t have been in the dome -- well, sphere -- at all is probably dead.
Then Barbie shows up, and Junior draws his gun, and doesn’t believe Julia when she says it was Maxine who shot her. Why is he skeptical? Because Maxine is his dad’s friend. You know, except for the fact that his dad called her evil. This nonsense is interrupted by red, glowing palm prints starting to appear on the surface of the dome.
Big Jim and Linda are leaving That Idiot Ben’s house (I notice Ben’s parents never once showed up, not even to see if their son was okay after the world turned black) when Phil radios to tell her that Julia helped Barbie escape. Linda says she’s on her way, and not, for example, "Wait, why would Julia help the man who shot her escape? That makes no sense!"
So, here we are: the four morons standing around the dome, ready to put their palms on it again. When they do, it starts glowing a blinding bright white, and then shatters into pieces. "It opened up!" says Joe, in case any of the rest of them went blind, I suppose. Their elation disappears when they see the butterfly isn’t moving. "We’re too late," is the assumption, instead of "We killed it when we broke the dome", or even "Well, I’m not an entomologist." Then the butterfly starts to move, flitting around, dive-bombing each of them in turn before circling around and making a couple of laps around Barbie, who wants to know what the hell is going on here. "I knew it. You’re the monarch," says Joe, and Junior looks pissed.
Meanwhile, Big Jim driving down the street and comes along a steady stream of people who are making their way to the church. He gets out and stops a woman who tells him that everyone is "getting right with the Lord." He’s a little surprised because, he says, it’s a crisis, not the apocalypse, so she spouts a Bible verse about the sun turning "as black as sackcloth," and says it’s all happening. Well, that one thing. And not even that one thing, since it wasn’t the sun that became black at all. But I guess what do you expect from someone who knows the Book of Revelation so well that she calls it Revelations?
Inside the church are the crew of people who are praying and humming and reading from Bibles, including kids who clearly look angry that they are apparently going to spend their last moments in church. For all the fear and confusion, though, it’s pretty quiet, and Big Jim strolls down the center aisle, and then gets up on the altar or whatever and, as though he called them all here, says "Thank you for coming." I mean, he knows that they know he didn’t call them here, right? He says there’s been a spiritual "hole" since the passing of Reverend Coggins, but "the good Lord has not forgotten Chester’s Mill." And then one gets up and is all, "My crops!” and someone else is like, "What if it gets cold?” This is one of those anxious crowds that, nevertheless, is not going to step all over each other’s lines, but nod and agree after people taking turns speaking. Big Jim guarantees the I’m Worried About Freezing lady that nothing like that will happen and the I Need Sunlight For My Crops guy asks how Big Jim can know that. Big Jim stands there and can’t answer, before finally admitting, "I don’t."
The crowd looks disheartened, and then Big Jim starts talking about the faith he has in them and in God and how there’s been too much lawlessness in this town since the dome came down, but that ends now. (They all nod in agreement). "Chester’s Mill will have its new dawn," he says, and everyone starts saying "amen" because all it took for them to stop worrying about the BLACK DOME was for Big Jim to speak for fifteen seconds about the faith he has.
Over at the cement factory, Junior says he refuses to accept that Barbie is the monarch, and Joe is all, "This has to be the way the dome selects a new leader," like ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING TO YOURSELF JOE, YOU DON’T ACTUALLY KNOW WHAT’S GOING ON.
The egg starts vibrating, just a little at first, and then it starts shaking violently and it turns blindingly white as well. What’s more, the ground around them starts to shake, and everyone just immediately wants to abandon the egg that they went to so much trouble to protect. Except for Julia, who walks towards it and reaches for it, with people screaming that it’s too dangerous, except for the fact that they know nothing about it at all and in fact they had their hands on the mini-dome/sphere when it was bright white too.
When Julia picks up the egg, it goes back to black, the shaking stops, and the butterfly flits over and alights on the egg. "She’s your monarch," says Barbie. Honestly, the most reasonable explanation is that this was just a regular butterfly all along that happened to get caught in the under the mini-dome.
Over at the town hall, Phil shows up because Big Jim SUMMONED HIM SOMEHOW. Big Jim has pulled a book from a shelf and shows something in it to Phil, telling him he wants to gather as many carpenters as he can to make it. Big Jim’s own great-grandfather made the last one Chester’s Mill had, apparently. It’s a gallows. Yes! Phil’s all, "Are you serious?" and Big Jim says that the town is on the brink of chaos, so they need to show they’re serious about law and order. "Okay. For Dodee," says Phil solemnly, and Big Jim is all, "Yes. For Dodee, who I totally didn’t kill."
Linda has gone to look for the egg at the McAllister barn. Finding nothing but the stars painted on the barn walls, she radios Jim -- I guess Angie and her crew aren’t listening in? -- to tell him there’s nothing there but some weird art project. Then she notices “pink stars are falling in lines” written on the wall, and she reads it out, and it hits Big Jim hard. He sits down and makes her repeat it. She does, and asks if it means something to him. “Not for a long time. Meet me at my house, Linda,” he whispers.
Over at the cement factory, everyone is all, "Well, Monarch Julia, what do we do now?" and I hate them all so much. At least Junior thinks this is all stupid, and he wants to take the egg to the "real authorities" but Angie says they’re not turning it over to that monster Big Jim. Junior gets angry and pulls out his gun because he’s tired of everyone running down his dad, who is the only one keeping the town together. For those of you keeping score at home, Junior loves his dad again. Barbie -- pretty ballsy for a guy with his hands tied behind his back -- tells Junior that he saw his father execute Maxine, and Junior doesn’t believe his father would ever hurt a woman.
When Julia tries to tell Junior to calm down, he tells her to shut up, because all she does is lie. He announces to everyone else that Julia confessed here "in these same tunnels" that she got fired from her last job for lying. I gotta say that the betrayed-puppy look Barbie throws at Julia is a bit much, considering his own long-kept secret about how HE KILLED HER HUSBAND.
Junior cocks his gun and tells Julia to hand over the egg. She slowly approaches him and then tosses it to Angie, yelling for everyone to run. Everyone scatters, except Barbie, who rams Junior to distract him while everyone else escapes. But Phil Bushey is one thing, and Raging Junior is another, and Junior’s able to get the advantage against arms-tied Barbie, pounding him in the face a bit before pulling his gun out, yelling, "You’re done!" and marching him out of there.
We’re now over at Junior’s mom’s art studio. Linda asks, "Jim, will you just tell me what’s going on?" Good job asking that NOW THAT YOU’RE HERE. Jim says she wouldn’t believe him, so he had to show her. That’s hilarious, considering how Linda swallows absolutely everything Jim says.
Anyway, he explains that in the last months before his wife died, she was not herself and was ranting and kept repeating "pink stars are falling." "Are you sure?" Linda asks. Yes, Linda, he’s probably sure about the circumstances surrounding the premature death of his wife. But Linda’s not done: "Maybe it’s a coincidence?" You know, if Big Jim were to shoot Linda right now, it would have zero consequence on the effectiveness of the Chester’s Mill police force. Instead, Big Jim shows her a painting of rows of pink stars behind a black egg.
Out in the middle of the pitch-black woods, Norrie, Joe, Julia and Angie manage to meet up. I guess one of them has a flashlight, which is a certainly a good thing to have on when you’re running from the cops in the dark. So what do they do now? If they destroy the egg, do they destroy the dome? Or do they cause another earthquake? Let’s just ask it, they decide, like it’s a goddamn Magic Eight Ball, and Norrie takes it from Julia, and says, "Please, just tell us what to do."
Nothing happens. And then Joe sees, thanks to the ambient light that isn’t actually there because there are no sun, moon or stars to see in the forest with, Alice, Norrie’s other mom. Considering she died several episodes ago, I can understand why Norrie’s freaked out.
Back at Mrs. Rennie’s awful art studio, Big Jim is lamenting that all the time he thought his wife was sick she was just trying to warn them, and maybe he could have done more to help her. Linda says that if she saw the dome coming, it means his family’s important. "You’re important," she says. Oh, good, that’s all Big Jim needs. Someone to keep his ego inflated. Also: What are you basing that on? Remember when you used to have a fiancé? Anyway, Junior radios to tell them he’s got Barbie in custody and is bringing him in.
Back to the forest, Norrie approaches her mom. Julia stops her, saying she doesn’t think it’s her mother. So Alice steps forward instead. "Forgive us. We’re still learning to speak with you. We took on a familiar appearance to help bridge the divide," she says. Norrie’s all, "WTF?" Joe -- proving what a genius he is -- shines the flashlight on her, and we see the light passing through, and he says he thinks it’s whoever put up the dome. OH, YOU DO, DO YOU? YOU FIGURED IT OUT? YOU CRACKED WHAT SHE MEANT BY "WE"?
Angie asks why they’re being punished, and Ghost Alien Alice looks confused. "The dome wasn’t sent to punish you. It was sent to protect you." Julia asks what they need to be protected from. "You’ll see, in time," says Ghost Alien Alice. How about, "NO, TELL US NOW"? Nobody says that, but Angie asks how they can see anything now that they’ve blocked out the lights. I’d like to point out that you guys seem to be doing fine seeing in the dark here, but Ghost Alien Alice says, "If you want the darkness to abate, you must earn the light," she says, adding, "By protecting the egg." Julia says, "If we fail, it’s the end, isn’t it, for all of us." Not really asking a question. After a moment, Ghost Alien Alice nods. Nobody asks why they’re doing this, but Julia does ask how they protect it, and what they’re protecting it from, but Ghost Alien Alice is already gone.
Junior arrives at the town hall. The gallows are practically already done, although to be fair, Phil has had at least fifteen minutes to gather carpenters, materials and start construction. Jesus, this show.
Big Jim comes to visit Barbie in the cells. "Welcome back,” he says, smugly, and asks where the kids took the egg. "It’s the key to all this, isn’t it? Making the darkness go away, controlling the dome…" Barbie tells Big Jim that he’s not the god he thinks he is. “I think we both know what you really are.” “What’s that, a criminal?” asks Big Jim. “Worse. A politician,” says Barbie. I have to admit, this -- this tone-deaf sick burn on those fat cats in Washington -- may have been the most surprising scene of the episode. Even Dean Norris looks like he can’t believe this was a scene.
Julia and the teenagers have made their way to the diner. "Are those gallows going up next to city hall?" asks Joe. Hey, aren’t you supposed to be telling us things we can see with our own eyes? Nobody even bothers to answer him. Julia wonders what they should do with the egg. Maybe they should hide it? Norrie says they’re all stuck in the same podunk town and there’s nowhere to hide it. Let me see if I understand what you’re saying: You’re saying that you can’t hide the over-sized egg, even after you successfully hid it when it was encased in a MUCH LARGER SPHERE?
Big Jim’s voice comes crackling over the radio, so I guess they’re listening to it again. He has a message for Julia: "We know you have a dangerous weapon in your possession. Bring it to us now, and we’ll discuss a reduced sentence for your accomplice, Dale Barbara." If she fails to respond within the hour, then Barbie will pay "the ultimate price" for his crimes. Hey, Linda, are you listening? Barbie is now Julia’s "accomplice"? Is any of this getting through to you?
Junior strolls in, and deflects his dad’s praise for bringing in Barbie, and Junior tells him the other teenage morons wanted to assassinate Big Jim, for being dangerous and murdering people. Big Jim asks if he believes it. "Should I?" asks Junior.
Big Jim tells him that before today he never put much stock in miracles, but he went to the art studio today. "You saw them, the paintings?" asks Junior. Oh, did he. Big Jim says the dome wasn’t an accident, but destiny. Their destiny. "There’s nothing a good man won’t do for the people he loves. That’s what your mom used to say all the time, right?" Like it’s an actual saying or something.
Big Jim tells Junior he has taken lives, but none that didn’t need to be taken for the good of the town. He didn’t tell Junior because he wanted to protect him, but that was a mistake because they’re in this together because they’re the Rennies and Junior’s mom tried to tell them and… GOOD GOD THIS IS TAKING FOREVER JUST STOP TALKING STOP IT. The upshot is from now on they’re best buds again. Only Junior looks conflicted, so he’ll be back on Angie’s side in a couple of episodes. But for now, the Rennies will hug.
Meanwhile, over in the diner, the idiots are still talking about how they should do something instead of actually doing anything. And now they recap the conversation they had with Ghost Alien Alice fifteen fucking minutes ago. And Julia stares soulfully at the egg. "How do we protect Chester’s Mill and save Barbie?" asks Joe. Julia says they can’t. But if she’s really the monarch, this has to be her decision. She wants them to get somewhere safe. Joe asks what she’s going to do, and Julia doesn’t answer.
In Big Jim’s office, he looks at the wall clock. It’s… what the hell? What is that, four and a half o’clock? This show can’t even get clocks right! Big Jim nods his head at Junior, who leaves.
Julia drives her car out to… is this Methane Lake or is this some totally new lake?
Back at the town hall, the townspeople have gathered around the gallows with Big Jim on the platform. Nobody seems to think it’s weird that a couple of hours ago Big Jim was talking about his faith in God and the town and the end of lawlessness but is now just about to straight-up execute a guy who hasn’t had a trial. Junior leads Barbie up the steps as Big Jim speechifies about certain elements sowing the seeds of hatred, but today, Chester’s Mill sentences Dale Barbara to death.
Over at Methane Lake, Julia stands in a boat, holding the egg and looking into the water. No rush or anything, Julia, but Junior is, right now, putting the noose around Barbie’s head, so whatever you’re going to do, you might want to -- oh, you’re going to take out Barbie’s dog tag so you can stare at it for a few moments?
The pink stars rising in lines converge at the apex of the dome, and white light spreads across the surface of the dome, bathing everyone in brightness. While everyone gawks and shields their eyes, Big Jim yells at Junior to throw the lever. We pull out to see that the dome has gone from opaque black to opaque white. And that closes the saddest chapter in American television history. Will Barbie be hanged to death? Will they ever get out? Will this ever make sense? Will people please stop watching this horrifying thing? Do people really have nothing better to do than watch this?
And a question from Nigerian student, will ASUU strike ever end?
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