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RECAP OF UNDER THE DOME 3.12 INCANDESCENCE – MEET THE REAL CHRISTINE

/in /by

Under the Dome 3.12 “Incandescence” unfortunately marks the conclusion of Marg’s story arc as Christine Price. We knew it was coming since Marg had said she was only doing 10 episodes, but it’s still sad that we’ve already reached that tenth and final episode. So, does Christine go out with a bang? Let’s discuss.

The first time we see Christine in “Incandescence”, she and Sam have the baby at the Dome wall. They are bathed in a beautiful yet eerie purple light, which Christine refers to as the Dome’s dying light. We’re seeing this dying light because Christine is draining some of the Dome’s energy in order to begin the cocooning process for the new Queen. She says this will hasten the calcification of the Dome but that without the amethysts, she has no choice because the Queen has to be cocooned. As she continues to drain the energy, at one point it appears as if the Dome is trying to pull her in. Sam seems to think so too, as he reaches out to draw her back. Christine tells him to let go of her, that it’s for the baby. Once she has extricated herself from the Dome, she reiterates to Sam that the energy drain is necessary, although she admits there is one serious side effect – the Dome is now calcifying even faster than it originally was.

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She and Sam then return to her office and encounter Junior, who seems even less like himself than usual. When asked where he has been, Junior reports that he was kidnapped by the Resistance and injected with some ‘b.s.’ cure made from Christine’s DNA. Christine embraces him and tells him that she’s happy he has returned to them and then proceeds to fill him in on everything he missed – that the baby has been born and so Eva is no longer with them because she has served her purpose, and that she and Sam have begun the cocooning process for the new Queen. Upon hearing this, Junior visibly bristles. He is clearly displeased that Christine and Sam are working together. Does he feel that his alpha status is being threatened?

This tense interaction is interrupted by shouts from elsewhere in the building and when they rush out to see what is going on, they realize just how dire their situation is. The Dome’s calcification has affected their air supply enough already that many of the elderly are struggling to breathe. Christine decides that it’s time to go check up on Joe and see how the plan to bring the Dome down is coming along. What she finds is that Joe, while having made progress, has stalled out when it comes to figuring out how to replace the shattered egg as a power source for their schematic. When Christine tells him that they need to bring the Dome down in 24 hours or less or they’re all going to suffocate, Joe panics and says that the lives of 2,000 people is just too much pressure to put on a kid. Deciding that he needs a pep talk, Christine reinforces to Joe that he’s one of the smartest people she knows and that she has faith that he can save them all. She then tells him to relax and close his eyes, that in the alternate reality, that was when he always did his best thinking. Sure enough, Christine is right, and moments later, Joe determines that the transmitter from the radio station could work.

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Satisfied that she has gotten Joe back on track, Christine returns to town hall and, surprisingly, assists in caring for the elderly. While she is doing this, Junior presents to her the idea of reducing the competition for air. If those who are least useful are eliminated, then the rest of them have a better chance of surviving until the Dome is brought down. Christine agrees and asks Junior and Sam to do her one last favor that may also help the new Queen in choosing her Alpha: “Take the elderly to the lake. Do what needs to be done.”

While Junior and Sam are off to ‘take care’ of the elderly, Christine records her final message to the new Queen. She tells her that she is their race’s last hope against ‘the others’ and wishes her good luck. Christine then heads to the cement factory where the new Queen has been cocooned: “It’s time for the final transfer – for my work to end and for yours to begin. I give you my life force.” Barbie and Julia rush into the room as we’re watching the life force drain from Christine into the cocoon, and before the transfer can be completed, Barbie forcibly pulls Christine away from the cocoon. There is a bright flash of light and the cocoon bursts open, knocking both Christine and Barbie to the ground, and then a shadowy figure speeds past them and out of the building. Barbie chases after the figure, while Christine remains on the ground staring at her reflection in a puddle of water. We know we are now seeing the real Christine for the first time because it is indeed her reflection that we see rather than the glowing alien visage we had seen so many times previous. To Julia’s surprise, Christine bursts into tears. In disbelief, Julia rips into her about how she has destroyed the town and so many lives. Christine continues to cry and when Barbie returns, he threatens her at gunpoint. He has every intention of killing her if she doesn’t tell him where his baby is. Realizing that Christine is no longer infected, Julia finally intervenes, telling Barbie to look at her: “She’s different.” Christine then tells Barbie that she thinks the ‘thing’ that sped past them was his baby.

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As they leave the cement factory, Barbie and Julia try to get Christine to tell them what’s going to happen next, but Christine doesn’t remember many of the details of the plan that she has been carrying out since she was infected. She doesn’t even understand why she’s still alive since her understanding is that she should have died as soon as she transferred her life force to the new Queen. Julia reminds her that she and Barbie interrupted that transfer, which is probably why she’s still alive. Desperate to do anything she can to make up for the harm she has caused, Christine tries to remember anything she can that would be helpful, she suddenly cries out that they have to get to the lake immediately: “I’ve done something terrible.” When they arrive at the lake, it’s even worse than Christine originally thought. Instead of just sacrificing the elderly to save the Kinship, Junior has gone rogue and rounded up the children and is leading them to the lake as well.

Barbie and Julia are prepared to break bad on Junior in order to save the kids, but Christine pleads for a chance to stop him herself because she’s afraid that if they use force, the children will be harmed. Pretending to still be one of the Kinship, Christine confronts Junior because he is not following the order that he was given. When he tells her that he took matters into his own hands, she cuts him off and tells him that the children are the future of the kinship and orders that they be taken back to town. As they are debating this, one young girl continues on her journey to the lake and begins to wade into the water. Christine rushes into the water to pull the girl back to safety, and at that moment, Junior realizes that she is no longer one of them and violently attacks her. Christine tries to apologize for everything she did to him, but Junior grabs her by the throat and is intent on strangling her until Julia and Barbie intervene, attacking him from behind.

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Convinced that Christine is one of the Resistance now, Julia and Barbie take her back to their hideout and vouch for her to the others. There is some debate at first because Hunter and Lily are obviously skeptical about whether or not Christine can be trusted. They finally relent and the members of the Resistance decide that it has been an exhausting day and that they all need to rest and then regroup so that they can continue to plan against the Kinship. Christine tells them that while she knows she can’t possibly make up for all that she did while infected, she wants to do everything she can to help them. She then takes her leave and goes to rest.

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As soon as Christine lies down, there is a flash outside of her window and she opens her eyes, sensing a presence in the room. It’s the new Queen, who looks just like Eva, and she has tracked Christine down. Christine tries the friendly route: “You have your father’s eyes”. The new Queen isn’t having any of that though and forcibly removes Christine from the building. We next see the Queen dragging her along outside, where she finally slams her up against the side of the Dome, stating “You have something I need.” As soon as she makes contact with the Dome, Christine’s human form begins to disappear and soon she is nothing more than a glowing alien energy source. The transfer now complete, the new Queen then leaves what is left of Christine pinned to the Dome wall until, echoing what nearly happened to her in her opening scene, the Dome absorbs her.

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Thus ends Christine’s, and Marg’s, journey on Under the Dome. Although I was saddened that “Incandescence” ended Marg’s time on the show, this episode was still probably my favorite one from her story arc. As fun as it has been to watch her play crazy alien Queen Christine throughout the season, those final gut-wrenching scenes where Christine regains her humanity and then has to live with everything she did while she was the Queen are where Marg truly shines. I’m very happy that Marg got to finish her arc doing what she does best. Her performance in this episode was truly brilliant.

You can view screen captures of Marg from “Incandescence” HERE.

 

UNDER THE DOME 3.06 ‘CAGED’ EPISODE RECAP: BIG JIM VS. CHRISTINE

/in , /by

“Caged,” the sixth installment of Under the Dome’s third season, starts to shed some light onto what happened to bring the Dome down over Chester’s Mill and to give us a little more insight into what Alien Christine’s ultimate agenda is.

“Caged” opens with Marston showing Big Jim the video footage of exactly what transpired when Christine made contact with the egg: “Right there is where Christine Price became something else…On a cellular level, the person you know as Christine Price is not of this Earth.” Right there is also the moment that the dome came down over Chester’s Mill and the mini-dome came down over the egg itself. Marsten goes on to tell Big Jim that they’ve learned a lot about Christine but they still haven’t determined what she is or what she wants. Lucky Big Jim then learns that’s where he comes in as Marsten charges him with the task of pumping Christine for information about her agenda. Big Jim initially declines as he wants no contact with ‘that thing’, but ever the persuasive guy, Marsten tells Jim he has two choices: 1) help get the information from Christine that they need or 2) be injected with Christine’s inhuman blood to see what happens to him. Big Jim decides to be helpful.

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Much of Christine’s time in this episode is spent in a cage having some pretty candid conversation with Big Jim. She is honest with Big Jim from the start, showing him what I’ve speculated about for a few episodes now, that she is basically a chameleon — she can easily fake any emotion at the drop of a hat, depending on how she thinks the other person needs to see her. When Christine tells him that people will come for her, Big Jim mocks the idea of Junior as a knight in shining armor and tries to get information about who else she might have working for her. He tells Christine that if she’s relying on Barbie, her plan is flawed because Julia knows all about Christine and can’t wait to tell Barbie everything she knows. Is Christine getting a little worried at this point? It’s hard to say with certainty, but she does abruptly end the conversation by telling Big Jim that her human body is tired.

When Big Jim and Christine resume their conversation, it takes a turn for the philosophical with Christine extolling the virtues of the collective and telling Big Jim that the loneliness and emptiness he’s feeling is his ‘reward’ for only looking out for himself. Christine tells Big Jim that there’s no reason why her people and his can’t co-exist because they want the same thing. She says there’s no reason they should be enemies but that they will protect themselves. She goes on to defend her actions in stripping people of what makes them individuals: “Petty self-interest brought this community to the brink of destruction, but because of me, people are thinking about things other than themselves. Because of that, we have food. We have peace.” Big Jim balks at the idea of the collective and retorts that true progress comes from creativity and individual ingenuity: “The history of the world is made by leaders, not followers.” Christine inserts a reality check at this point: “Well, we come from very different worlds and from where I sit, you’re no leader. You’re just a very sad and lonely man.”

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They are interrupted this time when Marston has one of his goons toss in a can of tear gas and then brings Big Jim out of the cage. Marston is not completely happy with Big Jim’s progress and instructs him to up his game, or else. When Christine next awakens, she has cuts down the side of her body. Over in his own cage, Big Jim is sporting a fresh busted lip and informs Christine that they must have escalated with their experiments. Big Jim decides to demonstrate to Christine what a little fight and a little ingenuity can do as he uses the tab off of a can to pick the lock on his cage. Clearly more concerned about the dangers of her current predicament, Christine begs Big Jim to take her with him, promising that she can get him out of the dome if he does. Stroking his arm and his face through the bars of her prison, Christine really pours on the charm and tries to coax Big Jim into helping her. Perhaps in response to his own passionate speech about the need for leaders and creativity, Christine makes a persuasive speech of her own that appears to be designed to seduce Big Jim over to her way of thinking: “Once out of the cocoons, the concepts of me, ego, and self were gone from my mind. Immediately I saw the world in a new light, a better light — a world where the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few…Jim, what we want is no different than any living organism – to survive, to flourish…Aww, come on. Let’s work together”

Big Jim isn’t buying into Christine’s manipulations, but manages to get her to say that bringing down the dome is her ultimate plan, which is what Marston has been waiting to hear. He charges into the room to say he can take it from there but then tries to stop Big Jim from leaving. Displaying a little more of that ingenuity he was praising earlier, Big Jim uses the can lid to cut Marston’s throat and make his escape from the Aktaion lab. Christine again begs him to take her with him, but he says “You know, I can handle good and I can handle evil. But what I can’t handle is desperate. You’re in a position to tell me whatever I want to hear, but I ain’t buying. No hard feelings.”

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Although abandoned by Big Jim, Christine is ultimately rescued from the lab by Junior and Barbie, who have been trying to track her down for much of the episode. Once they rescue her, Barbie corners Christine for the truth about who she is. Christine confesses everything to him — that she was hired by Aktaion to find the egg, that Aktaion manipulated her into wanting to be a part of something great because the egg was supposed to be a new clean source of energy. She then tearfully tells Barbie that everything is her fault – she brought the dome down when she touched the egg and all of the lives lost and all of the families who were separated are because of her. Her emotional story, which matches the one Eva gave Barbie earlier, convinces Barbie who tells her it’s not her fault and when a gun-wielding Julia interrupts Christine’s confession and tries to tell Barbie the truth, Barbie’s not having any of it. Christine eggs Barbie on, telling him that Julia is the one who took her at gunpoint and gave her to Aktaion. That’s enough for Barbie and he calls Julia a monster and tells her that if she can’t get on board with the town’s new agenda, then she needs to just stay away.

Recovering quickly from her ordeal, Christine meets up with Eva for an update on what has happened while she was locked up and especially to get a report on Eva’s progress with Barbie. While not enough progress has been made on that front, Eva praises Christine for getting Barbie to finally trust her and Christine reveals the key to her success: “I became what he needed me to be, a victim for him to save.” Christine gives Eva her next set of marching orders: “The sooner you become his mate, the sooner he’ll be what I need him to be. Our protector.”

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Although she had made great strides with getting Barbie to complete his journey, Christine faces more dissension within her ranks. Sam has figured out that Christine is responsible for Abby’s death. He goes to see her and actually beats Christine at her own game of manipulation by convincing her how sorry he is that he strayed and how grateful he is that she has gotten him back on the right track yet again. When she embraces him and tells him she only did what needed to be done because of how important he is to her and to the group, Sam stabs Christine and leaves her to die. Junior finds Christine, and at her urging, he carries her back down to the caves where she re-cocoons herself with one last order to Junior: “Bring me Sam.” I can’t imagine that meeting will go well for Sam. I’m going to take a not-so-wild guess and say that openly attacking the Queen is probably something that the collective would frown upon.

I think my favorite part of this episode, and perhaps my favorite moments of the season so far, were the scenes between Christine and Big Jim while they were caged. Marg and Dean Norris played off of each other so well. It was a pleasure to watch their characters go head to head and I hope that we’ll get more scenes like that this season.

Marg was especially thrilling to watch in the scene where Christine puts on the show for Big Jim — quickly passing through all of the emotions that she has in her arsenal of manipulation. Marg played that so beautifully and really just all around rocked this episode. I love how Christine constantly keeps me guessing. When Big Jim asked her if she could do ‘honesty,’ it really got me wondering about whether we’ve seen any true emotion from Christine up to this moment. I think the answer is no, perhaps with the exception of when she is trying to explain to Big Jim why she believes in the collective.

I really cannot wait to see what happens next. Those amethyst crystals were still flickering at the end of the episode, so Christine is still in a race against time to make this collective successful.

You can view some HD screencaptures of Marg from the episode HERE.