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

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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 3.11 “LOVE IS A BATTLEFIELD” RECAP – “YOU’RE NO LONGER ONE OF US.”

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“Beat the Clock” is the name of the game in “Love is a Battlefield,” the 11th episode of Under the Dome‘s third season. While Christine and the Kinship are working tirelessly to protect their unborn queen and to bring the Dome down before everyone inside suffocates, Hektor from Aktaion and the Resistance are frantically trying to come up with a plan of action to prevent the Kinship from being unleashed on the outside.

Christine, who is weakening rapidly, is trying to move the Dome’s agenda along as quickly as possible. When Sam reports to her that although Joe is on board with helping to bring the Dome down and has made a few breakthroughs, his work is still in the early planning stages, she becomes worried that they’re going to run out of time because “the Dome is dying.” Sam offers to force Joe to work faster, but Christine tells him she doesn’t want to resort to violence with Joe because he’s too valuable. She’ll find a way to motivate Joe herself. She then asks Sam if he knows where Junior is. Sam steps up and says that he can take care of anything she needs done. After requesting that he help get the last remaining amethyst over to Joe so that he can continue his work, Christine praises him: “You’ve come a long way, Sam. I’m pleased.” Sam himself looks pleased at her words and departs to do her bidding.

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As Sam exits, Barbie enters. Freed from the Kinship’s hold in last week’s episode, Barbie is still pretending as if he is one of them in hopes of learning enough to be able to stop Christine and save Eva. Christine asks for an update on Eva and tells him that the baby should be here within the day. Barbie tells her that he wants to go after what’s left of the Resistance, but Christine nixes that idea and says that the Resistance is the least of their concerns at this point. She tells him that their primary concerns are the birth of the new Queen and bringing the Dome down: “Inside Eva is the Queen who will lead our Kinship out of the Dome. Nothing is more important than that. Your priority is to be by Eva’s side until that baby is born.”

While Christine is actively moving forward with her agenda, Hektor, along with the help with the Resistance, is developing what he hopes will be a cure for all of those who have become infected. He tells the Resistance that all he needs is a sample of Christine’s DNA and a test subject. Julia finds a sample of Christine’s hair at the barn Eva was taken to and Junior becomes their unwilling test subject when he tries and fails to kill the remaining members of the Resistance.

Christine stops in to check on Joe’s progress and interrupts his enthusiastic off-key rendition of Pat Benatar’s ‘Love is a Battlefield.’ Although initially unimpressed that Joe is spending his time singing and listening to music rather than working on their special little project, Christine does look intrigued when Joe reminds her that he isn’t one of her drones and can’t just work until he drops and that he sometimes needs to “stop thinking in order to think.” Christine walks through the original plan with him – the seven amethysts and the egg would somehow work together to transmit a signal to the Dome. That signal would serve as a key and trigger the Dome to unlock. Joe remarks that the destroyed egg and amethysts are pretty big problems, implying that it’s basically Mission Impossible. Christine isn’t giving up though: “Come on, Joe. I know you better than that. I know you find the problem exciting.” She then takes him on a field trip to the Dome so that he can see for himself firsthand what is going to happen if the Dome doesn’t come down.

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On their way to the Dome, Christine tells Joe that she needs his cooperation. When he scoffs and says that all she really wants is his submission, Christine explains to him that she and her kind did not even want to come to Earth in the first place: “Earth is a wonderful place, but it’s not that great.” Their world was destroyed by an enemy and they had no choice other than to flee and find a new home. She goes on to explain that an unnamed ‘they’ are coming and that not only the Kinship is in danger, but all of humanity. She says that whether Joe wants to admit it or not, their fates are tied together and that they need to get the Dome down so that they have a fighting chance against what is coming. Then, as if that wasn’t motivation enough for Joe, Christine drives it home a little further: “That rests entirely in your hands.” I guess it remains to be seen whether Christine’s story is true or just another clever manipulation to get what she wants. Just before she and Joe part ways so that he can get back to work, Christine has another near fainting incident. When Joe expresses his concern, Christine confesses to him that she is dying – her cycle is ending and her work is nearly done. I might be reading too much into it, but I thought Christine seemed a little more upset than usual when she discussed the end of her life.

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Meanwhile, Eva has realized that Barbie has been playing her and is no longer under the influence of the Kinship. In an effort to save his baby, Barbie drugs Eva and smuggles her away out of the reach of Christine and the Kinship. He has decided that he’s going to stay with Eva until the baby is born and then he will save the baby since he can’t seem to save Eva. Knowing they need to hurry if they’re going to keep that baby from the Kinship, Barbie asks Julia for help. She meets him and together they forcefully deliver the baby from Eva and nearly escape with it until Eva tricks them into letting her breastfeed it first. Big mistake as the lifeforce immediately begins to flow into the baby and both Mom and baby start to emit a blue glow. Eva then tells Barbie that it’s not her child – it’s the new queen – and with that superhuman strength of hers, she throws Barbie through the glass window.

Clearly fatigued by her journey out to the Dome, Christine is lying down in her office when Sam comes to tell her that they have a problem – Barbie and Eva are missing. Frantic, Christine orders the town to fan out and find them immediately. Once they locate Eva, Christine asks for some privacy and then begins the most eerie scene of perhaps the entire season.

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As she watches Eva continue to breastfeed the baby, Christine explains to Eva that the new Queen is “taking what she needs”. What we the viewers see happening is a little more ominous than the way Christine makes it sound. As we gaze into the mirror with Christine, we see the baby draining the life force from Eva. As if waking from a daze, Eva sees Christine holding her baby and wants to know why she has her. Christine sets the baby aside and calmly replies: “She’s not your baby. And you’re no longer one of us.” She then proceeds to smother Eva with a pillow, all the while singing a lullaby. And Marg’s singing was so wonderful. Lovely and haunting, her voice and that song were what really made this scene work for me. The episode concludes with the eerie image of Christine standing in the center of the room, rocking the baby, while Eva lies there dead. This scene really shocked me, but I guess in the Kinship, everyone is expendable once they have done their duty, even the mother of the new Queen.

I really can’t believe we’re nearly at the end of the season. It seems like just yesterday we were beginning our journey with Christine Price. As sad as I am to see this storyline come to a conclusion, I’m excited to see how it plays out. Who will succeed first? Will Christine succeed in her plan to bring the Dome down? Will Hektor and the Resistance thwart her efforts and succeed in their efforts to cure the town? Is Christine’s story about her world being destroyed true and something even more dangerous is headed their way? Anything is possible on Under the Dome!

You can view an album of screen caps from the episode HERE.