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UNDER THE DOME 3.09 ‘PLAN B’ RECAP – THE KINSHIP STRIKES BACK…OR NOT

/in /by

As if the first half of season 3 wasn’t a wild enough ride, Under the Dome has really kicked it into high gear now. ‘Plan B’, the ninth episode of the season, opens with the Kinship attempting to strike back against the Resistance. Christine has sent Barbie and a team of armed men to ambush Big Jim and his own team at the Aktaion house. Their mission fails, however, because anticipating that there would be retaliation for the bombing of the caves, the Resistance has relocated to a new safe house, the town’s funeral home.

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When Barbie reports back to Christine that the Resistance is nowhere to be found, she is visibly agitated by their failure. Flinging her walkie talkie to the floor, Christine suddenly clutches her abdomen and doubles over in pain, crying “Oh no! No, I’m not ready yet”. She clearly has bigger problems than the Resistance to worry about at this moment. Her cries bring Eva rushing to her aid. Eva gets Christine to lie down and sees that the knife wound inflicted by Sam has apparently become infected. Christine interrupts her examination when the amethyst she is grasping in her hand begins to pulse and glow. The closer Christine moves it to Eva, the more the stone pulses with light. Christine, suddenly looking much happier than she did earlier, tells Eva the good news: she and Barbie are going to have a baby. Eva can’t believe it and wants to know how it’s possible since she and Barbie only slept together the previous day. Christine replies that “You’re carrying the new Queen. This isn’t any ordinary pregnancy.”

Leaving Eva to share the news with Barbie, Christine gets back to business. Junior reports to her that he has had the last remaining amethyst brought into town so that they can better guard it. He then tells Christine that he’ll keep searching until he finds and eliminates the Resistance. Christine tells him that he needs to spare Joe. Junior questions her because in his mind, Joe is just as guilty as the others, but Christine says that their plans have to be adjusted because of what happened to the amethysts and she now needs Joe’s help. Junior notices that she is holding her side and is obviously in pain and questions this because he thought the cocoon had healed her. Christine lies to Junior and tells him it did, but then tells him she needs to see the Dome wall.

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While all of this has been taking place, Hunter has managed to crack the code on Christine’s recorder and access her entries. He learns that the recordings are some kind of diary addressed to Barbie and Eva’s unborn child, the new Queen and she begins the entries by saying “It’s a shame we’ll never meet…” With that statement, we can assume that Christine will die before the baby is born.

As Junior and Christine approach the Dome wall, they see several dead animals lying nearby. It is as Christine feared, the Dome’s surface has started to calcify. She tells Junior that soon every living thing will suffocate unless she can bring down the Dome with Joe’s help. Junior questions Christine again at this point because he doesn’t understand what the Dome calcifying has to do with her increasing weakness and pain. Christine finally admits to him that what is happening to her is because she is connected to the Dome. With the egg destroyed and only one remaining amethyst, the Dome has no power source and is starting to shut down. She then collapses again and Junior carries her back to town.

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Once back in her office, Junior examines Christine and sees the now huge wound spreading across her abdomen. Determined to do whatever needs to be done to help his Queen, Junior looks to Christine for guidance. Her answer? Sexual healing, of course. Oh, the healing powers of that oxytocin! Once she is feeling better, Christine gives Junior some bad news: “James, this is temporary. Every one, every thing has a cycle and mine is coming to an end.” Junior expresses his confusion because he thought she was his mate for life. She tells him no, that she has actually envisioned Junior as being someone who will have many mates.

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Now that she is feeling better, Christine gets back to work. As she and Junior walk through the town hall, Junior eagerly scopes out potential new mates. When he zeroes in on the girl that he wants, Charlotte Chastain, Christine shoots him down: “The younger ones I need.” For the first time, Junior rebels against Christine and tells her no, that he wants Charlotte. Christine finally concedes: “Fine. But you’ll need to find me a suitable replacement. I need at least twelve girls.” She orders Junior to have them waiting for her when she gets back from introducing herself to Harriet, the young woman she has chosen to be Eva’s midwife.

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Once Christine has secured Harriet as Eva’s midwife, she takes her to meet Eva. Eva is again confused as to why she already needs a midwife since she only just found out she was pregnant. Come on, Eva. Get with the program! Christine yet again has to remind her that this is not an ordinary pregnancy – she’s giving birth to the Queen – and tells her that she needs to pack her things because they’re taking her to a place where her baby can receive the special care she deserves.

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At first Eva is reluctant to leave since Barbie isn’t there, but a surprise attack by Big Jim changes her mind. Christine and Junior take Eva to a barn where Harriet and at least a dozen young women dressed in white are waiting for her. Surprisingly, among them is Junior’s choice to replace Christine. As soon as he spots Charlotte, Junior confronts Christine: “I told you I wanted Charlotte.” Christine tells him that Charlotte came to her and said that she wanted to be a part of this: “Don’t worry. I promise she won’t feel a thing.” She then orders that “No one comes in or out” and the doors are closed in Junior’s face. Two things appear to be at play in this scene: 1) Based on Christine’s ominous words, these young women are about to be sacrificed for the new Queen, and 2) I suspect Charlotte’s inclusion in the sacrifice is probably Christine’s way of punishing Junior for rebelling against her and for being a little too eager to select a mate to replace her. After all, she is still the Queen.

It saddens me that we are seemingly nearing the end of Christine’s, and therefore Marg’s, time on Under the Dome. I hold out a little hope since Under the Dome is always unpredictable so anything can happen. I think it would be great if she did survive because it would be interesting to see how the real Christine would be and how she would cope with knowing all that she had done while her body was taken over by the Dome and its agenda. As of right now, though, I just can’t see any way that she comes out of this alive. Whatever the outcome, I will enjoy Marg’s performance until the bitter end.

HD Screen caps from Under the Dome ‘Plan B’ can be viewed HERE.

 

AAM RECAP & REVIEW OF INTELLIGENCE 1×09: “WE ARE THE HOPE.”

/in /by

“Athens”, this week’s installment of “Intelligence”, is my favorite episode of the series to date. In addition to featuring the usual roller coaster ride of action-packed twists and turns, which always makes for fun viewing, it also further explored the theme of trust, which is one that we’ve explored in previous episodes. Who can be trusted and who can’t be trusted? And, in particular, can we trust our government? The events of the episode also served as a test for the CyberCommand team members – can they be trusted to take action as needed when they come under attack?

The episode opens with a familiar face from the show’s pilot, Jin Cong, being broken out of a Chinese prison. While we have no idea at this time what his intentions are, we know that we can’t trust him. No good can come from Jin Cong being a free man.

Back at CyberCommand, Lillian and Jameson have the unfortunate task of dealing with a pair of Department of Defense Security Auditors as they question all of the safety protocols in place at the agency. There is a brief moment of levity when one of the auditors, while looking for security flaws in CyberCom’s live tissue palm recognition software, inquires as to what the protocol would be if a user “gets their hand cut off in a freak gardening accident?” Without missing a beat, Lillian’s sassy response is to order Jameson to conduct a hand count: “Make sure everyone has two.” And then with a big smile at the auditors, she quips “I feel safer already.” Clearly dealing with government security auditors is one of the necessary evils of Lillian’s job so why not have a little fun with it?

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The fun ends almost immediately, however, when CyberCommand faces a very real threat and their security protocols are put to the test. An aggressive virus attacks and takes down their entire network and it becomes apparent that whoever is behind the attack is after the country’s most sensitive information. Also problematic, however, is the fact that the attack has also erased Gabriel’s memory and in essence taken the country’s most valuable intelligence weapon out of commission. Lillian and her team know they’re in trouble when Gabriel starts to panic and asks, “Who the hell are you people?”

What I particularly liked about this episode was that the women were the ones who took charge at nearly every opportunity. Lillian and Riley, brilliantly played by Marg and Meghan respectively, are two of the strongest female characters I’ve seen on television in a long time and they are thrilling to watch each week. When Gabriel loses his memory, and along with it, his trust of those around him, he physically lashes out at Jameson as he tries to escort him to ClockWork. He easily takes Jameson down with a sucker punch and it’s Riley who steps in and stops Gabriel. It’s also Riley who takes the lead in trying to calm Gabriel down and remind him who he is, that he is part of their team, and that he can trust them. While Riley is taking the lead when it comes to Gabriel, Lillian takes the lead when it comes to dealing with the threat at hand. Back in the control room, while Nelson, clearly overwhelmed by the speed and severity of the cyber attacks, is frantically running around and announcing each new assault on the network while simultaneously making nervous jokes to the auditors — “How are we doing on that security audit?” — it’s Lillian who takes matters into her own hands. She quickly and calmly assesses the situation and realizes the attacker’s true intent. Knowing that sensitive data must be protected at all costs, she makes the decisive call to neutralize the threat: “Okay, that’s it. I’m formally instituting the Orion Protocol.” When the security auditor balks at her decision because “Orion is a protocol of last resort,” Lillian swiftly neutralizes her as well: “Take a look around. There are no resorts left.” Once she has put a muzzle on the auditor, Lillian commands Jameson to “cut the trunk,” effectively cutting CyberCommand off from the outside world and thus stopping the cyber attack. When the auditor once again questions her judgment, Lillian’s defiant response is: “Put it in your report.”
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