Under the Dome, this miniseries confounds me.
This isn't a series which thoughtfully examines how various people would react when they are literally cut off from society at large. Inexplicably imprisoned in what was once their sleepy town, where neighbours have to contend with one another or work together to free themselves. All for reasons utterly mysterious to us and them. That's what it could be, the premise is intriguing from a Kafka-esque unreality meeting social critique sort of way.
The problem is the characters are all woefully incompetent, psychotic, annoying, or just poorly developed. Their obvious conflicts are laughably escalated from nothing to nuclear in the same episode. Rather than slowly raising the tension and true horror of the situation until revelations, climax, and catharsis (or lack thereof). So you actually care and aren't bombarded with stupid.
It's so scattered, in tone and reasoning. Some of the characters are going utterly nuts while others seem to think it's a mild inconvenience like a blackout during a thunderstorm. There's no concerted effort by the adults in the situation to study their plight for a more sophisticated understanding, suggest a course of action to end said plight, or plan to use the community's resources efficiently in the event they're trapped in there for an extended period of time. The authorities visible in hazmat suits on the other side of this clear dome are making baffling decisions while releasing tidbits of valuable plot-progressing exposition indirectly over radio transmissions - why they aren't offering anything beyond vague and impersonal scientific analysis and jackbooted quarantine militarism is simply beyond my comprehension particularly when they evidently have "nothing to do" with any of this despite their suggestions of conspiracy. What possible reason the United States government would have in putting an electromagnetic fishbowl over a rural New England community would've needed a goddamn excellent explanation to begin with.
The subplots are generally stupid or indulge in obvious irony. The man who's seen burying a dead man mafia style of course ends up in the house of the dead man's wife. The cop who's just about to spill the beans regarding some absurd town council conspiracy happens to die just before he could expose his secret. I'm sure he was two days until retirement too. The death was a complete accident, his pacemaker just happened to react to the dome as he just happened to be touching at that exact moment. For some reason this made the conspirators utterly paranoid, despite the fact that no one actually was investigating them for any reason, leading to improbably stupid series of decisions which make them totally suspicious. The twenty-something kid who's dumped by his summer fling turns into an impressively unsympathetic jealous psychopath who kidnaps his ex, stuffs her in a bomb shelter, and tries to kill the first guy she smiled at. One cop starts collecting guns to apparently quell the anarchy that was coming despite no suggestion of any such thing occurring, and for some reason no one noticed the glaringly obvious craziness underneath his expression and actions, leading shockingly to him accidentally killing the only other non-main cast police officer in the town when he goes Yosemite Sam on everyone.
It's just so... contrived and obvious. I've seen shows like Jericho handle humans with a degree of restraint and realism. They created genuine moral complexity and a sense of suffocation as the world around it has disappeared. This is just silly. I want there to be something here, maybe a gratifying conclusion that makes the camp melodrama worth it. I've read too much of King to expect much. Still, I'm oddly attracted to see how far the rabbit hole goes.
