As the residents of Chester’s Mill run out of time, could Melanie’s mysterious past be the key to saving them all?
Up to no good
Big Jim is reviewing the census forms, attempting to separate the weak from the worthy, and Rebecca tries to talk him into killing a Sunday school teacher and her infant daughter, because SHE IS THE WORST. Big Jim is not about to act on this plan, hoping the dome will guide him.
Julia tries to enlist Sam to figure out Rebecca’s dastardly plan, and she tells him that Barbie is Team Jim. Barbie, meanwhile, pulls Jim aside to clarify that no “tree-shaking” will happen unless they both agree on it. Then the Sunday school teacher and her adorable baby unintentionally threw some well-timed guilt in Jim’s direction.
Nobody can believe that Melanie is Melanie Cross, 1988 teenager. Barbie shows up and they tell him they have a wifi signal, which they all decide to follow back to the school. Melanie opens up the locker, and then tells Barbie she’s from 1988.
Rebecca is at a local pig farm, where she steals a big ol’ syringe full of swine flu from a dead pig. She then uses Jim’s keycard to break into a lab, where she injects the swine flu into some eggs. Jim barges in and yells at her for lying to him about what she was doing. She explains that the solution to all the town’s problems are in these eggs. (Death, the solution is death.) Rebecca’s been testing this plan since the dome came down, and the swine flu is strong enough to infect ¼ of the town. She wants Big Jim to play God and decide who gets wiped out, and to make his decision ASAP.
Finding some answers
Barbie and the kids check out some microfiche newspaper records, to see if there’s any story on Melanie’s family. They find out her family’s address in Zenith, which is where Barbie is from. This explains why Melanie thought he looked familiar… maybe? They decide to go visit the her old house, to see if it will stir up any more memories.
Junior breaks Lyle out of jail for some answers. Lyle tells Junior his mother knew about the dome, and left because she thought the dome would follow her and leave him safe. Jim has no idea Pauline’s alive, as Lyle claims she only trusted him, not even Sam. Lyle shows Junior the postcards Pauline’s been sending him, all paintings of things that have happened since the dome came down. The last postcard he received was the blood rain, and Junior points out that the postcards couldn’t have gotten through after the dome came down. They realize they might be able to find out what’s coming from Pauline’s journal, which Sam has. Lyle convinces Junior there might be some information on Angie’s murder in there.
The gang shows up at Melanie’s house in Zenith, which is apparently also under the dome, and Melanie feels nothing. Norrie, however, feels a lot of jealousy about Joe’s fascination with the new girl. She tries to get Barbie to spill what’s going on between him and Julia, but he doesn’t take the bait. They’re interrupted when Melanie finds her old bedroom, from which she once saw pink stars fall outside the window. The stars fell right to where Joe and Norrie found the mini-dome, so they all decide to investigate.
Julia and Sam break into Rebecca’s house and find a fridge full of eggs and blood, and some pig research, so they decide to look for her at the local pig farms. They make it to the dead pig farm, quickly figure out Rebecca’s plan, but also that she’s in big trouble, because a lot more pigs have died. They realize that Rebecca and Jim will try to unleash the virus at the town meeting at the Sweetbrier, and rush to stop them.
Flashbacks and betrayal
Melanie leads them straight to where the mini-dome was, and has a flashback of being there at nighttime with her boyfriend Sam, Pauline, and Pauline’s boyfriend Lyle. They were looking for the pink stars, and they found their very own mini-dome. They all touched it and it opened, revealing the egg. Melanie was struck by the urge to protect the egg, so she grabbed it and ran up an embankment. Lyle and Sam ran after her, and then somebody pushed her off the embankment, killing her. Melanie doesn’t know who pushed her, but it was Sam or Lyle, both of whom are super suspicious. Barbie is obviously pushing for Sam’s guilt, and they decide to confront him.
Jim and Rebecca have a nice heart-to-heart about dead loved ones, and Rebecca hands Jim a vial. He enters the diner full o’ victims, and walks right over to the water pitcher, but before he can do anything, Sam and Julia barge in and out his plan. But when they make him empty his pockets, he doesn’t have the virus. They realize Rebecca must have it, and this was all a diversion.
Junior and Lyle are tearing through Sam’s stuff, looking for the journal, and when Junior finds it, Lyle grabs it out of his hands. Junior holds him at gunpoint, trying to get him to hand it over. Then, in what is one of the oldest tricks in the book, Lyle drops the journal, and knocks Junior over the head when he goes to grab for it. Lyle leaves Junior unconscious and runs away with the journal. Oh, Junior, you are so hot, but so dumb. When the gang find him, he tells them Lyle’s gone, and might’ve killed Angie.
Secrets and lies
Rebecca is at a prayer service, ready to poison the holy water. But she overhears the farmer talking about all his dead pigs, and doesn’t go through with it. That doesn’t stop Julia from tackling her to the ground as she leaves the church. Julia finds the virus in Rebecca’s bag, and Rebecca confesses that apparently even she has limits.
Sam and Julia bring Jim and Rebecca back to the station to lock them up, saying they will have a big town meeting tomorrow to decide their fate. Rebecca tricked Jim into thinking he had the virus, when in fact she knew he’d never go through with it. As they are locking them up, Jim tells Julia that everyone will be really interested in what Barbie has to say about the virus plan, since he was the first one onboard.
Sam comes back to Julia’s house, and they’re just about to have a moment when Barbie shows up at the door. Julia won’t let him in, and shuts the door in his face. Sam decides this is the perfect moment to go in for a kiss, but Julia stops him. He apologizes and says he’ll leave, but she asks him to stay. But as she’s turned away to make some tea, he pulls aside his shirt to reveal fingernail scratches on his shoulder, possibly Angie’s. MURDERER! Probably.
Under The Dome season 2, episode 5, “Reconciliation,” airs Monday, July 28 at 10 p.m. on CBS.
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