"Into the Fire" is the second episode of Under the Dome, which aired on CBS on 1 July 2013.
The episode was written by Rick Cleveland and directed by Jack Bender.
Summary[]
While the townspeople learn that they are trapped beneath a dome rather than behind a wall, Big Jim and Reverend Coggins take precautions to conceal their secret after Duke's death.
- "Chester's Mill is a place like any other. At least it used to be. Until we were cut off from the rest of the world by a mysterious Dome. Invisible; indestructible; and completely inescapable. We don't know where it came from or why it's here, but now that we're all trapped under the dome together, none of our secrets are safe."
In flashback, "Barbie" beats up Peter Shumway in a cabin, demanding to know where "it" is while Shumway claims ignorance. Barbie tells Shumway that his boss will not be pleased and gives Shumway one day to deliver "it," but Shumway pulls a gun instead. Barbie promptly disarms Shumway, who tears a pair of dogtags from Barbie's neck before Barbie pulls a gun of his own. The two grapple until Barbie's gun fires, killing Shumway.
At Julia's residence, Barbie wakes from the nightmare of Shumway's death moments before Julia checks on him and tells him that he was yelling in his sleep. Barbie confirms that the dome is still in place, and asks if Julia has seen a pair of dogtags; she admits that she has not, and promises to keep an eye out for them. Julia leaves, and Barbie recalls Shumway tearing the dogtags from his neck in the cabin.
At the site of the prop-plane crash, Linda cradles Duke's body as officers Freddy Denton and Paul Randolph rush to the scene. Linda explains that Duke's pacemaker exploded when he came into contact with the Dome, and Fred receives a shock when he gets to close to it himself. Linda instructs Randolph to put out a warning for the townspeople to stay away from the Dome.
At the nearby McAlister residence, Joe insists that he's fine while Ben reminds him that he suffered a seizure an hour before, mumbling incoherently about "pink stars." Joe spots a pair of men digging near the barrier and learns from the that the Dome "goes down far," and Joe strikes upon the idea of mapping the Dome.
As dawn approaches, Dodee and Phil search for the stray signal at the WYBS station headquarters, overhearing a communication that indicates that "fire is ineffective against the surface" and that the military has confirmed that "there is no radioactivity eminating from the Dome." Phil notes the second use of the word "dome" and insists that he and Dodee must inform the town of the nature of their captivity, but Dodee suggests waiting until they learn more. Phil returns to the studio and broadcasts a message to Chester's Mill, informing his listeners that all cellphones, television, and Internet connections have been severed.
At Sweetbriar Rose, Big Jim fixes Rose's backup generator in order to restore power to the diner. Rennie then explains to Carolyn Hill and Alice Calvert, who are staying in a spare room above the diner, that the Dome is still in place, but extols the virtues of Chester's Mill even as Linda arrives, smeared with Duke's blood, and announces that Duke has died.
Later in the morning, Julia throws a tennis ball at the barrier in an attempt to force a military patrol to pay attention to her. Barbie arrives soon after and tells her that she is wasting her time, and Julia admits that she has found no sign of Barbie's dogtags. Julia then theorizes that the military may responsible for the Dome, which she claims may be some sort of "portal detention camp," and insists that they are the reason that her husband is trapped outside Chester's Mill. She then climbs into her car and heads for the radio station headquarters in an attempt to listen in on the military's communications.
In the Rennie's fallout shelter, Angie searches for a means of escaping, but hides as Junior arrives with a tray of food. She rushes him, knocking him aside and forcing her way out the door, only to climb the stairs in the hall outside and find the stormdoors locked. Angie beats at the door and screams for help until Junior forcibly picks her up and carries her back into the bunker, chaining her ankle to the cot. Junior insists that the Dome has scrambled Angie's brain and made her sick; when Angie asks Junior to take her to the hospital, he responds that "Barbie" might be there. Angie initially denies being involved with Barbie, but later attempts to goad Junior by claiming that Barbie "screwed [her] brains out," and that Junior "will never be the man that he is." Junior leaves without a word and locks the door.
At the mortuary, Rennie and Linda deliver Duke's body while Linda tells Rennie that Duke had mentioned Chester's Mill having dark secrets just prior to his death. Rennie denies knowing what Duke meant as Reverend Lester Coggins arrives, lamenting the increasing number of bodies. Coggins consoles Linda before she leaves, after which Rennie attacks Coggins, accusing the Reverend of being "high as a kite" on "[their] stuff." Coggins doesn't deny it, and remarks that they no longer have to worry about Duke revealing their crimes. Rennie then takes Duke's keys and the two leave.
On a residential street, Ben draws a door on the barrier with orange spray paint while Joe solves a trigonometric calculation. Moments later, Barbie approaches the two, who explain that by Joe's calculations, the Dome is "about ten miles across," covering all of Chester's Mill and some of Lake East Point. Barbie encourages the teenagers to continue their work, then leaves.
At the WYBS station headquarters, Dodee picks up the stray signal and learns that "air traffic has been rerouted around Chester's Mill until further notice." Julia arrives shortly after to find Phil and Dodee listening to the transmission.
At the Town Hall, Linda returns to find Rennie picking through Duke's filing cabinet; he reveals that he has found Duke's last will and testament, and Linda learns that Duke left his house and all of his possessiosn to her. Rennie hugs Linda, telling her that Duke treated her like the daughter he never had.
Outside the Town Hall, Rennie returns to his vehicle where Coggins is waiting, and tells the Reverend that Duke kept no record of the propane shipments in his office. When Coggins postulates that Duke kept those records at his house, Rennie informs him that Duke's house now belongs to Linda and instructs Lester to pay a visit to the Perkins residence.
At the WYBS station headquarters, Dodee explains to Julia that she modified the station's equipment, then uses the antenna to pick up the stray signal; they then learn that the "Dome appears to be impervious to high energy laser and all class-A corosive chemicals." Julia demands to know why Dodee haven't informed the town, then bursts into the studio and commandeers the microphone from Phil.
At Sweetbriar Rose, diners listen to Julia explain the barrier around the town is, in fact, a dome. Carolyn and Alice consider the implications of their situation, but Norrie insists that they're "all going to die in here."
At the diner, Lind, Fred and Paul attempt to mollify the fears of the diners before heading back out on patrol. Outside in the street, Paul becomes panicky and confronts Linda before climbing into his car and driving off. Linda then joins Fred on patrol, questioning whether they'll ever see Rusty again, and Fred insists that no Dome will keep his brother away from her; he then reveals that Rusty means to take Linda to Hawai'i for their honeymoon. A moment later, Coggins approaches the two, checks on Linda, and continues on, having picked Linda's pocket and stolen her keyring.
In his car, Rennie listens to Julia on the radio as she explains that the Dome is not radioactive; he then spots a tractor crossing the highway and pursues it off the road to stop the driver from attempting to "dig...[his] way out." Rennie warns that touching the Dome with electrical equipment can be deadly, and reveals that Duke died when his pacemaker exploded. When the man asks who is now in charge, Rennie has no answer.
Walking along the barrier, Ben and Joe discuss the possibility of living permanently under the dome before spotting a group of soldiers outside the barrier spraying the Dome with water. Joe presses his hand to the barrier, and pulls his palm away damp, proving that some particles can pass through the Dome.
At Mill Gas & Grocery, Barbie purchases a bottle of water and three packs of cigarettes before spotting Norrie shoplifting. He says nothing, holding the door for her to leave, and explains that the cigarettes are an investment. As Barbie leaves, he is spotted by Junior, who follows him.
At the WYBS station headquarters, Dodee picks up the stray signal, and Julia learns that "after exhaustive testing," the military is "unable to determine the origin or the composition of the Dome." She surmises that the military is therefore not responsible for the existence of the Dome, and Phil wonders who is.
At an abandoned cabin, Barbie returns to the site of Shumway's death, finding Shumway's gun, which is empty, and his own dogtags until a collapsed table. Moments later, Junior arrives, accusing Barbie of taking Angie to the cabin for sex before insisting that Angie belongs to him. Junior punches Barbie before Barbie pushes Junior out the door and off the porch; Junior tackles Barbie and the two grapple before Barbie punches Junior repeatedly. He warns Junior to stay away from him, threatening "not...to stop" next time before leaving Junior on the ground outside the cabin.
At the Perkins residence, Coggins arrives and uses Linda's keys to enter the house, searching Duke's office before discovering an enveloped taped to the underside of a desk drawer. Inside he finds invoices and receipts from Jackson's Propane, and uses a match to light the paperwork on fire. He then tosses the flaming pages into a trashcan, accidentally causing the drapes next to the trashcan to ignite, and his attempts to smother the flames only cause them to spread faster.
Surveying the barrier, Ben and Joe discover a dog barking at a pair of severed legs next to the Dome. They soon spot a cloud of black smoke nearby, and rush to investigate.
On the road, Linda and Fred are forced to stop when Paul swerves his patrol car in front of theirs. He then shows them the stockpile of assault rifles in his trunk, frantically claiming that the town is "one klick away from total and complete lawlessness" as he hands out firearms. Moments later he spots Barbie in the woods nearby and orders him out onto the road, while Linda receives a radio call from Jackie informing her that Duke's house is on fire. Linda orders Paul to stand down, instructs Jackie to send every available officer to the Perkins residence; she then orders Barbie into her and Fred's patrol car.
On the road, Rennie overhears radio chatter concerning the fire, and turns around to head to Duke's house.
At the Perkins residence, Rennie arrives to find the house burning and orders bystanders away from the blaze. He overhears Coggins calling for help from inside just as Linda, Fred, Paul and Barbie arrive, and Barbie instructs the onlookers to bring their garden hoses in order to put the fire out. Julia arrives shortly after, taking photographs of the fire while Barbie orders the rest of the bystanders to fill up buckets, pots, and trashcans with water. Linda then hears Coggins calling for help and rushes into the house while Rennie flees the scene. Inside Duke's house, Linda breaks into the office to find Coggins and drags the Reverend out to safety just before a propane tank beside the house explodes, causing the neighbors to scatter.
Duke's neighbors organize into a bucket brigade in order to transport water from a nearby swimming pool to the Perkins residence; Joe records the efforts with his cellphone until he spots Norrie, and the two share a moment of recognition. The flames quickly spread to an adjacent fence and a nearby car, and the situation begins to look hopeless before Rennie returns in the tractor, moving in to demolish Duke's house before the fire can spread further.
In the Rennie's fallout shelter, Angie struggles with the chain around her ankle until Junior returns, explaining the bruises on his face by claiming that he "took care of" Barbie by killing him. Angie refuses to believe that Junior could kill someone, claiming that she's known him since the third grade; Junior responds by handing her an envelope and telling her that "this is what [they're] working for." He leaves, and Angie finds a strip of photobooth pictures inside showing her and Junior together.
At the Perkins residence, Barbie continues spraying down the now-smoldering ruins of Duke's house as Julia commends him on his organization of the bucket brigade. She then spots his dogtags, and learns that his name is Dale Barbara, but when he tells her that he found them hanging on her bathroom mirror, she knows that he is lying.
Nearby, Coggins is treated by an EMT, and Rennie confronts him privately before they are approached by Linda; Coggins claims that he went into Duke's house to get a suit for the Sheriff's burial, but doesn't remember much about how the fire started. Rose then congratulates Linda and Rennie for their efforts, and the bystanders applaud them as Rennie extols the communal spirit of the townspeople, assuring them that they will face any future crises with "courage and solidarity." From the crowd, however, Randolph insists instead that the town is "toast" because "there's no way out"; when Fred tries to calm him, Randolph pulls his gun, screaming that the Dome "is never going to go away" before firing at the barrier. One of his bullets ricochets and pierces Fred through the chest; Linda rushes to Fred as Barbie disarms Randolph, but Fred dies in Linda's arms.Cast[]
Starring[]
- Mike Vogel as Dale Barbara
- Rachelle Lefevre as Julia Shumway
- Natalie Martinez as Linda Esquivel
- Britt Robertson as Angie McAlister
- Alexander Koch as Jim Rennie, Jr.
- Colin Ford as Joe McAlister
- Nicholas Strong as Phil Bushey
- Jolene Purdy as Dodee Weaver
- Aisha Hinds as Carolyn Hill
With[]
- Jeff Fahey as Howard Perkins
And[]
- Dean Norris as Jim Rennie
Guest Starring[]
- Samantha Mathis as Alice Calvert
- Mackenzie Lintz as Norrie Calvert-Hill
- Beth Broderick as Rose Twitchell
- Ned Bellamy as Lester Coggins
Co-Starring[]
- John Elvis as Ben
- R. Keith Harris as Peter Shumway
- Joe Knezevich as Freddy
- Kevin Sizemore as Paul
- Troy Rudeseal as EMT
- Anna Sharma as Cashier
- David M. Smith as Farmer
- Charlon Turner as Onlooker
- Maureen Mountcastle as Customer #1
- Zeeko Zaki as Customer #2
Reviews[]
- "Day 2," by Matt Fowler at IGN.com
- "Working in Mysterious Ways," by Carla Day at TVfanatic.com
- "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes," by Alan Sepinwall at HitFix.com
- "This is No Ordinary Procedural," by Frances Roberts at DenofGeek.com
- "Your Only Source of News," by Tyler Kane at Paste Magazine
See also[]
Under the Dome Season One episodes • (S2) |
"Pilot" • "Into the Fire" • "Manhunt" • "Outbreak" • "Blue on Blue" "The Endless Thirst" • "Imperfect Circles" • "Thicker Than Water" "The Fourth Hand" • "Let the Games Begin" • "Speak of the Devil" "Exigent Circumstances" • "Curtains" |