Under The Dome, based on Stephen King’s novel of the same name, returned Monday night for its second season with Chester’s Mill still struggling within its artificially confined environment. When season one left off, Big Jim (Dean Norris) was screaming at Junior (Alexander Koch) on the hanging platform to execute Barbie (Mike Vogel) as the dome surrounding them turned a blinding white.

Under The Dome Recap

Big Jim’s brother-in-law Sam Verdreaux (Eddie Cahill) is about to pop open a bottle of liquor in his dark cabin as the light filters through in the opening moments of the season two premiere. In the town square, Big Jim still wants Barbie executed, but Junior and Sheriff Linda (Natalie Martinez) tell him they have to stop and figure out what the Dome is trying to tell them. When Linda tries to get Barbie out of the handcuffs, the Dome, which is pulling metal objects towards it, ends up sending a car flying at Linda, who doesn’t survive the blow.

It’s soon determined that the most important task before the citizens of Chester’s Mill is demagnetizing the Dome, which is not only sending metal to the Dome’s lining, but also making a sound that’s forcing people to lose consciousness. High school science teacher Rebecca Pine (Karla Crome) thinks that the Dome can manipulate electromagnetic fields and believes that the solution would be to build a magnet out of the town’s copper wire and place it in the center of town.

However, a more popular theory is that the Dome has become angered by Big Jim’s penchant for executions. Big Jim starts to believe the theory as well, thinking that the only way to save the town – specifically his son – is to kill himself. After learning that Junior has fainted, Big Jim climbs up the scaffold with the intention of committing suicide, but Julia (Rachelle Lefevre) cuts the noose and stops him. The Dome relents, and it’s surmised that Big Jim’s willingness to die for his crimes was enough.

Big Jim isn’t the first person Julia saved that day. After she dropped the egg in the water earlier, she hears a girl struggling to stay afloat and swims out to rescue her. Once she pulls the girl to safety, she’s met with Sam, who offers to treat the girl back at his cabin. It turns out his late sister Pauline had sketched a picture of this mysterious girl. When he goes searching in town for the girl, who’d fled from his cabin, he bumps into Big Jim and Junior. It’s the second surprise for Junior, who saw his mother – Sam's sister – in a vision when he’d lost consciousness. Big Jim doesn’t give the vision any significance, but he should have. As the episode came to a close, Pauline is shown painting in an apartment taking in news coverage of the Dome in an unknown city, very much alive.

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