I'm Giving Up On UNDER THE DOME

Review by Dennis D. McDonald

I loved the book. To say I’m disappointed with the TV series would be an understatement. I’ve watched 5 or 6 episodes so far (via Amazon Prime) but I think I’ll stop there.

I can tolerate that the storyline and character development is different from the book — this is TV after all and not Netflix, House of Cards, or Orange Is The New Black. Characters and situations in the book were at times totally deranged and I admit that was something I was not really looking forward to, especially the way Junior and Big Jim were represented in the book. 

But the characters and story line in the TV show are just stupid, boring, dull, and unconvincing. People act and talk in just plain dumb ways. When secret backstory details are revealed one feels let down by the mundane nature of the detail. King in the novel was able to portray horrific psychological weirdness and menace; on TV we have unconvincing and lackluster “evil” and “mystery.”

And what about the dome itself? In the book it’s an all pervading presence that is tangibly causing the entire town environment to deteriorate in various obvious and subtle ways. On TV we have a bit too much faux normalcy that I figure might be related to  limited special effects budget (which are pretty good, by the way, when they do appear).

Perhaps the weirdest thing about the TV show is that for several episodes it almost seems as if the outside world has forgotten all about the folks inside the dome. That’s a real head scratcher since removing the constant attempts to communicate removes a major dramatic element.

Since I rarely watch TV series perhaps the dramatic limpness of this one is typical of what’s available now; I don’t really know. I seriously wonder if King was actively involved, though.

Copyright (c) 2013 by Dennis D. McDonald