Well, those boys looked to have mapped about a quarter of the circumference already.
He told her, “I want things to be like they were before.”
Unless “before” involved a lot of kinky fallout shelter/chain sex, I think he would have let her go. Which is what makes me think her response (did you notice her whole demeanor changed?) was a hallucination.
I know, I know, I’m pulling information from the book. But we already know in the show that Junior is a bad dude. Him being crazy isn’t much of a stretch.
I definitely got a hallucination vibe out of that scene. Angie’s demeanor; the way it was filmed–something, anyway.
But isn’t that one of the hallmarks of Stephen King writing, that he builds up suspense and an interesting mystery, then deflates it with a crappy explanation? I would like his work much better if he could get someone else to finish his stories for him, rather than the inevitable: "Umm, it was, uh-- aliens! Yeah, that’s it, aliens did it! Now let’s get on with killing off all of the remaining predictable, one-dimensional characters!"Yeah, I gave up on King a while ago. Can you tell?
I don’t think the bunker scene was a hallucination – that’s giving the writers too much credit.
I kinda liked the first episode, but there was a good bit of silly in this one, starting with Angie being completely wrong in how she dealt with Junior, despite knowing him since third grade.
The crap with Duke’s will was contrived and clumsy, as was the preacher starting the fire. Don’t make a mess of the search, and take the papers with you.
Barbie and the dog tags – just tell her you found them in your car.
Shumway telling the town they were under a dome.
Shumway snapping pictures at the fire.
Barbie not cleaning things up after killing Mr. Shumway.
The lesbian couple appearing at the fire, so they could make a comment about not knowing their neighbors in LA.
People waiting for Barbie to tell them to get garden hoses – that’d be the first thing they’d think of. Small town folks aren’t stupid.
Shumway believing Big Jim about the cause of the fire. The line from a propane tank goes from the tank to the house, so the dome won’t cut that line unless the dome is between the tank and the house.
That’s an interesting idea, and would explain why she seemed to be trying to make things worse instead of better. I wasn’t looking for it, but did she look confused when he came back and was talking about killing the guy she was supposedly screwing, like she didn’t know what he was talking about?
And as for the killing Barbie, maybe he actually does think he killed him!
It would still be her best play, to play into his insanity and try to manipulate him by pretending to give him what he wants until he lets her go. If he doesn’t fall for it, no loss.
The preacher is sampling his own wares (the drugs), so he isn’t exactly doing things the smart way. 
I didn’t like the lesbian couple and their annoying daughter at first, and I like them even less now. Norrie is just an annoying little snot - I want to see her more spirited and interesting than someone you just want to slap.
Was Duke’s home office recently cleaned with gasoline or something?
I was OK with the standard TV flareup in the wastebasket, and you knew the curtains were going to catch fire.
Then the preacher tried to beat the flames out with the apparently oil-impregnated jacket, which immediately caught fire. I don’t blame him for flinging it away, but then the whole wall just flared up - kind of took me out of the moment.
Hah - that was almost exactly what I said, watching the scene - “Is this room made of gasoline or something?”
Hmm, that’s an interesting thought. Novel spoiler follows:It could eliminate the major “Angie” discrepancy with the novel, depending upon how far they’d take the hallucination angle. Perhaps she’s no longer with us! That explains the unexplainable behavior (my wife and I agree, why would Angie antagonize a psycho who has her locked in a bunker?) and restores a rather major plot point from the novel that can be used similarly (yuck!) later.
I think that’s my favorite WTF change from the book.
In print, Norrie Culvert is a Chester’s Mill local who is Joe’s ultra-nerdy sidekick/girlfriend. In the show, she’s from LA and she’s being sent to rehab in Maine because she’s a drug addict who likes to send naked pictures of herself to people. Also, she steals things.
Yeah, those three (Norrie and her two moms) seem to be Checklist Characters.
Two of the kids were mapping the perimeter. It wasn’t a big scene, but it was in there, you might have blinked.
And people do crazy stuff every day in normal life. Being trapped, no power, and no reliable information probably would bring out the crazy.
The preacher also said that he turned a light switch on and it must have caused the fire from the gas leak. There’s no electricity.
Damn. The writing is even sloppier than I thought.
Unless Duke had a generator, but we didn’t see one.
Yeah, I guess that’s possible.
The whole scene with the preacher starting the fire seemed poorly done. The guy leaves the stuff from the desk scattered all over and sets the papers on fire, then tosses them into a garbage can next to some curtains. Even if the house didn’t burn down wouldn’t the policewoman wonder who had gone through the desk and set something on fire in her new house? I guess the explanation is supposed to be that he was acting wacky because of whatever this secret drug is that he’s using but I think the whole scene was just badly done.
Everyone has a generator.
If they really are in Maine somewhere (I know the book makes that clear but has the show actually said so?) then I think it is safe to say that the sherriff would have generator for dealing with winter storms.
That said, when exactly would he have gone home and started it only to leave again?
So I’ll do the writer’s jobs and declare that he had solar panels on the back side of the roof where they wouldn’t be seen by bucket brigades in front of the house.
Yeah, I guess we’re supposed to assume he had a generator that automatically came on when the power went out. They could have mentioned it to make the preacher/mortician’s explanation sound more plausible.
“Duke’s generator must have came on so when I turned on the light it caused an explosion from the gas leak.”
Of course this doesn’t explain why there would have been a gas leak since, as someone else pointed out, the dome couldn’t have cut the gas line.
I think you guys are jumping the gun regarding the fire investigation; I think when people have a chance to catch their breath and compare notes, they’ll start questioning what happened to make Duke’s house burn down.