Going Under the Dome: Neal Baer Answers Burning Questions on the Dome's Power

[Warning: This story contains major spoilers from Monday's episode of Under the Domeas well as the Stephen King novel the series is based on. Read at your own risk.]

Following the frantic chaos of riots, Chester's Mill has moved on to the politics of being stuck under a dome.

During Monday's episode, Big Jim (Dean Norris) tries to take Ollie's (Leon Rippy) land under eminent domain. Ollie shows his strength in numbers, forcing the group to leave empty-handed. They also leave one less in number since Junior (Alexander Koch) decides to join Ollie's band of outlaws. After Junior learns the truth that his mother killed herself, he sets his sights on taking his father out, but things don't go as planned. With new mysteries raised, TVGuide.com turned to executive producer Neal Baer to get some answers:

Under the Dome: Big Jim's life is about to implode!

Were Norrie (Mackenzie Lintz) and Joe (Colin Ford) really the cause of Alice's (Samantha Mathis) heart attack?
After Norrie deduces that her mother suffered from a heart attack at the same time that they touched the mini-dome together, she thinks it's their fault that her mother has died.
Baer's response: No, I don't think Norrie caused her mother's heart attack. People don't have that power. We'll get into what power the people do have as the show unfolds. We will be exploring what is dome and what is not.

Is Joe trying to let someone else in?
Joe has dropped hints about finding the mini-dome, including drawing a photo of it in front of Julia (Rachelle Lefevre). Was his plan to include someone else so the pressure wasn't entirely on him and Norrie?
Baer's response: There are no ulterior motives to Joe. He's just who he is. He's that kind of kid. It's gotten to a point where it's too much to contain for him. Whereas the others may be better abled to keep that secret, Joe is bursting to understand things and doesn't think that there are motives behind people doing things.

Was the dome's vision for Julia a message or a warning?
When Joe shows Julia the mini-dome, a vision of Joe tells her that "the monarch will be crowned."
Baer's response: That is the whole remainder of the season. The monarch will be crowned. Oh, didn't we see that on Angie's (Britt Robertson) shoulder? [Laughs] I'm so tickled that we thought of putting that butterfly tattoo on her shoulder from the very beginning because it allowed us to do some really interesting revelations as the show unfolds. We also saw lots of Monarch butterflies all attaching themselves to the dome.

Going Under the Dome: Neal Baer answers burning questions about the mini-dome

Can Big Jim and Junior really trust each other now?
After Big Jim admits that he didn't tell Junior that his mother had killed herself because he didn't want to let him down, Ollie attempts to finish the job by preparing to shoot Big Jim. But Junior steps in at the last moment and (finally!) kills Ollie.
Baer's response: That will be revealed in the very last episode of the season when it really comes to a head. Junior learned that his mother committed suicide. She drove into the tree on purpose. What does that have to do with everything that's going on now? Why did she do that years ago and how is that connected to the dome? That is to be revealed. The ones who appear to be crazy may not be and the ones you think are sane may not be. We're starting to get into that now. Don't you wonder if Junior isn't as nutty as we thought?

Will the town ever turn on Barbie (Mike Vogel)?
So far, the town has taken to Barbie, who has helped to keep the peace. But he was initially there as a bookie's muscle, sent to collect. Things are certainly heating up between Barbie and Big Jim at the close of the episode, after the former calls the latter out on wanting to control the town's water supply in place of Ollie.
Baer's response: What did they show in the previews? Angie having seizures. I guess Junior was right. Maybe Angie was sick. Did they show Natalie Zea? When you're asking about Barbie, it's like there's a whole revelation that starts to unfold next week with Big Jim and Barbie through Natalie Zea's character. So you've got some great things with Angie's seizure, which will lead us to the next really important element of the show. How does she connect to Joe and Norrie and what does this all mean?

What did you think of this week's Under the Dome? Submit your questions in the comments section below for next week's edition of Going Under the Dome.

Under the Dome airs Mondays at 10/9c on CBS.

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