Under the Dome: Who Will Be Crowned the Monarch?

And the children shall inherit the Earth? That's apparently the theme of CBS' Under the Dome.

On the previous episode, "The Fourth Hand," Joe (Colin Ford), Norrie (Mackenzie Lintz) and Angie (Britt Robertson) discovered that the mini-dome could be unlocked if they each putting their hand to it. But  they're missing one key: the titular "fourth hand." And for now it seems one of the eventual quartet is the Monarch the dome said would be crowned.

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So, who is the Monarch? The obvious choice would be Angie, who became the latest  person to suffer from seizures. Joe seemed to quash that theory, pointing out to Norrie that Angie's butterfly tattoo is not a Monarch. But Angie could actually still be a candidate. "Of course," executive producer Neal Baer tells TVGuide.com. "She has seizures, she's marked in a way that separates her from everyone else. She's intrepid, smart and strong."

Unfortunately, that means Junior (Alexander Koch) could be the king to her queen, or rather, the fourth hand. "There's much more to come in the Angie-Junior relationship, especially when, in an upcoming episode, they're brought together in a stunning way," Baer teases.

Though Junior seemed crazy at first — he claimed he locked Angie up in the fallout shelter because she was "sick" —  now it appears he predicted this would happen. "Junior is sensitive to dome-ish things," Baer says. "His mother painted pink stars falling in lines around him when he was a little boy, a precursor to all that's happening now. Angie's seizure confirmed what Junior felt — that she was different, like himself — though he didn't know exactly why until she had her seizure, which confirmed what he felt all along: That Angie was 'sick' too; that she was somehow 'touched' by the dome."

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We've already seen what happens to those touched by the dome, including when Joe stole the mini-dome to hide in the barn. But Baer cautions that the dome might not have the power to control people. Instead, Joe may have subconsciously sensed that the mini-dome needed protection. "Does the dome control people or is the presence of the dome making some people crazy, others valiant?" he says. "Does the dome control the townspeople's will? Or is the crisis making people do things they never dream they'd do? The dome's power, or lack of it, will be revealed."

The influence of Maxine (Natalie Zea) may expedite the dome's effect on Chester's Mill as she introduces the Black Market into the town. "Maxine is a catalyst; she sets off explosions," Baer says, noting that her presence will force Big Jim (Dean Norris) and Barbie (Mike Vogel) to team up. "She will bring [them] together to fight her, their common enemy, but one of them will pay a terrible price in trusting the other."

Barbie may be the sacrificial lamb since he accidentally killed the husband of Julia (Rachelle Lefevre), with whom he now shares a bed. "Julia is in love with Barbie; she trusts him now," Baer says. "But she does not know the truth behind her husband's death, and Maxine is holding it over Barbie like an ax about to fall. How can Barbie ever tell Julia when Maxine is blackmailing him? What happens when Maxine ups her demands of him, including leaving Julia? If he tells Julia the truth now, she may never want to see him again, not only because he killed her husband, but because he lied to her that he had told her everything."

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But if Linda (Linda Martinez) is able to expose Rapture before then, Barbie may not have to worry about Maxine holding this over his head. "Linda is not naïve, though she does want to believe the best in people," Baer says. "Duke [Jeff Fahey] was her mentor, a father figure, and now she has to face the toughest truth in her life: that he was involved in drugs. But this is only the beginning of Linda's journey. Though as sheriff, she sees what goes on in Chester's Mill, she's never really opened her eyes to some ugly truths until today."

Under the Dome airs Mondays at 10/9c on CBS. Who do you think will be crowned the Monarch?

(Full disclosure: TVGuide.com is owned by CBS.)