Going Under the Dome: Neal Baer Answers Burning Questions About the Mini-Dome

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

There's more than one dome!

The giant dome that descended upon Chester's Mill has a smaller dome at its center, which Joe (Colin Ford) and Norrie (Mackenzie Lintz) discovered on Monday's  Under the Dome. The mini-dome contained a small egg. What the what?!

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Elsewhere in town, Alice (Samantha Mathis) lost her life from insulin deficiency after helping Julia's

(Rachelle Lefevre) neighbor give birth. Townsfolk also suffered from random visions from the dome and Big Jim (Dean Norris) went commando on someone who tried to take his stuff. Yikes! With so many new questions raised, TVGuide.com turned to executive producer Neal Baer to get the scoop:

What's that egg inside the mini-dome?
Joe and Norrie traveled to the very center of the dome, discovering a mini-dome that had "pink stars falling in lines" on it — the same phrase the duo has been reciting during their seizures. Is it alien in nature?
Baer's response: That's too easy. We will answer that question, but it's not what you expect. It's all coming together. This is a crucial element to the rest of the season: What is this egg, what does this mean and what does it keep out of the dome?

Why is the dome making people have visions of the town? 
The pregnant woman only touches the dome — which causes her to go into early labor — because it made her have visions of her husband who was away on leave. Norrie also sees Alice in the woods just minutes before her mother dies. 
Baer's response: That question is completely addressed in the last episode of the season. It's so much a part of the next six episodes. We will be speaking to what the dome can and can't do, why it's doing it and for what reasons. The visions are really going to be profound.

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Is this Big Jim's turning point to be more like his novel counterpart? 
After Ollie (Leon Rippy) steals Big Jim's propane supply, the Councilman decides he will not be trifled with and shoots a truck full of propane with Boomer's lackey inside. No one messes with the hierarchy in Chester's Mill apparently. 
Baer's response: Boomer and Ollie were preventing the town from getting access to water, so was Big Jim being evil or was he doing this to save the town? That's always the wonderful part about Big Jim — that it's not like he gets off on killing people, but the only people he's killed have threatened Chester's Mill. Ollie was going to keep everyone from getting water and we'll get into that next week in a big way. In the preview for next week, you see Junior (Alexander Koch) putting his rifle at his dad. Big Jim loves his son more than anything and then the town. He's not just this soap opera Joan Collins character. He's not just J.R. fromDallas. I think it's an Emmy-worthy performance by Dean Norris next week. It's leading to a breakdown, so Big Jim needs to figure out what to do. Retaliation is definitely in Big Jim's vocabulary.

Will Linda (Natalie Martinez) be more wary of Junior now?
Seeking vengeance on the Dundee brothers who killed Rose (Beth Broderick) and nearly raped Angie (Britt Robertson), Junior shoots one of them in cold blood. 
Baer's response: Yeah, but they murdered Rose and attacked Angie, so Junior did it out of his love for Angie. Things are a little intense under the dome.

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How many more people have to die before the dome is satisfied?
At least one person has died every episode, with Alice becoming the latest casualty this week. 
Baer's response: How many is too many? [Laughs] A good number. Nobody is safe. Is it the dome that has the power or is it the people themselves? That's the question. Is it how they're acting with each other and how they're treating each other that's at the heart of this? That speaks to us as human beings: How much control do we have over our lives and environment? And how much does our environment and the unpredictability of life have over us?

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.

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