Review: "Under the Dome"

"Under the Dome"
CBS TV, Monday nights

It's a lab experiment.  It's "Blue Velvet" under glass.  It does not promise to be a pleasant ride.  Then again, it is Stephen King...

There is a big old church in the middle of town, but no sign yet of the preacher.  Wonder how badly he is going to come off (or she) if and when they write around the preacher.  You know preachers, highly knowledgeable in the things of the devil, have to be in order to truly present the grace of the Lord. 

The sci-fi geek in me is crying out the question "Why don't you dig underneath it?"

Starting with the murder by the 'heroic stranger' in town, coupled with the wacked out rejected boyfriend, mixed with the corrupt town councilman (he is a real estate dealer after all, if I got that right), the rather rickety old sheriff (I liked him a lot in 'Silverado'), and a whole lot of propane.

This is going to be a Neighborhood with the ethics ripped out of its collective chest.  They effectively cut out the fire department, much of the police department, the city leadership, the boy and girl scouts, and anyone else on the side of 'good' with a parade over in the neighboring town.  Only then did the alien species (gotta be, right?) drop the lid on their petrie dish to see the worst in humanity.

And the violence was pretty gratuitous, I am talking about the cow in the line of the descending dome, really?  Did you have to go there?  Even in "Starship Troopers", a movie that is about as gratuitous as it gets, they had the decency to CENSOR the cow vs. giant bug scene.

But here is the pastor thinking now.  This is going to be a closed group of highly flawed individuals who are probably (Stephen King...) going to do the worst to each other.  I am intrigued at the possibilities.  Makes me wonder just how much redemption could be brought to bear, if the storyline allows for it.  Because if they can't find hope, if they can't find redemption,  it is going to turn very ugly.

That is the antithesis of the Neighborhood that is the vision of our church.  It is a mirror held up of what happens without faith, hope, and love.  If you are going to watch it, I recommend middle school and up, at least, and with you present.  Gotta talk about it.  Stephen King is not for the faint of heart.  And he has a way of getting at the darkness of humanity's soul that will make this disturbing television but without the "R" rating that movies would bring with them.

If it doesn't get silly.  (Anybody watch "Haven"?)