The Dome is evolving like a terrifying Pokémon, and its move set is becoming increasingly more impressive. Seizures for the chosen few? Got it covered. Blocking out the light of day? Been there, done that. Magnetizing itself and sending out pulses that knock out almost everyone within range? That’s a relatively new one, but by far the most damaging and scary. When push comes to shove, the Dome gets stuff done. One thing is painfully clear: it has a plan for the residents of Chester’s Mill. Not all of them will make it out alive. We’ll lose the characters we adore and keep the ones we don’t like at all. Its choices are seemingly erratic, but they all have a purpose. Under the Dome is an unpredictable chess game. “Heads Will Roll” certainly delivered on its title.

Though Pauline Verdreaux-Rennie makes only a brief cameo, her actions impact the story exponentially. We finally meet her brother, Sam, who happens to have a book of his sister’s paintings. Like we’ve seen before, her paintings tend to predict the future because of the strange connection she shares with the Dome. We don’t know how she knows, but even before it descended upon the town, it conveyed visions to her. It still is conveying visions to her because she’s ALIVE. Pauline is living a perfectly normal life outside of the Dome. This brings to light a large number of questions. Perhaps Big Jim is truly under the impression that his wife is dead, or maybe he knows the truth. As the season progresses, I hope more details concerning Pauline come to the surface.

Big Jim survives thanks to the merciful nature of Julia Shumway. How do we feel about this? I mean, I kind of knew it would happen, but I honestly wouldn’t have cried if he’d bit the dust. In any case, his survival was predictable. He’s too great of an antagonist to kill off this early in the series. If Julia had let him hang, they would’ve needed a quick villain to fill his shoes and that wouldn’t have been fluid enough for the story’s sake. I don’t know if he eventually will die because I have not had the pleasure of reading the book, but a personality like Big Jim can’t last forever. His change of heart is flimsy. Definitely not buying it. At the moment, he’s trying to save face after the whole town witnessed his intense blood lust as he stood on the gallows with Barbie’s life in his hands. He can shake hands and kiss babies all he wants, but we all know what he is now. I am glad he didn’t die because he’s an interesting, excellent snake in the grass.

Let’s take a look at Angie for a second… Angie who is DEAD. I’m still trying to cope. It’s not okay. WHAT THE HELL? Is it because she still wanted Big Jim dead? I don’t freakin’ blame her for that, and I’m going to be super pissed if this was the Dome’s way of eliminating her negativity. HER NEGATIVITY WAS GREAT. We still don’t know who killed her, and though mystery girl is an option, I don’t think she’s a completely safe assumption. She ran from her because Angie made her nervous. If she’d wanted her dead, she would have attacked her there and then. So far, I haven’t seen any hints leading me to the conclusion that this girl may be malicious. It may have been Sam since he was trying to find the girl anyway, so it’s possible he was in the vicinity. Don’t know what his motivation would have been, unless he really didn’t want Angie looking in that locker. Also, don’t count out Big Jim. I’m sure he wasn’t entirely pleased with their interaction in the diner earlier that same day. Instead of taking her out down the road, maybe he thought it best to nip the problem in the bud. Those are just a couple of guesses at who the culprit may be. Also, I’m hoping it’s not death forever. That would just be very uncool. Pauline was dead and now she’s alive. Here’s hoping the same happens for Angie, because she’s an angst-ridden rock star.

“Heads Will Roll” has my head rolling. There are just way too many directions this story could go in, but maybe that lets us know this is a great show. Nothing is concrete. Linda and Angie are dead. Rebecca Pine and mystery girl are a couple of new additions. Barbie and Big Jim both survived. We’ll have some relief from Big Jim’s power trip for a while, but who knows how long that will last? It’s a new world in the Dome. Next week’s title, “Infestation,” makes me uncomfortable in a foreboding, I’m-scared-to-watch-but-I-will-anyway way. Can’t wait!