Under the Dome: Revisiting the ending of the hit Stephen King adaptation

Under the Dome series aired three seasons from 2013 to 2015, based on Stephen King's 2009 novel. King's typical style has been reflected in this series as well, where Maine faces a major crisis, and it involves two different battles: one with the grown-ups and the other has teenagers as the subplot.

But, unlike other series adapted from King's works, the audience spotted significant differences with the book version and many were even disappointed as the show leaned heavily into the sci-fi genre. In Under the Dome Season 1, the Dome encircles Maine's Chester's Mill Town on one fine day. But the dome is not the biggest threat in the story, at least in this season.

The conflict arises between two powerful men, Dale "Barbie" Barbara (a war veteran) and Big Jim (a local politician). Barbie has all the skills and experience that make him a competent leader and Jim is afraid of losing his dictatorial power to Barbie.

For the subplot, four teenagers find another smaller dome in the woods and they suddenly have seizures and chant "Pink stars are falling in lines" in a state of frenzy. The season ends with a cliffhanger where Jim tries to frame and execute the protagonist. But before that happens, the color of the sky changes and pink stars begin to shower over Chester's Mill.

In the next season, the Dome seems to change drastically and affects the weather and even develops magnetic properties. But it even forms a tunnel that links straight to Zenith, Barbie's hometown. Sam Verdreaux, Lyle Chumley and Barbie manage to escape the Dome.

But Melanie, a local girl who disappeared years ago, resurfaces and reveals the backstory of the Dome and mentions Barbie's father in Under the Dome. The ones in Zenith undergo survivor's guilt and decide to go back to Chester's Mill to save others who are trapped.

Under the Dome: Ending revisited

The third season explores what the Dome is and what it's capable of. The Dome, in fact, was built to control the human race by alien forces, called The Kinship. The whole town is infected, except a few survivors like Big Jim, Julia, Barbie, Joe, Norrie and Hunter.

The twist here is that Barbie's daughter has aged rapidly in a few days and she is the new Alien queen Dawn. She tries to bring the Dome down and meet The Kinship's sole purpose.

The emotional aspect

Big Jim is brought into conflict with his own son, who has been infected and tries to kill his father. Jim persuades him to change his mind, but in vain. With no choice left, he had to take the tougher call and shoot his son. On the other hand, Barbie confronts his daughter, Dawn.

She tries to escape the wrath, but Barbie holds her back as he knows she's not the daughter he had before escaping the abyss. She is just a part of the hive mind. Dawn even tries to get her way by playing manipulative tricks, but the war veteran has nerves too strong for them. They both end up in the abyss but Barbie manages to survive.

A year ahead

The dome is destroyed, of course, and things go back to normal in Chester's Mill. Except for the fact that the military arrives and makes the survivors sign an NDA and blames the entire conspiracy on a corporate experiment. Aliens were nowhere to be mentioned.

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But what about the Stephen King fans who think that the writer does not aim for happy, settling endings? In the final cliffhanger of Under the Dome, Big Jim calls the survivors one day and shows shocking footage of a schoolteacher in Omaha. The teacher turns out to be none other than Dawn. Yes, she has survived and is on her way to discover another 'alien egg.' She is shooting the entire clip as a disguised warning for the human race.

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