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Awakening
Season 2, Episode 8
Awakening (24)
Air Date August 18, 2014
Written By Andres Fischer-Centeno & Daniel Truly
Directed By Jack Bender
U.S. Viewers 7.30 Million
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Awakening is the eighth episode of Season 2 of CBS' Under the Dome, which aired on August 18, 2014. It is the twenty-first episode overall.

Summary[]

When Barbie enlists his father’s help to reach out to Julia, he realizes that Don may know more about The Dome than he is letting on. Meanwhile, Big Jim appoints himself sheriff of Chester's Mill.

Synopsis[]

Big Jim gets a gun and a sheriff's badge from the closet in his office and drives to Rebecca's. As she comes out on the porch with coffee, he gives her a walkie-talkie to stay in touch and she reminds him that he broke into her house to threaten him. Big Jim apologizes, admitting that he gets overzealous, and Rebecca reminds him that the Dome hasn't treated the previous town sheriffs very well. He figures that the Dome has something else in mind for him and that he's been luck. As he heads back to his car, Rebecca thanks him for his consideration.

Barbie goes to Don's study at his manor. His father tells him that he's convinced the military to drop the firewall so that Barbie can send a message to Julia. Don has Barbie write down his message to Julia, where he says that he loves her and mentions a "leap of faith," and tells Don to send it to Joe's email address.

At the school, Joe and Norrie film a vlog and Joe figures that even if they can't send it out, someone will find it someday even if they don't survive. They go to the tunnel entrance behind the locker and Joe's phone ring. They realize that the firewall is down and Joe confirms that he has an email.Julia and Melanie are having breakfast at the diner when Joe and Norrie arrive and show them the email. They read it, unaware that Don has added a bit at the end about bringing the egg. Julia doesn't accept that it's really from Barbie and figures that he's dead, and heads back to the school to see if Joe can pick up send an email back.

At the psychiatric institute in Zenith, Pauline and Sam check on Lyle, who is now muttering "It's in the cards" instead of "Melanie." Sam is ready to leave now that he's confirmed Pauline is okay, but Pauline wants him to help her rescue Junior from the Dome. He tells her that he has no idea how he got out and Pauline suggests that they steal an experimental drug for Lyle that the doctors won't authorize.

Barbie goes back to the playground and waits for some sign that Julia got his message. Meanwhile, a technician, Hunter May, is watching Barbie via a CCTV camera in the park. He runs facial recognition software and confirms that it's Barbie.

As Barbie walks back through the city, Hunter follows him but Barbie doubles back and captures him. Hunter recites Barbie's biographical information and insists that he knows who he is, and warns that Don changed the email that Barbie sent to Julia. Barbie doesn't believe him but Hunter warns that there are eyes everywhere and ask Barbie to let him prove that he's telling the truth.

Back at the school, Joe discovers that the firewall is back in place. Norrie tells Julia that she has to take a chance and leap off the cliff, but Julia wants confirmation first. She wants to send him a message with a question that only he knows the answer to, so he can prove that he's alive.

At the institute, Pauline tricks a nurse into leaving her desk long enough for Sam to come in disguised as a doctor and get the drug from the cabinet.

Junior finds Big Jim at the sheriff's office and his father claims that he's always been interested in protecting the town. His son doesn't believe him but Big Jim insists that the Dome has revealed its plans to him. He apologizes for not trusting Junior, just as Rebecca radios in and says that they have a problem at the diner. Big Jim takes off and Junior insists on going with him. They get to the diner and Rebecca shows them the wreckage of the windmills, tossed into a nearby alleyway. Big Jim figures that someone is trying to send them a message, just as they receive a radio transmission from Andrea saying that there's a fire on the outskirts of town.

After Hunter gives him a jump drive, Barbie goes back to his father's estate and inserts it into Don's computer. Hunter—talking to Barbie via an earbud-- accesses the computer and has Barbie bring up houndsofdiana.com, the website Hunter is using to broadcast the truth about the Dome to the world. Using his website, Hunter accesses Don's computer and brings up the email that Don sent to Julia. Barbie confirms that his father added the part about her bringing the egg , while Hunter brings up surveillance photos of Julia. Don comes in and Hunter tells Barbie to stall. Barbie claims that he was trying to access his email and then asks about a phot of his mother. By the time that Don gets to the computer, Hunter has completed the download and restored it to normal. Don considers and then asks Barbie to come with him.

Big Jim, Junior, and Rebecca get to the car as a local puts it out. Andrea explains that she saw it and Big Jim notices a nearby sign for his used car lot. He points out that he sold the car and figures that the vandal is targeting him. Junior points out that his father sold most of the cars in town and that it's a coincidence, and Rebecca agrees with him. Despite that, Big Jim figures that they need to investigate and heads back to the sheriff's office.

Don takes Barbie to his company, Aktaion Energy, and explains that he bypassed the military to send Julia the email directly. The government hired Aktaion to figure out a way to breach the Dome, and Don made sure that he had a backdoor for his own use. He wants to send another message to Julia, and takes Barbie to the man who will make it possible. They go to a server room and Barbie is surprised to see Hunter is the man working for his father. Hunter and Barbie pretend not to know each other, and Don tells Barbie to dictate a message for Julia.

Julia and the others go to the cliff and Julia writes a message asking Barbie who he caught going through his things. They weight it with a paperweight from Big Jim's dealership and prepare to toss it in, but Joe receives another email from Barbie. It describes where they kissed and tells her to hang in, and is signed "Your stray." Reading it, Julie tells the teenagers that Barbie deliberately described the wrong place but that it references the Dome wall, and she figures that he wants her to meet him there. They figure that someone is monitoring him so he had to send a coded message. Julia tells the teenagers to stay at the school while she goes to meet Barbie where he asked.

At the institute, Sam and Pauline take Lyle to an empty war and Sam injects the drug. As he does, his hand shakes and he manages to get control of it after a moment. As the drug takes effect, Lyle passes out and they wait for him to wake up.Later, Barbie grabs Hunter as he goes to his car in the parking garage. The hacker explains that Don has no idea that they've already met, and that Aktaion force him to work for them when they caught him hacking their server two years ago. Hunter asks about the egg that Don mentioned in the email, and wonders how Barbie escaped, but Barbie refuses to answer. Instead Barbie demands proof that Hunter can get him to the dome. If Hunter doesn't then Barbie will expose him to the government for bypassing their firewall.

Big Jim, Junior, and Rebecca return to the sheriff's office and Big Jim compiles a list of the people in town that hold a grudge against him. They split the list and Rebecca and Junior check half the men on the list while Big Jim checks the other half.

Barbie goes to the camp where the protestors have gathered and presents himself at the gate, posing as a radiation specialist for Aktaion. The National Guardsman checks his fake ID and his thumb print, and Hunter has set up everything to let Barbie through. On the other side he notices a military truck loading up and the soldiers wearing black uniforms. Barbie asks one of the soldiers where they're going and the man tells him to mind his own business. As the truck leaves, Barbie slips underneath it and holds onto the carriage as it drives away.

Lyle wakes up, able to think once more, and Pauline tells him that he and Sam both managed to get out of the Dome. The last thing Lyle remembers is hitting his head as he fell, driving him into a mental state, and they explain where he is. Lyle panics, refusing to stay at the hospital, and Pauline and Sam escort him outside.

As Julia drives to the Dome wall near where Joe's house was, Big Jim pulls her over and asks how she's doing since Barbie's death. Julia explains where she's going, claiming that she's salvaging for food, and Big Jim offers his condolences and goes back to his car.

Once the truck pulls over, Barbie slips into the woods and heads for the Dome unaware that he's triggered a laser tripwire.

Joe, Norrie, and Melanie go back to the diner and Joe thinks that they should have gone with Julia. Melanie insists that it's a romantic matter between Barbie and Julia, and Joe warns that any error Barbie makes could get him captured.

Outside the institute, Sam tells Pauline and Lyle that he's going to go now that he's helped Lyle recover. Pauline says that they have to get Junior out of Chester's mill and figure out what is going on with the egg. She asks Lyle what he meant when he mumbled about "It's in the cards," and Lyle admits that he had her postcards on him when he jumped into the darkness.

Junior and Rebecca talk to one of the men on Big Jim's list, Tom Tilden. He's furious with both Big Jim and Rebecca because everyone think he was involved with their plan to use his pigs to develop the flu. He tells them that he was busy all morning selling his belongings for money to feed his family. Convinced that Tom wasn't involved, Junior and Rebecca radio Big Jim. He's back at the sheriff's office and Phil knocks him out.

Julia waits at the Dome wall for Barbie to arrive. When he doesn't show up, she puts her hand on the Dome and accuses it of tricking her into thinking that Barbie is alive.

Phil takes Big Jim down to the cells and handcuffs him to a door. As he drinks, he accuses Big Jim of manipulating Barbie and Julia into firing him as sheriff, betraying him after he helped him destroy the town's food supply. When Phil says that he trusted Big Jim, Big Jim says that he used to have the same problem but now he knows who he can trust. Junior and Rebecca arrive and Big Jim kicks Phil, distracting him long enough for Junior to attack the former sheriff. As they fight, Rebecca frees Big Jim, who knocks out Phil just as he gets the gun and prepares to kill Junior. Big Jim tells them that he'll take care of Phil and, once they leave, locks him up. When Phil says that they're all going to die inside the Dome, Big Jim tells him that they all have problems.

Lyle and the others go to a quiet restaurant and examine the postcards in the order that Pauline sent them. She realizes that the last one is missing and explains that the Dome came down before she could send it. Pauline gets the postcard from her purse and shows it to the two men, revealing that it shows a red door. They figure that they have to find the door if they want to get back inside the Dome and bring it down.

That night, Big Jim is leaving the sheriff's office when he sees a helicopter heading for the side of the Dome. Barbie gets to the Dome wall and finds Julia. They put their hands to the Dome on opposite sides just as several SUVs pull up and a helicopter soars overhead. Barbie uses a marker to write "Don't jump" on the Dome and then erases it, and the soldiers drag him away while Big Jim watches through a pair of binoculars.

Credits[]

Main Cast[]

Supporting Cast[]

Guest Stars

Co-Stars

Uncredited

Deaths[]

  • None

Trivia[]

  • First appearance of Hunter May.
  • First appearance of Strickland.
  • First mention of Terry Donnehue.
  • First mention of Al Donnehue.
  • First mention of Roger Lopez.
  • First mention of Larry Mchall.
  • First mention of Toot Danver.
  • First mention of Burt Bailey.
  • The title refers to Lyle awakening from his mental condition.
  • It's revealed that WiFi signal always existed under the Dome but it was protected by army firewall so no one without access could use it and only the military knows about it's existence.
  • Rebecca's quote about how the Dome hasn't treated previous town sheriffs is actually true.
    • The first sheriff Howard Perkins died when the Dome exploded his pacemaker, second sheriff Linda Esquivel died when she was crushed by a car during the Dome's magnetic storm, the third sheriff Phil Bushey fell into a cliff and was impaled on a sharp rock and the fourth sheriff Dale Barbara was teleported out of Chester's Mill when he fell into the tunnels chasm.
  • Hounds of Diana website creator is revealed to be Hunter.
Episodes of Under the Dome
Season 1 "Pilot" • "The Fire" • "Manhunt" • "Outbreak" • "Blue on Blue" • "The Endless Thirst" • "Imperfect Circles" • "Thicker Than Water" • "The Fourth Hand" • "Let the Games Begin" • "Speak of the Devil" • "Exigent Circumstances" • "Curtains"
Season 2 "Heads Will Roll" • "Infestation" • "Force Majeure" • "Revelation" • "Reconciliation" • "In the Dark" • "Going Home" • "Awakening" • "The Red Door" • "The Fall" • "Black Ice" • "Turn" • "Go Now"
Season 3 "Move On" • "But I'm Not" • "Redux" • "The Kinship" • "Alaska" • "Caged" • "Ejecta" • "Breaking Point" • "Plan B" • "Legacy" • "Love is a Battlefield" • "Incandescence" • "The Enemy Within"
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