"Under the dome"

I recently saw some adverts on T.V. about the series "under the dome". Although I wasn't interested in the series itself, I was kind of interested in the mystery, the story of it. After researching a little I found out that it is a remake of Stephen King's book also entitled "under the dome". I immediately ordered it on buch.de (Godda get those miles!), because it has been a while that I have found a book that I thought I might find interesting/intriguing.

I receive the book 2 days later, and did not expected it to be...well..so fat! Although I enjoy the odd book, I'm not as big of a reader as I'd like to be, and I know myself well enough that I usually end up giving up in the middle of a long book...

I decided to give it a good'ol college try anyway, and sat in bed, ready to read. Then, it hit me, I will have to stand up to turn the light on and off... and I'm already in bed with lights off (so can't really read)... what a hassle... conclusion:"reading will be for tomorrow". Instead, I decided open my laptop that is always next to my bed, and give this series a chance/look so that I get a little "preview of the book".

Stephen King's book directed by Steven Spielberg, theoretically, this is a win/win combination bound to create a successful series, in reality however: it's a total disappointment.

Stephen King's story is not the disappointment, although I heard the series left out a lot of the most interesting characters, the story itself, the idea, is very interesting (I guess I like "mysteries"). Steven Spielberg's special effects were also surprisingly good for a series, although someone in Hollywood really needs to go study the anatomy of a cow.

The anatomy of a cow according to "under the dome"

The real utter disappointment was whoever is responsible for the casting, and for the dialogue. I have seen cheesier and less entertaining dialogue on other shows, but this one is just... so predictable. They've "holywoodafied" the characters as well. Of course there needs to be an interracial lesbian couple and a Mexican/Cuban looking cop. And of course when the feud for water starts, who gets shot first? the black guy. I called this one about 30 seconds before the shot was fired. Oh, and the bad guy tries to become good after meeting a woman he falls in love with... "shocking". The interaction between the characters is SO predictable. The only big question mark that has kept me watching the show is "what's with the dome?", and so far, it's not done much of anything really, except that people can't visit their grandmothers in the next town...

The only convincing actor in the series is Alexander Koch as "Junior Rennie". Most people who watch the show will say that they "hate him", but that's exactly the point, you're meant to hate this character! This is why he is brilliant in the series, he really managed to make us hate him. He's just like Jack Gleeson as "Joffrey Baratheon" in Game of Thrones. If you saw him on the street, you'd also have the urge to spit on his face. Brilliant!

My god he's got a hateful face...


I think in order to love this story more I really need to read the book more, I think the complication of characters is always better described in books than it is presented in movies or series, which is presumably why the book always seems to be better than the series.

I'll give it a good read an report on that another time!