Under the Dome

Under the Dome starts from a strong hook and then settles into network drama about a town cut off from the world. By our assessment, that makes it more about pressure-cooker relationships and small-town power than about a clean science-fiction mystery. The dome itself is the big gimmick, but the show has to spend most of its time on quarrels, panic, and shifting alliances. That gives it urgency, yet it can also feel overstuffed and melodramatic when the plot keeps piling on twists. It sits closer to serialized disaster drama than to a neat mystery box. The show works best if the locked-town setup is the real appeal, not a carefully worked-out answer to the premise.