"Under The Dome" (2013)

It became a tradition now that I behave like Internet-deprived addict while on vacation - which in a way, it is true since I rarely have chance to check Internet during months that I'm sailing - collecting movies, music and TV serials that people suggested and recommended & all those things I missed while being away. I hoard it all and than keep somewhere on external hard disc. Interestingly enough, it seems that the whole act of collecting makes me happy but I almost never watch any of these when I was travelling  - was too busy reading and enjoyed it very much. It was almost as I had rediscovered pleasure of reading suddenly.

Latest recommendation - and something that goes on on Croatian TV right now - is a serial cooked by Stephen King and producers who previously did "Lost". Sounds good? I checked one episode and got hooked, but constantly had a gnawing feeling that this is somehow too familiar. You see, the whole concept of little town being cut away from the rest of the world has already been done in "Jericho" which was quite enjoyable and unfortunately never continued. Another thing that bugs me is "Lost"-like script that follows many characters simultaneously, cutting the story just when it became interesting and moving on to other subjects (therefore continuing soap bubbles that go forever). It feels almost like everybody has 10 minutes and than let's go to another part of town. I had just watched the whole darn first season and suddenly instead of grand finale, scene was cut in the middle of the sentence and now what - "oh no, now I have to watch second season!" I said out loud to myself, perfectly aware that I got caught up into never-ending story that constantly brings new characters, kills off the old ones and main story basically goes unexplained. I am not 100% sure do I like this kind of audience manipulation. Yes, I will watch the darn second season now only because I started the first one already but I do feel slightly fooled because script writers are consciously delaying any explanation what this dome actually means. I DO get Stephen King using the story to show how people behave to each other in situations of danger and how some of these characters are metaphor for current politicians. And I hate mushy, sentimental moments that usually just slow down the story and nobody talks like this in real life anyway. Yeah right, "lets talk about us" while everything is falling apart around them.

p.s.
Each episode is directed by another person. I was surprised to find that one of the directors is Croatian born Sergio Mimica, son of a famous Croatian film director. Apparently Spielberg (who is one of producers) likes his work and usually gives him a chance.