“Just think about it. We could have met every girl we’re ever going to meet.”
The above quote – one of the few considering the consequences of imprisonment – pretty well sums up what Under the Dome is doing wrong. The show is quite happy to consider the question “What is the dome?” but is surprisingly reluctant to approach the question of “What would the dome do to this community?” just yet. Aside from the suspiciously-unshaven cop’s rapid descent into gun-toting panic, the episode mostly focused on small town mysteries – What’s the deal with that stalker kid? What’s the story with Big Jim and the Reverend? Why on earth is the late Duke’s house so absurdly flammable? – that were essentially unrelated to the dome. The subdued tone of the episode, as it ambles from storyline to storyline, was at odds with the heightened stakes.
I expect that the encroaching scarcity of resources and sequestration-induced cabin fever will become more important in future episodes, but I would appreciate more tension than the show’s current atmosphere of growing unease. More events like the fire will hopefully be on the horizon, events whose import is increased by the reduced resources caused by that mysterious dome.
ccpopculture 
Addendum: It wasn’t worth doing an Extended Cut just to cover this, but by far the least compelling part of the show so far is the stalker/imprisonment subplot. Alexander Koch is unconvincing as Junior, coming across as “guy acting batshit crazy” rather than “guy who’s seriously damaged” – you can see him trying so hard to act and it’s distracting (undecided on Britt Robertson as Angie so far, as basically all she’s had to do is be angry and upset). It feels clichéd, especially when Angie busts out the old “Well, of course I fucked him,” chestnut that people always do in movies in these situations despite it making absolutely no sense to egg on the psychopath who has chained you to a bed. I guess they tried to link it to the dome a little bit (“I’ve locked you up because the dome has made you fall out of love with me!”) but it feels like an unsuccessful attempt to ramp up the drama so far.
I kind of liked the first episode. The second one kind of lost my interest a little. Hopefully it picks up.
Yeah it was a big step down from a decent pilot. Hopefully there’s a sense of urgency introduced soon or I’ll be tuning out.