- When Barbie and Sam investigate the mysterious tunnel beneath the high school, a cave-in severs their path back to Chester's Mill. Meanwhile, Big Jim deals with a dust storm.
- Despite Julia's gesture of goodwill, Big Jim is still determined to take charge of "his" town. Facing a powerful dust storm, Rebecca tells him they need to erect a windmill and spray water into the atmosphere inside the dome. When Big Jim looks for support however, he finds that most have turned against him. Sam, Junior and Barbie set off down the tunnel they've found leading out from under the high school. A explosion leaves Junior on one side of the rock fall. He locates Joe, Norrie and Melanie and tells them of the danger they're in. They head to the lake to try and retrieve the egg. Sam and Barbie meanwhile continue their search down the tunnel and come to a cliff edge with an apparently bottomless abyss below. Barbie soon realizes who is responsible for Angie's death.—garykmcd
- At the café, Melanie confesses to Julia that she kissed Joe. She's feeling terribly out of place, given her return from the dead. When she mentions the missing egg, Julia tells her about dropping it in the lake just before finding Melanie. Julia thinks things are happening for a reason, she just doesn't know what it is.
At Big Jim's house, Joe and Norrie argue about him kissing Melanie. When Norrie tells Joe she doesn't love him, he grabs his stuff and leaves.
Back at the café, Jim needles Julia about her leadership, questioning her plan to put town decisions to a vote. He tells her half the town still follows him.
Outside, Jim tries to get Barbie to side with him, but Barbie isn't going to give Jim the benefit of the doubt anymore. When Rachel radios Barbie from the school, he takes off, leaving Jim. Clouds of dust are beginning to swirl everywhere.
In the tunnel behind the locker at school, Sam and Junior go looking for Lyle. Junior is ready to kill him, believing he killed Angie. Barbie finds them. They continue through the tunnel, which is like a full-sized hallway. Junior is in front and rushes when he sees his mom's journal on the ground. Barbie notices the trip wire, but it's too late.
Barbie pushes Junior out of the way as an explosion goes off. Then Sam tackles Barbie out of the way of the debris that falls, cutting them off from Junior and the way out of the tunnel.
After the cave in, Barbie and Sam are OK, but totally sealed off. Barbie's head is bleeding, but he's OK. Sam thinks Lyle made the trap. They start off, following the tunnel away from the cave in.
Back in the high school hallway, Julia and Melanie arrive. Julia is eager to rescue Barbie, but Big Jim points out the dust storm outside. Rachel concludes that the acidity in the red rain must have fried the topsoil. She reminds them the dome is semi-permeable and if it becomes clogged, their air can't get through.
She suggests getting water into the air to ground the dust using her old windmill plan.
After Junior tells Julia that he thinks Lyle believes killing the four hands will bring the Rapture, he and Melanie go to make sure Joe and Norrie are safe.
Down in the tunnel, Barbie casually questions Sam about Lyle. When they reach a fork in the tunnel, Sam takes it as an opportunity to split up.
Driving with Junior, Melanie tells him she thinks Lyle killed her.
Back in the café, Jim paints a bleak picture of the dusk threat and calls for a vote on a windmill for the mist dispersal system. Andrea and everyone is still skeptical of him and votes it down. Benji, Joe's skater friend, is having problems with his asthma but goes out to skate anyway.
At Big Jim's house, Junior and Melanie start talking about her mother and get close. They seem about to kiss when Norrie interrupts, incredulous that Melanie is macking on someone else. When Junior tells her about the Lyle threat, they race off to find Joe.
Down in the tunnel, Sam sneaks up behind Barbie, prepared to brain him with his flashlight. When Barbie turns around, Sam says he thought Barbie was Lyle. Sam insists the tunnel fork he took led him to where he is.
Barbie asks Sam where he was the night Angie died. When Sam says he was looking for Melanie, Barbie points out Sam shouldn't know her name, but does because he knew her 25 years ago. Sam admits it but they don't get any farther because Barbie suddenly falls of a cliff.
Sam catches him, but Barbie is dangling into a giant chasm in the dark. Sam hauls him back up. They see a lantern and camping gear nearby. They can't see the bottom of the chasm.
Melanie, Junior and Norrie find Joe in a house. When Junior tells Joe that Lyle killed Angie because she was one of the four hands, the other kids want to go find the egg in the lake.
Back in the tunnel, Barbie throws a rock off the cliff but they never hear it hit. He also figures they're beyond where the dome ends. They take turns accusing each other of holding back information.
Rachel pulls out blue prints for the old cement factory where the school used to be and they see that there's no other way into the tunnel. Rachel suggests they blow the tunnel.
In the café, Benji comes back inside gasping for air. Jim takes the opportunity to heroically hand Benji his inhaler and call for another vote. This time people agree.
Back in the tunnel, Barbie still can't figure out how he went right and Sam went left and they ended up in the same place. Sam says the dome brings nothing but pain and Barbie demands answers about the night Melanie died.
Sam tells virtually the same story about finding the meteorite and egg inside that Melanie did. Then he explains that the egg started screaming, and Pauline grabbed her head and said "it's killing me."
Lyle flipped out, saying they have to help Pauline. He went after Melanie, who was protecting the egg. Lyle pushed Melanie and she fell into the crater and cracked her egg. When his sister begged him to help Lyle, Sam did. "I left the love of my life in a hole like garbage. And now she's back," Sam says.
Out in the dust, Jim and other townspeople hoist the windmill into place.
Down in the tunnel, Rachel mixes chemicals to blow the tunnel blockage.
At the windmill, they rig a firehose up a radio tower to spray water in front of the windmill. The water mists into the air and quickly helps settle the dust.
In the tunnel, Julia questions how Rachel ended up in Chester's Mill. She was on her way to Cornell when her dad got sick and she stayed to take care of him. Julia asks why Rachel worked with Jim. "Because I thought his heart was in the right place -- I was wrong about that," Rachel says.
Out on a boat in the lake, Melanie says she can feel the egg, but it's not presenting itself. They suggest holding hands, with Melanie in place of Angie since she was one of the original four. They hold their hands over the lake together and it glows pink and rises to the surface.
On the cliff, Sam complains about the dome being a slow death. Barbie talks about finding something to make it worth living, like he found in Julia. Sam remembers the horror of seeing Melanie die and when Barbie relates, Sam asks him who he killed. "A lot of people. Given the way things are going, I know it's going to happen again. I don't want that, but sometimes you see their faces and you wonder-"
"Are they going to be waiting for you on the other side?" Sam finishes. He wonders what he's supposed to say to Melanie.
Barbie is finally warming to Sam, and thanks him for saving him, when he notices the scratches on Sam's shoulder.
At the cave in, Rachel and Julia prepare to blast.
Barbie accuses Sam of killing Angie. Sam argues but eventually confesses, saying he had to. He cites Pauline's journal, which said the dome would come down if the hands were all dead. He plans to kill them all, even Junior, to save the town -- then kill himself.
But Barbie pulls his gun and tells Sam his justice will be whatever Junior decides to do to him when he finds out he killed Angie.
Meanwhile, back at the house, Melanie stares intently at the egg. Joe and Norrie make up. Junior locks up and they all kneel to put their hands on the egg.
Pink stars shoot around the room and fall down. Then they see a figure of the obelisk from Melanie's hometown, Zenith.
Back up in the hallway, Julia lights the fuse for the blast.
Down in the tunnel, Sam hears it and starts backing toward the cliff. He hands the journal to Barbie, telling him he'll see it's all pain. Sam warns Barbie that after he sees enough people die, including Julia, he'll kill the kids himself. Then Sam steps off the cliff, never making a sound.
In the café, Jim tries to sow discord about Julia, noting how she was absent all day to help Barbie.
Julia finds Barbie down in the tunnel. He tells her Sam is gone.
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