The End of UNDER THE DOME & Welcome to BATES MOTEL

The End of Under The Dome

I have written my first impression of the first three episodes of Under The Dome about a month ago. Now, I have seen 5 episodes and it’s time to say good bye.

I have mentioned so often that I love the book, love it so much because of the characters. I have also written in my first impression that the series is very different to the book…it’s like a new story with the same situation: People trapped under an invisible dome.

After 5 episodes, I decided to say it’s enough! No matter how much I love King but the changes in the series is already intolerable and NONE of the characters in the series is appealing, they are all very boring.

Here are the differences…so far!

Book

Series

The main character, Dale Barbara or Barbie is a cook in Sweetbriar Rose. He is about to leave Chester Mills because he had a fight with Junior Barbie is the inside man of the Army. He is asked to find the generator that might set the dome Julia Shunway is not married. Rennie never been nice to Barbie Angie is murdered by Junior and Junior keeps her body. There is a huge riot in the supermarket (very interesting to read) Duke’s widow plays big part in the story

Barbie is a bookie and has killed Julia’s husband and about to leave Chester Mills after killing her husband. Barbie has no connection at all with the army and the army hasn’t engaged any contact with anyone inside the dome Julia is married with a gambling addict Doctor Rennie quite likes Barbie Angie is still alive and Junior keeps her in the bunker. Where the hell is the riot? Again…where the hell is she?

I think that’s enough…I can go on forever. I don’t mind if they decided to change things up…but do it in an interesting way. When I read The Lord of The Ring and saw the movie, Arwen is so different but Arwen in the movie is equally interesting as the book. Here in Under The Dome, all the characters are way less interesting than the book. I expected it to be as interesting as the book (even though slightly different) but sadly it’s not.

The other reason I decided to stop watching the series is because of the announcement saying that there’ll be Season 2 next year…WHAT THE F***? I can’t imagine how long the boredom will last. I mean the book is not as thick as The Stand, we don’t need 2 seasons for it.

As always, I am not wasting my time to watch something I find NOT interesting. This post is my goodbye to Under The Dome. I would rather use the time to reread the book over and over again than watching a show with different characters in same circumstance.

However…for those who never read the book, you might find the series interesting. It’s just not for me.

Welcome to Bates Motel

Dropping UTD means I have to find new series to watch…and that goes to Bates Motel!

I have been meaning to watch this series ever since I know my favorite young Actor, Freddie Highmore is playing as the famous psychopath, Norman Bates. But there were always other TV series I need to see. Well, I am glad I finally start watching this series 🙂

I have just started the first episode and this is my first impression of the series.

There are 10 episodes for this season. Second season will be on 2014, I think they have started filming this month.

I hardly remember the detail in PSYCHO (the famous movie by the great Alfred Hitchcock), I remember the outline not the detail. I was actually thinking of rewatching it first before seeing Bates Motel but then I thought maybe I should watch the series first and then see the movie…you know, to have an idea how accurate the two are.

However, Bates Motel is a contemporary prequel. Psycho is a 1960 movie, the prequel should have been set in 1940-50 but the producers turned it into a prequel set in this year. I think that’s a good idea because it’ll make things easier to prepare (Kinda like Sherlock BBC).

What makes me interested to see this TV Series is Freddie Highmore (in case you have never heard of him, look at the photo below). He is like the cutest boy on screen I have ever seen!! The thought of him playing a psychopath is like ‘’WHAT?” how can a cute face like that become a murderer? BUT I believe in Freddie. I saw how good he was in Charlie and The Chocolate Factory, August Rush, the Spiderwick Chronicle and Finding Neverland. I do believe he can be a great actor one day.

What’s the story in the first episode?

Bates Motel began with the death of Norman’s father. Six month later, Norma and Norman Bates moved to White Pine, Oregon (fictional town) to start over. She bought a motel. The original owner of the motel threaten them, he lost to motel to the bank. One night, he came to the house to attack and rape Norma Bates. Norman knocked him down but Norma killed him. The two had to cover the murder because she thought no one would stay in a hotel where murder once happened even though it was a self-defense. And that’s how the first murder at Bates Motel started!!

I like what Norman said to his mother when they were in the middle of ditching the body:

“It’s you and me. It’s always been you and me. We belong to each other.”

My first impression?

I LIKE it!! Can’t wait to see episode two. Both Norman and Norma Bates are very interesting characters. I haven’t seen the psychotic side of Norman Bates (Freddie Highmore) yet but Norma Bates (Vera Farmiga) is awesome!! She is amazing as Norma. We can easily see how she controls his son. In just one episode I can see how much she plays part in shaping Norman into the psychopath he will be in the future. I read many comments saying that Norman Bates is annoying but you can’t really hate him…I guess many are quite impress with Freddie 🙂 So far, I am impressed with his accent. He does amazing American accent despite his thick British accent. I love the chemistry between the two main cast, Vera Farmiga and Freddie Highmore.

I hope the show continue to impress me 🙂

Here’s the trailer and make sure you also see the second video…it’s very funny!! 🙂