‘Under the Dome’ and the world outside

“We’re not going to be politically correct,” he says, “and we’re going to be true to the characters in Chester’s Mill — what’s been created from Stephen’s book — but I do think one of the things that’s cool about this is it speaks to, as did ‘Lost,’ how do we all survive? How do we all live?

“There’s this thin layer of cellophane between us and the other kind of life where all you’re worrying about is survival, which most of us have been blessed not to live.”

For Junior, the landing of the dome intensifies his connection to Angie, but not in a good way.

“He has a father that wasn’t always there for him,” Koch says. “He has issues with his mother that are unresolved. Because of that, he grows this obsessive need, this want of love from someone, and he finds it in Angie.

“Once she goes away, it’s like his whole world is taken out from under him, and he needs to get it back. So he’ll go through drastic measures to get it.”

Just as Junior may have hidden issues that come to the surface, the sardonic Angie is not entirely innocent either.

“The Junior she knows in the pilot,” says Robertson, “is someone she can manipulate, someone she can control, someone she can do whatever she wants with. He’s just this guy who’s taken by her, and she doesn’t feel any real hold over the relationship. She’s just trying to have fun.

“Then she sees the real Junior, and that’s scary for her — not because he’s scary. It’s scary because she didn’t see it. She’s someone who reads people very easily and prides herself on that.

“If he was one way and then became this person that she’s seeing now, who will he turn into eventually? That’s what the dome has done.”

Vogel sees the show as echoing the reality beyond the soundstage.

“We’re dealing with a cataclysmic event here,” he says. “The reason that there’s such a draw to that kind of stuff nowadays is because of the global temperature right now — North Korea off the hinges; Greece off the hinges; Egypt off the hinges; America, the dollar essentially devalued.

“With all these things happening, people have asked themselves this question, ‘What would I do, if? What would I do if that thing happened?’ ”

But journalist Julia has a different priority than navel gazing.

“She’s too busy,” says Lefevre, “asking everybody else questions. She’s too busy being a reporter.”

With lunch over and interviews in the can, attention shifts to a violent scene in which Junior has Angie imprisoned in a bunker, and she makes a bid for freedom.

But soon Twitter feeds start humming with breaking news. Over the studio’s Wi-Fi, an iPad becomes a window to the larger world, as the events of the Boston Marathon bombing start to unfold in real time.

For many people in Boston and surrounding communities that fateful afternoon and over the next few days, these “what if” questions became terrifyingly real, resulting in a mix of merciless violence, acts of heroism, fear, joy, shattering sorrow, stunned disbelief and resolute action.

One suspects fictional Chester’s Mill won’t be very much different.

ACROSS

1. Role on “NCIS: Los Angeles” (2)

9. Role on “The Beverly Hillbillies”

10. “How I Met __ Mother”

11. “One Day __ __ Time”

13. “XXX: State of the __”; 2005 film for Ice Cube

15. “__ Recall”; 1990 Arnold Schwarzenegger movie

17. Competitive reality series (2)

18. “__ Not There”; 2007 film for Heath Ledger

20. “Magnum, __”

21. “A Flea in Her __”; 1968 Rex Harrison movie

23. Malt beverage

24. eBay offer

25. Ryan, for one

26. “Go __”

29. Setting for “Evening Shade”: abbr.

30. “Criminal Minds” role

34. “__, Indiana” (1991-92)

36. Steve or Gracie

2. Go over a manuscript

3. “Cagney & Lacey” actress

4. Greeting from Stallone

5. Initials for Ms. Uggams

6. Carney and Linkletter

7. “The Ninth __”; 1999 movie for Johnny Depp

8. Greek letter

9. Actress on “Modern Family” (2)

12. “Suburgatory” actress (2)

14. Actress Sandra & others

16. Baseball’s Mel

19. “__ Street”; 2010 Ellen Burstyn film

20. “Guilty” or “Not guilty”

22. Yellow Brick, for one: abbr.

23. “I __ Legend”; 2007 Will Smith movie

27. Accessory for Don Ho

28. Rank for Radar O’Reilly and Max Klinger: abbr.

30. Baby buggy

31. Tide type

32. Sworn statement

33. Magazine title

35. Historical period

37. Suffix for ballad or command

40. Diddley or Derek

41. Ending for train or honor