A REVIEW OF “THE STAND” EPISODE 8: "THE STAND"
Okay people, we need to talk about the correct way to crucify someone.
Well, it was great while it lasted. Episode 7 was a high point of the show’s run, but it was squandered (a word I use a lot in my reviews of this adaptation) by episode 8, titled “The Stand.” Vincenzo Natali returns to direct, but this one’s script is credited to Benjamin Cavell & Taylor Elmore, the former of whom developed this adaptation with Josh Boone. So let’s get to it (or rather, let’s get it over with).
The “trial” scene is a waste of time. Besides the grandstanding, wouldn’t everyone cheer Lloyd blowing Glen away? Greg Kinnear is great, but that courtroom is full of people who are already fargone. Some of them probably showed up to witness violence, and they’re going to balk at some bullets? The massive screens all over Vegas would relish the bloodshed.
Nat Wolff is another good actor, but he’s grated my nerves as Lloyd. I’m starting to wonder why Flagg chose him as a second, unlike Miguel Ferrer’s portrayal of a cold foot soldier in “Stand 94.” Wolff plays Lloyd like a shitty Stephen King teenager. It’s easy to imagine him as one of the jerks who vandalizes Christine or laughs at Carrie White getting a bucket of pig’s blood to the dome. His “redemption arc” is too broad, even if it was fun to watch him get “Final Destination’d,” but I’ll get there in a second.
With Glen gone, we’re supposed to wonder how Larry and Ray are going to get out of this alive, but instead we’re left asking: has Nadine really not looked in a mirror since coming to Vegas? There’s glass everywhere! It’s a good beat to have Larry get through to her, but for what? The show would rather have Flagg smoking a cigar while Rat Woman acts like a psychotic nurse instead of having an actual doctor protect Flagg’s coveted spawn. But wait, was Rat Woman a doctor before the world ended? Who cares? Look at how crazy-sexy she is! Surely Flagg had some doctors make it to New Vegas, but let’s not focus on our villain’s goals. When Nadine kills herself, you’re left thinking Randall Flagg, the antagonist of the piece and avatar of demonic evil...could’ve done a little more.
The climax of the episode is supposed to double as the climax of the show, and boy does it manage to disappoint on both fronts. Flagg leads Larry and Ray to a public execution while working up the crowd like a certain politician who conducts hotel-related business in Vegas (ahem). We’re led to believe the cracks are starting to show when people like Lloyd are having a crisis of faith. Excuse me, Lloyd and 2 random people we don’t know (one of whom we don’t even see) who start to rebel. They proclaim “I will fear no evil,” which could be the new “I renounce my wish.” You almost expect Mother Abigail to show up and reveal her true name is “Martha.”
Julie doesn’t remember pyrotechnics in rehearsals, but she’s going with it.
If we’re meant to believe God is smiting these awful degenerates, why not just strike the bomb and be done? I don’t need Flagg dancing or being zapped. There’s nobody left alive once the bomb detonates, so what’s the point of the lightning, besides some decent gore?
Next week gives us a brand-new coda written by Stephen King, which I’ve been equating to the most outlandish episodes of “Undercover Boss.”. Whatever you think of the show so far, the anticipation is high. But to steal a phrase from King himself, “The Stand” has forgotten the face of it’s father.
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