A REVIEW OF “THE STAND” EPISODE 7: "THE WALK"
Everybody smile and say “pacing!”
M-O-O-N, that spells “progress.” Episode 7 is the best installment yet, as the storytelling finally catches up to the characters. There’s actually hope for the series to end strong, thanks to a meaty script by Owen King (Stephen’s son, also a writer) and direction by the always-welcome Vincenzo Natali (“Cube,” “In the Tall Grass,” and a lot of amazing tv).
Well, Harold was definitely not the intended protagonist after all. He met his grisly fate just like he did in the book and “Stand 94,” but even dying this early in the episode, he seemed to be the character the writers were most interested in. It felt like Whoopi Goldberg was never there, even at the end. She moves the plot forward and passes away.
Considering “The Walking Dead” and “Lost” have stolen so much from “The Stand” to tell their own glacially-paced epics, the speed at which “The Stand'' unfurls has been break-neck by comparison. You know “The Walking Dead” would have spent an entire episode with the characters debating whether to walk to Vegas at all. It doesn’t take long to start the journey, but it doesn’t feel rushed, either. Even the montage of their trek feels breezy. When the group leaves Stu behind after his injury, it’s as sad as expected, but for perhaps the first time in seven episodes, the show has some pleasant surprises up it’s sleeve.
When Flagg finally takes Nadine’s virginity, he also takes her sanity in one of “The Stand’s darkest moments. It’s already disturbing in previous iterations, but the show one-ups it by having an impossibly-pregnant Nadine welcome the Boulder folks to Vegas. She looks like rigor mortis is going to set in at any moment, hey, she’s smiling! She’s gone full-cenobite and loves it. This changes the story, but in a very Stephen King-like way. I can’t wait to see how it plays out.
Amber Heard auditions for the next Rob Zombie film
Prior to that reveal is the most frightening sequence in the show so far: the drive down the New Vegas strip. We’re definitely not in Boulder anymore, but we finally get a good look beyond the Hotel Inferno and at what Flagg hath wrought. Alexander Skarsgard acts like the tour guide from hell as he’s projected on Jumbotron screens. Larry, Ray, and Glen take in his version of Rome, complete with his own statue. The imagery is sparse but effective: empty streets, a wolf, and a “Purge”-like beatdown dot the landscape to flesh out an aspect of the book that has gotten a short shrift so far. I’ve never anticipated the next episode of “The Stand” as much, so here’s hoping they keep the quality going. Also, can we get Vincenzo Natali more feature work, please?
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