So, The Stand is three episodes deep and overall, I still like it a lot. Yes, there are issues. I detailed most of them when talking last post about my issues with how the anachronic order is working (it seems hit and miss, last episode mostly miss) and that I was angered by the lack of Lincoln Tunnel scene, Lloyd's new persona as this young, new-to-crime, scared kid, who for some reason was still cocky in the prison. Anyway, I complained a lot but this episode I think did a good bit to draw the series' hand out of the fire.
Let's begin with the good; most of the main characters have indeed shown up by this point. We now have met Stu, Frannie and Harold (first episode), Larry, Nadine, Joe, Nick, Ray (Ralph) and Lloyd (second episode), and now in this one, we've met Glen (who I couldn't think to name while spouting off the top of my head) and Tom Cullen. Some of these people are directly based off their novel personas and some have been modified a bit to fit a 2019 setting (that being when this was all filmed). I think they work for the most part. Of course, we met our Big Good and Big Bad in the first episode, and this episode does a good deal to flesh both of them out. We finally get long scenes of Mother Abigail speaking to the other characters, and I think I do like Whoopi Goldberg's take on her. Obviously Whoopi isn't as old as the character is meant to be, but she pulls off pretending the age well. I had selected Cicely Tyson for the part, but I think Whoopi is more than fine here. She's also got the same magnetism she's always had, and we knew she was capable of solid, dramatic performances.
Alexander Skarsgaard gets a single scene here, one that I'm pretty sure is original, where he tries to convince Nick (Henry Zaga) to come to Vegas and be his right-hand man. The scene implies that Flagg sees a darkness in Nick that he can exploit, and it makes his rejection of Flagg, and later acceptance of Mother Abigail, that much more powerful. Nick is shown here to not exactly trust either one, at first, but follows the one who doesn't demand worship. Skarsgaard is fine in the scene, and I think he's a solid choice, but so far I can't tell if he's better than Jamey Sheridan.
One thing I was kinda hoping for was to make it more clear that Nick was able to use a tablet or smart phone to communicate with those who don't sign, and only resorts to pad and paper once keeping a tablet charged becomes impossible. But I guess I don't have that big an issue with it. I did like the subtle addition that Frannie knows sign language, and uses it instinctively when she's talking in a group that includes Nick.
Greg Kinnear makes his debut as Glen Bateman here, and I was more impressed with him than I thought I would be. Glen in the book is bald and crusty, like a college professor would be in 1978, when the book was first published. Today, college professors are liberal hipsters, most of whom are somewhere around my age, or at least look my age, which makes Kinnear a good choice as he's pushing 60 but looks closer to 45. When he shows up, clad in jeans and what he likely thinks are cool clothes, I thought "Yeah, I could see this guy teaching Advanced Sociology". His scenes with Stu are great, and I'm still enjoying James Marsden as Stu more than I thought I would.
This episode does a bit to flesh out Nadine and Joe, showing their meeting with Larry and showing that Joe has come a long way, behavior-wise, as it includes his lunging at Larry with a knife. Nadine is revealed to be Flagg's chosen almost right off the bat (we open the episode with young Nadine and her schoolmates playing with a Ouja board, and if you've read the book, you know the scene), but...I don't know, maybe it's just me but I always felt Book Nadine to be less willing and wondering if she should be following Flagg. Of course, most of that is internal monologue, but I still got the sense that for a bit, she actually considered staying in Boulder and siding against Flagg until realizing that she had no real choice. Here, she seems to hate Boulder and everyone in it, and is just faking it until she can get to Vegas.
We also meet Tom Cullen, as I said, and so far he seems to only be there as part of Nick's backstory; we don't see him in present-day Boulder. And Nick's scenes have been entirely condensed; no more deputy sheriff job (the sheriff isn't even present), no Doc Soames, little in the way of Ray Booth, and Tom just shows up at the hospital, for seemingly no reason.
Brad William Henke plays Tom, and looks-wise he's just about spot-on, but give me some time before I pass judgement on his performance. He's not bad in this episode, but he seems a tad...aggressive, I guess, is how I'd put it. Tom in the books is innocent and childlike. This Tom is more like the guy at the bus stop who strikes up a conversation with you out of nowhere and follows right along as you try to move away from him. To be fair, that's apparently the Tom we're going for, here. Tom's first act after realizing Nick's awake is to launch into a rehearsed speech: "My name is Tom Cullen, I'm 42 years old and I am developmentally disabled. Please do not be alarmed at my behavior as I have trouble reading social cues..." and so on. This I liked, not only because Nick now understands immediately what kind of man he's dealing with, but also because this is a realistic portrayal of how a real developmentally disabled person would introduce themselves in the modern age. I also like that Tom's disability now seems more to be that he's somewhere on the spectrum. Tom in the book is frequently referred to as being "retarded", even by heroic characters, which is not a term we use today, and at times it seems like he's supposed to have Down's Syndrome, but he's capable of stuff that a Down's patient would not be. This Tom being on the spectrum makes more sense. They do keep his "M-O-O-N, that spells *insert word or phrase*" and I was happy to see that, as it's a defining characteristic for him, but they have him realize within moments of meeting Nick that he can't hear or speak.
I also enjoyed seeing more interaction with the previously-established characters. We get a scene of Stu meeting Harold and Frannie, with Harold nearly chasing him off because "for all we know, he could be Jeffrey Dahmer!"
Uh...Harold?
Glass houses, my friend, glass houses.
We also are shown that Harold left markers along the trail, and not just in Ogunquit. This probably should have been included the last episode, or at least not had Larry thank him for his help until after this one, but it does come to mind that this series probably will benefit from being binge-watched once all the episodes have aired. Which makes the decision not to drop them all at once even stranger, but that's how CBSAA has decided to do things. Old habits die hard, I guess. I think we might all feel differently about the anachronic order, et al, once we can sit down and watch this thing in one nine-hour meal as opposed to the 1-hour bites we're getting right now.
That being said, the anachronic order is really bugging people, and I see why to some extent, though most of the complaints are about it being used at all, while I think the main issue is execution, not just griping because I want everything done in the same order as the book. It seems very inconsistent, and in particular this episode annoyed me by just once giving us a time frame textual opening ("Two Weeks Earlier..."). Either do that throughout or don't do it at all, and give us some sort of cue when we're changing timeframes. Damages used different camera filters to let us know if we were in the framing device or the story itself. Some shows play with the aspect ratio. Some use musical stings or sound effects to let us know a flashback is beginning. The Stand does nothing, and that's what bugs me. If you're gonna do it, do it in a way that doesn't demand the viewer read the book to understand it. Hell, I've read the book repeatedly and I still don't understand everything! But I do wonder if binging it will help. We'll see.
One last thing I'm going to talk about is a change from the book involving an escapee from Vegas who shows up in Boulder. Heck Drogan, played here by TJ Kayama, drives to Vegas despite having recently been crucified, to warn the townsfolk about Flagg and his powers. He manages to meet with Mother Abigail, but doesn't get far before Flagg pulls a Saruman and speaks through him, giving the "your blood is in my fist, Mother" speech before Heck expires. It's a mostly well-done scene, and I liked the addition of crows hurling themselves against the window of their room in bloody, feathered splats. I liked that this speech was moved from Abigail's dream to the waking world so that all those gathered can witness it.
So it might sound like I'm complaining a lot, but I still think there's enough to like that I'm on board for the rest, and I think there's a chance that when it's all complete the total package will be something special. I also still prefer this to the Mick Garris version, which, despite being chronological and having a script from King himself still felt immediately dated and stale, despite some good aspects (Jamey Sheridan and Ruby Dee both did well). At some point I will talk more about this, probably in a post about why Mick Garris's King-based films are terrible. I've seen all his offerings now, and I hope to Gan he never does another.
Quick reading update: I'm nearly finished Rose Madder, which, unlike Insomnia is new territory for me. A post on Insomnia will come when I feel like I have my thoughts in order for it. After Rose Madder I think I want to delve into some other horror writers, but I'm going to talk about them, too, as I've said that this new blog won't just be about King's own works.
