The stand

Year of release : 2020

 

Run time : 45min-1:07min ep , 9 episodes

 

Genre : Horror / Series / Mini Series

 

Cast : James Marsden, Alexander Skarsgard, Whoopi Goldberg, Nat Wolff, Amber Heard, Greg Kinnear, Hamish Linklater, Eion Bailey, Heather Graham, Ezra Miller, J.K.Simmons

 

 

The mini series are adapted from the 1978 Stephen King novel of the same name,which had a previous 1994 mini series incarnation.

 

After a man-made virus which killed 90-95% of the world's population,the ones who were immune start having dreams about an old woman named mother Abigail and a man known as Flagg. Each character,based on their belief system, follows the road to one of them.

 

Mother Abigail follows God, Flagg is probably the devil itself and leads people to a life of evil.

Trick is Flagg needs people to believe in him to have power . He rules with fear.

 

 

In episode one, we see Harold bullied by his pears due to the fact he was spying on Frannie,a woman who used to babysit him as a kid,whom he was in love with. As the pandemic wreaks havoc through the world ,leaving only a few people in the world, Harold builds up the courage to go to Frannie and confess his feelings. He finds her in the bathtub as she committed suicide. He manages to save her.

And convince her to find mother Abigail.

 

Stu,a man who was near the infected who actually spread the virus into the world,as he was working for the bio lab,is kept in quarantine by a secret arm of the government,but he seems immune.

 

 

In episode 2 they are at mother's Abigail's place,as Harold is using a picture of Tom Cruise laughing, to mimic happiness, since Frannie rejected him and she is now with Stu.

 

We meet more characters, Nadine, who takes care of Joe, an orphan who can't speak, Larry, a rock star, who is pretty much a drug addict and has one night stands, and Lloyd,who ended up in jail under the false accusation of killing a cop in a robbery.

 

"The Dark Man" as they call Flagg, the devil, is being revealed more and more,building his army.

 

 

In episode 3 is revealed Nadine is considered by Flagg his queen. She is a virgin , and was sent by him to mother's Abigail to kill the five people she put in charge, with Harold's help who is eaten away by hatred and jealousy .

Nadine was an orphan Flagg tricked when she was just a kid, whom he groomed to bear his child.

 

Nick,a deaf and mute man,is introduced as one of the five,and also best friend with a mentally challenged man who found him wounded in the hospital,after he lost an eye in a fight he didn't see coming.

 

Another character is introduced, Glen,who becomes one of the five in charge of mother's Abigail town.

 

 

In episode 4, the five send,without mother Abigail's approval, 3 spies into Las Vegas, Flagg's land.

 

Harold and Nadine go ahead with their plan against the five,and in the process,Nadine kills the only man who was kind and a friend to Harold, Teddy.

 

 

In episode 5, the spies are infiltrated in Flagg's community. Unluckily for them, Flagg sees all,and can even see in people's minds. One of the 3 spies is the mentally challenged man,Tom, who is the only one Flagg can't see.

 

Flagg goes stronger with people's belief in him and worship,and he can be in more places at the same time,- people's heads,their dreams -,and can't be killed,as we find out.

 

 

In episode 6,Nadine and Harold plot to kill everyone in Boulder by bombing the house they all gather at.

Mother Abigail is confronted by Flagg, who still can't see the third spy, all he can see is the moon. Flagg finds a pyromaniac with who's help wants to destroy Boulder.

 

 

In episode 7,mother Abigail tells the five chosen ones that the men and her caretaker must go take a stand against Flagg,but they must walk to there and take nothing with them.

 

Nadine is found by Flagg outside Las Vegas,as she was riding her bike,and is made his queen. It might not be what she hoped for.

 

Episode 8 finds Glen,Larry and mother Abigail's caretaker on trial in Flagg's land,for I guess, tresspassing. Glen speaks some truths and Flagg loses the faith of his people. For that ,Glen pays with his life.

 

Nadine looks like the Corpse Bride,as she is pregnant with Flagg's child,which is obviously killing her.

 

 

In my opinion,episode 9 shouldn't have existed. They should have made episode 8 longer and closed it with a bang,because with episode 9 it closed with a whimper.

 

Episode 9 is long and boring,and I honestly don't care about what's happening in it,as what it needed to be done and said happened in episode 8. Episode 9 is some sort of closure, but introduces characters for the sake of introducing them,like for example, a girl who heals Frannie who fell into a well and broke her ribs,leg and hip,and then just disappears,so Frannie wouldn't die,I'm guessing. Now all this wouldn't have been needed,if the series ended with episode 8.

 

 

The series blend the present with the past,going back and forth between them.

 

The characters are all human,flawed,there's not one who is perfect,even the ones taking Flagg's side,they're not completely evil,and I liked that,it's not all black and white,there are shades and layers of grey.

At first I didn't understand why mother Abigail chose certain characters to be the five rulers of the town,but as the story progresses we understand she made the right choice. They are smart,kind, they don't judge people for their mistakes,they forgive.

 

I personally didn't like the leading lady Frannie,I didn't like her attitude towards Harold who loved her, and as far as we know didn't do anything wrong. She hated him from the getgo without giving us a reason, just because he was a weirdo, quote. To me she was unlikeable.

 

The actors were great, especially those who played mentally challenged individuals. Nat Wolff who played Lloyd, was great,so was Brad William Henke who played Tom.

 

The soundtrack was good,so were the visual effects.

 

The mini series are streaming on Paramount Plus, Paramount Plus Amazon Channel, Paramount+ Roku Premium Channel, and is for sale on Amazon Prime Video, Google, Microsoft, Vudu .

 

Rating : Worth a watch!