[Review] 'The Stand' Episode 1; To "The End" and Back Again

Yesterday, CBS All Access finally premiered their highly anticipated re-imagining of Stephen King’s epic novel The Stand. The episode was directed by co-creator Josh Boone (The New Mutants) and focuses primarily on the characters of Harold Lauder (Owen Teague), Fran Goldsmith (Odessa Young) and Stu Redman (James Marsden).

The story centers around a super-flu that takes out 99% of the worlds population. The remaining survivors are then caught in a battle of good vs evil, and must choose on which side they stand. The first episode of The Stand is not set in one space or time but instead flashes forward and backwards. Viewers get their first look at the loner Harold as he spies on his longtime crush, Fran Goldsmith (Odessa Young).

We also meet Stu Redman (James Marsden), the east Texas man who inadvertently has a run-in with patient zero. The government takes over his small town, and places him in a facility to be studied. It’s there where he learns just how bad the Captain Tripps flu is, and starts to understand that he may never have his freedom again. But his freedom isn’t all that concerns him, he is also under close observation by a hard-nosed guard who cares very little for Redman’s comfort or life.

The episode feels completely different than the first miniseries from Mick Garris in 1994, which I felt worked in its favor. More than just bringing The Stand into a new age with more technology, it also brings new dimensions to the characters. Just like with the novel, there is a ton of story to cover. The time jumps, help to keep the story intriguing and moving forward at a steady pace. I found myself hangin on every scene, ready to see what happened next. Which is significant considering I know the story, have read the book, and have been a fan of the Mick Garris adaptation.

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An adaptation that keeps fans of the original source work hanging on every word is a success in my book. The focus on the characters allows for more of the story to come through, and shows how all these people fit into the apocalypse. Instead of just giving viewers the work of following all of them through the end times. We get to see the virus ravaging the population, and how Harold, Frannie and Stu all handle the fallout.

The characters are much darker, more complex and dynamic than their 90’s counterparts. We see that the survivors are just average people, and as we’ve seen in the recent months of our own pandemic, average people all adapt to these things differently. But no one makes it through the end unscathed. Which is something I hope we continue to see in future episodes.

My one major issue with this episode was the cheesy music that plays as we start to see the Walkin’ Dude a.k.a Randall Flagg (Alexander Skarsgård). However, his demeanor, smiley face button, and denim suit all come together to bring Flagg to life perfectly.

Although, the stand out of this episode is Owen Teague who plays Harold, the lonely outsider, who has been in love with Frannie since he was a kid. After a life of torment from bullies, Harold comes out of the apocalypse feeling destiny had finally given him some luck, but Harold’s never had much luck.

Teague is able to take Harold’s character to a much darker place. There is anger, fear and hatred all burning beneath the surface of Harold, and somehow Teague was able to translate that onto the screen. The limited series will air through February 2021, so there is still a lot of story to cover. But the first episode left me wanting to binge all the episodes as soon as it ended! 5/5

★★★★★

The limited series stars James Marsden, Odessa Young, Owen Teague, Henry Zaga, Nat Wolff, Heather Graham and many more. The Stand episode one is currently now streaming on CBS All Access. What did you think of the first episode? Leave us a comment below and let us know. As always, be sure to follow ScaryNerd for more of all things horror.

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