Early on, The Stand’s timeline gimmick made it hard to connect with the characters, but now that they’re established, things are improving.
The chosen five leaders of Boulder, Colorado are ready to launch their plan in the latest episode of The Stand, “The House of the Dead,” but as we’re nearly halfway through the miniseries, the clock is ticking.
Rather than starting out with a flashback this week, the latest episode of The Stand opens up with the central characters getting ready for what might be one of the most daunting tasks they’ve had since the pandemic hit: presenting at a town meeting. With lingering questions regarding the state of the city, and about the mysterious injured man from Las Vegas is, the survivors are looking towards Stu Redman (James Marsden), Frannie Goldsmith (Odessa Young), Larry Underwood (Jovan Adepo), Nick Andros (Henry Zaga) and Glen Bateman (Greg Kinnear) for answers. The tricky part is, they might not actually feel better hearing the full truth.
The committee feels like the right group of people to take charge, and that’s exactly what they do. “The House of the Dead” does a good job advancing the plot (finally) while using flashbacks to introduce viewers to one of the best relationships from the book through flashbacks and teasing the looming threat Nadine Cross (Amber Heard) and Harold Lauder (Owen Teague) pose on the community.
The plan the leaders come up with to try to figure out what’s going on with Randall Flagg (Alexander Skarsgard) and his followers in Las Vegas, while risky, is really the only thing they can do besides sit around and wait for something to happen. They decide to send in three of the least suspicious people from their community as spies. Recipe for a disaster? It’s very likely. But it also better make for some good TV.
Meanwhile, we get to know one of the people chosen to go to Las Vegas a little better: Tom Cullen (Brad William Henke). A fan-favorite character from the book, Tom is shown through flashbacks this episode while on his journey with Nick after leaving Arkansas. The two are certainly an unlikely duo: Tom is a person with an intellectual disability, while Nick is both Deaf and mute. While it’s difficult for them to communicate traditionally, they make it work, and their relationship is extremely endearing.
Finally, I can say that the flashbacks work for me this episode. Instead of them feeling like plot dumps, they actually complement the storyline and add context where it seems necessary. The other big jump back in time follows Frannie and Harold, and further explains why Harold has so much angst, enough angst to want to harm Stu and join Nadine’s sinister plan. Characters are developed, and I never feel confused, bored or taken out of the story while watching.
Nadine and Harold’s storyline is probably the weakest part of this episode. Although I’ll be the first to admit to loving the villain’s story, the way this adaptation depicts evil is still a bit too corny for me. I was a fan of Nadine when she was seemingly conflicted, but now that she’s open to Harold about being one of Flagg’s followers, the dialogue is so exaggerated it’s almost comical. If she’s truly going to be one of the big bads of the show, they’ll need to do a better job proving it.
But as we’ve seen with the miniseries’ portrayal of Flagg, a seductive villain with little depth might be all we’re getting.
So far, “The House of the Dead” is my favorite episode of The Stand so far, which means it’s been getting better week after week. With only nine episodes total, I’m still not confident the show will be able to wrap it all up well, but for the sake of living in the moment, this week’s is very solid.
Episode Grade: B+
To stay up to date on everything fantasy, science fiction, and WiC, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and sign up for our exclusive newsletter.
Get HBO, Starz, Showtime and MORE for FREE with a no-risk, 7-day free trial of Amazon Channels.