The Stand gives us a muddled climax in its penultimate episode

The latest episode of The Stand, called “The Stand,” doesn’t improve much on the weak build-up. Stephen King personally wrote next week’s finale.

We’re just about at the end of the story with CBS All Access’ adaptation of The Stand, and sadly, the penultimate episode — called “The Stand” — just goes through the motions without generating much interest in the conclusion.

After the remaining survivors who made the trek to New Vegas are taken prisoner by minions of Randall Flagg (Alexander Skarsgard), they must stand trial to find out what their punishment will be. It’s not the world’s most orderly courtroom. Lloyd Henreid (Nat Wolf) shoots Glen Bateman (Greg Kinnear), but not before Glen gets inside his head. Things are more chaotic and theatrical than ever in Vegas as Lloyd awaits Flagg’s next order.

While it looked like Nadine Cross (Amber Heard) was on track for a more hopeful end than the one she meets in Stephen King’s book, she realizes in this week’s episode that whatever Flagg impregnated her with is not human, and takes her own life by jumping off a tall building. This drives Flagg mad, and at this point it seems he doesn’t have much else motivating him. As Larry Underwood (Jovan Adepo) and Ray Brentner (Irene Bedard) later realize, Flagg isn’t even aware that Mother Abigail (Whoopi Goldberg) has died. His power is slipping.

This adaptation’s depiction of Flagg has been far more exaggerated and silly than I was expecting, and in this episode he’s stripped away of any menacing characteristics he had, and he didn’t have much. As Glen tells Larry and Ray before he’s killed, Randall Flagg is basically just a big bully.

That said, “The Stand” doesn’t present any real threats or really much substance. It simply continues the story without diving deep into emotions or heightening our fear. Even what’s meant to be the exciting part of the episode is only somewhat fun to watch.

Towards the end of “The Stand,” clouds and light appear in the sky, and what appears to be some sort of meteor shower starts killing the citizens of New Vegas. Even Flagg is hit multiple times. After Trashcan Man (Ezra Miller) appears with his bomb, the entire town is blown up. Is Flagg really dead, though? Perhaps we’ll find out in the finale.

Unfortunately, the bomb also takes out Larry and Ray, who were tied down in a pool that was being filled up to drown them. The good news, however, is that there’s hope for Stu Redman (James Marsden). One of the final scenes of “The Stand” shows Tom Cullen (Brad William Henke) emerging near the big explosion, where he sees Kojak the dog. Glen’s dog had been keeping Stu company as he basically waited to die, and even fought off a wolf that came by earlier. At the time, it seemed obvious the wolf was Flagg, but now I’m not sure.

There’s a lot to cover in this episode, and sadly much of it feels riddled with predictability and boring scenes. New Vegas blowing up is undoubtedly awesome, but the steps taken to get there just lost me. Lloyd’s character arc concludes in such an unsatisfying way: after Glen gets into his head, he decides he no longer wants to follow Flagg’s orders. He even tries to free Larry and Ray, but is unsuccessful. His character ends up just being a waste, as he never shows any depth beyond his first episode; his trajectory is simply basic. Trashcan Man is a compelling character who doesn’t get the chance to be fleshed out enough, which of course with only nine episodes in the series makes sense.

As we head into the finale of The Stand next week, I’m really not rooting for any of the characters. I’m sure Stu and Frannie Goldsmith (Odessa Young) will be reunited, which is great, but will any risks be taken? As Screen Rant reports, Stephen King actually rewrote the ending yet another time for this miniseries, so I am genuinely curious as to how the show will conclude. As a fan of King’s, even I can admit that his endings are sometimes a bit shaky, and considering this isn’t his first rewrite of The Stand, I’ll be going into the final episode with relatively low expectations.

Episode Grade: C+

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