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As a story of a world-gutting flu pandemic, Stephen King’s “The Stand,” whose second, superior miniseries adaptation begins Thursday on CBS All Access, could not be more timely. And as a story of good and evil facing off for the usual high stakes and of democracy versus autocracy, self-sacrifice versus narcissism it also feels very on brand for 2020. Whether that makes people more or less inclined to watch, I couldn’t say.
I have reviewed a lot of King adaptations over the years, and apart from “The Shining,” my King reading consists entirely of preparing to review TV adaptations of Stephen King novels. Sometimes they are better than the books and sometimes worse. First published in 1978, at 840 pages, “The Stand” was updated in 1990 with a few hundred pages more, and you will excuse me, I hope, if in this case I do not take the reading on. I have researched the novel there is a deep well of information out there in the digital universe and have read
Director Mick Garris adapted Stephen King’s post-apocalyptic tome
The Stand into a TV mini-series back in 1994, but now
The New Mutants director (and noted King fanatic)
Josh Boone has taken a crack at it for CBS All Access. The nine-episode limited series premieres on that platform this week, and we’ve rounded up some early reactions from critics who have seen the first several episodes. Read the highlights below to get a sense of whether this is a show you want to check out during this holiday season.
Before we get into the reactions, here’s the latest trailer for the series and its official description:
Starring
Premieres
Format
Hour-long post-apocalyptic drama; six episodes watched for review
It’s a bold move, but an inspired one. Harold wasn’t written to be one of the story’s main drivers, but his character serves as perhaps the purest vessel for King’s themes of free will and new beginnings, both of which form the spine of
The Stand’s strong pilot episode. In flashbacks, we see a bullied Harold watch in wonder as his Maine hometown is decimated by a mysterious super-flu from which he appears to be immune. Unmoved by the death of his distant family, he sees the looming apocalypse as a fresh start, a stroke of fate especially since the only other survivor in Ogunquit is his longtime obsession, Frannie (Odessa Young). As he thrives, Frannie collapses, broken by the loss of everyone and everything she loved. Both of them begin having strange dreams, some filled with a kindly, silver-haired prophet, others with an ominous “dark man” with big promises. One invites t
12/17/2020
CBS All Access caps off our COVID-dominated 2020 with the premiere of a new miniseries adaptation of Stephen King s post-pandemic allegory about good and evil.
On the page, Stephen King s
The Stand (1978) is a study in horrifying momentum. It s so propulsive that King was able to add hundreds of pages 12 years after its original publication without sacrificing the celerity of a narrative that keeps moving from one climax a burgeoning plague, humanity mobilizing in Boulder, the final stand to another. It s generally clear, and it s always churning along.
CBS All Access new adaptation of
The Stand is a car on cinderblocks. It looks great. If you glance under the hood, you can see all of the work that s been done on the engine. But no matter how ready it seems to peel out onto the road, it isn t going anywhere. Very rarely is the Benjamin Cavell-steered adaptation, with Josh Boone directing the pilot, actively bad, but it s very frustrating.