‘The Stand’ Retro Recap – ‘Part IV: The Stand’

Written by John Edward Betancourt 

Stephen King has long been a backer of one particular idea when it comes to writing...that the story should end exactly as it is supposed to. Which means that from time to time, the grand finale we were hoping for, or a particular direction for a particular character that we expected to see, simply does not come to fruition, and that matters when it comes to the final chapter of The Stand, because that notion is one that King did not detour from in the slightest.

Which is interesting to say the least because it's obvious over the entire course of this miniseries that some ideas were cut out or condensed in order to give us a powerful viewing experience, and one had to wonder if by chance King would change up the finale to give the viewers a far different ending from the book. But instead, King let the teleplay end exactly as it should have, meaning there was no lining up of giant armies for both good and evil. No man-made storm full of bullets and rockets. Instead he chose to go to a particularly unique place for 'Part IV: The Stand', by letting evil do what it does best, and eat itself from within, which made the job easy for the good guys in this episode. But they still had their hardships to overcome as well, and those challenges oddly enough made for some satisfying closure to a harrowing journey.

Case in point, the whole mess with Stu. Sure, there's a bit of hokeyness to it and the goodbyes said when everyone realizes that Stu will not be making it to Vegas after all, fulfilling Mother Abigail's prophecy that 'one will fall on the way'. But once you get past the sugar coating there's something special to be found here. Take a moment and consider the hell Stu and his friends have been through, and the challenges they've faced just to survive this far. They could say no, they could turn their backs on losing their lives in order to see another day, but instead they find peace with facing impending doom all in the name of the greater good. That's a powerful character arc to deliver unto the audience, especially when one considers that the human instinct is to do anything to survive, which means there's real beauty to be found in these four men being at peace with their sacrifice so that all of mankind can continue to endure. 

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It makes for a stark contrast of Flagg's world, which also brings us back to how in essence he defeated himself because in this chapter of the story, things are downright awful in Las Vegas. The Trashcan Man finally snaps and resorts to his firebug ways, and everyone in Flagg's inner circle begin to doubt him and his abilities and well...this is pure genius because there is some real-life echo to Flagg and his shattered kingdom. Time and time again we've seen bad people and bad organizations rot from within and fight internally and the end result is complete and utter collapse, leading credence to a quote that the series used in 'The Plague' that reflects this situation perfectly, 'things fall apart, the center cannot hold.'

The sense of chaos that grows and grows throughout the episode's Las Vegas segments builds to a beautiful and satisfying crescendo when Larry and Ralph take the center stage for execution, since Glen is murdered in cold blood before this 'ceremony' takes place, wherein Flagg is exposed for the coward that he is. He does nothing but talk his big game as both good and evil challenges The Walkin' Dude and he finally pays the price for his ego and lack of attention to detail when the Trashcan Man returns to Vegas with a nuclear bomb, one that the Hand of God helps detonate, saving the world and eradicating evil it would seem and that low key finale is simply a perfect way to send off Randall Flagg. Because there's no greater way to insult and crush the spirits of a man, or in this case being, that is hell bent on becoming a big deal, than by exposing him for being an outright nobody.

Yet equally as surprising as that relaxed final showdown between good and evil, is the happy ending that the audience is rewarded with as well. Because eventually, Stu makes it home with the help of Tom Cullen and it would seem that mankind will survive after all since Fran's baby beats the Superflu and at first, this does feel out of place. After all, this is a horror story, and a big one at that. But sometimes the audience does deserve to be rewarded with something positive and in classic King fashion, the story does end exactly as it is supposed to. In this case, good was destined to overcome evil and mankind earned itself a second chance and that's a fine way to wrap up one of King's grandest stories and while this one doesn't quite hold up to the test of time visually (because at times this sucker oozes the cheesiest parts of the 1990's) it's the story that matters and this one certainly delivers on that front and well, I'm a touch sad that our Retro Recap of this particular tale has come to an end, because sitting down and watching this one again took me right back to my youth, when television networks made miniseries such as these a big time event where the family could gather around the tube to enjoy it with snacks and it was nice to reminisce and reflect upon a story that likely helped bring forth the surge of horror we enjoy on television today with all of you fine folks and here's to hoping we get to celebrate something as unique and as special as this in the near future. Until next time.

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