TV Recap & Review: ‘The Stand’ Episode 6 – “The Vigil”

Five episodes in, The Stand has yet to deliver any real feeling of danger or evil. Thankfully, in “The Vigil,” they let Alexander Skarsgård off his leash, and low and behold Flagg delivered some actual tension, danger, and violence. Sadly though, in an episode with some rather large developments, the characters still get their collective feet cut from under them in terms of development, and the same problems that have plagued this series crop up again and again.

The search is on for Mother Abagail (Whoopi Goldberg), who went missing at the end of the last episode, and it gives the viewers their first real look at Abagail and Flagg going one-on-one. This represents the classic good versus evil, with neither of them giving an inch, but this is one of a couple of instances this week where Skarsgård was able to make Flagg feel menacing. The two lock horns, and while it doesn’t last long, it was a good scene.

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Flagg really unleashes his fury and violence later in the penthouse suite in New Vegas, when his direct orders are disobeyed and has to make an example of someone. The violence he lets loose, for everyone in the hotel to see, makes a lasting impression, and a bloody one as well. I’m hoping we see more of this over the last four episodes but with this series; it’s hard to tell just what they are going to do week to week.

Meanwhile, Harold (Owen Teague) and Nadine (Amber Heard) plan to make a big statement at the house where they are holding a vigil for Mother Abagail. Harold is still getting a lot of air time and they have developed his character. While I like that, he is one of the few, and I wish some other characters were given the same treatment. Nadine is still playing the tortured soul routine and pretty well, but she makes a choice this week, and there is no turning back. I understand time is the enemy here, but some writing choices continue to baffle me, making important characters nothing more than bystanders.

Frannie (Odessa Young) makes a horrifying discovery in terms of Harold and while she is shocked, I’m a bit perplexed at why she and others didn’t do something before now. I guess in the new world order in Boulder, people are trying to live and let live but in this case, it’s a decision that is going to come back to haunt many, many people. Frannie and Harold had a good scene together and she had decent dialogue for once in this series.

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One of the pivotal characters in the book, the Trashcan Man, finally makes an appearance and Ezra Miller plays him to the extreme, sometimes way too over the top. In Stephen King’s novel, the Trashcan Man, whose real name is Donald Merwin Elbert, is a mentally ill pyromaniac who, because of the circumstances, is allowed to take his dark visions and make them a reality. Here, he is little more than a blabbering idiot and Miller does very little to make the character memorable, at least in this episode. Flagg has something very specific in mind for Trashcan Man and his particular talents, using him like he uses everyone to get what he wants.

Slightly better than most of the episodes in this series, “The Vigil” finally gives us real danger, menace, and evil, and lots of it. Sadly, there are still terrible writing choices and characters are just left hanging, with some never getting the chance now to develop any further. While the bizarre flashbacks seem to have stopped, this lack of character development continues to severely hamper the audience from getting to know many of them very well, and that is a shame.

Check out all of our coverage for ‘The Stand’ here!