With that in mind, we’ve set out to distill this 2020 The Stand into as clear a linear narrative as possible. Not only that but viewers unfamiliar with King’s original text might find it unclear as to when any of this is happening and what order certain scenes fall into. The Stand’s first episode, titled “The End,” hops around time and as a result the book’s many rich, distinct themes are muddled together into a confusing mush. The problem though is that the series doesn’t jump back all the way to the very beginning of its tale even after that opener. It’s a striking visual, to be sure, and it gets the proceedings off to an ominous start. The Stand 1994 Miniseries is a Forgotten Stephen King Classic By Don Kaye

Instead of opening with that compelling scene, however, this CBS All Access series instead picks up with Harold Lauder (Owen Teague) five months into the end of the world, where he and his Boulder, Colorado clean up crew clear dozens of decaying bodies out of a church. That kernel of an idea evolves into a sprawling narrative about disease, collapse, and recovery – all leading to an epic confrontation between good and evil that goes a long way in satisfying King’s goal to craft an American Lord of the Rings story. The Stand’s remarkable narrative begins in Arnette, Texas, with a terrifying incident of a virus unleashed. One of those challenges, however, is not how to begin it. Stephen King’s classic 1978 novel of the same name is an epic tale and presents all sorts of storytelling challenges to those who would want to adapt it. Well, in the case of CBS All Access’s The Stand, I can blame producer/director Josh Boone and showrunner Benjamin Cavell for wanting to jump right in and I will do just that. Given that the beginnings of stories are often expository and not particularly exciting, who could forgive a storyteller for wanting to jump right into the thick of the action and then fill in the blanks of what came before The goal of just about any story is to get people interested in continuing it.

Sometimes opening in media res has some real storytelling value. This article contains spoilers for The Stand episode 1.

Cards of Love by Jenika Snow