C.S. Lewis once wrote, “You can be good for the mere sake of goodness; you cannot be bad for the mere sake of badness.” Mr. Lewis obviously never met Stephen King, though, and he certainly never saw Randall Flagg (Alexander Skarsgård) in New Vegas, where the idea of being bad as a hobby goes pro. With nearly every character now introduced, and the opposing forces of good and evil defined in both place and purpose, “The Stand” now has room to run, and picks one hell of a spot for its first destination. Imbued with purpose and supported by a raft of characters all harnessed up and ready to pull their narrative weight, the mini-series takes flight at last with “Fear and Loathing in New Vegas.”
Primarily concerned with the goings-on in Boulder up to this point, the series departs the Rockies for the desert in Episode 5, where Flagg has set up his own community of followers. Instead of a council of five, Flagg has chosen just one person to act as his proxy, Lloyd Henreid (Nat Wolff), who emerged from his prison cell in Episode 2 with a promise of absolute fealty, and is living up to his word. Although Flagg is the centerpiece of this community, it’s Lloyd who is relaying orders and pulling the levers of power, as evidenced by his subtle interrogation of Boulder spy, Dayna (Natalie Martinez).
As a character, Lloyd is one of the most interesting of the series, for in New Vegas he’s as successful and important as he’s ever been, yet appears racked with fear and doubt that’s literally debilitating the man. In this post-pandemic world, people like Lloyd, Stu (James Marsden), Larry (Jovan Adepo), and even Harold (Owen Teague) are transcending the limits of their old lives to become something more. Wolff’s performance, which allows the audience to see the push and pull between that new self and the cost to maintain it, demonstrates that it’s little more than a devil’s bargain for those following Flagg.
But what a bargain! Dayna’s tour of New Vegas as led by Lloyd gives the audience their first good look at Flagg’s version of utopia, and it is a sight to behold. Gladiator pits featuring chainsaw duels litter the floor of the casinos, where leather daddies mingle with lipstick lesbians and everything in between: all of them indulging in rapturous debauchery that would make the Marquis de Sade blush. Yet this isn’t just for show, as these New Vegas scenes also fill the audience in on world-building aspects of Flagg’s community that informs the larger story.
For example, when Boulder spy Tom Cullen (Brad William Henke) arrives, something akin to an employment intake officer remarks that he won’t be tossed into the “slave cages,” but given a job. “You know Mr. Flagg’s rule,” the woman remarks, “anyone who comes here voluntarily is a citizen, no matter what.” Only half the episode is dedicated to this new location, yet in that time everything the audience needs to know about how things work under Flagg, and why, become clear in moments like this one.
And this is important, too, because “Fear and Loathing in New Vegas” has a fair amount of housekeeping work to contend with on the Boulder front. The sudden death of Teddy (Eion Bailey), which Nadine (Amber Heard) and Harold have staged as a suicide, bothers Larry, who tells Stu as much. It’s enough to get Larry onboard with Frannie’s (Odessa Young) idea to search Harold’s house for any suspicious clues while she’s got him occupied over dinner. All of these characters, good and bad, seem to be losing their grip on who they are supposed to be versus who they are, however, and a dreadful shadow, hinted at during the last episode, seems to be taking over.
Everyone in this episode is struggling with the mask they need to wear, and the drama hinges on their ability to maintain the facades. When it’s Nadine and Harold taking turns losing their nerve, Stu putting on a friendly face for dinner, or Dayna keeping up appearances for her mission, it makes sense and meets the functionality needs of the narrative. Where it gets interesting is when this deceit or dramaturgy is subtext, like Lloyd’s nervous duality, or Frannie’s dinner ruse and the confrontation it almost ignites (Young and Teague are electric in this scene).
At a time when the handful of humans still left alive should be coming together to save the species from extinction, they find themselves tangled up in competing webs of deceit that threaten mutual and/or self-destruction. Once again driving home the overall theme of this story, Benjamin Cavell and his writers make it clear in “Fear and Loathing in New Vegas” that humanity’s greatest fight won’t be against Flagg, but against themselves.
Larry shouldn’t have to break into a neighbor’s house, and Frannie certainly should not have to manufacture ruses to see this work out. Lloyd shouldn’t have to love and fear Flagg in equal measure to maintain his position, and neither side should be sending spies or infiltrators: something Mother Abigail (Whoopi Goldberg) upbraids Nick (Henry Zaga) about when she learns about the three sent west. A lesser series would hang its hat on the good vs. evil binary established with Flagg and Mother Abigail as figureheads, yet where “Fear and Loathing in New Vegas” excels is in its development of a sturdier foundation for the larger humanity test.
Maybe that’s why Mother Abigail leaves Boulder at the end of the episode: because the people she is shepherding are failing that test. More than that, Flagg seems to be winning with the whole hearts and minds campaign. While Dayna fails in her spying mission, killing herself before Flagg can get creative with his torture techniques, Harold and Nadine appear to have worked through their jitters and are barreling towards their evil, explosive ends. Humanity seems to be failing this trial by fire, and as Blue Oyster Cult’s “Don’t Fear the Reaper” plays over Harold’s Cheshire Cat grin in the closing seconds of the episode, the shadow that fell over Boulder seems to have transitioned into total darkness.
It’s a wonderful synthesis of writing and visual storytelling, and acts as a payoff for some of the more frantic time jumps through the first four episodes. The audience now has a firm grasp on who these characters are, where they come from, and roughly where they’re headed. With Mother Abigail now gone, Dayna dead, and Harold aware that he’s running out of time to do his evil work, “The Stand” feels like it is rolling ever-faster downhill (in a good way). [A-]
“The Stand” airs weekly on CBS All Access