# Stephen King's "The Stand: Part Four: The Stand" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 3, 2011, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-kings-the-stand-part-four-the-stand/580624 "2011-05-03T20:48:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2011, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-kings-the-stand-part-four-the-stand/580624/1 "2011-05-03T20:48:39Z")
Sorry, I was out last Saturday and forgot to finish up the mini-series. Well, that’s the last instalment. Jamie Sheridan has the biggest head in the history of the world. The scenes with the four guys on the road were very well done. Molly Ringwald’s were not. ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2011, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-kings-the-stand-part-four-the-stand/580624/2 "2011-05-03T23:02:53Z")
I’m confused. Is this the mini-series that’s almost 20 years old? ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2011, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-kings-the-stand-part-four-the-stand/580624/3 "2011-05-03T23:55:06Z")
> [@woodstockbirdybird](#): > > I’m confused. Is this the mini-series that’s almost 20 years old? Yes, we are watching it weekly on Saturday. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2011, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-kings-the-stand-part-four-the-stand/580624/4 "2011-05-03T23:59:34Z")
Yeah, again, everything just happened crazy fast with little sense of time. In the end, I’m left a bit cold by the series. They tried, they really did, but there was just too much material. It did renew my desire to read the book again, though. By the way, who was the Boulderite who was sleeping with Lloyd? ---
**Author:** ![LVBoPeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/858c86/32.png) [@LVBoPeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LVBoPeep)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-kings-the-stand-part-four-the-stand/580624/5 "2011-05-04T00:13:20Z")
The last installment is my favorite, especially the interactions between the four men who make the Stand and Glen, Larry and Ralph when they get taken into Las Vegas. Loved to watch Flagg crumble as he lost control and almost felt sorry for his #2 (Lloyd I think, bad with names). ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-kings-the-stand-part-four-the-stand/580624/6 "2011-05-04T01:43:36Z")
Dana was the girl who was sleeping with Lloyd - she was Susan Stern’s choice of scout. I thought the last quarter instalment was pretty good, too - they sped it up fairly well, I thought. It really is hard to watch so much detail crammed into eight hours, though. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-kings-the-stand-part-four-the-stand/580624/7 "2011-05-04T03:10:28Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > Dana was the girl who was sleeping with Lloyd - she was Susan Stern’s choice of scout. I thought the last quarter instalment was pretty good, too - they sped it up fairly well, I thought. It really is hard to watch so much detail crammed into eight hours, though. And when did we see Dana prior to Ep 4? Was she helping get the hydro online? Who the hell was she? Also, the “hand of god” was… absurd. Without going back to the books, I remembereit was something a few of the onlookers perceive, possibly metaphorically. Whether it was actually there or not could be debatable. Kinda like the wings of a Balrog. 😃 The depiction in Ep 4 was unsubtle to say the least. Also, it wasn’t terribly clear, or important, but does anyone remember if Stu was actually sick with the flu? It kinda looked like maybe he had blood poisoning or something. You can’t cure the flu, not even the regular non-super flu, with antibiotics. ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-kings-the-stand-part-four-the-stand/580624/8 "2011-05-04T11:14:21Z")
I believe Stu had pneumonia in the book, but it’s been a while. ---
**Author:** ![flano1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f14d63/32.png) [@flano1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flano1)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-kings-the-stand-part-four-the-stand/580624/9 "2011-05-04T12:12:03Z")
m.o.o.n spells wtf? ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-kings-the-stand-part-four-the-stand/580624/10 "2011-05-04T14:24:52Z")
Stu had pneumonia. As a poster above, in my minds eye as I read the “Hand Of God” part of the book I had images of crackling electricity (ala Frankenstein’s lab) with 5 streamers that, taken together, were roughly hand-shaped. Then the mini-series turned it into an actual hand. IMHO, this was worse than the Spider in _It_ because the spider was going to look cheesy as hell no matter how it was shot. The HOG didn’t need to look cheesy. ---
**Author:** ![Motorgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Motorgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motorgirl)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-kings-the-stand-part-four-the-stand/580624/11 "2011-05-04T18:07:25Z")
I watched the entire series. The first installment on one weekend, then the rest of them last weekend. I only got to read the first part of the book, so I don’t know what I expected from the ending, but that wasn’t it. It was weird. I think I need to re-read and finish the book. ---
**Author:** ![Feyrat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/fbc32d/32.png) [@Feyrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Feyrat)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-kings-the-stand-part-four-the-stand/580624/12 "2011-05-04T18:12:04Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > As a poster above, in my minds eye as I read the “Hand Of God” part of the book I had images of crackling electricity (ala Frankenstein’s lab) with 5 streamers that, taken together, were roughly hand-shaped. > > Then the mini-series turned it into an actual hand. IMHO, this was worse than the Spider in _It_ because the spider was going to look cheesy as hell no matter how it was shot. The HOG didn’t need to look cheesy. I had exactly the same problem. The minute the neon blue hand showed up and grabbed the bomb, I was like “oh, eff this.” ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-kings-the-stand-part-four-the-stand/580624/13 "2011-05-04T18:57:02Z")
> [@Feyrat](#): > > I had exactly the same problem. The minute the neon blue hand showed up and grabbed the bomb, I was like “oh, eff this.” It isn’t really their fault though. As much as I love the book The Stand (there was a period where I read it once a year for maybe 8 years), it has a poor ending. ---
**Author:** ![Feyrat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/fbc32d/32.png) [@Feyrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Feyrat)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-kings-the-stand-part-four-the-stand/580624/14 "2011-05-04T19:01:07Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > It isn’t really their fault though. As much as I love the book The Stand (there was a period where I read it once a year for maybe 8 years), it has a poor ending. Well, that part isn’t the ending. The ending is life going on, Stu and Fran and Peter in Mother Abigail’s old cabin, and humanity scattering to the winds to start over again. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-kings-the-stand-part-four-the-stand/580624/15 "2011-05-04T19:50:15Z")
Plus, Randall Flagg fucked off just before the nuclear explosion (which the book did make more clear, since he woke up on a far away beach); this whole thing was just a battle in the constant struggle between good and evil. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2011, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-kings-the-stand-part-four-the-stand/580624/16 "2011-05-05T05:32:26Z")
> [@Feyrat](#): > > Well, that part isn’t the ending. The ending is life going on, Stu and Fran and Peter in Mother Abigail’s old cabin, and humanity scattering to the winds to start over again. Fine, then the book has a poor climax.