After a night off, Th Stand miniseries resumed on 11 May, 1994. Mick Garris directed, and Stephen King wrote the teleplay from his huge novel. All the pieces are on the field, and now things begin to move and shift, and of course, with a title like The Betrayal, we know something bad will happen before the end of this feature-length episode.

Stu (Gary Sinise) and Fran (Molly Ringwald) are growing closer, in fact, she’s pregnant, something that makes Harold (Corin Nemec) jealous, and perhaps a catalyst for what is to come.

And I realized what one of the things that has always bothered me about the series, besides some of the dialogue… It’s the costumes… none of them look lived in. Everything is a little too clean for all the hard travelling on the road that these characters are doing.

Everyone is still having the dreams, some are of Flagg (Jamey Sheridan) and the horrible things happening in Vegas, like crucifixions, and others are of Mother Abigail (Ruby Dee) urging them to hurry along and meet up in Colorado.

Nick (Rob Lowe) advises the others about what they should do next… spies into Vegas. Their best option is to use Tom (Bill Fagerbakke) and Richard Farris (Ossie Davis) amongst others, each unaware of the others to protect themselves. But how many of them will return?

Soon the forces on both sides are arrayed. Nadine (Laura San Giacomo) also goes to Colorado, having been sent by Flagg, She hitched a ride with a fellow traveller (Stephen King). Abigail is less than sure about her, and Nadine begins to ally herself with Harold. And they begin a number of dangerous plans to wreak havoc among the Colorado party. And it’s going to claim some fan favourites.

Both groups are organizing and establishing some semblances of a civilization, including electricity, law and order, and potential governments. But once the Colorado group gets on its feet, Mother Abigail leaves the tale. But she’ll be back, with final directives for the group, an offensive against Flagg. Things are set up for the final stand against Flagg.

There are still some horrible visual effects, especially when Trashcan Man (Matt Frewer) looks out across Vegas. But I do like the cast, they went all out to get lots of familiar names and faces to fill all the roles.

Yes, the dialogue is still very soap-opera melodrama and adhering to broadcast standards of the time. If you can take that in stride, it’s still a very enjoyable adaptation. And we’ll see how it wraps up next time.