If the first episode of the new “Stand” CBS All Access mini-series was designed to ease viewers into this global pandemic world based on Stephen King‘s epic terrifying novel, the next one, “Pocket Savior,” didn’t get that same memo. Doubling down on the flashbacks, societal collapse, and character introductions, this second episode puts the pedal to the floor. And for those that felt like episode one didn’t go hard enough with the post-apocalyptic energy, this one has all the empty streets, roving rape gangs, and public masturbation talk anyone could hope for.
Once again, starting five months after the outbreak of Captain Trips, “Pocket Savior” opens by introducing three more main characters: rock musician Larry Underwood (Jovan Adepo), teacher Nadine Cross (Amber Heard), and young, half-feral Joe (Gordon Cormier). It is Larry that the episode spends the most time with, though, flashing back to show his life in New York City at the start of the pandemic. Promoting the release of his upcoming album, ‘Pocket Savior,’ Larry is snorting lines of coke and one-night-standing ladies one minute and confronting the collapse of society the next. Meanwhile, while Larry is reaping the rewards of a lonely, selfish life on the east coast, a small-time stick-up thief named Lloyd Henreid (Nat Wolff) is getting thrown into jail out west, and suffers the horrifying ordeal of being locked up in stir with most of the world outside too dead or indifferent to let him out.
Using these characters, and the continued flash-forwards five months later to Larry’s arrival in Boulder and Stu’s orientation for him there, the broad sketch that began in episode one gets some shading and definition, here. Benjamin Cavell and his writers must have known that they didn’t have time to spend two-three episodes just introducing people and their pandemic origin stories, and so are giving the audiences fragments of character histories woven into a tapestry that also contains practical information about what’s going on five months later in Boulder. It’s like mixing vegetables into the mashed potatoes: it allows the show to keep introducing important characters while simultaneously building out the main conflict’s framework and setting.
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Clever and efficient storytelling aside, it can be a bit jarring at times. There were only a couple of quick glimpses of the Boulder Free Zone in episode one, but “Pocket Savior” tacks into the wind to emphasize this world-building of the post-pandemic period. It isn’t confusing so much as frustrating, for right when things start getting tense and interesting with Larry in New York, it cuts five months ahead to Boulder, with Stu talking about the dreams that led everyone there.
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And this frustration is due in no small part to the fact that the drama in this episode is fantastic and buttressed by the actors’ magnetic performances carrying the scenes. Adepo brings the perfect amount of selfish douchebag energy to the Larry character, allowing for just enough identification with the guy early on to keep him from veering into a place where redemption isn’t possible. Wolff is also a revelation as Lloyd, whose desperate, frenzied need for a savior finds the perfect exploiter in Flagg. The scene between Wolff and Alexander Skarsgård in jail is one of the best of the series, and allows the latter actor to fully inhabit the seductive, dangerous side of the role for the first time. Like every other appearance of his in the series, Skarsgård demands the audience’s full attention, here, and justifies every second of it.
Beyond this, “Pocket Savior” is straight-up apocalypse catnip, stocked with sweeping shots of motionless cars abandoned on the bridges leading out of Manhattan (the use of “Space Song” by Beach House in this moment is transcendent), talk of hedonistic excess in the form of running the bases naked at Yankee Stadium and ejaculating on home plate, and, yes: rape gangs. It’s not a writer’s guild bylaw that every film or show about the end of the world needs to include a scene threatening the sexual assault of a character, but it’s something that seems to come up a lot.
When Larry teams up with a Manhattan socialite Rita (Heather Graham), they encounter an armed group of thugs with evil intentions towards the woman on his trek out of the Big Apple. Rita’s courage and resilience in the face of this threat is a far cry from her book counterpart, which makes her suicide at the end of episode two more than a little confusing. “Pocket Savior” shows Rita holding up better (and without the frequent cocaine bumps) than Larry. Yet, after a quick line about pandemic survival being like the last person to leave a party, she throws back about two dozen pills and checks out. This exit is true to the book version of the character, and is obviously an inciting incident for Larry to straighten himself out. Yet, the humanity, hardiness, and nuance Graham bring to the role doesn’t jibe with the denouement afforded her. It’s one of the few occasions where this new mini-series sets up a character better than what the story allows for them.
This is one of the few L’s that “Pocket Savior” takes throughout roughly an hour of wins; however, this second episode succeeds in opening the world up to get a broader sense of how Captain Trips toppled society (and what that aftermath looks like). The frequent flashbacks do get annoying at times. Still, only because the drama and action are so damn engaging, and to be fair, they do serve the purpose of answering some practical questions about what’s going on in Boulder five months after the outbreak. There may be many vegetables hidden in this one, but the flavor and texture of the mashed potatoes hiding them makes it a meal worth savoring. [B+]