There be spoilers here. This will be your only warning.
Tuesday
Getting down to the last few weeks now. Closer to the end than the start and if they are doing things properly, we’ve got some more characters that we are going to be saying farewell to. And with the way this show has been going, it will be a chance to say “we hardly knew ya” as more than just a catch phrase.
But I don’t want these reviews to turn into a limited series of therapy sessions and I think the point I have been trying to get across is being driven right into the ground by now. I think you get where I’m coming from and there is little served in circling the wagons so many times.
So I thought it would be good to focus on the positive aspects of this experience. Because through it all, there have been bright spots for me as well as the bad.
At the top, I think that Skarsgård has really done well as Randall Flagg and I would go so far to say that if another Dark Tower project were to ever get off the ground again, I would hope to see him reprise the role. This was my largest gripe with the original miniseries as, while I enjoy Sheridan’s work otherwise, his portrayal of Flagg just didn’t work for me. Skarsgård has a great combination of power and a dark menacing presence but also with a sense that he might be a little too full of himself. Randall Flagg is one of those characters where it’s pretty much impossible to pin down what he should look and act like but this is as close as I’ve ever seen.
I also think they really nailed the dynamic between Fran and Harold. Owen Teague and Odessa Young have really been a treat to watch and the awkward, passive-aggressive tension between them is exactly as how I picture it in the book. It’s one narrative aspect that the show runners seemed willing to delve into and I think when you hold it up to the other characters you can really see the difference.
I’ve seen people raising issue with the fact that Harold wasn’t obese at the start of this like he was in the book. And while this is technically correct, I think that taking the show to task over the issue is missing what’s really important about Harold’s journey. Being overweight is just one aspect of his constant feeling of being on the outside and looking in. Growing up in a small town as he did, it doesn’t take much for you to feel on the outskirts of everything and in general excluded from the “cool crowd”. I know pretty well how that path leads to resentment and anger.
After the collapse and in this new world, most of our characters draw strength from growing closer to each other. If Glenn was here he would probably give a more sociologically informed explanation. In the book he talks about how divisions form as population grows and once again, Harold is on the outs. He’s the one who puts himself there but it all comes out being the same.
What’s the point? While maybe in the show he doesn’t experience the aspect of weight loss, we get to have a front row seat to Harold’s inferiority complex and his increasingly hostile attitude towards everyone around him. All he needs is the wrong kind of influence to complete the model and on cue, along comes Randall Flagg. While it might be different, the show does a superb job honoring the spirit of Harold’s emotional journey.
The show has also done a great job with the physical appearance of this universe. Whether it be wardrobe or set dressings or special effects or makeup, I have been really happy with the technical work done on this series and I sincerely hope all the people involved get the credit they deserve.
So I want to make it clear that despite what I have said and what I’m going to say, I really have enjoyed some aspects of the show, even though others have disappointed. So for whatever negativity I have spewed over this series, please take it as just one guy lamenting over what could have been.
But I suspect that will be more the subject of the hour next week.
Before I start, I wanted to say a few words about Joe because like so much of the book, in the show he seems like little more than a prop or a piece of the background. Got to have a kid around to be in danger. Check. But in the book he adds some nice texture and elements to the story.
And his name isn’t Joe. It’s Leo.
I don’t mean that they changed the name of the character from the book and now I’m screaming “HOW DARE THEY!” with clenched fists and a trembling voice. For those who haven’t read it - a touch of backstory.
In the book, Joe is introduced with Nadine, who has been caring for him. They meet up with Larry and at first, Joe wants to kill him. Nadine stops him and what ensues is a rather touching story between the two as Larry gradually builds his trust.
But it’s only when the group finds Mother Abigail that Joe comes truly out of his skin and we see him say his first meaningful words. His name isn’t Joe. That’s just what Nadine took to calling him because he wouldn’t communicate. His name is Leo. Leo Rockway.
Does the story hinge on this point? No, obviously it doesn’t. But it is another example of how something rich and complex is made into something bland and empty, like a gallon of ice cream with so much air whipped into it that you barely taste anything but the sugar.
And Leo’s isn’t a hard story to tell. I managed to get to the heart of it in fifty words or so. If the show runners really couldn’t spare five minutes of screen time to do a better job fleshing out the character, why have him there at all? If the point is just for readers of the book to smile and nod in recognition, just get rid of him. Spare the time and devote it to building a stronger world, not just an assembly of parts like it’s a grade school collage project.
And while we’re on the subject of meaningless props can I just ask? What, and excuse my language but what in the blue fuck was the point of having the Trashcan Man in the show at all? In all I don’t think his screen time made it into double digits. If his only purpose was to usher in some moment of vague justice and judgment for the people of New Vegas, why have him at all? Did you really need someone to verbalize the point that wasn’t accomplished already by the big scary cloud and lightning? If you’re going to spoon feed the message to me can you at least make sure the utensils are BPA free?
Okay. Deep breath. Get it together.
Here’s the thing. When you’re making a screen adaptation of a massive novel and essentially clarifying the plot down to its essential drive shaft, you have the opportunity to tweak aspects of the book that maybe don’t work so well.
I’ve hinted at this in previous reviews but if I were making decisions on this, I would shift all of those moments at the end of the book to Lloyd. Give him a moment of serious, credible moral pause and drive him to the point where he turns on Flagg and brings everything down. That has weight to it and brings a lot more importance to a character that has played little more role than generating tropes. Make Lloyd the actor of change and the Trashcan Man doesn’t even need to exist. Keep it simple.
As it is, to me it maintains the somewhat forced events of the ending, just doing so in a way that feels more murky and less defined. And in a truly bizarre turn away from the book, a few snippets of dialogue seem to suggest Trash’s allegiance might not be where we thought. Not that this turn is so far out of the blue but I think what made the character ultimately work in the book was in the sheer unpredictable nature he exudes. But this makes it seem like he was simply worshipping a different master. Was Trash an agent of God all this time? Who knows? I certainly don’t and again, because of this uncertainty I feel like there was little point to his being here.
As this episode drew to its climax I found myself more perplexed than anything else. Many have rejected the ending of the book, the notion of the hand of God coming down from up on high and how it smacks of a cop-out ending from an otherwise complex book. Now personally, I’ve always been of the opinion that in the book, Larry doesn’t really see the hand of God in the sky above Vegas. For me, it’s always been about Larry finding something to hold on to in a moment when he knew he was about to die. It’s (in my opinion) a moment that is just ambiguous enough to leave room for the reader.
Not so with the show as there is clearly a higher power coming down in judgment of the people of New Vegas. But if this is supposed to be God we are seeing, then it’s pretty clearly a God of the fire and brimstone variety. And whatever steps forward taken by the writers by bringing a sliver of humanity to Vegas is wiped clear as everyone is killed anyway.
I did like the visual of Larry and Ray/Ralph at the bottom of the pool, trying to comfort each other as well as seeing him having an effect on the crowd there. This small aspect seems to work slightly better and the sight of the pool water flooding back in does spark a moment of transition for Lloyd. But the rest of the content swirling around them just smacks of someone wanting to blow as much budget as possible on wicked effects and destruction.
In the book, the execution of Glenn Bateman happens privately in a jail cell as Glenn goads Lloyd into killing him, although not necessarily by his design. In the show, we see this as part of a massive show trial that is so overdone it’s beyond the pale of even calling it cringe-worthy.
And I get it, I guess. The idea is to create this moment of moral despair for the people of Vegas and to start bringing them back from the edge. The problem is that thanks to all the cookie-cutter, grindhouse style imagery we have seen in the background of so many scenes, I just can’t accept that Glenn’s death would have that much of an impact. I can see that the show runners wanted us to see the people turning back towards their humanity but I didn’t really believe it. Lloyd was the one character who came close to pulling it off and still, even with all that happens he is killed along with all the rest by...a vengeful God? Or is there some other dark force that even Randall Flagg answered to and this is what lays in wait for us in the brand new epilogue to the tale?
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I will concede that we finally got to see a sliver of humanity in the people in New Vegas, however unearned it might be. I think it would have been stronger to go this route from the start but there’s no fighting against that tide. But the price for this moment is at the expense of a truly awful courtroom scene that had me for the first time during this whole experience contemplating turning it off. It was cheesy, and not in a good way. Ultimately, I think that once again the show made the wrong decision in turning away from the book. Keeping things simple would have made the thing much better.
There’s one of these left to go and at this point, there isn’t really anything left to deal with, save for Stu and Tom stranded out in the middle of nowhere. And the baby. Both are important but I don’t know if that’s enough to carry an entire episode. What did King tack onto the end that wasn’t already in the book? What kind of a payoff are we going to get for sitting through this far? What kind of surprise is left in store?
One day more.
