The Stand/YMMV

Alas, Poor Villain: Harold Lauder.
Crowning Music of Awesome: From the miniseries
- The intro over dead bodies in the laboratory set to Don't Fear The Reaper.
  - These guys had a fever. Unfortunately, they died before the only prescription, more cowbell, could be administered.
- Eve of Destruction being played in the middle of the highway.
- The main guitar/violin theme by W.G. "Snuffy" Walden, that kicks in as the heroes begin their final journey to Las Vegas.
- "Don't Dream It's Over" by Crowded House over shots of the aftermath of the plague.
Complete Monster: The Kid.
- Flagg is pretty much the devil. (Or Nyarlhathotep.)
  - Jossed by Stephen King himself in The Dark Tower: Flagg is not the Devil, just one of his servants.
  - And even so, assuming that this is the same Flagg, he is still easily a Complete Monster
Draco in Leather Pants: specifically, Jamey Sheridan as Randall Flagg in the miniseries. There's a reason people wanted him back as Flagg in the never-to-be-made adaptation of The Dark Tower.
Cry for the Devil: The things Billy does are terrible but he is presented as broadly sympathetic figure trying to cope with an absolutely impossible situation.
Harsher in Hindsight: The sub-plot where they go door-to-door marking houses and collecting the bodies within.
Hollywood Homely: The miniseries and its casting of Corin "Parker Lewis" Nemec as Harold.
Ho Yay: Cmdr. Starkey and his lieutenant, especially in the miniseries.
- The scene where Larry is leaving Stu in the desert with his broken leg in the miniseries. Watch that scene, and don't deny that they come off as intimate lovers, with Stu comforting a crying Larry and holding him to his chest
Iron Woobie: Lloyd Henreid. He's a criminal, but he's not a psychopath and Flagg has given him the first taste of real respect anyone has ever given him.
Jerkass Woobie: Harold Emery Lauder.
Magnificent Bastard: Flagg
Paranoia Fuel: The best way to read this book is when you are sick in bed.
- This troper's dad used to watch the miniseries on DVD whenever he was sick and didn't feel like doing much of anything else. (That might change now that he's got Netflix.) I was very, very puzzled as to how he could bring himself to do it.
The Scrappy: Frannie Goldsmith in the miniseries.
Squick: When Abagail is going through her memories, the reader is suddenly treated to her reminiscing about her sex life, including the smell of semen. This is a hundred-plus year-old woman.
- Speaking of which, we learn way too much information about Harold's sex life (or lack thereof) throughout the book.
- In the full-length version of the book , one character is sodomised with a pistol barrel.
- The "Woman Zoo," which also counts as Nightmare Fuel.
- Alternatively, the dead body Larry finds in the lavatory with a swollen neck the size of a tire, which squicks out Larry in-work.
Tastes Like Diabetes :The miniseries ending.
Tear Jerker: Frannie sewing up a body bag for her dead father and burying him in his garden. All while singing "Amazing Grace".
- The film ending,for me.
- Every time when Tom is travelling back to Boulder and looks forward to "seeing Nick again." Oh, the irony.
- Larry having a Heroic BSOD when he and the rest of the True Companions have to leave Stu behind en route to Las Vegas, dooming him to likely death from exposure and a broken leg. Stu has to talk him back to his senses, and Larry becomes the new leader of the mission.
Wangst: Harold (referenced in-work). At one point, he realizes that holding on to his old high school grudges is stupid and pathetic... until events conspire to drive him to The Dark Side.
- Even more blatant in the miniseries, when Harold is played by Corin Nemec. The whole arc about how Harold started out universally hated for being fat and ugly with a personality to match, and later begins losing weight and taking better care of himself as he becomes more accepted and valued by his peers, suffers a bit when he's actually a quite handsome guy who just has a slightly nerdy hairdo and outfit before a subtle attack of The Glasses Gotta Go.
What the Hell Casting Agency: A lot of people said this about Molly Ringwald playing Frannie. A lot of other got varying degrees: Laura San Giocomo (Nadine) Corin Nemic (Harold) and Jamie Sheridan (Flagg)

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