‘The Stand’ Episode 3 ‘Blank Pages’ Spoilers: What does Amber Heard's Nadine Cross fear and will the Dark Mark possess her?
Spoilers for ‘The Stand’ Episode 3 ‘Blank Pages’
The CBS All Access limited series, ‘The Stand’, based on Stephen King’s 1978 novel of the same name, revolves around a mystical and apocalyptic vision of a world decimated by plague — dubbed “Captain Trips”, which kills almost the entire world population, leaving only a handful of survivors.
Episode 2 of the miniseries saw Larry Underwood (Jovan Adepo), a musician who was on the verge of success when Captain Trips hits, killing his mother and his former writing partner. In an almost-abandoned New York City, he meets Rita Blakemoor (Heather Graham), and the two get romantically involved. But things take a tragic turn. As they try to flee, Larry discovers that Rita (Heather Graham) is addicted to pills and has several bursts of mood swings.
Overwhelmed by the horrors she's witnessed and the perceived futility of her continued survival, Rita pops more pills, and soon, she fatally overdoses as Larry sleeps.
Months later, Larry arrives in Boulder alongside Nadine Cross (Amber Heard) and a child named Joe (Gordon Cormier), who is supposedly on the autism spectrum. Larry discovers that Mother Abagail (Whoopi Goldberg), the leader of the commune, has been looking for people to lead and wants him to be one of the leaders alongside Stu Redman (James Marsden) and Ray Brentner (Irene Bedard).
At the same time, Nadine begins to have visions of Randall Flagg (Alexander Skarsgård) beckoning her. Flagg is a recurring character in King's stories — he has appeared in at least nine of his novels. He has often been described in the books as "an accomplished sorcerer and a devoted servant of the Outer Dark," and he has supernatural abilities involving necromancy, prophecy, and influence over animals and human behavior.
On the other side, we saw a criminal named Lloyd Henreid (Nat Wolff) getting arrested after a botched robbery and ending up trapped in prison when Captain Trips takes over. Growing weaker and becoming delusional, he is visited by Flagg who promises to release him on the condition that he become his "right-hand man".
What will we see in ‘The Stand’ Episode 3 ‘Blank Pages’?
The two factions are almost set up now. One the one side is Mother Abagail, as a force of good. On the other side is Flagg, a force of evil. The coming episode will likely see Nadine’s character in sharper focus. In the books, upon arriving in the Boulder Free Zone, Mother Abagail senses Flagg's presence within Nadine.
She also fears that Nadine will make an attempt on her life. Nadine, at the same time, also fears that Abagail can see right through her. She fears that Abagail will denounce her publicly. It is therefore likely that the coming episode will see this conflict come into play.
When will ‘The Stand’ Episode 3 ‘Blank Pages’ air and how can one watch it?
‘The Stand’ premiered on December 17, 2020, with first episode ‘The End’. Subsequent episodes in the nine-episode limited-event series will follow every Thursday on CBS All Access. The episodes drop on the streaming site on the day of their scheduled release.
The drop time is at midnight PT / 1 am MT / 2 am CT / 3 am ET. However, there's no set time to tune in. You can watch it whenever you want after its premiere on the streaming service. ‘The Stand’ Episode 3 ‘Blank Pages’, written by Jill Killington & Owen King, will release on December 31, 2020, only on CBS All Access.