Critic’s Rating: 4.5 / 5.0

4.5

Before the start of FROM Season 2, I had a wonderful conversation with the legend Harold Perrineau, who told me that regarding Boyd, “There are things he’s going to have to do this season he would never have done before.”

I can safely say I believe we’ve reached that point in the story because Boyd just had to make an impossible choice.

One that will haunt him for a long time to come.

FROM hours that occur entirely throughout one evening are typically the more frightening ones.

They’re less about lore and trying to put pieces together and more just about people trying to survive to see the sunrise the following day.

This hour was sunset and evening together, and it began with Tabitha doing everything she could to stop the EMS people and police officer Acosta from getting her and themselves killed.

It probably wouldn’t have mattered whether or not Tabitha had just been in a car accident because the fantastical story about the town you can’t leave and the monsters that come out at night does not work until people see it for themselves.

With night approaching, you could feel Tabitha getting more and more desperate.

It’s been a minute since FROM Season 1 Episode 1, and I could not remember just how long it takes someone from seeing the tree to make it to town.

Apparently, it takes a little bit.

It was unbelievable to think Tabitha was on a collision course to town, and not a single soul knew about it, sans for the Matthews after monster Thomas once again called up the residence to warn Ethan and be a menace to Jim.

Thus far, the monsters have taken a serious interest in being as sinister as possible. The town can feel the shift, but why now? What happened for them to basically go nuclear?

The town currently feels the most hopeless it has ever felt. Is hope from earlier days just now giving the monsters all this courage and moxie?

That’s something to ponder.

But before nightfall and another bloody night, Victor and Sara had their fort story time, and hearing about the contents of the briefcase Victor dug up was just another devastating reveal and a reminder about just how ingrained Victor is in the bones of this place.

Victor’s lived almost a full life in that hellhole, and he’s got the morbid souvenirs to show for it. But what he doesn’t have are all the memories.

It’s been many years since the events of that bloody night and time, and surely repressing a lot of that trauma to survive has put Victor in a place where he just simply doesn’t remember every single thing that’s happened.

But Victor is hyper-aware, perceptive, and smart. He can see that the town is changing in a way he’s never seen in all his years there, and changes in that town aren’t meant to be a sign of progress or positivity.

A change in the carefully planned existence of a nightmare probably means that it is preparing to get worse.

Imagine a young boy walking around the street littered with dead bodies and taking something off them as a way to honor them in death because he could not bury all those bodies himself.

FROM has a lot going on at any given time. And we’ve seen how vile things can get there. We literally JUST saw Kenny lose his remaining parent to that place.

But because it’s not at the forefront, it happened so long ago, and we’ve only seen bits and pieces; we forget about what Victor experienced — the horrors he lived through and continues to experience.

Hearing him talk through the items and almost reminiscence was heartbreaking. Scott McCord always shines in this role, but perhaps never more than when Victor recounts something joyful mixed with sadness.

Victor has mentioned Christopher before and how he changed after seeing the symbol Jade has now become obsessed with, but we dug a little deeper into the man, and now Victor has to find Jasper, and FROM has to become even more terrifying than it already is.

Do we have to add a ventriloquist on top of everything? This show is determined to pack every fear of mine into its narrative, and I could complain, but I’m so thoroughly engrossed that I power through it.

I’m so strong.

The search for Jasper may hit a snag or become delayed when Victor realizes that his dad has now entered the chat.

The monsters are so intelligent, and they know exactly how to trick unsuspecting people, and those EMT guys were dead the second they got out of the ambulance.

There will likely be a lot of talk about Acosta after this episode, and there should be. I guess she was trying to de-escalate Tabitha, who was (rightfully) warning everyone, but cuffing her inside the ambulance and then running off when the monsters started coming for her was awful.

Tabitha would have been a sitting duck if not for Jim, and eventually, Boyd and Randall came to the rescue.

Boyd and Randall’s quick exchange on the bus, before everything went crazy, was a clear foreshadowing of what would later happen. Still, it was another small peek into the survivors of the cicada madness and their comas.

Julie’s not okay, Marielle’s not okay, and Randall? He’s putting on a pretty big front and hiding behind the same bravado he came in with, but he’s petrified. He basically admitted that to Boyd; he was perhaps the most vulnerable we’ve ever seen the man.

Randall is many things, and not many of them are good, but he’s shown up in different situations to extend help.

He did it during FROM Season 3 Episode 1 and again here, putting himself in the middle of the monsters to help. And what did he get for it?

I am Team Boyd all day, every single day. I think he’s got the weight of the world on his shoulders, and he wakes up every day to try to keep a whole mini-civilization afloat with begrudging optimism.

Being a leader of people means inspiring and managing a variety of personalities. But it also means making hard decisions, making sacrifices, and prioritizing the needs of many over one’s own.

The monsters have decided to do just about anything to break Boyd down until every last bit of hope, change, and determination bleeds out of him.

They made him watch Tian-Chen, and now they’ve made him sacrifice Randall.

Boyd sacrificed one to save four.

We’ve seen Boyd have to make some decisions no one else would want to make, but this one may have been the worst by far, mainly because you could tell that this wasn’t going to be as even an exchange as the monster had made it out to be.

I just knew that the monsters would keep Randall alive because THAT would be the thing to break Boyd down. Leaving Randall alive as a walking and talking reminder that he bartered him to death will with Boyd more than his dead would. That’s just the truth.

Even if you can rationalize in your head that you had no choice because he had no choice, that won’t change the feeling Boyd will have every time he sees Randall.

And Randall? I don’t even want to know how he will feel now.

What a HORRIFIC situation, but it’s also just another example of how bleak and terribly dark things have become.

Speaking of dark, we saw another casualty in the form of Becky, who got shot when Acosta was aiming at a monster but missed.

Acosta now has to find a way to integrate into this town, having killed someone immediately and helped cause a lot of the chaos that ensued. And her being a police officer, will she try to insert herself as some new “leader” because she’s law enforcement?

More importantly, will anyone care if she does?

Any time someone new comes in, it’s interesting to see what role they play, and Acosta should be intriguing. Of course, Henry will be, as will how much he and Tabitha confide in the others.

You could see the shocked faces everyone had when they saw Tabitha. She’ll have a lot of explaining to do, but knowing this show, everyone loves to keep things close to the vest instead of sitting in a circle and comparing notes.

Tabitha escaping town, returning to it, and living to tell the tale should be a story time for ALL. But will it be?

Loose Ends

• The subtle ways people drag one another on this show are hilarious. Victor invited Sara to this scary unveiling of possessions because if things get too scary, she is the scariest person in there, and it was unintentionally funny.

• Jade finally came clean about his visions, which was a step in the right direction. He needed to let out some of the fear he carried.

• The talk between Ethan and Julie was so sweet. Julie is noticeably different, and I love that Ethan pushed a little to get her to know that he wants to be there for her.

• Correct me if I’m wrong, but this is the second time Elgin has seen that scary lady while sitting next to Tillie, right?

• Cravings for rotten food are one (odd) thing, but digging into deep bodies to drink blood? Fatima’s carrying a monster child, and I don’t foresee her getting away with hiding this for much longer.

• Kenny can’t do any more overnights away from town because demonic things KEEP happening.

• Did you ever see Dead Silence? I can’t see a ventriloquist dummy and not think about that movie. Jasper is about to be a menace. I can feel it.

That was certainly an hour to remember!

Tabitha and Henry have arrived in town. Victor’s looking for a talking puppet. Boyd’s spiraling even more than usual. Randall’s alive and pissed.

We’re reaching midseason, and things have never been more unclear and grim. What could this world possibly throw at these people next?

Let me know how you felt about this one in the comments and where things may be headed next!

You can watch FROM on Sundays at 9/8c on MGM+.

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