When it comes to FROM Season 3 Episode 1, everyone will probably be talking about that devastating ending. Rightly so. Harold Perrineau and Elizabeth Moy deliver stellar performances, and the consequences of losing Tian Chen can’t be anything other than…Well, also devastating. What is this going to do to Boyd, who had to watch? And what about Kenny, who already lost his father to this place and was only away because he was trying to prevent Julie and Ethan from losing both of their parents? While we’re at it, what’s going to happen if/when he finds out that Tabitha is actually alive, so no matter what might’ve happened to Jim on his fool’s errand, the Matthews kids won’t be in danger of becoming as alone as he is?
That doesn’t even begin to get into the implications for the town at large. What do the people stuck there do without her running the diner? Sure, a mob forcibly stole her supplies — something that feels oddly both convenient and, actually, a good thing in hindsight — but going to the diner and seeing her wasn’t just about the food. She made people feel at home, gave them a sense of normalcy. Even in this episode, after everything was stolen from her, Tian Chen still managed to come up with a plan to plant smaller crops in different places. And she had her wits about her in the middle of Boyd and Donna’s passionate argument, no less.
So, yeah. Like we said at the beginning here. Everyone can, and should, be talking about the final moments of FROM Season 3 Episode 1. From the tragic loss on a raw and human level, to the way the creatures taunt Boyd over his previous claim that the town wouldn’t break him, to even just how terrifying the whole scene is for us to watch despite us kinda knowing what to expect from this show by now, it’s all masterfully done — and there’s a lot to discuss here. But at the same time…we really urge everyone not to ignore some things we found interesting about Tabitha’s storyline.
“What do you mean there’s no other way?”
The opening moments of FROM Season 3 Episode 1 are jarring. On this series, we’re used to being stuck in that town, to the ever-increasing danger, the small cast of characters we’ve come to know very well, the nighttime horrors. But Tabitha is out in the “real” world now. So, to begin a new season out there instead of in the universe this series has built up over two seasons feels wrong. Not only that, but we don’t know if we can trust it. And Catalina Sandino Moreno portrays that feeling of disbelief, of “this is not happening,” so incredibly well in those opening moments.
Additionally, that sense of unreality that follows the character everywhere, and the way it heightens every time she comes near “normal” people, is spot on. We’re on this journey with her, and we can feel exactly how strange the situation is for her. Between the performance and the slow pacing, it’s almost like that sense of the world no longer making sense is its own character. Everything feels wrong, like Tabitha doesn’t belong in this world — because she doesn’t, and, by extension, that means we don’t belong here either. For anyone who’s ever been an outsider, this ought to feel painfully familiar. Also of note: Tabitha may not have the benefit of knowing exactly what’s happening back in the town like we do, but she does have her own experiences to reminder her of how abnormal the “normal” world has become for her.
For us, watching people just…going about their lives while, somewhere out there, Tabitha’s family and so many others are suffering such horrors feels wrong. In fact, it feels off in a way that living everyday life ought to feel off when we know how many people are suffering in silence, both right in our backyards and far away. How can all of these people just be out, shopping, and socializing, and enjoying life? It’s the type of question that can absolutely break us if we try to think about our own world, our own carrying on in the face of atrocities.
But, in the safe space of a series like FROM — and yeah, it feels weird calling it “safe” — where the bad things can’t ever actually happen to us because of the story’s supernatural horror elements, we can ask that question of how life can possibly just…go on. We might have even held it in the back of our minds during the first two seasons, especially when that bus showed up at the beginning of Season 2. Now, though, with a major portion of the storyline taking place away from all the things that devour you in the night, we are forced to think about the stark differences between those who suffer and those who are oblivious.
There’s another very important part of Tabitha’s story, though. That is, obviously, her finding Victor’s father. What answers might he have for her, for us? We’re looking forward to finding out, but his presence makes us wonder about one other thing. Is something, perhaps the little boy in white who pushed her out of the lighthouse, still guiding Tabitha? Was that little boy’s appearance a hallucination…or not? After Tabitha’s phone call to her mom, that church seemed to just show up a little bit too conveniently. Then, the priest’s question about what Victor packed for Tabitha’s lunch — a somewhat odd one for someone in a religious setting, hearing a woman talk about things that no one who hasn’t been there would believe — is exactly what got her to open his lunchbox, take everything out, and see his childhood home’s address inside.
It just seems to us that there may be something there. Then again, maybe we’ve lost our minds in a desperate attempt to find answers — kinda like Jade — a little bit. Guess we’ll see.
More on FROM Season 3 Episode 1
- How is the “real” world somehow more terrifying than the town at this point? Because really, it feels that way at the beginning of the episode.
- We also need to point out how much grief Tabitha carries with her. Sure, breaking free should be a moment of relief and all. But it can’t be. Not when her family is still in the town, and she has no idea how to get back to them or get them to come to where she is.
- Absolutely fascinating to me how just…chill Boyd is about the whole situation when he’s patching up his wounds. It’s makes the complete tonal shift from Perrineau when he asks, “what do you want me to do? Scream fire? Get everybody panicked?” that much more powerful than if Boyd had started out showing how frustrated he really was. This is a guy, trying desperately to hold it all together, yet fraying.
- “That thing, whatever it was, sure as h**l wasn’t my wife. So, what are you?” And the look in his eyes is daring here. Love it.
- Absolutely adore the Boyd/Jim argument. That timing when Eion Bailey jumps in with the “don’t you f**cking dare” as Boyd’s about to say Tabitha’s probably already dead…wow.
- “Yeah, there’s a problem. I’m about to p**s on the floor.” Relatable. Like, knowing what Fatima’s dealing with, it’s clear that Nicky’s being extremely unfair to her. On the other hand…sometimes, you just really need the bathroom, ok?
- “Someone’s gotta make sure that Jim comes back in one piece. I know what it’s like to lose a parent here, and I’m not going to watch Julie and Ethan lose both their parents in the same week. We can’t play defense forever, Boyd.” Absolutely going to throw myself out of a lighthouse, knowing how this episode ends after he said that. And Boy’s face is 100% “this MF…but he has a point. Ugh. Fine.”
- Boyd and Kenny being like “this is insane” about Jade…great comic relief — and right on time.
- “I’m ok, ok? Everything’s ok.” Narrator: Everything was not, in fact, ok.
- “Promise you’ll come back. I can’t lose you, too.” Heartbreaking in the moment, no words in hindsight.
- “I promise. I’ll be back soon.” Can we stop making promises we know are impossible to keep in a horror story?
- Boyd talking Victor down when he has his gun aimed at Randall: A thing real-life cops should learn from but won’t.
- “We’re gonna be safe, and we’re gonna be smart….WTF?” Would 100% be a comedy if the stakes weren’t so high and those things weren’t so creepy. Trees with faces? Skulls? Something. “He didn’t say anything about…weird statues and…” Exactly. This ain’t it. Go.
- “Because. If God is real, then He made a horrible place. He created all that pain and suffering…” This whole scene is very good, but it just makes me miss Evil 1000 times more.
- “She looks scary.” Ya think.
- …oh, ok. Just another nightmare. Fab.
- “So, you want to give up, huh? Hey, look at me! You’d just lay down and die? Because I’m not ready to do that!” But what about…after.
- Of course Ethan walked in just in time to hear they’re going to kill his goat friend after all.
- “Can you make sure Alma goes first?” “Why?” “So she won’t have to watch her friends die.” May we all maintain this child’s level of empathy and kindness.
- …also. Let’s not examine “so she won’t have to watch her friends die” in the context of that ending.
- Guessing by his attitude when he sees Tabitha that Victor’s dad has been through some mess with the locals ever since his kid disappeared.
- Jim finally seeing sense when it’s too late for Kenny to get to see his mom for the last time. Cool.
- “Sheep! Sheep! Boyd! Goats! F**k!!” This would be another “this is a comedy” moment for me if it weren’t for how dire the situation is with the animals being the town’s last food source and, you know, those things out there.
- David Alpay sells that terror so perfectly well when Jade sees the cow dismantled right in front of him.
- Also, uh. That beard…is a cry for help if there ever was one.
- Ethan, kiddo, you’re sweet and all…but you should know better than to open the door by now.
- “I’m not gonna kill you, Boyd. That would be no fun. You think this place can’t break you? Let’s see.” Can we talk about the added horror element of those things paying attention? That wasn’t there before, was it? Maybe implied, yet not explicit???
- Who needs to watch these monsters slaughter cows, or people, or whatever else when we can just have nightmares about Boyd pleading with Tian Chen to stay strong there at the end?
- Like, for real. “I know, I know, I know, I know…” Pain.
New episodes of FROM stream Sundays on MGM+.
