In FROM Season 3 Episode 5, Victor (Scott McCord) comes face-to-face with his father for the first time in decades. It’s a loaded reunion and one that we almost don’t even get to see because Victor’s initial reaction to learning his dad is now one of the cursed residents of Fromville is to run. But Victor can’t hide forever, and when he and Sara make their way back to town, he sees Henry who happens to be out for a walk with Ethan. And…it happens — but only after this loaded pause. It’s a fascinating moment, even when compared with many of the other big ones on this series, so when we had the chance to interview McCord, our first question was what might have been going through Victor’s mind when time itself seemed to stop.
Referencing “Victor’s fear of that moment and the lifetime lost between these two people,” McCord told us “there’s so many things going on in that moment.” Even so, one thing stood out. “The big thing that really resonated the most with me is when we were doing that [scene] was, I think, the guilt of what Victor’s feeling.” As we see, “when they finally embrace, he says…’I didn’t know how to get back home.’ And I feel like, you know, there’s just so much about this thing with Victor and in failing his father in some way — failing his father in this lifetime lost.” He also has to deal with “his guilt about his mother [and] everything that’s happened.”
This nagging thought, of “did I do all this” will come into play in a big way throughout the next several episodes. When we asked McCord if he thought that Victor seeing his father might motivate some of what we see for the character for the rest of the season, he confirmed that, “yes, it does.” Without giving too much away, the rest of FROM Season 3 will be “an incredible journey for Victor.” As McCord told us, “Victor’s already trying to push past this fear of everyone dying…and bad things happening.” So, “the task only becomes more selfless for him when his father’s there, because now it’s about saving him.”
But with everything Victor’s seen throughout his time in Fromville, what’s his biggest fear at this point? It could very well be failure, specifically failing Henry. “Because, again, this responsibility thing of Victor [thinking] ‘did I do all this?’ In a way, could feel like it would be the ultimate failure.” But now, Victor has “to go into these memories — these unreliable memories, even — you know…I’ll give it that. As terrifying as it is, it has to happen. It’s the only way it’s going to move forward,” and “it’s the only chance that I may have of rectifying just this — even just with my dad.” But no matter what Victor’s memories tell him, or what he has to do to unlock them, “I think that would be the biggest fear is…imagine failing. Failing and failing him again.”
Speaking of things that scare Victor, Sara…might not be “the scariest person here” anymore. When we asked McCord about that, he noted that Victor and Sara “bond very quickly” once they “align their purpose…to go and try and do the right thing.” Additionally, “there’s just an obvious brother, sister kind of bond there. Maybe that’s just something that Victor was — I think — was looking for, in terms of trust.” And, because of that quick connection, “she’s really the only person that he can…really reveal that vulnerability to” when he’s afraid to see Henry for the first time.
Furthermore, if — like us — you loved the scene where Victor and Sara open up to each other in the back of that old car, you might also love this next little glimpse of how that came together. “I’ll tell you a little secret…At the end of that scene, there’s a moment…where the two of us come together, and I put my head on her shoulder…That wasn’t in the script, originally. That just happened when we were shooting it. We started — like, things just started to happen.” So, “what’s lovely about that moment” and the characters ending up in that place “was that that’s just where that relationship naturally needed to go.” He also called the moment “one of those beautiful, beautiful things that happened.”
Watch our full interview with Scott McCord here.
Don’t miss Scott McCord as Victor in FROM; new episodes of Season 3 release each Sunday on MGM+.