FROM Season 3 Episode 10 Review: ‘Revelations, Chapter Two’

FROM Season 3 Episode 10 is a powerful finale that both solves a major mystery and rips the series’ mythology wide open. To state the obvious, multiple storylines — from Jade and Tabitha’s quest for answers about the bottle trees, to Fatima’s definitely-not-human pregnancy — come to some kind of conclusion in this hour. But while those may be the most obvious of endings, another horrible one takes shape here. We are, of course, talking about the premise this season’s premiere set up for us: Can this place break Boyd? The answer, FROMily, appears to be a heartbreaking, self-sacrificing sort of yes.

That brings us to the tons of opportunities for future storytelling “Revelations, Chapter Two” opens up. Who will Boyd be now, and is there a way to save the soul he knowingly, willingly destroys here? And now that Fatima’s pregnancy is over, does the cycle start again? What happens with that monster now, and what happens with her now that this place is done with using her? How will Tabitha and Jade’s newly-realized memories help, or hurt, going forward? And what of Julie’s story-walker powers or Randall’s locusts? Also, will we ever find out what kind of demons Mari brought back with her?

These are only a few thoughts, off the top of our heads. We’re sure we’ll have more questions at some point…but wow are we equal parts excited and terrified to see what comes next.

MORE: Now that we’re at the season finale, let’s revisit the beginning. Read our reviews of FROM Season 3 Episode 1, FROM Season 3 Episode 2, and FROM Season Episode 3.

Victor and Henry get closure

With all of the big, world-building (possibly world-ending, for some) revelations in FROM Season 3 Episode 10, it might be easy to overlook what happens with Victor and Henry. But doing that would be a huge mistake. This season features so many moments when those who are grieving get to do something for those whom they’ve lost. But Henry has never really had the chance to say goodbye to Miranda and Eloise, and Victor has never had anyone to lean on with his many losses.

That all changes in this finale. First off, Henry makes an attempt at understanding and connecting with Victor by asking him about Jasper. But he doesn’t know Victor’s already given up because the answers he found were terrible. That leaves Henry at even more of a loss in how to talk to his son than ever. As always, Robert Joy does a beautiful job of showing just how difficult all of this is for the character. We also feel the need to point out how fitting it is to have this last conversation before visiting the gravesite on that broken-down playground. The desolation and emptiness is a perfect physical stand-in for not only how these characters have been feeling, but also for the way this place destroyed Victor’s childhood and left wreckage in its wake. For here are reminders of childhood, destroyed.

“It’s gonna make you angry — it’s gonna make you hate me. But I have to show you. And then we’ll be done.”

Then, there’s what happens on the hill. Victor truly believes that once his dad learns it’s his “fault” Miranda left and died that night, his “fault” Eloise is also dead, he’ll be done with him. But that’s not what happens at all. Because a father’s love — or at least a good father’s love — isn’t weak enough to die in the wake of learning his child made a fatal mistake. Especially since that child had no way of knowing what would happen…and he didn’t exactly force Miranda to go out that night either.

No. Instead, Henry does break a little up there, in front of the rocks painted with the unskilled, yet loving, hand of a child. That repeated “oh, God” and the way Joy just sinks down next to the first rock is a thing of beauty. And the way he can’t even get the words out, at first, as he asks about Eloise is gutting. The same goes for Scott McCord’s performance, as a Victor revealing the most vulnerable parts of himself — and the ugliest part of his story — to someone he is sure will reject him. It’s painful to watch as Victor sobs through his confession about telling his mom, and as Henry whimpers through hearing about the “pieces” left of maybe-Eloise. But it’s a necessary moment and an incredibly well done one at that.

But, when Victor says he “should’ve died that night, too,” and that Henry doesn’t have to be his dad anymore, something major happens. The quiet Henry we’ve come to know and love exits the building. (Or the field, as it were.) Joy dials his intensity up to 1000 (out of 10!) here, and it works. Henry risks scaring his fragile son, but it doesn’t matter. He has got to get through to Victor. And, if the way the scene closes in that embrace, with Victor’s head finally, exhaustedly dropping to his dad’s shoulder, is any indication, he might just have been successful.

At the risk of over-using the word, it’s a beautiful scene. And yet, it’s as heartbreaking as it is a chance for a new beginning. Look at that smiling sun on that rock; look at the rainbows and blue skies Victor painted “to make it pretty. The way [his mom] would have liked.” Think of the tragedy of it all…and let’s hope that, now that these two have really, truly found each other — have finally given in and clung to each other in grief — that they won’t lose each other again.

As in, we’re coming for those monsters if they try it with either of these people in future episodes.

MORE: Read our Scott McCord interview for more insight into Victor’s fear of failure and seeing his dad again for the first time this season. You can also see what we thought about Henry and Victor’s reunion in FROM Season 3 Episode 5. And, since everyone has a lot of reasons to grieve on this show, here’s our Ricky He interview on his approach to Kenny’s grief.

“You know there’s no coming back from this, right?”

In the FROM Season 3 finale, Boyd decides to torture Elgin for information. He may feel like he has no other choice, but it is a choice he makes. To his credit, he tries asking nicely, if with this bit of forced calm that’s anything but comforting. He even brings along Sara, who tries to remind Elgin that nothing that talks to him in this place can have good intentions — and she should know, having been convinced if she just killed a little boy, they could all go free. But no matter how much anger Ellis unleashes on him, how much Sara pleads with him, or even how menacing Boyd may seem, Elgin remains a true believer to the bitter, awful end.

…and so, Boyd does what he believes he must do. In a terribly quiet and determined sort of way, he asks Donna where she keeps the tools at Colony House. Notably, she gives up on trying to hold him back pretty quickly. But Boyd’s own conscience doesn’t give up. For all the many times Ghost!Khatri has seemed to taunt or discourage Boyd for pleasure, whatever he is (or isn’t) really, truly does try — in a still-mocking sort of way — to remind Boyd of the stakes here. He (it?) points out the hypocrisy of letting Fatima go, even covering up for her, when she killed Tillie. Boyd, though, just tries to ignore him as he examines each tool, rushes through getting his bag full of torture devices ready.

“You walk around here like you’re some big knight in shining armor. Mr…Noble Sheriff. Push comes to shove, you’re no different than anyone else. Protect what’s yours, and F— anyone who gets in your way. You were supposed to be better than this.”

And then, something happens. When Boyd hears that he was supposed to be better than what he has become, he snaps. He explodes on the ghost of his old friend. In his anger, he even lets on that he blames Khatri for going out in the street and getting himself killed. And there’s plenty more rage just boiling over, for so many reasons. This is a man on edge, a man at the end of his rope and desperate to save someone he loves. Something, we remember, he couldn’t do before. It’s another one of those times where all we can do is sit back and be like “Harold Perrineau, folks.” Right from the start, even before Ghost!Khatri confronts Boyd, even. Because he is just so good from start to finish.

“You said that you wouldn’t let this place break you. You do this? This place has won.”

But here’s the thing. Boyd promised this place wouldn’t break him. But in FROM Season 3 Episode 10, he makes the choice to let it destroy a piece of his soul. He decides, even after the reminder of what this will cost him, that he has got to save Fatima. Perrineau really nails this internal struggle, showing so much sadness and defeat when Boyd points out that Fatima could die if he doesn’t do something. By the time the conversation ends, he’s resigned to packing that bag, no longer rushing through, no longer examining anything. Just. Done. And the way he has to gather himself before walking up those stairs to Donna’s room, bag in hand tells us he knows what he’s giving up to do this. He doesn’t want to, not really. But he believes it’s the only way.

When Boyd goes to torture Elgin, he makes as big, ragey sort of show of what he’s about to do…but he keeps delaying. And delaying…and delaying. He gets up in Elgin’s face and wants him to tell him he understands, even. And when Boyd finally sets Elgin’s hand on the table to start pounding away at it, he has to look away, anguished. There’s some desperation in that look to the ghost of Father Khatri in the corner, like he’s looking for help — any other way.

MORE: Our thoughts on when the creatures forced Boyd to choose between Randall and everyone else in FROM Season 3 Episode 4. For some insight into Donna’s breaking point, check out our interview with Elizabeth Saunders.

Sara won’t let Boyd give up his soul in FROM Season 3 Episode 10

Well, Boyd gets some help when Acosta shows up, hears Elgin’s screams, and crashes the torture party in FROM Season 3 Episode 10. Then, as there’s chaos in the kitchen at Colony House, everyone shouting over what to do next and why it has to be done, Sara comes to a terrible realization. It has to be her. There’s something so horribly depressing about watching Boyd spiral downward like this, but somehow, seeing the same Sara who was so quietly pleased to put her broken snowman back together decide to give up on any hope of redemption hurts just as much. Possibly even more. To give in like this, after helping Victor, after confessing to him how much she’d “give anything to feel like a good person again,” takes a lot.

“Boyd doesn’t understand. How far he needs to go to make you tell him. He’s a good man. And this…place has taken so much from him. I won’t let it take his soul. I’ve already given mine.”

…we’re not sure we have words for this. Especially since, well, look at the mess Sara makes of Elgin. But also…it works. Elgin finally tells her where Fatima is, and for all the shock and horror the sight of that boy with his hand destroyed by Boyd and face half gone from Sara’s work might generate, folks don’t stop to dwell on it too long. They have to get to Fatima. But in the end, they’re kind of too late anyway. The baby (such as it is) is born. The thing that’s manipulated Elgin into helping her/it takes that sac down into tunnels below the root cellar. And, as the other monsters watch, another Smiley presses its way into whatever soulless, monstrous version of “life” those things lead.

These images — of just that tool in Sara’s hand, of Boyd’s resignation and Sara’s soulless determination, of that thing coming into the world, and (of course) of what’s left of Elgin — are going to stay with us for a long, long time after this finale. Especially because we really, truly can not fathom where some of these characters go from here.

MORE: We interviewed Corteon Moore about Ellis’ FROM Season 3 journey and the moment in FROM Season 3 Episode 9 when he realizes something is off about Elgin. We also interviewed Pegah Ghafoori about Fatima’s pregnancy, killing Tillie in FROM Season 3 Episode 7, and being taken hostage by Elgin in FROM Season 3 Episode 8.

FROM Season 3 Episode 10 finally gives us some answers

In the FROM Season 3 finale, Jade finally cracks the code hidden in the bottle trees. Before he does, though, he gets to deal with one more frustration, one more sense that these clues are far too vague to connect the dots. Which means we get treated to one more Jade meltdown and one more chance to be like “man, David Alpay is so much fun in this role.” Surprisingly, Jade shouting that he’s just going to sit there until he gets more of a message than “anghkooey” kinda gets the job done. When he gives the puzzle one more try with the last piece that set him off, he finally gets a real hint. From Jim, of all people. (Way to make this man useful before ending him, FROM!)

It’s music. The numbers have been notes, and sharps, and flats all along. Once Jade abandons his other, hyper-rational and hyper-scientific, avenues of exploration and starts looking into musical patterns, the song — the inspiration — just comes to him. And, really, it’s truly brilliant that the one thing that has so much of a close relationship to Mathematics but isn’t actually considered mathematical by many people — music — is the key all along. Not to mention, the song itself is so, so gorgeous. And the editing in FROM Season 3 Episode 10, which lets the song work its way through (most of) the remaining story as we see the cavalry rush to Fatima’s aid, and as the awful birthing scene plays out, is truly second to none.

So, what do we learn in the FROM Season 3 finale? The song isn’t the only thing. We learn the meaning of anghkoeey — remember. The parallel there, between the creature kneeling with that “baby” monster and the little girl kneeling with Tabitha, is another powerful one. Then, we do quite a lot of remembering. About Tabitha, Jade, and their relationship to this place. They were there in the beginning, had a daughter of their own (!!!), and tried to stop all of this. But they failed. And failed again…and both characters have the most raw, emotional reaction to remembering all of this.

How horrible to have to keep coming back and reliving that failure. Will this latest cycle finally grant them some success? Here’s hoping. But, it bears repeating, we gain all of this knowledge at the same time that an exhausted, scared, sad Fatima is describing what she learned about the monsters. They were people who sacrificed their children so they could live forever. Now that we’re aware of their origins, none of the monsters’ brutality can surprise us. After all, anyone who would let their own kids, whom they supposedly loved, die on those awful slabs that Jade saw…might have always been a monster deep, deep down inside anyway.

MORE: In our interview with David Alpay, we talk about this big revelation and Alpay’s gratitude for getting to bring music to this series. In case you missed, it we also interviewed Catalina Sandino Moreno about Tabitha’s search for answers. More on the bottle trees: Jade realized the numbers were the same in both trees in FROM Season 3 Episode 6.

More on FROM Season 3 Episode 10

• The editing in FROM Season 3 Episode 10 is, overall, extremely effective. Every time we might start to doubt how urgent Fatima’s situation is — do Boyd and Sara really need to go there? — we quickly cut right back in that underground prison with her.
• …and Pegah Ghafoori is doing some acting whenever we check in on her. The dedication, right from the start, is second to none. This is agony and struggle, full stop.
• “Your mom fell down.” Victor, king of the understatement.
• When Jim suggests Tabitha’s experience was just a “vision,” Catalina Sandino Moreno’s “b—ch, please” expression about sums it up. Dude still doesn’t get it.
• “No, offense, Jim. But I think I’ve heard just about enough.” That part!
• Boyd going to Sara for help, only for Sara to wind up helping him like that, is really something we shouldn’t discount here. He gets the help he needs, just not what he bargained for. But for Boyd to have been the one person to keep giving Sara chance after chance, who else would she go to such extremes for?
• “The First Law of Thermodynamics is that energy can neither be created nor destroyed. It can only change from one form to another. And our thoughts, our memories, our souls — if you believe in that sort of thing — are made of energy. And that energy….maybe here that energy — I don’t know! — maybe…it lingers.”
• The terror in Nathan D. Simmons’ eyes might haunt us for a while. Just not as much as the true believer, zealot-type fever he delivers almost nonstop this season.
• “This place? It doesn’t give — it takes.”
• The pure chaos when Ellis finally starts to go after Elgin, though.
• “I just wanted to say I’m sorry I haven’t been more help. All this…it’s been a lot for me. But that’s no excuse.” Henry just tries so hard here.
• “YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE HERE. YOU WERE S—. YOU AND I WERE SUPPOSED TO FIGURE THIS OUT TOGETHER. YOU WERE THE ONE WHO WENT IN THE F—IN  STREET AND GOT HIS THROAT SLIT. SO DON’T YOU COME IN HERE, JUDGIN—…you don’t get to judge me. I’m doing the best I can.” Truly can not get enough of Perrineau here.
• “That’s what we call a rock and a hard place. Not a rock and a soft, comfy pillow. You need to decide, right now, who you are. Because that’s who you’re gonna be from now on.” Anyone else afraid for Season 4 with that last line?
• Huge fan of the detail work with Ghafoori’s heavy breathing after screaming her lungs out and struggling against that door. Same goes for the image of all that blood against the wall after she hurls the jar at it.
• “The one point of overlap in alllll our Venn diagrams of crazy—…” Nothing but respect for my big ol’ nerd, bringing nerdy things into casual speech.
• “You feel better now?” “No! Not really.” Love him. Look at how he pouts!
• Poor Randall. And what a beautiful moment between him and Marielle. Superb work from A.J. Simmons, as a Randall so desperate to make the buzzing stop he almost shocks his own head.
• That hug with Marielle, too.
• “What happens next…that’s on me.”
• Victor’s survivor’s guilt…
• “Believe me, I have tried. Every mathematical, astronomical, astrological, Babylonian 12-point numerical cipher I can imagine. The Zodiac, months of the year, f—ing…eggs in a carton. Bent over backwards twisting it into some version of the Fibonacci serquence! There is nothing there. Believe me.”
• “Aren’t there 12 notes in a scale?”
• Guess, considering who was in the cars, we now have the answer to why two cars arrived at once for the first time, too. It had to be Jade and Tabitha, here, at the same time. Arguably, as much as Jim annoys TF out of us, he had to be here too. Because Jim is the one far enough away from the mystery, and with a family history, to see the music connection.
• “She used to say that music is the universal language.”
• “Victor’s mother had a violin. He hid it somewhere in your basement.” “Why?” “Because I kept stealing it.” Did anyone else laugh out loud?
• Boyd dialing it up a notch and utterly losing it after seeing that photo: Is this where Fromville really, finally breaks him?
• “Are you ok?” “No. I’m not. And I don’t think any of us are gonna be.” Can relate, especially right now.
• The way Boyd’s up in Elgin’s face, shaking that hammer…
• Make this man sing and play violin every season, please and thank you.
• “You’re a story-walker.” “What?” “Someone who can visit chapters of the story that already happened.” I-N-T-E-R-E-S-T-I-N-G.
• “No one can change a story once it’s been told.” But what if we’re still in the middle of it? Will Julie find a way to save her dad? To change anything at all? Are the changes we’re seeing now actually her doing?? It’s going to be a long hiatus.
• That dark look on Avery Konrad’s face before Sara goes up the stairs will also haunt me for a while.
• Then, we have Elgin shaking in terror when he hears someone coming to the door but actually starting to get hopeful for a second when he sees it’s Sara instead of Boyd. Oh, sweet summer child…
• “That first day, when I saw you in the church? My heart…broke for you. I thought, ‘he seems so sweet. So kind. I was like that once.’ I think…maybe we’re exactly what this place looks for. People who just wanna help.”
• “I’ve already given mine.” A. Delivery.
• No but seriously. Get him to make music every season. Look how he’s in his own little world.
• “I’ll be right behind you.” Doubt it.
• Love all that emotion, grief even, all over Tabitha and that flash of recognition on Jade when they finally remember that anghkooey means…remember. Superb work from both actors.
• “I know why — I know why I see those children. Why Jade can see them. It’s why there’s more than one bracelet. I kept making them. Somewhere, deep down, I remembered.”
• “Jade and I were here in the beginning. We tried to save those children, set them free…because one of them was ours.” THE WAY SHE BREAKS ON THIS. “She was our daughter.” 
• No wonder that marriage was a mess. It was never really meant to be, huh? 
• Anyone else catch the end credits theme but, like, sadder and darker when Jim’s left alone and remembering the day the family drove into town?
• “That Jade sure can play…this didn’t have to happen you know…knowledge comes with a cost.”
• His throat.
• Like no fan of Jim…but holy WTFFF.

What did you think of FROM Season 3 Episode 10, and what questions do you have now that you hope will be answered in Season 4? Leave us a comment!

FROM Seasons 1-3 are now streaming on MGM+.