FROM Season 4 Episode 1 Review: ‘The Arrival’

(Warning: Major spoilers for FROM Season 4 Episode 1 ahead.)

FROM Season 4 Episode 1 deals with the immediate fallout and consequences of the huge revelations in the Season 3 finale. Picking up where we left off, with Jim’s throat ripped open and Julie’s screams, with Boyd in the tunnel having witnessed a monster’s (re)birth and Fatima feeling the after effects of a traumatic birth, the hour delivers one painful reminder after another that, for as far as these people have come, they still have far too many mysteries, far too much evil to suffer, far too many odds stacked against them to even begin to consider there’s anywhere other than someplace more horrible left to go. Even Tabitha and Jade’s big breakthrough, though it happened moments before what we see in this season premiere, seems like it happened to someone else, somewhere else, certainly not on this series, to these people, in this town.

Tabitha’s in denial after having made so many sacrifices to get answers. Her (present-day) children don’t have a father anymore, and although they don’t actually know it yet, when Jim doesn’t come home by dark, some part of them feels it. Elgin’s a bloody mess. Fatima saw something but can’t remember it fully. And, perhaps worst of all, Boyd’s giving up.

…or, rather, worst of all that anyone knows of. Because, in a diabolical sort of twist, it turns out that FROMville’s latest arrival…is not at all what she seems. On a second watch, the clues are definitely there. For one thing, notice the very specific timing of each time we see the pastor’s car. But the characters stuck in that place don’t see things like that—all they know is one more driver has seen that tree in the road, sending him and his true believer of a daughter crashing into town—and if viewers are along for the ride, Julia Doyle’s performance isn’t giving anything away. Until, of course, the mask…slips for no one to see but her latest victim, who “Sophia” just has to gloat to. (It’s very much like her alter ego bragged to Jim before ripping open his throat.)

Overall, FROM Season 4 Episode 1 is a strong premiere that builds on everything that’s come before it and throws us that surprise just in time to elevate the hour from just any hour, to the true start of the next stage of our journey. That ominous note we end on certainly promises that the next nine episodes will be at least one person’s “favorite part.” Here’s hoping it’ll also be ours.

MORE: Everything we know about FROM Season 4.

Breaking Boyd

Harold Perrineau is better than ever in FROM Season 4 Episode 1 as a Boyd Stevens who, having seen the very same monster he was finally—finally—able to find a way to kill brought back to life, is giving up. The character has been unraveling for a while now (who hasn’t), but what went down in that tunnel has ripped apart all those frayed edges of his, possibly breaking something in him beyond repair. If nothing else, it has him counting bullets to make sure the people in town at least get to choose how they die. If that’s not a sure sign of giving up, I don’t know what is.

Everything Perrineau does here is great, but his best moments are two brilliant bookends to an hour packed with strong dramatic work. He delivers Boyd’s description of what happened in the tunnel, “the baby. I watched it grow. I watched it stand up…and…smile” with a hunted, halting sort of quality that really drives home how much this latest trauma has shaken him to his core. It’s like some part of him can’t even allow himself to process what he saw, like he has to force each bit of memory to come to him from somewhere far away.

Each word comes out with a sort of muscle behind it, like he’s shoving it out of himself and into the world. Because Boyd’s sharing a nightmare that’s very much become real, very much against his will. This isn’t fear and terror in your average sense. Instead, it’s horrified shock, frozen, disbelieving, a stunned grappling with unreality.

Then, close to the end of FROM Season 4 Episode 1, Boyd has to tell more people just how bad things have gotten. Now, it’s Fatima, Ellis, Donna, and Kristi who have to listen as he struggles through describing that thing’s reawakening. Perrineau starts and stops, Boyd frustratedly unable to form the right words and gesturing, as he tries to make everything make enough sense in his own haunted mind to explain it to those around him. But here’s the thing: Some experiences are so awful, you just can’t come up with the words—are so far beyond a thing you can wrap your own mind around, you know you can never give them justice in the retelling—and Perrineau nails that with Boyd here. And that’s not even the absolute best.

No. The best of the best, for Perrineau, comes when Boyd is finished. When he stops mid-sentence, says he “can’t,” and makes to walk out…but is stopped by Kristi, only for Ellis to ask everyone to give him and his father a moment. That’s when he wrecks us—when it’s just a father showing his son how much pain he’s drowning in.

“I can’t do it anymore. Ellis, I can’t. I’m falling apart.” Here, Perrineau takes an agonizingly-long break as Boyd works to get his voice, which has been breaking as he’s discussed his own psyche’s breaking, under control. And then, “everything I’ve…done! Every sacrifice we’ve made! And if—if I can’t get you home? Then, none of it matters! Your mom? Your mom?! That’s—…f**! It can’t be for nothing! I just…I c—…I can’t…F**kin…I can not…”

The writing’s great here, mostly fragments for Perrineau to work with as Boyd’s emotion overcomes him to the point of not even being able to form fully complete thoughts. And the way he delivers this, the pitch of his voice so much higher and more desperate than usual, is just so powerful. Additionally, he makes smart choices in where he places emphasis, especially on “your mom?!” where he just…it’s like Boyd can’t say what he needs to say, but he just needs Ellis to know. This man, usually so strong for everyone else’s sake, is experiencing the worst kind of unending, unceasing, hopeless, relentless grief that’s impossible to crawl out of.

Whatever you do, don’t think about the sobbed “God,” as Ellis just hugs him and pats his back, strong as the rock he’s had to learn to be thanks to everything the woman he loves has just gone through. Especially since, as we see with our new arrival Sophia, even God has no chance here.

MORE: Last season, Boyd begged Ellis to be strong for Fatima after they learned she’d killed Tillie.

“This is when they tear themselves apart.”

Of course, the big story of FROM Season 4 Episode 1 is Sophia, who (spoiler alert) is also the Man in Yellow, who also bookends this episode with interesting moments. Only, in this character’s case…it’s in two different bodies. As I mentioned up above, Julia Doyle is great in this role. When Sophia herself is “in character” as nothing more than the traumatized girl, she never gives anything away. And when the evil entity Doyle’s actually portraying finally has the opportunity to unleash and relish the moment, that increasing sense of being absolutely thrilled and loving all the chaos, coupled with that evil, deranged sort of grin, is so much fun. It’s eerily reminiscent of the twisted expression Douglas E. Hughes wears as the character shares the same love of whatever comes next with a bloodied, dying Jim. And yet, it’s also all her own.

Maybe I just need to take a break from trying to be coherent here and say something along the lines of, “this is really effing cool, y’all.” There. I said it. Let’s continue.

In retrospect, maybe Sophia’s panicked screaming after the car crash was too much. But then again, how would any of us expect to behave after our “father” had a sudden seizure or stroke and went crashing into a building because we couldn’t get the car under control? And maybe she bounces back a little bit too quickly after such a wreck, with very few signs of physical injury other than some cuts and scrapes here or there. Then again, stranger things have happened—especially here. So, it’s a really clever sort of reveal, to have this new person turn out to not at all be what she seems while most definitely having a few things that maybe, with less going on, might raise some red flags. And maybe some viewers will figure it out before the hour concludes, which is also fine!

Because it’s not so much the shock of Sophia and Man in Yellow being one and the same that makes this new part of the story so fascinating. It’s the warning—that this is the evil entity’s “favorite part,” said more than once in this premiere, and the final word that the people we’ve followed for three seasons before now are just now going to “tear themselves apart.” Was that…was that not what was already happening? How much worse can it get? And what happens if the series doesn’t deliver on a story that lives up to that declaration? (There’s not really any indication that it wouldn’t, with how well done most things have been so far…but still. It’s a valid enough question.)

How can the citizens of FROMville defeat this wolf in sheep’s clothing—just an innocent, now fatherless, girl who fervently prays and even shares inspirational Bible references about the darkness being unable to overcome the light—if they don’t know she/they are even in their midst? Especially since they’re already having trouble defeating the evil that’s right there in front of them? And, furthermore, how brilliant is it of FROM Season 4 to introduce someone like this? The real world is full of those who are oh, so pious on the outside but rotten to their very core on the inside. No matter how much they preach. So, viewer beware. Look around, and consider the messenger more carefully from here.

Admittedly, part of me wishes we didn’t learn who Sophia really was until later in the season. On the other hand, it’s not like we needed one more mystery to untangle anyway. If nothing else, FROM Season 4 Episode 1 has dropped pure, unbridled chaos into an already bleak situation. That’s certainly a way to kick off a season on a high note that makes us glad the wait for more is over…and dying for the next hour. So. We’ll take it.

More FROM Season 4 Episode 1 reactions

Man in Yellow murders two fathers before bragging to them in FROM Season 4 Episode 1: Jim and the person “Sophia” claimed was her father (who also happens to be a religious figure that some might refer to as Father, depending on if he was supposed to be a pastor, a priest, or what). That has to mean something, right? Especially since we have Ellis—who now doesn’t get to be a father after he thought he would—comforting his own father who’s falling apart? Or is that another clever distraction.
“People are such fragile things.”
“We have to stop meeting like this. When did you come from this time? Didn’t anyone tell you? There’s no way to change a story once it’s been told.” So, Julie’s been confronting this thing over and over with no luck.
Fantastic work from Douglas E. Hughes in that opening sequence. This thing totally has the upper hand and is loving every single second of it.
The camera work is great, too. That look down from above, so we see that streak of yellow standing tall while the RV and Jim are both…wrecked.
Pegah Ghafoori delivers a strong performance in this premiere. Absolutely gutting to think about Fatima sitting there, having just been through that awful “birth,” and quite literally beating herself up over not being able to remember everything she saw. That frustrated screaming and hitting her head…is a lot.
I’m sure I’ve said this before, but I can’t stress how much I appreciate that even dark scenes on FROM are visible. This time, when Kenny goes down into that tunnel, the way that light of his little lantern is depicted bouncing off the walls is just…so good. The time we take to bounce back and forth between watching the character and seeing what he sees is great as always, too.
Love me a good old-fashioned jump scare!
“What.” Same, Ricky.
“Oh, come on. For f***’s sake, we all know it’s not loaded. Just put it away.” Always here for Donna being totally done with people’s BS, and when it’s trigger-happy Acosta she’s done with, that’s just extra entertaining.
“Sara took his eye out with a screwdriver.” Check out the WTF look that we don’t really see from Kristi because she and Donna are in profile, yet we know is there because of that tiny bit of upper body movement from Chloe Van Landschoot, before Donna’s “…she had reasons.”
“BOYD WHAT THE F— ARE YOU DOING?!” That’s it; that’s the show.
Another great moment from Perrineau: “Hey! We have one win, Kenny! One. God. Da**. Victory! And even that, we couldn’t get one motherf—ing…” The way he stops, takes that sharp inhale before the next part…
“Ok. What we just saw down there, that means there is no way to fight back against those things. There is no way—NONE—to win.” Just super job putting the emphasis in the final part of “NONE” for the finality of it all, forcing himself into his scene partner’s sight line so he has to hear how deadly serious he is, and the extra pause to let it land.
“The day may come when the only thing we get to decide is how we choose to leave. We could either let those things down there rip us to F—ING pieces! Or—…” Absolutely broke me, how he struggles on this next part. “Or…” (He looks away, then just gives that helpless look here.) “I just…need to make sure there’s enough. Just in case.”
“You must think I’m a pretty awful person.” “I might’ve at one point, yeah.” “And now?” “Now, I think this place does bad things to good people.” Nathan D. Simmons’ reaction there…ouch. Somehow, more painful than having to look at the mess of an eye.
“Something here lied to you. You’re not the first person it’s happened to, and you probably won’t be the last. There’s no version of any of this working out.”
Say what you will about Acosta (and I have, many times), but that “I got you, I got you, I got you” for Elgin is so…man, she’s begging herself and him to be ok.
The song!
“I want my mom, I want my mom, I don’t wanna be here, I want my mom!!!” Amazingly done.
The relative silence, just the clanking of tools and the people giving each other instructions, as they try to save the car’s driver…Yeah, ok. Maybe that’s another hint from FROM Season 4 Episode 1 that something’s off here.
David Alpay gives powerful, yet understated, sort of performance here. He brings a certain tension and longing, almost, to the very first time Jade lays eyes on Tabitha after they’d parted ways in the woods. And, when they actually do (sort of) have a second to talk, it’s like…he doesn’t have the words for why this is different than all the lies Tabitha brought up. But he just…knows.
“What’s easier to believe? That whatever is keeping us here put those thoughts in our heads to torture us? Or. That you and I have been coming back here over and over again for centuries, trying to save children that are already dead?” I was also really moved by the moment when Alpay closes his eyes in pain here. There’s the pain of having done all of that, just for Tabitha to pretend it all away, no matter how sensible she sounds here—something also painful—plus just the infinite tragedy of these kids being lost for so long.
“You don’t know sh**. You think you’re some kind of hero? Some martyr who did what you had to do? What you did to that kid up there, you’re a f***ing monster. I don’t know what you were before, but that is what you are now. All you people are f—ing monsters.” Ok but Boyd’s reaction.
…and what if they all really are, in fact, monsters?
“Boyd?!” “Yeah, I, uh…” And then, he agonizes over going up there.
Elizabeth Saunders is great here, as well as later when she has to get his attention more than once, too. It is very clear that Donna can see something’s wrong and is really, really concerned.
Samantha Brown in that diner scene. WOW. It is so hard to deliver that kind of emotion with, like, no one in the scene to work off of. And yet. Wow.
“Send in the Clowns”? Really?
“What would you like to know? About the terrifying woman in the kimono that held me down? Or the thing she pulled out of me that you told me wasn’t there.” Brilliant righteous anger from Ghafoori here. I’d say Fatima is feeling even more than that, but one, Ghafoori needs something to build to. And two—and this is where I think the real genius comes in—Fatima did just have all of that happen to her. She’s got to be exhausted, so the energy can’t all come out at once.
“So, uh…by the time I caught up to her, the uh…” That fast blinking! Still so much utter and complete horror and disbelief. Retelling it gets harder each time, it seems. Like, the initial frozen horror is fading out and giving way to…simply horror.
“It’s not just one. It’s the one I killed, that night at the clinic.”
“Victor! What are you doing?” “I’m dragging this bed to my room.” “I can see that. Do you want to tell me why?” What if I laughed? Poor Donna has enough on her plate! Decoding Victor’s choices…is not a thing she can do right now. But oh, when she hears it’s for his dad and softens…my heart.
“Those things in the woods. I think I saw how they became what they are. They made a bargain. Because something promised them that they would live. Forever.” Extreme emotion from Ghafoori on “forever.”
Annnd to go back to what I said about Ghafoori’s performance a couple bullet points ago: HERE is where Fatima finally finds some energy left after everything she’s been through to go the entire F— off. Because Boyd put that emphasis on “this is important.” This. Not how this thing used her body, or how no one believed her. This. Before, physically, she was drawing into herself and/or away from what she was hearing as Boyd told his story, backing up toward the wall but staying on the bed. It makes the second she jumps up and rushes to leave for a shower just so much more…Everything.
“I told you—I told all of you! That there was something inside me. Something that—…I begged you to listen. I don’t—I don’t understand what I saw. I don’t know why I saw it. I didn’t—…there’s nothing else I can tell you.” Just phenomenal, how she whips around, back to the room, with that finger up on the first “I told you,” then makes a show of addressing everyone on “I told all of you”. And the way her voice breaks on “nothing else i can tell you” because Fatima is so totally at a loss.
That, like impotent squeezed fist behind her head, then in front of her mouth before she opens it up while still holding the tension and gestures…
Doyle is so…rigid when Sophia prays. And when she prays with Kenny, there’s something about how she leans back and away that is just…so interesting.
Ethan just out with “is Dad dead.” He knows. Sometimes, when you lose someone like that, you know even if you don’t want to think it.
Which makes this so bittersweet of a reference: “Do you remember what Dad said to us? The night when Mom went to the bottle tree and didn’t come home? He said all we have in this place is what we believe. So, we have to believe good things. Right?”
“Mom came home.” “Dad will, too.” Uh. About that.
“It means that, um, God is with us. Even here. I mean, um…how else can you explain such a magical thing to keep the darkness at bay?” YOU TELL ME.
“…this dark place where evil roams so freely.” Uh. You’d know.
Oh. Fatima’s shower. OUCH OUCH OUCH. When she puts her hands on her abdomen? OUCH. All of it. OUCH. Ghafoori, slaying it. (And me.) Fatima has lost a pregnancy or a child—however you want to put it, given something was ripped out of her—her body has been violated. And that’s something, all the supernatural BS aside, that she has to find a way to cope with. That’s real for her.
Such a lovely shot of Boyd’s reflection.
“You know, the only thing that gets me out of bed in the morning is the idea that…maybe j—just—just maybe! We can beat this place. That maybe we can get everybody home. That someday, maybe the good guys actually win. And then, I saw that fu**ing thing in the tunnels, that same godd*** smile. That same—…and I realized. That this place has been three steps ahead of us from the beginning! Just like you said! The game’s rigged! It doesn’t matter what we do; it doesn’t matter what we sacrifice. None of it means a god**mn thing if we can’t—…” He doesn’t even bother finishing before he gets ready to leave. Dude is done-done.
“…if they see you lose faith? Then, that’s when people start hanging themselves in the bathroom.” GET HIM, KRISTI. SHE HAS HAD IT.
That house is haunted AF. Is it the children being mad AF that their mommy is in denial again? Jim? What.
The way “Sophia” spilling her secrets before she murders that man is edited and cut against that awful, grotesque transformation has got to be one of the coolest parts of FROM Season 4 Episode 1. Period. Not only just the “here’s what she really is” reveal, but basically, the more we see of the flashback, the more it’s then cutting to a more unleashed, awakened monster in real time. Fascinating.
“What’s happening to you isn’t fair.” Ya think.
“When you stopped for me, I know you did so with kindness in your heart.” No good deed goes unpunished, eh?
“You must be so afraid. I’m sorry you won’t be here to see what comes next. It’s always my favorite…it’s the part I wish could last forever. Would you like to know why? This is when they tear themselves apart.”
RIP to this man and also to Jim.