FROM Season 4 Episode 2 Review: ‘Fray’

(Warning: Major spoilers for FROM Season 4 Episode 2 “Fray” ahead.)

In FROM Season 4 Episode 2 “Fray,” the residents of FROMville wake up to a new day…and a new death. It’s not a new one for viewers, as we saw the Man in Yellow rip out Jim’s throat to end the Season 3 finale and even witnessed the light going out of his eyes as he bled out in the Season 4 premiere. That makes the actual reveal much more impactful and what was always going to be an emotional hour, given that the two children we’ve followed since the beginning just lost their father, so much more agonizing to watch. Furthermore, the hour’s big surprise—that the bloody, dripping bag hung from the MOTEL sign isn’t the body we expect because that one is in the barn—is exceptionally well done.

Let this be a warning: When watching this series, even when the audience knows something the onscreen characters don’t, it turns out that we still don’t know much of anything at all. We’re just as in the dark as the residents of FROMville, but unlike them, at least we’re not surrounded by the monsters that come out at night.

MORE: It’s early in the season, but FROM has already shocked us with the truth of our newest arrival’s identity—check out our Julia Doyle interview for more on Sophia.

Knowledge comes at a cost

There are a lot of really well done moments in FROM Season 4 Episode 2, and some don’t even have anything to do with the Matthews family. But the bulk of this hour is all about them…what’s left, at least. Catalina Sandino Moreno, Hannah Cheramy, and Simon Webster just absolutely kill it from start to finish. And I honestly can’t even decide what the biggest heartbreaker is or even who delivers it. Is it that first glimpse of Tabitha on the porch, the instant grief and shock as she says “oh God, no”? Ethan coming out and practically begging his mom to say no as he just keeps asking over and over “is that my dad?” Julie’s quiet, whispered “Mom”?

Those all certainly set the tone, at least, for what winds up being an hour-long glimpse into what it is for a family to experience a fresh loss so terrible, it defies all the pain and horror that’s come before. And the kids—the kids!—have to find Jim’s corpse, dangling upside down with his chest ripped open. Of course, that comes with a grave warning painted on the barn wall: “KNOWLEDGE COMES AT A COST.” After Boyd tries so hard to shield Ethan, he catches him and scoops him up, lifting him like he’s nothing mid-run; after Tabitha pleads with both of her children, hands lovingly caressing their faces, to please go to the barn as she takes that horrible burden of seeing what everyone expects to be Jim’s remains on herself…it’s still, ultimately, them who find their dad. And they do it, alone, just the two of them.

What an awful, hopeless message that sends. Tabitha and Jade have been coming back to this place to save the children for so many cycles, but she can’t even save her current, living children from witnessing something that’s equal parts horror for horror’s sake and a horror because of the grief it causes. All that agony Tabitha experiences, crouched on the ground as she watches Boyd and Jade get that bag down and all the emotion she battles as she prepares to look inside, all that strength it takes to do this—it’s all for nothing. How utterly and completely bleak.

FROM Season 4 Episode 2 is crafted, with the score like a simultaneous death knell and heartbeat, and the suspense of watching Sandino Moreno build that emotion, and the pause Cheramy and Webster take at that barn door, in such a way that we feel Jim’s death just as his family does. It doesn’t matter if we already saw him die, or if he was…not a favorite character, to put it politely. We still feel it. The slow motion unraveling, coupled with that gut-wrenching wail from Julie, is stunning.

And I never thought I’d say this—especially with how completely foolish she is later in the hour—but thank God for Acosta. Because while the other adults stand there, frozen, she takes off the second she hears Julie. And, when Boyd tries to scoop both kids up in his arms and hold them, he can’t stay with them and protect them like he knows someone needs to. There’s too much else to do. So, Acosta springs right into action off his helpless, pleading look even as she can’t stand him or any of the people there. So, yeah. In that moment, I’m grateful. Otherwise…not so much.

So, to my earlier point: I still don’t know what part of FROM Season 4 Episode 2 made me feel like my own heart was ripped out of my chest more. Tabitha absolutely collapsing to her knees, doubled over in the face of such destruction? Ethan’s impotent, childish anger back at the house? What about the physicality in the way Tabitha tries to scrub away that message—but can’t—and, when that doesn’t work for taking out her own anger at the whole thing, she just takes it out on Jade while he…stands there and lets her? On the Tabitha front, maybe it’s her tearful goodbye to her “everything,” her “person” as she strokes that corpse’s hand and kisses it, then puts her own hand against what used to be Jim’s cheek. Ethan’s ghostly visitation from his dad is a heartbreaker all its own, too.

But then, there’s the action Julie takes after losing her father, as well. It’s one that we know, on some level, is futile. At the very least, she’s going to have to go through it over and over again. Because, as we saw at the end of last season, some future version of her tries so hard to get her dad out of harm’s way…and fails. How many times will she fail, between this episode’s first attempt—one she’s willing to make no matter what it does to her physically or how it terrifies her, one she’s so desperate to make Randall promise to let her suffer for long enough to make it count?—and that failed attempt at Jim’s actual time of death?

As we watch FROM Season 4 Episode 2, what we see isn’t only about the family learning Jim’s dead, or about finding out just how much more FROMville can F*** with everyone—viewers included. There’s also a very real look at what grief can do to a person. It’s that recklessness of Julie’s, wanting to undo what might not be reversible even within the series’ supernatural framework. There’s Tabitha’s regret and pouring her heart out with all the things she wish she’d said, all the things she fears Jim never really knew about how she actually felt. Then, there’s all that anger and blame: The kids wanting to know what their mom did so their dad never came home, Tabitha lashing out at Jade, Ethan breaking whatever he can get his little hands on. And, of course, the actual overwhelming sadness lives alongside all of the above.

What a remarkable, gutsy, gutting ride.

MORE: Last season’s second episode also featured the town grieving a major loss—Tian Chen. At the time, we interviewed Ricky He about that emotional episode.

“The memories…everything they showed us. It’s real.”

The barn scene in FROM Season 4 Episode 2 is one of the absolute best. While Tabitha was busy digging for answers in Season 3, it was always Jade who supported her and believed her when Jim just wanted her to stop. And now, Jim’s dead. Jade’s not only the one who’s still alive, but now, he’s in the difficult position of having to point out to Tabitha that this means their generations-long past, everything with the children, and the tree, and the red rocks, and the lullaby—it’s real. In the face of this place trying to stop them from going farther on their journey together, he’s the one who, despite very clearly struggling with it because he knows how much the Matthews family is hurting, has to try to pull Tabitha back into the fight.

So, Jade approaches her, staying at a safe distance that, thanks to interesting camera work and editing, looks like it’s miles away. And he says Tabitha’s name—cautiously, yet with a profound sort of weight and meaning to it. She’s not in a place to have any conversation with him at all, though. (To say the least.) Sandino Moreno’s first “get out” is angry enough—a warning, almost—but that second, shouted “I SAID GET OUT!” is so furious, so powerful, it would probably make someone less stubborn and less sure of what needs to happen next break. That’s not Jade, though. He stays, raising his voice enough for his “this means it’s real” to be heard over the sound of more violent wiping at the message on the wall.

And the rest of what Jade has to say about the children comes out of Alpay with a hushed sort of awed quality to it. He tries, so very hard, to stay calm and focused, even though he knows Tabitha doesn’t want to hear what he has to say. As he tries to explain that this is what this place wants—to scare them—Tabitha just gets nastier and nastier. First, she’s so very condescending as she asks Jade if he understands that her husband’s dead. And then, when she finally crosses the distance between them, it’s because he mentions thinking about her children. Does she think he means those children and not the two living, breathing ones who are grieving their dad? And does it matter which children he means? Beating this place is the only way to save any of them.

Whatever intense level of emotion Sandino Moreno has brought to the scene, and really to the entirety of FROM Season 4 Episode 2 before this, it gets so much uglier here. Tabitha looks at Jade with a level of disgust and hatred that he probably doesn’t deserve. But it’s completely understandable, considering how she feels right now. Although his timing might be bad or a bit soon, it’s not like anyone in FROMville has time to delay if there’s anything at all that could save them.

As Tabitha gets right up in his face, she leans in close, putting pure venom behind those F yous (especially the second one). All the while, Jade just stands there and lets himself be a punching bag, with the way Alpay remains calm while bracing for impact really remarkable in the moment. Eventually, when Tabitha accuses him of not caring about anyone but himself, Jade struggles—jaw working aimlessly at first—until he gets out “that is not true.” Still not a fight, yet the only time he won’t–can’t—take the blame from her. So, as she continues to struggle with so much pain, Tabitha works herself up for the kill shot: “It should’ve been you. Hanging from the f***ing rafter. It should’ve been you.”

With Jim’s death, the same Tabitha who was determined to “just. Keep. Digging” last season, is backing off. Just like this place wants—and just like Jade is trying to have her not do. In a lot of ways, Jade is exactly the opposite of Jim. Last season, Henry gave Jim the good advice to “shut the F— up and listen.” Interestingly, that’s exactly what Jade does here, for the most part. He doesn’t rise to her level and shout back; he just tries, so carefully, to nudge her back on track. It’s a fascinating difference, especially considering the ancient sort of ties between these characters. And it’s just understated, yet excellent, work from Alpay.

Not taking the bait, not letting things devolve into a shouting match when someone is obviously hurting and needs to attack something, anything—even someone—is impossible work. But Jade pulls it off, all as Alpay shows what it costs him. The question becomes…is this just a repeat of every other time these souls have come to this place? Do they always push as much as they can until something rips them apart and forces them to stop? If so, can they get back to work in time to make a difference this time?

MORE: David Alpay’s thoughts on those big revelations in the Season 3 finale.

More FROM Season 4 Episode 2 reactions

• Sophia’s over-the-top sobbing for sympathy to distract Kenny from the fact that she was outside without the monsters actually attacking her…worked. But check out that tiny glimpse of her true nature right there at the end of the scene. Julia Doyle is so much fun in this role, I almost want to support all the evil.
• …but only almost.
• I also assume the little trip outside in the middle of the night was all about preparing those little, uh, gifts for the Matthews family.
• Nathan D. Simmons and Harold Perrineau are excellent in the scene where Boyd tells Elgin what the story about his eye is going to be. Elgin is so afraid. He just keeps putting as much distance as possible between himself and Boyd, while trying to keep himself as small as possible. And Boyd…continues to be a mess after recent events. He’s erratic, fidgeting as he wraps up the cord, angrily shoving everything into that duffel bag before (ultimately) kicking it under the bed anyway. Desperate to wrap this up, yet dreading actually looking into that one wary eye of Elgin’s dead on.
• And he gets so frustrated and aims for “scary” instead of business-like when Elgin gives the tiniest bit of pushback with that quiet, genuinely curious, “…and if I don’t?”
• “They’re gonna find out. One way or another, the truth always comes out.” And mannn, that brief look down in regret and defeat on Boyd is a moment. But when he turns back, it’s right back to intimidation. “Well, if I was you. I would make sure it doesn’t.” It’s a deadly calm sort of threat…
• …but also: That is totally at odds with the town’s warning to everyone, isn’t it? So, is it inevitable that these people will find all the knowledge they seek?
• The sound’s great there, too. The loud, final slam of the door. The clanging of the tools in the bag, both when Boyd drops it and when he kicks it under the bed…Viewers are totally witnessing that part of FROM Season 4 Episode 2 from Elgin’s perspective.
• That jukebox is too spot on and way too peppy for what’s about to happen.
• Always here for a long look at yourself in the mirror—this time, for Boyd.
• “It’s not him, right? It’s not him.” Uh. Technically, Ethan’s correct here…
• “We’re gonna find him.” “Promise?” No answer…kind of makes Julie demanding a promise out of Randall later on hit that much harder, to look back on this.
• This series doesn’t get enough praise for its score. But wow, the score during the buildup to everyone seeing what’s in the bag. So good.
• Fascinating how Jade’s kind of framed in some of these shots of Tabitha on the floor on the barn. Always on the outside looking in…and when we do see his actual expression, he’s having a series of terrible realizations of his own.
• “Sophia” in her rigid posture, praying over dead “Daddy” while that expression on her face, which Kenny can’t see, is just the Man in Yellow loving every minute of what he/she/they know is happening to the residents right now.
• “He’s kinda the guy that holds this whole place together.” When you unwittingly tell the Big Bad how to destroy all of you at once.
• What an image of that long walk through town as Boyd pushes the wheelbarrow with Jade and Ellis on either side of him. And, once again, the score is fantastic.
• “We need to clean him up before Tabitha and the kids see him.” “…yeah.” First of all, interesting that Boyd doesn’t correct Ellis and let him know they all already have seen Jim. Second, Jade is struggling through all sorts of guilt and dread there.
• Ellis and Boyd with their twin “WTF now” side-eyes at Jade’s “we need to talk” would be hilarious if everything wasn’t so painful right now.
• “They found Jim. In the barn this morning.” “Is he…um…?” And just that look from Sara says everything. Great work from Avery Konrad.
• I love the scene where Boyd reacts to what Jade and Tabitha learned. Instead of sitting through the story about the trees again, which would be a bit of an insult to viewers’ intelligence, it’s just the direct aftermath of Jade’s retelling. But, in case we do need a small reminder, the camera sends us all those long looks at all those charts full of dates and various other information up there on the wall
• “Angkhoeey. It means remember. And we did. Knowledge comes at a cost? That’s why they wrote it. They killed Jim because of us.” I also particularly love the line reading from David Alpay here. There’s a lot more of that usual “true believer” aspect to Jade here, which makes the very simple way he just says “and we did” really land as the obvious answer it is.
• “So, what do we do now? Assuming you’re right. That you and Tabitha have been coming back here over, and over, and over. That these kids keep calling you back to help them. How do we do it? How do you begin to save something that’s…already dead?” “I don’t know. I’m working on it.” Jade’s so quiet here, just staring at all his work looking for clues, only for Perrineau’s “work harder” to actually come out as hard from Boyd.
• That calculating look from Cheramy as Julie’s sitting there, trying to soothe a (supposedly) sleeping Ethan.
• Donna looks like she wants to go to Julie so bad. I mean, check out the fidgeting! But like, what do you do for someone here?
• Julie letting herself finally break and be vulnerable around Randall is a lot.
• “I don’t give a sh**. Do you understand? I don’t f**king care!”
• “I think they’re doing it to stop us from digging further. They’re trying to make us afraid.” “Well, then, it worked. Because I’m F—ing terrified.”
• “What do you know? Huh? What do you know? Do you want to go back? To the bottle tree and play your stupid violin! Because you have nothing to lose…because you don’t give a sh— about anybody but yourself.” Just. OUCH.
• “It’s kind of nice, though. I mean, there’s a part of them that’s still here. A part that’s…not forgotten.” This would be a really lovely sentiment coming from anyone else. From Sophia/Man in Yellow, I wonder if they’re trophies? Something the entity needs to keep this place what it is? Just forgotten trash?
• I want to take that little ceramic ballerina home, though. Like, I get that it’s probably cursed. But. Yeah. I like it anyway.
• Super moment from Konrad when “Sophia” asks Sara about family. Such a haunted expression, all as Sara’s trying so hard to remain outwardly pleasant.
• “The f*** are they going?!” A. QUESTION.
• What a waste of time. All Acosta accomplishes is flattening the ambulance’s tires so they have one less getaway vehicle if anyone gets stuck outside at night. Oh, and it’s a distraction so Ethan can slip out past Donna. Congrats. Idiot.
• I hate how much I love Randall and Julie together. Might hate how much I love Randall now even more. He used to be such a d-bag.
• “What happened…with your dad.” The way Julie just turns away and tries so hard to avoid this (but can’t)!
• “…what you’re going through right now…Hey. You gotta take a breath.” “And what? What do I do then? Huh? I am telling you. When I walked into those ruins, I went somewhere. Ok? And if I did it once, I can do it again. Even if there’s the slightest fu—ing chance, I have to try. Please.” I, too, would relent (after just enough of a pause to talk myself into it) in the face of someone begging me like that.
• That whole solo scene of Sandino Moreno’s? Gutting. And Tabitha’s message to Jim is so beautifully written and just…well. I think I’ve used this word a lot in discussing FROM Season 4 Episode 2, but it’s heartbreaking. It’s also messy, and raw, and real. That “but you were still my person” is absolutely everything. That’s it—that’s the difficult, messy, yet ultimately simple, nature of that kind of love.
• “I’m so afraid you didn’t know that.”
• Yes, I want to throttle Acosta for this stupid AF little attempt at a getaway. But. Well. “You guys just hang your rocks at night. You pretend you’re safe, thinking that Sheriff Boyd is gonna, what? Somehow save you? Let me tell you something. Boyd? Boyd doesn’t know what he’s doing. None of you people know what the f**k you’re doing.” Technically? She’s right. (Thanks. I hate it.)
• Whole drive’s worth it for Kristi’s shady, little squint and side-eye while she slouches and looks over, all, “but you do.” The “b**ch, please” there is silent, yet loud.
• HENRY AND VICTOR. MY HEART. Robert Joy and Scott McCord continue to be such a gift. Poor Victor is completely melting down, worried his dad will be next because “it takes everything good away.” And Henry, seeing everything that’s happened so far, is just grateful to have this time with his son. The world’s completely falling apart around them, wasn’t exactly in great shape before, and Henry wouldn’t trade a single second of it for going back to how it was before. Amazing. That—that—IS LOVE.
• “Hey, hey, hey, hey hey. Listen. No one should have come to this place…none of us! But you know. We’re here.” HIS HAND ON VICTOR’S FACE. “You and me. And we’re together. I’ll take that any day of the week—no matter what gets written on the, on the walls. we…we face this together, ok? Ok?” No, seriously. MY HEART.
• The hug while Victor basically just…whimpers???
• The callbacks to the night they were stuck in the camper, both in Julie’s story walk and Ethan’s ghost visitation—that’s gotta mean something, right??
• And now, we know why Future Julie has short hair.
• Randall is fighting himself not to go stop this because he promised.
• The sobbing as Randall holds her???
• “The real reason we don’t try harder? Is because every time we do, somebody fu**ing dies. Do you know how many people I’ve known? Who thought they knew exactly what this place is? How many theories I’ve listened to on why we’re all here? Or brilliant ideas on how to get out? Do you want to know what they all have in common? They’re all F—ing dead. There is no way out.”
• “He’s fine.” Tag yourself: I’m Kristi. Because this: “He’s a f***ing kid in the woods whose father just died. Pull over!”
• “Get the F— out the car. GET THE FUUU**K OUT!” OMG GET HER BOYD.
• “What the f*** is wrong with you?! Huh? YOU COULD’VE KILLED SOMEBODY! DO YOU KNOW THAT?” OMG the way he’s all muttering as he cuffs her. Relatable. “F**kin’ driving like a crazy f—ing person out here.”
• “Ethan.” “…what?”
• “I thought maybe I could send Thomas a message. The real Thomas. That he should look for you. So you wouldn’t be alone.” Everything hurts. Right there.
• What a bittersweet way for an innocent child to get to say goodbye to his dad.
• “You’re not staying, are you?” “I wish that I could.” This, especially after the Victor/Henry scene…ouch.
• What is a Lake of Tears, and why does Ghost Jim need Ethan to find it???

Agree? Disagree? What did you think of FROM Season 4 Episode 2 “Fray”? Leave us a comment!

New episodes release Sundays at 9:00pm ET/PT on MGM+.