FROM Season 4 Episode 9 Review: ‘The Calm Before’

(Warning: Major spoilers for FROM Season 4 Episode 9 “The Calm Before” ahead.)

FROM Season 4 Episode 9 “The Calm Before” manages to simultaneously feel like just another mid-season episode, the beginning of something brand new, and the end of everything. In fact, when Jade and Tabitha enter those tunnels in the hour’s final moments, a combination of the score’s ever-changing tempo, the townspeople’s rush to get ready to pull the tree, and the slow, creeping horror of those monsters making their way to the flimsy tarp separating them from the chamber all combine to make for more of a sense of dread than anything else. It’s not “oh, this is it—everyone’s going home after we pull this off” so much as “holy F***, what now.” And that’s especially true after so many question marks and warnings leading up the big moment.

There are also some surprises along the way, courtesy of the Man in Yellow. As it turns out, the entity made a bargain with Clara when she arrived. And now, payment is due in the form of taking a little special something to Fatima. As a reminder, Fatima’s vital signs indicate she should very much be dead right now. But, instead, she’s doing perfectly normal things like working on jigsaw puzzles and going to bed at night when everyone else does. And all of this is happening after she connected with Smiley and saved Kenny’s life.

Then, as so many people are urgently, anxiously awaiting the signal from Jade and Tabitha so they can pull the tree and get them out to safety with the bones, Elgin finds that old Polaroid of Sophia in town. Poor guy doesn’t stop to think that maybe, in a place like this, old photos of people who are allegedly new to town spell trouble for anyone who uncovers their secret pasts. So, here’s another wrinkle: Just as “Sophia” seems more than just slightly upset to learn it’s only Jade and Tabitha in the tunnel—not a whole crew—she may just be about to be exposed. Although FROM Season 4 Episode 9 leaves that outcome open, it can’t exactly be good for Elgin.

Basically, the Man in Yellow isn’t done playing games with these people. But, at the same time, they’re not done trying to win what may very well be an un-winnable fight. And, with so much at stake and so many questions left unanswered, the wait for the season finale is going to feel like it’s way longer than only a week. Because of all of the above, as well as the as-always strong performance quality from the cast, FROM Season 4 Episode 9 is just the right kind of penultimate episode for a season that has exposed so many brand new truths, all while making any viable answers or solutions feel farther away than ever before. After all, what do we actually know about what comes next? Everything…and nothing.

We’ve learned that this is supposed to be the Man in Yellow’s favorite part of the story, and we know about his ability to turn into “Sophia” (and others who have died in FROMville, as we learn by the end of this hour). There’s also the full extent of his role in Miranda’s death. Then, thanks to how badly Henry handled that information, we’ve also seen that a little drop of blood can go a long way to creating hallucinations of a much, much more comfortable alternate reality. FROM Season 4 has also introduced us to new monsters and shown us how a totem can stop them…but not the Creatures we’ve been afraid of all long. And we know it’s ordinary people—not monsters—who are always responsible for Jade’s many deaths.

Maybe most importantly, we know the bones are the key to getting everyone out of here but not, exactly, how that works. Plus, WTF is the Lake of Tears, and why does Ethan need to find it???? FROM Season 4 Episode 9 seems to warn us that all will not be revealed—yet. With a fifth season coming, that’s a good thing. But as this penultimate hour leads us down into those tunnels with the two people the children insist have to be the ones to take us there, all signs point to this series going four for four with explosive season finales.

MORE: Last season, major “Revelations” were split into two chapters—Episode 9 was Chapter One, and the Season 3 finale was Chapter Two.

Clara’s bargain with the Man in Yellow

FROM Season 4 Episode 9 introduces a twist that, for me, was completely shocking on the first viewing. Clara has been here all along, but she’s mostly seemed to just blend in. Looking back, though, blending in so well while being a character whom other, more central characters refer to by name, might have been a hint or a red flag all along? If nothing else, this certainly encourages a rewatch between seasons—as if anyone ever needs an excuse for that.

At any rate, once “Sophia” reveals her true nature to Clara, things get delightfully dark. Julia Doyle is, as always, fantastic throughout this penultimate hour. There’s that too-innocent, fake-nice, way Sophia asks Clara if she knows who she really is before leaning into the more conspiratorial, sinister “maybe if you look closer.” And although the fun Sophia has and the dynamics Doyle bring to the character all just get better from there, it all goes terribly, creepily downhill from there for Clara.

When they go back to the house together (more like Sophia makes it clear Clara’s coming with her or else), the painfully sloowwwwwwwwwww pacing really draws out the suspense and highlights Clara’s intense fear. That knife behind Sophia’s back, before the way too cheery “come on in,” coupled with the dark and dissonant quality of the score, makes it easy to wonder if Clara’s about to get stabbed. Which, well, she is. Just…not to death. The Man in Yellow could kill her at any time and by much more sinister means—we’ve certainly seen that this season, particularly with that poor pastor—but the Big Bad wants her to feel that fear, that risk of consequences should she fail to obey. And feel it, she most definitely does.

With every nervous swallow, every attempt to make herself shrink and disappear into the wall at her back, and every time we glimpse those eyes widening or shining with unshed tears, Katerina Bakolias sells Clara’s frozen horror. She’s in over her head, she knows it, and no matter how much distance she may try to put between herself and the entity that now basically owns her, Clara knows she has two options here. Do as Sophia says. Or perish, slowly and painfully. Which means she has no options left at all.

Even the painfully stiff way Bakolias walks through the space, especially when she finally goes and sits next to a Sophia who tries to sound oh, so alluring with her invitation, helps sell how hopeless and scary the situation is. There’s also a little bit of resistance in there—an initially unanswered question here, an almost frantic shake of her head no there—but she knows it’s futile. So, she does what Sophia wants.

After Clara gasps out terrified breaths during a blood ritual that Sophia, on the other hand, gets a lot of, uh, pleasure out of, she has to deliver that thermos to Fatima. With the mixed blood in it, no less. It comes in another great few moments from Bakolias, as Clara nervously glances around—and would look incredibly suspicious to anyone who actually saw her. But hey! No one pays attention to the quiet ones, definitely not when internalized fatphobia and misogyny make them invisible—and rushes through spiking the drink. When Fatima initially puts the drink aside without trying it, her disappointment is only outdone by how she responds when Fatima actually does take a drink. Because, well. Now, whatever evil deed the Man in Yellow needed her for is done—to someone like Fatima, who’s only ever been seen as kind and supportive by pretty much everyone.

That agonized, regretful sense of “what have I done” is almost immediate, then becomes stronger as Clara covers her mouth in horror as she leaves. This is the price of making a deal with the devil to save your own skin. Clara learns that the hard way in FROM Season 4 Episode 9. And yet, she doesn’t really learn…does she? Nobody asks her to go tattle about the change in plans. But no matter how afraid she is when she does, she finds Sophia and tells her only Jade and Tabitha are going to retrieve the bones.

And can anyone actually trust the Man in Yellow to let them go home, no matter what the bargain is? I’m going with no. So, whatever she just did to Fatima was probably not, in any way, worth it. Then again, since the series surprised us with giving this too-easily-overlooked character such a huge role to play so close to the end here, who knows?

MORE: Earlier this season, Julia Doyle warned us Sophia had “lots of things up the sleeve” during our interview.

“I don’t know how to help him”

FROM Season 4 Episode 9 sees Henry continuing to visit that vision world. This time, his imaginary(?) counterpart is able to sit up and eat a burger and fries while the “normal” version of Victor presses him to eliminate his anchor to FROMville. But, even inside the comfort a world that feels so much nicer and offers him things like a living daughter, a son who was never traumatized, and even a grandson, Henry can’t fathom hurting any version of Victor. He gets so very agitated when Vision Victor asks him about the anchor, stuttering his way through half-formed thoughts before eventually getting out a firm “I can’t” while he holds those hands out defensively.

But the new Victor is too calm, too happy, too unbothered by his (alleged) dad’s sense of being torn apart. Basically, he doesn’t get it. Not even when Henry explains it in the clearest, most emotional terms possible. “No beca—…because it’s you. Victor, you’re the anchor. You’re the anchor; you’re what’s keeping me there. So, the doctor wants me to eliminate you—to kill you? No.” And then, there’s that extra “I—no!”

Robert Joy is as fantastic as ever here, from that high and helpless first, broken “because,” to his final words, and everything in between. Henry’s struggle is nonstop, and even when he seems like he might consider getting rid of the “fake” version of his son, he just…can’t bear it. It’s like everything in him is breaking at the mere thought. Notably, a reassuring squeeze to his arm from Vision Victor is met with Henry recoiling and trying to pull that hand away. He fails, and eventually gives up, but he tries at first. So, some part of Henry’s mind tries to protect himself—and the real Victor.

It’s as much of a shock to see this not-Victor in the visions as it is to then be thrown back into FROMville and hear our Victor calling out for his dad. I found it totally jarring to see him in all his infinite sadness when some version of him was just so unnaturally full of light and life. And that’s especially true when he gets hurt all over again by Henry pushing him away. Like, has this guy not been through enough? Was being alone in this place as a child, after everyone died, not enough? Honestly, why does this place want to hurt Victor, specifically? At this point, maybe that’s the biggest unanswered question of FROM. Is it a matter of him being the one that got away or what?

Scott McCord shows an inhuman amount of range in FROM Season 4 Episode 9. That other version of Victor is unnervingly believable and real, yet also…wrong in all the right ways. And our Victor, the one we’ve known for four seasons, continue to grow—and drown in increasing layers of suffering. When Victor’s up on that hill talking to his mom, it’s a heartbreaking sort of parallel to Henry’s visit in the previous hour. And, as a surprise to no one, McCord’s as much of a standout here as Joy was there. Every line is delivered with so much raw, deep pain. And every single time McCord pauses, closes those eyes, or opens them to train his gaze everywhere and nowhere at once, it’s just one knife to the chest after another.

There’s a certain sense of awe, a dare to maybe hope, on “Tabitha says we’re gonna go home.” Then, Victor’s quickly back to fully embodying his desperate concern for his dad. “But what if he doesn’t make it that long,” Victor asks the empty space where his mom should be, and next, he reminds us all over again how long he was lonely and unable to learn how to connect with others. “I don’t know things that I’m supposed to say to someone…” he worries. Because he hasn’t developed so-called people skills, never even had a chance to watch and learn, to mask and/or imitate.

But really, do any of us know what to say when we see our loved ones drowning, beyond our grasp? In some situations, the answer is most definitely no. Victor’s as normal as it comes—especially for someone who’s been in FROMville for 40 years. He’s perfect just the way he is. If only his own father would see that, past his own shattered dreams and expectations.

Before he can get everything off his chest, the Boy in White appears and warns Victor about the tree. As we build toward the end of FROM Season 4 Episode 9, it’s this warning and Victor’s attempt to stop the tree’s removal that suddenly brings the hour from just another FROM episode to “oh, right. This is almost the end of the season. Time to rip everyone and everything apart”

Forget the monsters, the magical trees, and the ancient bones. Victor begging and screaming for Boyd and the others to listen to him, then being betrayed in the worst way, makes for some tense, urgent personal drama. That Boyd can cuff Victor—Victor!—as he falls to his knee and wails like that shows just how much is at stake, how much risk could be involved thanks to this ignored warning, and how much desperate people are willing to do whatever it takes to get what they need.

When Victor’s insistent that his friend told him not to cut down the tree, when he becomes increasingly stressed and fidgety, when he raises his voice more and more, and when his already-rough communication methods fail him, McCord is at his absolute best. He’s always brought a remarkable amount of commitment to Victor. But those shrieking, wailing pleas for someone—anyone—to listen and understand he’s “trying to help you” are just out of this world.

I don’t know how to think anything about FROM Season 4 Episode 9 other than justice for Victor. Just one awful blow after another, after another, after another. I also don’t know that there’s any ultimate ending for him other than tragedy because he’s just…he’s the embodiment of tragedy and trauma. That’s something I’m sure I’ve said, in some form or another, before. But watching how even the people who know him treat him, it hit me all over again.

The Man in Yellow told us the people were going to rip themselves apart. I don’t know that anything could confirm that more than everyone just standing there and gawking as Victor’s taken into custody like that. And oh, does it call to mind the many times law enforcement has used excessive force against neurodivergent people because they just fear and brutalize what they refuse to understand. (Too real?)

MORE: Scott McCord and Robert Joy on that vision world.

More FROM Season 4 Episode 9 reactions

That opening scene with Tabitha and Boyd…she is (rightfully) losing her sh** there. Perfect timing for Jade to come plead his case and get the ball rolling on the plan.
“That means it came inside—even with the talisman in the door. It was inside. In the middle of the day.” Anyone else watch this and think, “thank you for catching the F— up” or???
It’s possible I become a bigger fan of David Alpay’s work as Jade, and by extension Jade himself, with every single appearance in every single episode. Just sit back and enjoy as he passionately, breathlessly tries to get through to Boyd. Those sweeping gestures as he talks about wanting to “protect everybody,” the two hands to his chest as he talks about how it’ll be him that goes into the tunnels, and even the way he keeps looking in Tabitha’s direction—even though we don’t see her, we know it’s her direction!—for some kind of…reassurance, or check-in, or something.
10/10 would go down there to dig up bones with him. Any day.
“Boyd, listen. There is no perfect version of a plan, all right? This is it! This is the best chance we’ve got!” Sometimes, as humans, we have to know there are a zillion ways something can go wrong and still try. Yep. Nailed it.
“…wait. What just happened?” BEWILDERED. Like, what do you mean Boyd gave in that quickly/easily?
From awful screaming and nasty, cracky, snappy bones to our self-assured, barely-there “Sophia” smirk. Amazing.
“Just…be careful. We don’t know what any of this means yet.” “Yeah.” “Ok. I love you.” “I love you, too.” Good to see Kristi and Marielle may have argued over how to handle Fatima’s situation, and it may have gotten pretty bad there for a second, but they’re still very much in love and sticking with each other. My girls.
“Sara painted it for me. Isn’t it lovely?” I am, once again, beyond impressed by how Doyle can deliver something so bright and cheery and so unbearably effin’ sinister. Typically, you’d expect one or the other. Or maybe one with undertones—or hints—of the other. But no, the light and the dark are in perfect, heinous balance here.
“You don’t have to be scared.” And water has never once been wet.
“That. Day we met I…started to wonder if it was real. Are you really gonna let me go home?” Love that gasp after “I” and the shaky, nervous voice quality Bakolias maintains throughout this reading.
“Oh, no. You see…when they go into those tunnels tomorrow, that’s not gonna work out very well. They have the right idea, of course, but…this place, it’s built on ritual. And with rituals, how you do something is just as important as what you do.” Pair this with how she responds to hearing it’s only Jade and Tabitha at the end. Guess she was sure one, or both, of them would stay behind. So, question: Are they finally getting the how right this time?????
“Do you like games, Clara?” Ok, Ghostface.
“Answer me when I ask you a question.” Again with revealing the threat underneath this “friendly” conversation. Here, it’s a little bit more subtle, but that makes it more serious at the same time. Genius.
EVIL GRIN. “I love them.”
In which Donna is, once again, the most rational and sane person in this place. “And how are the people in the tunnels gonna protect themselves while they’re digging? Those things down there wake up, they’re f**ked!” Love the giant “are y’all crazy” look and tone from Elizabeth Saunders when Donna asks this.
“It’ll work.” This is…Boyd’s trying to convince himself by trying to convince her.
“Listen, I don’t want to be the a—hole…but once you pull out that tree, it’s like opening a window. Talismans or not, those things are coming inside! Whoever’s in that tunnel is gonna get slaughtered—long before they climb that ladder.” But how does she know? (Or does she?)
“It’s why they’re buried. Those things down there are afraid of them. I could feel it in my trip. Once we have the bones out of the ground, they will keep those things from coming into the chamber…at least long enough for everyone to get out.” The thing is, when Alpay plays Jade as so thoughtful, with that profound sense of awe, I’m with him. This is Jade recognizing true, ancient knowledge.
…but also, points have been made: “You are putting a whole lot of faith in a handful of mushrooms.”
“Of course not. You have figured out just enough to get yourself killed but not what to do…” Love how Saunders kind of whisper-yells that first sentence and then builds to actually raising her voice. Then, by the end of the conversation, when we get to why Donna’s questioning everything like this—the desperation for this to be a real way to go home. That emotion on “I know! I just hope you’re right!” says it all—the volume is the highest.
“I um, I don’t know how to say this, but…Fatima…” Really, really interesting how the sound is used here. Like, the farther Boyd and Kristi get from the others, the less the audience gets to hear, too.
“Did someone bring it? In their car?” And “who travels with a…carousel horse?” You know, Henry is making oddly lucid points here.
“Nothing really turns out the same here.”
“That—that broken boy who grew up alone, he’s not…he’s not real.”
“But how could I? Even if—even if I wanted to…how could I…with my bare hands?” No, really. HOW COULD YOU. Like, HOW COULD YOU EVEN THINK OF IT.
“Dad, please, I—…” “I need you to just…I need to be alone right now.” My dude, if you can’t even look him in the eyes, that’s your sign you shouldn’t even be considering this.
Harold Perrineau absolutely kills it with Boyd’s reaction to the latest Fatima news. Unsurprising there, but I still need to say it. The way he’s just sunk in that chair and working those hands together, before he shoots out of the chair on that “I can’t!” and lets out so much emotion…It’s like Boyd wishes he could physically attack the hopelessness of it all. He can’t stand being unable to protect his family.
It’s also killing him that all he’s got left is putting everything into Jade’s plan and trying to get it to work out by sheer force of will.
“We’re gonna go home,” as he’s bent over that table for support. Because, right now, he’s carrying way too much weight. No strength left to stand up all the way. Perrineau portrays all that desperation for this to work so beautifully well, and every single lingering doubt is on vulnerable, naked display. Especially in that second, quieter, “we’re gonna go home.”
I’m going to need future Julie to story walk to current Julie and smack her upside the head. Enough.
Where’s Victor to be like “ok but that actually did happen” when you need him?? Like, yes, Julie. YOU ABSOLUTELY SAW THE MAN IN YELLOW EATING PEOPLE. THAT HAPPENED. YOU WALKED THROUGH THE STORY.
…frustrating AF.
But interesting that her trying to invalidate her mom’s memories by bringing her the talisman turns out to be useful. Tabitha sitting with that thing is what, ultimately, gets the children signaling to her that she has to go down in the tunnels. And—hopefully!—that means she’s finally going to get the ritual right.
“It’ll make you feel better, I promise.” A lie.
Now, how is she going to see Fatima at Colony House? What does she know?
“That means you’re not even there. But I don’t know where else to go…” He totally breaks on “that means you’re not even there.” (And so did I when I heard it.) The closed eyes, all that pain, the wait. He is at a loss. And then, he rushes through, tears in his voice, a scared kid, on “I think there’s something wrong with Dad, and I—I don’t know how to help him.”
I also love the way McCord breathes in all this. Breath can make such a huge difference in a performance, and he gets it.
The way McCord’s voice wavers when Victor asks the Boy in White what he wants…
“You can’t let that happen.” Most emotion from the Boy in White in a while.
At the heart of every dangerous decision these people make, it’s all about caring for their families and wanting to get them to safety. That would be beautiful, if it weren’t for all the horrors. Eh. Still is beautiful, really—in spite of the horrors.
Harold Perrineau. My God. This whole scene.
“I just want you to know…that I’m not here for me.” The way he puts his head down, worrying his hands, before he looks back up with so much defiance! “I don’t f**kin’ like you. I think I’ve made that pretty clear. I’ve made peace with whatever sh** you got planned for me. I’m here for my son; I’m here for Fatima.” All those little empty, helpless gestures and the pleading in Perrineau’s eyes on “don’t do this. You hear me? Whatever this sh— is you’re pulling, don’t do this. Whatever it is you have against me, there are good. People here. Get these people home.”
Just…what a powerhouse.
“The voices were wrong. We—we saved her….didn’t we?” Perrineau’s emotion at the end there about killed me. That tiny voice on “didn’t we?” especially. Poor Boyd wants to feel hope so badly. But some part of him, I think, knows. Especially when Sara stands there, so troubled, but not offering him any lies or empty reassurances.
“I think this place tries to make us afraid so we won’t believe in the things that can help us. All those things you remember? You should listen to what it’s trying to tell you. Don’t be scared to believe.” Fascinating that Ethan begins to doubt his dad’s Lake of Tears advice…but still commits to reassuring his mom about her memories.
The timing of the children showing up in the middle of a mother/son moment is…a lot.
“Why won’t he help us? Victor, there are things here—there are things here that play games with us. And I think this little boy is one of those things.” Can we talk about how insane it is that Boyd’s questioning the one person/thing that kept Victor company all this time and gave him survival advice, when everyone’s just…sharing their plans with Sophia??? The new girl in town? Ok. I don’t expect anyone in FROMville to see this clearly because they’re under way too much stress. But still. This is messy work.
If ACAB didn’t include Boyd Stevens before, it sure TF does now.
I don’t understand how Tabitha can be here to save the children or whatever, when she just…hears that suffering in Victor’s “TABITHAAAA!” and…doesn’t make Boyd let him go. The same goes for Jade. He at least looks like Victor’s warnings affect him. But neither one of these people steps in to help him. In fact, no one does.
“We only get to do this once. And I think here, in this place, the way that we do this matters.” A theme of FROM Season 4 Episode 9.
THAT BELL AT DUSK. You know sh**’s about to get real.
Tag yourself. I’m Bakta giving Sophia that “WTF” look.
It can control the monsters. Confirmed.
…annnnd she cuts the rope ladder. Great job inviting her to the diner, kids.
See, when Boyd and Kenny enjoy the last of Father Khatri’s stash, it’s giving “tomorrow, we die.” Real end of the world vibes, not celebrating upcoming freedom.
Eh. The majority of this hour screams “END TIMES A’COMIN’.”
“How are the bones going to protect you?” “It’s just the way they work.”
Tabitha and Julie hugging that tightly? Oh, yeah. Sh**’s about to get really, really bad.
Out of all of Tabitha’s “crazy decisions,” Catalina Sandino Moreno told us “leaving her children” was the hardest to understand. And that was before we got to this point in the story.
“You’re lucky.” “Why is that?” “Not a single person here tried to talk me out of this.” I VOLUNTEER.
“You ready?” “Not really.” Us, preparing for the finale, I fear.
Everything down in that tunnel. Just…everything. SO GOOD.
I also know I already mentioned the score up in the intro, but never, ever sleep on FROM‘s score. It is always both gorgeous and instructive.
Jade trying to reassure Tabitha and keep her on task? My heart.
The rush, the urgency, the monsters waking up, the…ALL OF IT.
That blurry shot of the monsters is so F—in’ cool.
“You know, you really shouldn’t be doing that.”
Breathless, terrified “Jade.”
Now what???? Where’s the rest????