FROM Season 4 Episode 4 Focuses on Characters Over Chaos

Critic’s Rating: 4.3 / 5.0

4.3

I think we all need to consider what a filler episode of television is.

By its very definition, they are installments that don’t advance the main plot, and honestly, a true filler episode is one that’s just there to fill space and can ultimately be skipped because it’s that inconsequential.

FROM doesn’t have any filler episodes.

Now, having said that, it doesn’t mean there aren’t sluggish hours that feel stagnant and more focused on world-building, but at a snail’s pace.

FROM Season 4 Episode 3 fell under that category for me.

It wasn’t bad by any definition, and it did advance the plot, probably in many more ways than we realize at this point. But it wasn’t necessarily that super-entertaining, fast-paced hour that throws everything into chaos, like certain FROM episodes have been known to do.

At this point in FROM Season 4, things have pretty consistently slowed down, which makes me feel like they are setting everything up to be ramped up to 1000 towards the latter half of the season.

We’re already a quarter of the way through the season, and we’ve seen, what, one night so far?

I fall into the disgruntled category at times with this show because when questions continuously beget more questions, it can get very tedious. Then I remember that this show clearly has a plan, and each step will be crucial in getting us to the endgame.

They are cooking up something, and when the hours are subdued, it’s probably the most important time to be paying attention.

FROM Season 4 Episode 4 was also not some barn-burning spectacle, and if you love exploring deep character dynamics, then this should have been right up your alley.

For instance, I’ve been wondering how many people actually know about Tabitha and Jade’s reincarnation information, and I got my answer with that little gathering at the post office after Henry left.

And while it makes sense not to just spread that kind of news around town hastily, they should tell Henry. He deserves to know.

Sometimes I want to play the ‘Who has it worst in there?’ game, and then I realize the answer will always be Victor.

But consider Henry for a second, because even though he just got there, his adult life has been an absolute nightmare, and then, to top it off, he’s transported to the very hellhole that took his family from him.

At least, seemingly, some of these people had somewhat decent lives before they got there.

Yes, Henry has been reunited with Victor, but my goodness, his brain must be on overload trying to process things in ways no one else there has to.

After Victor saw the yellow suit and was completely terrified, Henry did what he could to get him to open up to him, and I was actually surprised at how quickly Victor was willing to share with his father.

So many things happen on this series that it’s nearly impossible to keep everything straight, and I couldn’t remember what the connection was between Victor and The Man in the Yellow Suit.

It tracks now why the man shapeshifted into Sophia, because Victor would have recognized him as the person eating his mother after she was killed.

One of the big lingering questions right now is just exactly who that man is and what his relevance is to this whole story. Is he the main puppeteer? Is he the original monster who offered those parents immortality in exchange for their children?

He’s more powerful than anyone else we’ve met on this show, even more than the monsters, but it was interesting that the one time he seemed to be slightly off his game was when Julie encountered him during one of her storywalking adventures.

Storywalking sounds horrific, especially in a place like that.

Stepping into some unknown past event while you are having a seizure in your current timeline, where anyone can apparently attack you in the past event, sounds terrifying.

Instead of grieving her father, Julie seems determined to throw herself into this mission with the very slim chance she’ll be able to do the one thing she’s been told she can’t do: change a story that’s already been written.

Julie and Randall are a very unlikely duo to take on this mission, and I’m glad Tabitha finally had a conversation with Randall, even if I never saw their dynamic as inappropriate.

There are a lot of people in that town who would have absolutely no reason to coexist if not for some awful circumstances, and with Julie and Randall, theirs feels like a relationship born from not having anyone else there.

Julie has her family, of course, but she hasn’t been close with Fatima and Ellis since FROM Season 1. And Randall’s not exactly liked by anyone, so the two of them teaming up doesn’t seem as ridiculous when you put all that into perspective.

It also seems like, at this point, Randall’s not nearly as convinced by anything Julie says, but he also feels he has to protect her from herself in some ways.

I won’t pretend to fully understand the bookmark because the way FROM presents information is convoluted. Maybe that’s my problem, though.

But the theory was that you draw a symbol and leave it at the particular point in the story, then it’ll appear in the bookmark that was left behind once you’re pulled out of the story.

She’d then be able to pick what part of the story she wanted to jump into. Or something like that. So, a living bookmark.

Of course, she was dropped into another terrible moment, which was seemingly the aftermath of the town’s slaughter, when The Man in the Yellow Suit was feasting on someone.

But unlike the last time she saw him, he didn’t find her appearance funny.

If anything, he was frustrated by it, which makes you wonder whether she was never supposed to get that far. But the night of Jim’s death was also clearly past this point, which you could tell by her shorter hair.

This is very confusing, and it was made even more confusing by the fact that the bookmark thing didn’t even work.

I’m wondering if maybe she needs to bring something definitive back from the events she’s walking into. Maybe she needs to take something from someone to bring it back to her own timeline, and that will let her jump right back to the same place.

Time travel makes me dizzy, but this one has the added element of also just being extremely creepy.

While being able to pick what part of the story you enter would be a good thing, especially since she’s going in blind, I keep thinking about the fact that she’s been explicitly told she won’t be able to change the story.

I’d try to figure out whether that can be reversed before doing anything else.

It’s going to be so interesting when she actually tells people about this ability because it could be a real game-changer if it’s actually something Julie can learn to control in any discernible way.

It feels like one of Sophia’s main jobs will eventually be trying to destroy everyone actively seeking answers, and I’d imagine Julie would be high on that list.

Many people rightly predicted that Sophia would latch onto Sara, and she wasted no time doing so. To be fair to Sara, she was placed in a terrible situation.

I find myself having a lot more complicated feelings about Sara than I did a season or two ago when I automatically branded her as some kind of evil.

That place has turned nearly everyone into a version of themselves they would never be under normal circumstances, and even if you can still be upset with the choices being made, it’s naïve and unfair to completely discount the fact that the place has power over people.

Sophia preyed on Sara, appealing to that part of her that, despite everything, still wants some kind of companionship, and then struck her with those thoughts to see what Sara would be willing to do at this point.

And kudos to Sara for fighting those voices, even though she was conflicted at first.

Bakta’s words to her were kind, some would argue kinder than Sara deserved, but also a testament to how Sara has changed since FROM Season 1. She’s kept her head down, and she’s actually been way more helpful than detrimental.

If we ignore her ripping Elgin’s eyeball out, she’s actually been a pretty top-notch citizen.

Is it wild to feel sorry for Sara? Now that Sophia has her proof that she can manipulate Sara again, I fear for what she’ll be made to do.

Though I wonder if this version of Sara, the one who immediately told Elgin about the voices and didn’t keep it inside, would confide in others and try to get ahead of things, even if she was told not to.

Sara seems to be in a place where she’s willing to do difficult things for the greater good, but I can’t see this Sara trying to kill someone because the monsters told her to.

Not without trying to find another way.

Speaking of the monsters, we found out why Fatima needed all that soil, and it was a lot less odd or sinister than expected.

Fatima struggling in the aftermath of what happened to her makes all the sense in the world, as does the monster’s continued toying with her emotions. It must be downright awful to still feel that tether to something you would give anything to forget.

So, on the surface, finding anything that will give you a sense of peace feels appropriate, but Boyd and Kenny’s concern was warranted.

You watch people lose themselves in that place, and they were right to press Fatima a little bit about why she was creating a monster out of mud in the attic of the Colony House.

It was nice to get a little window into her feelings that wasn’t just her brushing off concerns or — rightfully — expressing anger, but instead being vulnerable and open about the emotions swirling inside her.

And we were treated to many small moments of vulnerability, like Ethan straight-up telling his mom he didn’t tell her about the Lake of Tears because he knew she wouldn’t believe him.

Tabitha’s got a lot on her plate, and it’s fairly obvious that she loves her children and is trying her best, but she sometimes doesn’t seem to understand them on a very fundamental level.

Ethan’s a child. He’s the youngest person currently there. There are going to be things he does to help himself process the carnage around him, and some of those things may be retreating into his mind or believing in things that may seem unconventional or not real to others.

But nothing about their current reality makes any goddamn sense, so why act like the things Ethan believes are foolish?

When Ethan found that beautiful bird, I thought the water from the lake would make him fly again, and there would be this wonderful moment when Ethan finally felt hopeful.

Instead, I audibly said, “Now, what the hell!” when something rose from the bottom of the lake.

Knowing FROM, it’s going to be something weird, and not a bunch of dead animals or bodies. It’ll likely be something that makes them all overthink, creating more doubt and more unease, and they’ll have all night to think about it while they sleep out there in the woods.

Can’t wait for next week!  

Loose Ends

• Tabitha apologizing to Jade was nice because what she said was out of pocket. At some point this season, those two will need to get on the same page again.

• So, what’s going on with Boyd? What are the theories? He is seeing things and dreaming about his wife. It feels like there’s some kind of message or sign being sent, but what is it?

• I’m choosing to ignore Donna basically telling Tabitha that she would sacrifice herself for her because it sounded too much like foreshadowing, and I don’t have time to imagine FROM without Donna.

• Jade’s mushroom trip coming next week, then?

• Kenny’s face when he saw Fatima with all of that mud was unintentionally hilarious because he was absolutely bewildered.

Remember when Elgin and Sara were sort of friends when he first got to town? Then she ripped out his eye, so there’s some obvious tension, but they also seem to get one another really well.

The next hour will already be the midway point of the season. It feels like we just started!

Let me know how you’re feeling about the season in general below!

You can watch FROM on Sundays at 9/8c on MGM+.