It’s the penultimate episode of FROM Season 4, and with it, the Man in the Yellow Suit (Douglas E. Hughes) steps up his game. His calculated mind games become more personal than ever as he targets specific members of the community, particularly its most vulnerable.
This week, the residents of FROMville finally put a plan into action, hoping it will bring them one step closer to understanding the town’s mysteries or even escaping them. But in a place where every answer comes with a price, their latest gamble may end up playing directly into the Man in the Yellow Suit’s hands. Warning: Spoilers for Season 4 Episode 9 “The Calm Before” ahead!
Henry and Victor’s bogus journey
After sipping a cocktail made of the blood of the Man in the Yellow Suit/Sophia (Julia Doyle), Henry (Robert Joy) continues slipping in and out of his hospital visions, where he never went to the town, but instead, was in a coma for decades due to “bad acid.” A seemingly normal version of Victor (Scott McCord) urges him to “remove the anchor,” in other words, kill FROMville Victor. If he does, he can stay in this reality, where Victor wears suits, his sister Eloise is alive, and Henry has a teenage grandson. And, whoa, is it tempting.
Henry refuses, insisting he will not kill his son. The vision-Victor repeatedly tells him he is “not the broken boy” from the town and must accept what isn’t real. So, Henry realizes he needs to keep his distance from the real Victor.
It’s an interesting sequence because the visions aren’t just toying with a grieving Henry; they also give actors Robert Joy and Scott McCord a chance to play different sides of their characters. TV Insider spoke with the actors about the creepy new development and why the Man in the Yellow Suit has set his sights on Henry and Victor.
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“I don’t think that he’s more susceptible than anyone else, because a lot of people’s imaginations have been tampered with in the other seasons, but because he’s victimized by Sophia, it’s a particularly painful task for Henry to try to hold on to his love for his son and the mission that he’d set for himself to be a good father,” explained Joy. “It’s really hard to hold on to that when he doesn’t even know if the world he’s in is a real world. And it’s so seductive to imagine that if the other reality is the real reality, then he’ll have to do something horrible in the nightmare to make it stop.”
He continued, “I think he is vulnerable, especially through the alcoholism that has haunted him, when he was back in Maine, and he’s susceptible to continuing with the pain of it, because he’s kind of hooked on it.”
For McCord, Sophia’s twisted plan for Henry allowed him to step outside Victor’s usual role and explore a different side of the character.
“It was daunting, it was scary, because who is this Victor? Who is he?” said McCord. “There was a lot of detailed work that I like to do normally to kind of create as much reality, obviously, as I can, like we are equally in the other scenes, and in FROMville. Bob was saying that we gave it equal weight; I think we did. And Bob and I worked together; we would get together on our own and talk a lot about, just throw ideas out there, get creative together about what that life would be like.”
“It was a great, beautiful challenge. It was just even so interesting to come in on that first day and just be using my voice,” said McCord. “It was a great challenge, and I got quite emotional.”
“You end up digging in and finding emotions that you wouldn’t have found if you hadn’t been set that challenge. And you got to remember that as actors, we don’t do it because it’s easy; we do it because we like it when it gets hard,” explained Joy. “We like the challenges, because otherwise you’re playing the same thing. The great thing about the writing on FROM is that it’s not the same; you’re not playing the same circumstances every episode.”
“The sign of a good scene is that it starts somewhere, and it’s different by the end, even if it’s only a one-minute scene, and over an episode, and then over a whole season, the changes are incredible, and that’s what makes the roles exciting to do,” said Joy.
Meanwhile, Victor visits the graves of his mother and sister as he struggles with the revelation that Tabitha (Catalina Sandino Moreno) is actually a reincarnation of his mom, Miranda (Sarah Booth). If his mother has returned, Victor wonders if that means his sister is all alone. Already worried about Henry’s deteriorating condition, Victor fears he may not have much time left with his father. His concerns deepen when the Boy in White (Vox Smith) appears and warns him that the bottle tree is important and cannot be destroyed. Determined to protect it, Victor rushes to Boyd (Harold Perrineau) and vows to stop anyone from tearing the tree down.
Bad to the bone(s)
After learning from Tabitha that the Man in Yellow entered Colony House in broad daylight (so he isn’t a normal night-stalking creature), had Ethan’s (Simon Webster) drawings, and openly admitted to killing Jim, Boyd agrees to let Jade (David Alpay) venture back into the tunnels to search for answers.
Jade becomes convinced that removing the bones from the chamber will disrupt whatever is controlling the town and potentially give everyone a way out. Meanwhile, Tabitha tells Ethan and Julie (Hannah Cheramy) that the Man in Yellow killed Jim (Eion Bailey), finally understanding what “knowledge comes at a cost” meant. Julie remains skeptical, arguing that the town lies, but admits she storywalked and witnessed the Man in Yellow slaughtering and eating people. Ethan encourages his mother to trust the signs the town is showing her, and after a vision of the ghostly children pointing toward something, Tabitha decides she must accompany Jade into the tunnels. With Boyd’s reluctant blessing, the pair descends underground while Jade uses a makeshift “poor man’s Morse code” radio to stay in contact with the surface.
Once in the tunnels, Jade and Tabitha locate the bones they believe are key to stopping the town’s cycle. However, before they can remove them, the creatures surround them and warn, “You really shouldn’t be doing that.”
Blood, sweat, and fears
Sophia needs a new stooge, so she picks background player Clara (Katerina Bakolias) and reveals her true nature: “Do you know who I really am? Maybe if you look closer?” Then she gets real close, and Clara shudders in fear as she remembers. Sophia reminds her, “Remember the bargain we made? Good. I need you to do something for me.” She brings Clara back to Sara’s house and promises to let her go home, but warns that Jade and Tabitha’s plan to enter the tunnels is misguided. While she agrees they have the right idea, she explains, “This place is built on rituals, and with rituals, how you do something is just as important,” suggesting the method matters as much as the goal. Sophia then forces Clara to absorb her blood, soothing her with, “Just relax, let me in.”
Later, when Sophia learns from Clara that only Jade and Tabitha are going into the tunnels, she appears ready to punish her. Before she can, Elgin (Nathan D. Simmons) interrupts with an old photograph he found that shows Sophia from decades earlier. When he points it out, she calmly responds, “That’s because it is me.” Sophia orders Clara to lock the diner doors, and then she says, “I can only take the form of people who died here.”
Eek. She then grabs Elgin by the arm, which can’t be good.
Dead woman walking?
At the clinic, Fatima’s (Pegah Ghafoori) condition takes a terrifying turn when Kristi (Chloe Van Landschoot) reveals her heart rate is only 19 beats per minute, prompting urgent discussions about getting her out of town. Overwhelmed, Boyd breaks down in the church and confides in Sara (Avery Konrad), pointing out that Fatima’s vital signs suggest she should already be dead.
While Fatima rests, Clara brings her a homemade “family remedy” made from berries and herbs. But Fatima later awakens in severe pain, with the veins across her body becoming even more pronounced.
Another not good development. One that will conclude next week in the finale.
FROM, Sundays, 9/8c, MGM+