Before I get to the meat of this review, I’d like to make a request: Can we please nominate Harold Perrineau for an Emmy? His performance in tonight’s episode of FROM on MGM+ was simply outstanding.
So was the episode itself. Much of it dealt with the fallout of Tian-Chen’s tragic death last week. We get a few more glimpses of that horrifying scene through Boyd’s flashbacks. It’s gruesome and hard to watch. In a show with lots of gore and violence, this was still one of the most horrific moments we’ve seen.
When day breaks in Fromville, they find Boyd in the barn, muttering to himself in Chinese. After he’s released he rushes to Tian-Chen’s body, weeping. “I’m so sorry,” he says. “I’m so sorry.” It’s heartbreaking.
They hold a funeral for her later, after Kristi and Jade do their best to make her body presentable. It’s a really moving scene. There are many of those this episode. Kenny and Jim returning to town with the bounty of vegetables they’ve found, only to learn the terrible news. Poor Kenny has lost both his parents to this place. When Boyd later reveals that he was forced to watch, and repeats the phrase Tian-Chen told him, Kenny breaks down again.
But it’s not just an emotional episode. There are some pretty big reveals as well, and two new mysteries to unravel. We’ll start with those.
- The first new mystery is Fatima’s very frightening pregnancy. She’s been sick. She can’t keep food down and even the smell of it makes her sick to her stomach. She spits up blood. Something is wrong with her teeth. They visit Marielle and she says everything seems normal, but she’s not exactly working with state-of-the-art medical tech. Later, when Fatima sees the bushels of rotten vegetables, she smells them and we know right away that they smell good to her. She grabs a handful of the blue-rotten roots and begins to eat with a ravenous hunger. I think it’s safe to say that whatever is inside of her is not a human baby. I have a very bad feeling about this.
- The second big mystery happens at the very end of the episode when the phone in Jim’s house rings. He picks it up nervously and at first all we hear is static. Then a little boy’s voice speaks on the other end. “Dad,” the boy says. “It’s Thomas.” Thomas, who died as an infant when he fell off the changing table. I’m not sure what to make of this, but I get the feeling it’s just the Town’s evil whoever messing with his head—and just when his daughter, Julie, chewed him out about getting his act together.
The big reveal is also something of a new mystery, though I think it’s pushing us closer toward some kind of answer. When Tabitha found herself awake in the real world, she used the address in Victor’s lunchbox to find his home. Here, she ran into Victor’s dad and apparently passed out, because she wakes up a bit later on the couch. Victor’s dad is understandably suspicious and nothing Tabitha says can assuage that suspicion. Her story is too far out. But when she mentions the children locked in the tower, his demeanor changes.
We learn that before his wife and children disappeared, she had started having visions—nightmarish visions of children locked in a tower—after they dropped acid one last time. “I think I was sent here to find you,” Tabitha tells him. “I think you were sent here for what’s in the basement,” he replies, ominously.
He takes her down to the basement where he’s kept dozens upon dozens of paintings, all of which Victor’s mother painted. They show us Fromville and its monstrous denizens as well as the creepy children and the Boy In White. It reminds me a bit of Victor’s childlike drawings.
Here we see the Faraway trees, the stone slabs from Jade’s tunnel adventure, a monster with fangs, a lighthouse, the forest. I’m sure fans will study these images at length and probably come up with other clues and juicy morsels.
Once again, I’m very impressed by this season. The F-bombs have all but disappeared, which is a pleasant change from the almost incessant swearing last season. Again, I’m not bothered by swearing, it just feels like lazy writing when you have your characters say the F-word so frequently.
Characters are also doing a bit better when it comes to communication, though I wish Boyd would go talk to Jade about what he saw in the tunnels. And Kenny’s idea to burn the monsters while they sleep isn’t a bad one. I might prefer it to Boyd’s idea of trying to capture one.
One thing is certain: When the credits rolled I was hungry for more. I’m glad they’re releasing this weekly so we can all talk about it and make our predictions and come up with our fan theories and all the rest, but sometimes I wish I could just binge the whole thing right now.
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