Terrifying monsters lurking in dark tunnels. A pregnant woman whose baby might not actually exist. Mysterious bottles hanging from trees filled with cryptic numbers. All told, I’d say this was another solid and incredibly intense episode of FROM.
I’m especially impressed by how the characters have all begun actually communicating with one another, though there are still moments when that communication could be better. It was almost funny when Boyd told Jade about the second Bottle Tree. That would have been useful information to share among principal characters. They should put together some kind of evidence board to pool knowledge. The town meeting was a bust, but some good old-fashioned collaboration could go a long ways toward solving this puzzle.
Victor, for instance, should probably tell someone before venturing down into the tunnels. Sure, he has his dad with him this time, but nobody else knows where they’re going. You can’t really blame Victor, however. Poor communication skills are just part of who he is, a part of his trauma growing up—mostly alone—in this horrible place. Nobody else has this excuse.
99 Bottles Of Numbers On The Tree
So Jade goes to the second Bottle Tree and finds many of the exact same numbers (in cursive this time) and thinks there must be a key—some way of interpreting their meaning and how they can be used to help. He also mentions that it’s possible that Fromville is in another dimension mirroring the real world, which I’ve speculated on as well. Two Bottle Trees are here, after all, and two are in Camden, Maine. Are they positionally the same in both “dimensions”?
At the tree, Jade encounters his version of Boyd’s Father Khatri, though I don’t think Jade and Boyd have told one another about their little visits from beyond the grave. Jade sees the bartender, Tom, who—like the good priest—has words of wisdom for him. When Jade tells him he’s annoyed, Tom replies:
“You should work on that. Because the Jade that built a multimillion dollar company when everyone said he shouldn’t. That guy had thicker skin. You really wanna beat this place? Maybe you should sober up and give that guy a call.”
When Jade turns to make an angry retort, Tom is gone. “There’s a nicer way to make your point, ya know!” he shouts, hilariously.
Later, Jade enlists Ethan’s help in solving the riddle of the Bottle Trees, which is both cute and probably a good idea. Ethan’s only a kid, but he’s insightful and sometimes sees things the grown-ups don’t. Now they just need to get Victor and his creepy doll, Jasper, into the mix.
Where The Wild Things Are
Speaking of which, Victor and Henry’s trip into the monster tunnels is genuinely terrifying. I’m with Henry on this one: Turn back! Turn back!
When they finally come across the sleeping monsters and find Jasper, they’re deeper into the tunnels than they were previously. And they’re not all sleeping. The Swing Coat Creature is very much awake. When she sees Victor, she smiles creepily. “You know Victor,” she says, “if you keep coming down here, one of these days we’ll make you stay.”
Victor and Henry grab the ventriloquist dummy and run like hell. Once they’re free of the tunnels—which are far from safe in the day, we now know—they go to Victor’s trailer, one of his hiding spots in the days before the talismans. “I heard him tell Christopher about this place once and we have to make him tell it again,” Victor says.
“Victor, that’s a toy,” his dad replies. Victor is unfazed. “We’ll make him tell it again,” he says. “You’ll see.” It’s a bit terrifying, but Victor is almost certainly correct.
Hush Little Baby
The other big revelation this episode has to do with Fatima’s baby. Or, rather, the lack of a baby. When Boyd reveals that the ambulance had a sonogram machine, she reluctantly agrees to go down to the clinic for help. Ennis is pretty sure it’s not okay that she’s been eating rotten fruit, and he doesn’t even know about the cannibalism.
At the clinic, Kristi and Mari make an unsettling discovery: There is no baby. Nothing at all shows up on the sonogram. Whatever is creating these pregnancy-like symptoms, it’s not a child. “You need to tell them,” Ennis says.
So clearly there isn’t a baby inside Fatima, but that doesn’t mean there’s nothing inside her. We already know that something sent that crow to stop the Tarot card reading, and that wasn’t just a coincidence. That was an intentional disruption for a reason. But why? What’s happening to Fatima?
Right around this same time, Elgin is hanging up polaroids and the undead woman he’s been seeing in his dreams and visions appears standing directly next to Fatima in the photo. She appears behind Elgin and whispers in his ear. He needs to help her, she tells him. She can help them in return. She can help them get away. It seems clear that this woman and Fatima’s not-a-pregnancy are related somehow. But how?
Three Red Stones
As Jade and Tabitha speak about the Bottle Tree and other discoveries, she sees Jade’s sketch of the creepy mannequin. “What is this?” she asks, a look of horror on her face. “Some wards, scattered around the settlement,” he tells her, and then notices her reaction. “What’s wrong?”
“Three red stones,” she replies. “Did you see three red stones? Big ones, in a circle?”
We see a little girl—a young Tabitha, it seems—walking through what appears to be the exact forest where the settlement is located. There are the ward-mannequins and three red stones. She looks up at something above her and screams.
“When I was a little girl, I would have the same nightmare over and over again,” she tells him. “It wasn’t just Miranda,” she says. “I saw this place, too…but I just didn’t know it.”
And so we have yet another connection between Miranda and Tabitha, the only two characters who had some kind of vision of Fromville prior to ever arriving, and the only two characters who are called to rescue children from the tower. So many things are lining up right now. Jasper’s return and the link between the dummy and Christopher that took place shortly before Miranda and the other townspeople went to rescue the kids. Is history repeating itself? Is this just how the game unfolds each time, part of some hideous narrative doomed to repeat itself? Is there a terrible slaughter coming?
Also, was this nightmare real? Was Tabitha in Fromville before as a child and just doesn’t realize it, now associating it with the scary dreams she had ever since? Or was she seeing something from someone else’s perspective in her dreams? So many questions and just four more episodes of Season 3.
These are the big moments of the episode, but I’ll go over a few of the smaller scenes as well.
- Jim and Tabitha get into a pretty useless yelling match about how each is behaving. Marriage is tough, and theirs was already on the ropes before they arrived. It can’t be easy to put it to the test here of all places. Still, they need to stop pointing fingers and realize that they’re both just trying to do what they think is right. The only thing they can do is work together and with the others.
- Randall and Mari have a few conversations as she nurses him back to health. He’s got a mean half-Joker scar on his face now, and demands that she let him look at it. He asks if she’s okay, since they were both victims of the Music Box Monster, and then they talk some about how horrible it is living on the bus with no way to avoid watching the creatures at night. She tells him he can live in the clinic from now on, which is nice—but I can’t help wonder if the creatures did something to him that we can’t see. I thought they were going to turn him into one of them, and that could still happen.
- The Anghkooey kids show up again, this time while Tabitha is talking with her son. She hears sounds upstairs and soon the kids are all around her, chanting their weird nonsense word. The spell is only broken when Ethan rushes over to check on her. He can see the Boy In White, but not these children.
- Donna builds a makeshift tomb for Dale in the swimming pool, both as an homage to her friend—a pain in her ass for two years, she tells Kenny—and to hide his mangled face from the townsfolk. There are enough grim reminders in this place, after all.
- Julie has nice conversations with Kenny and Randall, and is on the road to full pothead at this point. Can’t blame her.
- Tabitha hugging Donna was nice. Between that and the Victory/Henry hug, we’re getting some very nice tender moments that are much needed for us and the townsfolk.
I’ve noticed lots of grumbling about this show from people online and I can understand some of it. Some stories and mysteries feel like they’re being dragged out for no reason. The writing can be pretty uneven at times, and while I definitely have a few characters I like and who I’m rooting for, there are a lot of characters that feel extraneous or unlikable and it’s hard to divide our attention between so many. Still, overall I’m really enjoying this season, and whatever it’s flaws may be, they’re pretty easy for me to set aside because I’m genuinely invested in the story.
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Past Season 3 Reviews From Yours Truly:
