After three back-to-back banger episodes filled with shocking revelations, twists, and turns, the third season of From slows the pacing down just a bit in its fourth episode, allowing viewers to get settled before the midseason finale. Previously, as Kenny led a foraging party to bring produce from the nearby vicinity of the strange wooden huts, Jade experienced troubling visions, which prompted him to try to leave the group, and Kristie got her leg caught in a bear trap while trying to convince him not to. As the group settles inside one of the huts for the night, their fate remains in question. Boyd plans to capture one of the creatures and decides to switch places with Randall in order to observe the nocturnal creatures closely. Fatima’s condition worsens by the day, while Victor brings a suitcase to Sara with the intention of revealing something from his past.Â
Lastly, a series of events leads Tabitha to feel skeptical of what’s going on and as she and Victor’s father, Henry, are met with a road accident, the duo are taken under the care of a trio of emergency responders. As the group finds the road in front blocked by a tree, it doesn’t take much imagination to assume that they are going to be forced to venture to Fromville.
Spoilers Ahead
In Remembrance of Tian Chen
As Kristi recuperates inside one of the huts during the night, Kenny is seen reading a journal, which is part of a Chinese ritual of letter writing for the departed. Kenny didn’t even have the chance to grieve his mother properly; as driven by the responsibilities for the town, he had to lead the group to fetch produce for the town. Kenny laments the death of both his parents in Fromville. Kristi, who has been by Kenny’s side to provide emotional support, tries to comfort him. Jade joins the conversation as he reveals details of his recurring terrible visions, and his track of conversation soon moves to Tian-Chen as well. While for the rest of the townsfolk, Jade can occasionally be kind of a headache, Tian-Chen liked and took care of him—in some way her kind acts allowed Jade to keep his sanity intact. As the trio are having this conversation, a strange noise on the outside hints of a presence, and the nature of this new trouble will be revealed in the upcoming episode.
Victor’s Story: Christopher and Jasper
At the town, reminiscing about older times, Victor makes a blanket fort in the basement of Sara’s house and shares details from his childhood as he unlocks the strange suitcase he has dug up from the ground. Victor reveals that, back in the day, after the whole town was massacred within a night, the Boy in White had asked a young Victor to bury the personal belongings of the people who lost their lives—as a gesture of respect towards them. Victor isn’t able to find anything belonging to Christopher, the one who was possibly mind-controlled by the town’s forces and ended up betraying everyone. Victor remembers that Christopher used to have a talking puppet known as Jasper, who, according to Victor, came alive as Christopher’s mental state degraded day by day. I can’t help but mention the similarities with Batman villain duo Ventriloquist and his puppet Scarface that this character shares. Anyway, remembering the past takes a mental toll on Victor, who breaks down and suffers an anxiety attack—thankfully, Sara is there to comfort him.
Tabitha Returns To Fromville
Marielle performs a routine checkup on Fatima and reveals that she seems to be healthier than earlier. It seems like the rotten vegetables Fatima has been sneakily eating had an effect on her after all. At the Colony House, Elgin sees the hideous, monstrous lady once again who frequently haunts his dreams, and this time, the lady speaks for the first time—as she asks for Elgin’s help. As Randall decides to remain inside the bus with Boyd, he is surprised to see Randall appear to be quite cooperative. The horrors of the town have rattled Randall’s nerves enough to make him realize that in order to survive, he has to become a team player. Randall now knows that death isn’t the worst fate you can meet in this godforsaken place, if only he had known that he would face such a fate soon enough. Ethan receives a call from Thomas as the strange forces of the town inform him about Tabitha’s survival and return to the town as well, and Ethan informs his father, Jim, about this.
Meanwhile, realizing that they have ended up in Fromville, Tabitha tries her best to convince the EMTs to continue to drive the ambulance without taking a detour to reach the town before sundown. However, despite her repeated pleas to stop at the town, the driver moves right past the town—and Boyd and Jim are at once alerted of their presence. The driver decides to stop after spotting a body lying on the road, and ignoring Tabitha’s f-bomb-filled warnings not to venture outside, the EMTs approach the body anyway. The female cop assisting the EMTs decides to lock an agitated Tabitha inside the ambulance using handcuffs.
Is Randall Still Alive?
The interaction between the EMT duo and the nocturnal monster body lying at the road goes as well as anyone would have expected, as they are mutilated to death right in front of the female cop, who gets shocked out of her wits after bearing witness to the horrors of the town. Leaving Tabitha locked inside the ambulance, the cop frantically runs towards Colony House to take shelter, shooting the monsters to no avail while doing so. As people in Colony House gather near the windows to see what new ruckus propped up out of nowhere, a bullet shot by the cop accidentally wounds Nikki, and she collapses, writhing in agony. The female cop takes shelter in the colony house and nearly gets a panic attack by her recent experience, prompting Donna to handle the situation. Boyd, Randall, and Jim hurriedly approach the ambulance, leaving Ethan and Julie after strictly warning them not to leave their house.
Jim is ecstatic and surprised to see his wife return in the most inexplicable way, and seeing her locked in cuffs, he turns to Boyd for a key. Boyd has left it in the police station, which prompts Randall to go inside the bus to bring a toolkit. But just as he throws the toolkit to Boyd, Randall finds himself surrounded by the monsters, and his way out gets blocked by the pestering insects who plagued him all along. As Boyd desperately searches for the ambulance keys, the nurse monster dangles it in front of him, presenting him with an impossible choice between either saving Randall or the rest of the people present there. Boyd decides to prioritize the safety of the majority and, taking the keys, drives Jim, Tabitha, and Henry to Colony House. Doing so, Boyd abandons Randall, but except for getting tormented by the guilt, he cannot do anything about it.
As Nikki dies from her fatal injury, a ruckus ensues as Boyd vents his frustration and anger with himself on the cop by blaming her for Niki’s death. Donna takes Boyd away for a private chat and breaks down in utter despair and fear in light of recent events. Boyd is wracked with guilt of leaving Randall to his fate, and the duo pours some liquor to ease their minds for the moment. Fatima decides to stay with a deceased Niki to show solidarity on her part, but her true nefarious intentions are revealed as she prods a finger into Niki’s wound to taste her blood-like its a condiment of some sort! How long she can manage to hide her vile cravings from her husband remains to be seen. As the episode ends, Boyd and Donna see Randall left on the hood of the ambulance, mutilated in parts but still alive and breathing. The nocturnal monsters have seemingly spared Randall after torturing him to further cast doubt over Boyd’s leadership, make townsfolk defect, and turn on each other—while the only chance of survival remains in sticking together. However, given the present context, it will be impossible to convince Randall about Boyd’s intentions or goodwill, and an infight seems to be about to start pretty soon.
