Reviewer Rating: 4.5/5.0
4.5
We may have found the answer to the long-standing question why the townspeople aren’t talking to each other in Season 3 Episode 5.
The town hall meeting was chaotic from start to finish, leading to more division, anger and fear.
There was another casualty. There is always another casualty.
Starting in Season 3, Episode 4, you can feel everyone getting more nervous, which is to be expected after the night they had.
Calling a meeting, especially given Tabitha’s return, was the right decision, if only to avoid the inevitable whispers on the upcoming trail. But when you put a bunch of frustrated and fearful people together in a room, things can go bad quickly.
I’ve always wondered why no one has been talked to on loop over the years, and it’s a common concern among fans.
All these different people are going through different things, but no one sits down and talks to each other about it. If they all start exchanging ideas, they can make a connection and, if nothing else, gain a deeper understanding of their surroundings.
But that never really happened. Someone might talk to their significant other, like Jim and Tabitha. Or Boyd and Donna would complement each other, but those broader conversations would never happen.
Well, not before this time.
Considering everything Tabitha just went through, it’s totally understandable to take a day or two to decompress. Still, she wanted to attend the meeting and tell people what was going on.
Tabitha doesn’t try to hide, which is commendable in itself.
But when she started talking about what happened everyone started fighting back and I wondered for a second who was right and who was wrong in this situation when in reality it was just a bunch of people making a fuss about their situation fear reaction.
No one knows what they would do if they were in Tabitha’s position. No one knows what it will be like for them to wake up in pain, alone in a hospital room, and then suddenly return to a world without them.
She’s legitimately most worried about no one believing a word she says, and being abandoned or put in a position where she can’t figure out the reason for it all. Why was she thrown into that place?
It’s impossible to say what would have happened if Tabitha had just started telling her story.
Although she eventually returned to town, taking Henry with her, which, perhaps in hindsight, would have saved them in the end. You can’t know now, so it doesn’t feel right to attack her when she’s doing the best she can.
But on the other hand, everyone was tired, and knowing that Tabitha had made it, even a small miracle, inspired everyone to want to try.
Dale is the most outspoken person in the meeting because he’s a selfish, loose canon, but Fatima’s ideas are shocking at first, until you remember what she’s dealing with.
She knew something was wrong about herself and her pregnancy, so when she heard the story of Tabitha’s return home, she longed for the same thing.
Ellis stood up for her and basically went against Boyd’s statement, which caught his father off guard, and I’m glad Boyd later had the opportunity to be honest with him about the reality of what was going on.
While some parts of their current world are predictable (you see trees and you can’t leave, monsters appear at night), much of it is unpredictable. The trees in the distance don’t guarantee you’ll reach the lighthouse, the boy in white pushes you out, and you wake up in the real world.
Knowing there is a way out is good news, but deluding yourself into thinking you’ve found a way out because there’s tangible evidence that the trees in the distance are taking you somewhere scary doesn’t do anyone any good.
Stick to what you know is true and work from there.
Dale, Fatima and Ellis essentially said they wanted to jump into a tree and see what would happen. How does this help?
Harold Perrineau is just fantastic and all the dialogue with Ellis is great. His controlled annoyance and genuine concern for his son and why he couldn’t see that fanning the flames would do anything to help the people in the town was well done.
Because the truth is, they still have no idea what they’re dealing with, but trying to protect people from themselves quickly turns Boyd into the bad guy.
There is certainly something to be said about taking risks, but how many times do we see people taking risks that end in disaster? That’s not the case with Tabitha (although you could argue that finding yourself back in town is a disastrous ending), but her situation is unique and leads directly to her finding someone with ties to the town.
She didn’t land on Miami Beach to get her life back.
When Dale walked out of that restaurant, I knew he was going into the woods and there was probably no one who could stop him. Even though Tabitha and Jed warned him that this was a bad idea, it wasn’t something someone like Dale could accept, and he proved time and time again that he only cared about himself.
The way Dale came out of that tree alive is a negative, but what about the way he died? It’s just too cruel.
Motel pools and trucks showed up with some nasty omens earlier in the season. Where before the pool was just an eyesore, now it would become the place where Dale would die, and the desperation would only get worse.
Dale’s stubbornness infuriated Boyd, who almost couldn’t help shouting at people to let them fully understand what was going on. With their current limited knowledge, the magic tree could never solve the problem.
Look at Dell! Within hours of meeting him, he was dead, chasing something he didn’t understand.
Who’s next?
Hopes have been dwindling all season, and this only increases them. Boyd is in the odd position of being a leader, trying to stop people from losing all hope while helping them understand the problems they face.
As the town is crumbling and some choose to abandon City Hall, Victor struggles with the realization that his father is there.
Can you imagine what that feels like? Victor definitely had to make peace in his own way, never seeing his father again, and then, out of nowhere, there he was.
Victor’s emotions must be overwhelming and the flight response kicks in. He could not avoid Henry forever; The town would never allow this, but when he’s at his best, he takes his time with it.
If Henry had just been pushed in front of him, that moment might not have been the best for either of them.
Victor is an adult, and although he is developmentally stunted by a forgotten childhood and long hours alone, he is not the little boy Henry knew. It’s terrible.
What if after all these years you look into your father’s eyes and he doesn’t recognize you?
Victor had good reason to be afraid, and Henry had his.
It’s crazy because he lived without his family and had to bury them and now he’s been brought to this nightmare place where his wife and daughter are dead but his son is alive.
Talk about bittersweet.
The reunion between father and son may be one of the saddest moments in the show’s history, and when we heard Tianchen’s scream in the first episode of season three, that’s saying something.
Ethan summed up Victor nicely when he told Henry that Victor had a bad temper but didn’t mean to. He is still very childish in many ways, but very wise and sincere. He might look used to the place, but he’s just as scared as everyone else.
Henry and Victor have a lot to discuss, but it’s also nice to live together as they are and get to know each other.
Elsewhere, Fatima finally opens up to Ellis about her raw food diet. What on earth is he going to do with this information? Knowing me, he might not say anything, but things won’t get better.
There are many theories about what happened to Fatima, but I still tend to believe that she was infected by one of the monsters. This sounds simple, but it also doesn’t make any sense.
So, basically, that’s the whole premise of FROM in a nutshell.
If Ellis did tell someone else, like Boyd, what would he do with the information? Do they all go together to Kristy and Marielle? Do they think they can help Fatima figure out why she has such a common craving for rotten food and blood?
This is uncharted territory for everyone, and at this point, I guess, there doesn’t seem to be much that can be done other than letting Fatima eat the spoiled food.
But at least now Fatima is no longer hiding from Ellis, because it would eventually become too much to bear with everything else.
As we enter the second half of the season, the town has perhaps never been more shattered, colder, and barely holding on.
unresolved issues
- Officer Acosta did try it with Boyd. Maybe she means well, but it takes a lot of courage to think you have the answer when you only know 1% of the story.
- All things considered, Victor and Sara are a well-functioning pair. Victor won’t sugarcoat anything, and all Sarah can do now is be herself and hope for the best.
- Good luck to Boyd when Randall is up and walking again.
- Did Tabitha and Boyd actually talk? It would be interesting to see a conversation between these two men, Jed and Victor, as all four of them have very unique experiences, but telling each other more about those experiences might be helpful for all of them.
- Donna seemed to be struggling, and I’m not sure anyone else but Boyd noticed.
- Elkin and Julie are the pairing I never knew I needed! I was sure something terrible was going to happen in that basement when they channeled their inner Madonna and Michael Jackson, but nothing happened! They got to have some silly, silly fun without the worst thing imaginable happening to bring them down.
We’re officially halfway through the season and we haven’t had a bad moment yet!
From Dale’s death to Fatima’s confession and a father-son reunion, there’s a lot to discuss, so drop all your thoughts below!
You can watch FROM on Sundays at 9/8c on MGM+.
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