The Season 3 premiere ofFromfeels like a miracle to fans of theHarold Perrineau-led supernatural horror series. All too often, shows with a mystery angle getcanceled before they can reveal any substantial answers, or they’reforced to wrap things up too quickly to be satisfying. ButFromis still going strong, thanks toits incredible cast, genuine frights, and captivating mysteries. A key aspect of its success comes from trimming the fat, so to speak, which you see often in “stranded in a strange place” style media. Shows likeLostorYellowjacketspull a lot of conflict from the struggle to gather resources like food and shelter. ButLosthad over double the number of episodes per season to explore its many secrets andYellowjackets' supernatural dangers are much more ambiguousthan the outright monsters murdering people inFrom.Fromkeeps its narrative squarely in the middle of interpersonal drama and batshit mystery by barely touching on resource management for the first two seasons, allowing it to be tightly paced andleaving plenty of room for terrifying moments.
‘From’ Keeps Its Characters Trapped in a Strange Town Full of Mysteries
Anyone who’s ever been on aroad trip through country backroadsknows that there can besomething creepy about a run-down rural town.Fromuses that sense of unease as its main premise, telling the story of unrelated groups and individualsdriving through a small townand discovering that they can’t leave. Every road out of town leads right back to its borders, andthe surrounding woods are filled with monstersand virtually unexplorable at first.These creatures appear humanbut underneath their plastered-on smiles and strangely outdated clothing lurk terrifying beasts that not only kill but violently maim their victims.
Until a solution was found by Harold Perrineau’s character Boyd, early inhabitants of the town were forced to hide at night whilethe monsters slowly stalked them until morning. But even after they were able to sleep safely inside the houses around town, there were still plenty of unexplainable phenomena to keep the characters on edge: trees with portals to random places,dreams that can kill, electricity from wires that don’t actually connect to anything, etc. As the characters attempt to keep themselves safe from the nightly monster attacks, they also try to figure out how to leave; but to do that,they have to learn more about a town whose secrets seem to be never-ending.
‘From’ Doesn’t Waste Time Explaining the Mundane Aspects of Survival
With only 10 episodes per season,Fromhas to keep its scripts tight and fast-paced. There’s no time for filler, even thoughfiller episodes can make for some fantastic character development. Instead of sacrificing that character development, though,Fromsimply does away withthe most mundane part of a survival story: resource management. In short, the characters rarely have concerns abouttheir food supply or shelter needs, which means there’s more room to build suspense around relationships and the supernatural elements. Sure, before Boyd and his family arrived, the people stuck in the town had to hide wherever they could to avoid the monsters.But the show explains almost immediately that they now have talismans to protect them, so they can live somewhat normal lives inside perfectly livable houses. They dedicate one episode toexplaining how Boyd discovered the talismans, but that in itself is a byproduct of explaining Boyd’s past and uncovering more of the town’s history.
Harold Perrineau Always Deserved Better on ‘Lost’
As Michael, Perrineau was one of the show’s best assets only to be written off in what is now reported to have been a retaliatory move.
Even if the houses are protected by talismans, it would be hard to be productive without power, soFromsimply allows electricity to exist as part of the rulesofthe weird place the characters are in. This kills two birds with one stone: the pre-existence of electricity greatly shortens the timeline for establishing a livable situation, and it also serves as the catalyst for some characters todelve further into the secrets of the townthan anyone who came before them. A crackling radio gives Jade (David Alpay) the idea to try and boost the signal to reach outside the town. Meanwhile, Jim (Eion Bailey), and Tabatha (Catalina Sandino Moreno) realize that the power set-up of the town shouldn’t be possible, and hope that finding the answer to that mystery will help them find a way home.
Food Doesn’t Become a Real Problem Until Season 3
When it comes to food,Fromtakes an even easier route than it did with electricity:there is literally no explanation. During Boyd’s first forays into the woods, he discovers a goat they can rear, and they later find cows and chickens as well. In Episode 2, Kenny explains that they have no idea where the animals came from and not much else is said; the characters have access to milk, eggs, and even meat when things get desperate, and that’s that.It’s convenient for the plot, but that isn’t a criticism of the show – in fact, it’s a compliment. In a town wherenothing makes sense and everything seems impossible, the mysterious appearance of livestock slots neatly into the world the show’s creators have built, just like the electricity and houses. It could even be a sign ofconfirmation for some of the theoriescharacters have about what exactly is going on. Someone or something caused those animals to appear, which could indicate that there’s a force trying to help them (by not letting them starve), or at the very least, there’s some intelligent being in charge of their situation who allowed the livestock to appear for their own reasons.
It’s not until the very first episode of Season 3 that the townspeople have to worry about somethingother than being killed by the monsters (or each other). There werea few references to the food supply shrinkingin past seasons, notably the canned peaches that Victor loves so much finally running out and smaller crops than usual that have to be preserved. But those aren’t immediate issues when compared to people falling into a deadly sleep or getting shot and stabbed by other townspeople. They do serve as a proper build-up for whenthe food supply does become an immediate issue, though, sothe situation feels organic rather than abrupt.
As some of the characters inch closer and closer to the heart of the town’s secrets and thwart at least some of the supernatural threats, the struggle for food finally comes into play. Putting this conflict later in the series isa fresh mix-up of an otherwise played-out tropeand allows the show to focus more on character and establishing the town’s many secrets. And the sudden food scarcity itself comes with a whole host of new questions, meaning that just because resources are now a real issue,the mysteries that are the driving forceofFromaren’t getting sidelined.
Fromis available to stream in the U.S. on MGM+.
Watch on MGM+
