‘From’ Season 4 Unspools New Mysteries Without Forgetting the Old Ones

In less than ten minutes of the pilot episode of From, audiences got a glimpse of the nightmare to come. Since then, the tension has simmered. The series was just renewed for its fifth and final season, which explains why season four feels like the beginning of the end. The stakes are higher, the tension thicker, and new dangers are emerging from places we never expected. Six episodes in, and this may be From at its best.

From centers on a group of people from various places and times who have arrived in a small, unnamed town, they cannot leave. Days run as normal, but at nightfall, creatures come out to roam. Harold Perrineau leads the cast as Boyd, the group’s leader and appointed sheriff. In season one, the town has been running as normal, or at least as normal as a purgatorial town can be, until the arrival of two cars, an unnatural occurrence. This is where we met the Matthews family: Jim (Eion Bailey), Tabitha (Catalina Sandino Moreno), Julie (Hannah Cheramy), and Ethan (Simon Webster). We also met Jade (David Alpay), a whirlwind who initially thought the town was an escape-room simulation. As the audience, we were newcomers too, learning the rules alongside these characters, wondering what they wondered, and arriving at answers with them. As the seasons continue, we learn that there is a method to the madness and that the newcomers play a larger role than we initially thought.

As we ride through the seasons, we get to know each of these characters and begin to identify a few favorites, like Victor (Scott McCord), who has been a citizen of the mystery town since he was a young boy, and Donna (Elizabeth Saunders), our no-nonsense queen. We’ve watched the character arc of the once-hated, now celebrated Sara (Avery Konrad), who seemed to have an interesting connection to the town. We’ve watched as characters find a way to make the best of things like lovebirds Fatima (Pegah Ghafoori) and Ellis (Corteon Moore). And to our surprise, we’ve even seen characters reunited like Kristi (Chloe Van Landschoot) and her fiancée, Marielle (Kaelen Ohm). But the more we discover, the less we feel we know. From does a good job of giving us just enough information to keep us twisting in the wind, and the upcoming season is no exception. It’s both unsettling, infuriating, and unrelenting — just how we like it.

Knowledge comes at a cost, and in season four, the bill is due. At the end of season three, we see future Julie storywalking in an attempt to stop what is about to happen. Soon after, we meet the Man in Yellow, who warns that knowledge comes at a cost, as he tells Jim, “Your wife shouldn’t have dug that hole, Jim,” which calls back to what the voice on the radio said to him in season one, when they built the tower at Colony House. This lets us know that the Man in Yellow has been in the background since the beginning, and now things are about to get worse.

Each season has brought new arrivals, some who fade into the background as town citizens and others who become key players in the story’s fabric. Season four welcomes Sophia (Julia Doyle), who joins the regulars as a standout. While we’re getting to know Sophia, we get to see a new side to our regulars. In season three, Elizabeth Saunders delivers a tour de force performance as Donna, as she unravels at the seams due to the cruelty of the forces that plague the town. In season four, it’s clear that Donna is as much the town’s glue as Boyd. She becomes a safe place for Tabitha, Julie, and Ethan in the wake of their grief. We also see people come together who never seemed particularly fond of each other, like Jade and Boyd, who carry some of the season’s favorite moments.

Characters who took more of a backseat in season three are brought to the forefront, like Ethan, who is more determined than ever to embark on his own quest. Meanwhile, Julie tries to figure out exactly how to storywalk in hopes of changing the story. We even see a new side of Officer Acosta (Samantha Brown), as she and Boyd gain a new understanding of each other. This highlights the writer’s strength in showing how quickly things can turn on a dime, not just within the story itself, but among the people, in their attitudes, and in how we feel about them. As we learn more about their background and fears, and ride with them as they experience the town’s horrors, people we once disliked become favorites, and vice versa.

Scott McCord’s performance as Victor escalates with each episode. As we approach the finish line of the season, Victor begins to remember more things, and those memories resurface past traumas. The heart breaks for Victor in every season because we see more of the scope of things he’s had to endure by himself for so many years.

The From writers waste nothing. Things we thought didn’t mean much come back to life in season four. You’ll quickly head back to season one and begin reworking the mystery of this puzzle, finding that pieces begin to fit. This speaks to their ability to paint this elaborate portrait without losing sight of the final picture. As things begin to fall into place, they’re careful not to give up everything. Though they’ve given us enough to keep us engaged, jotting down notes on every image shown and line said. The biggest secrets appear to be still under wraps, but we’ve been given enough to make us feel satisfied with our progression toward the end.

MGM+’s From continues to be worth the price of a subscription. It is the most gripping horror show that finds ways to entertain without becoming too repetitive or stale. More than cheap scares, season four shows that there is a clear focus and a definite end to this story. The last four episodes of the season will either solve a bunch of questions, terrify us with more questions, or, even better, it’ll do both.