Editor's Note: The following contains spoilers for From Season 3.With Season 3 of From just past its halfway mark, it's a good time to sit down and reevaluate the current season. From is a compelling, highly underrated, show featuring exceptional performances, layered characters, and an intriguing, gripping premise. That said, some of the cracks are starting to appear as Season 3 progresses. Specifically, the series constantly raises more questions and adds additional mysteries before other questions are answered. In addition, the series continues to add new characters and subplots on top of the existing ones. It's time to take a deeper dive into From Season 3.
'From' Season 3's Cast Is Getting a Little Too Big
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Since its first season, From has been an ensemble show with a revolving door in its supporting cast. Boyd Stevens (Harold Perrineau) leads the show as its biggest name. The Matthews family serves as the audience surrogates and the window into the mysterious Town [Author’s Note: The eerie town in From is simply called "the Town"]. Although those characters have remained fairly consistent, it's now clear that the show has a penchant for adding new characters each season. As a result, the narrative is beginning to seem a bit overloaded with multiple new characters and subplots.
Although some of the recurring and main cast members have died throughout the show's run, for each character who dies, multiple characters take their place. Early on in Season 2, the series added new characters from the bus that arrived in the town. Many of them have become recurring cast members, such as the bus driver, Bakta (Angela Moore); Kristi Miller's (Chloe Van Landschoot) fiancée, Marielle (Kaelen Ohm); Elgin Williams (Nathan D. Simmons); the volatile Randall Kirkland (A.J. Simmons); and Tillie (Deborah Grover). Season 3 has also added new recurring characters, including Victor's father, Henry (Robert Joy), and the police officer Acosta (Samatha Brown), who was in the ambulance carrying Henry and Tabitha Matthews (Catalino Sandino).
In Season 3, the characters who have died so far include Tian-Chen Liu (Elizabeth Moy), Nicky (Tamara Fifield), and Dale (Cliff Saunders). Of those three, only Tian-Chen could have been considered a major or main cast member. Dale and Nicky were relatively minor recurring characters and never received much in the way of actual plot agency. Basically, the From cast is getting overcrowded. The show does a decent job focusing on much of the ensemble this season, but the amount of characters and relationships to focus on is becoming a bit overwhelming.
'From' Feels Like It's Starting To Move in Circles
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From is an infinitely watchable show. The central mystery surrounding the Town, where the people trapped there cannot leave, has remained compelling throughout the three seasons. If the answers suddenly arrive, then the show would be over. That means the writers must play a delicate balancing act by keeping the viewers tuned in every week to discover what happens next. The frustrating part is that the show continues adding more mysteries and questions on top of all the existing ones. For example, since Season 2, Tabitha (Catalina Sandino Moreno) has been having visions about strange, ghostly children who chant "Angkhooey" at her. The children either want her help or are trying to tell her something.
In the Season 2 finale, "Once Upon a Time…," the ghostly children seemingly lured Tabitha to the lighthouse that sent her back to the "real world." In Season 3, Tabitha leaves the hospital she woke up in, still seeing visions of the mysterious children while in Camden, Maine. Eventually, Tabitha finds Victor's father, Henry, who reveals that his wife, Miranda, had visions of the town years before their arrival. Miranda even drew paintings of all her visions and dreams, including the same ghostly children. She also made art pieces resembling the bottle trees in the mysterious forest outside the town. Just as Henry and Tabitha are about to visit Miranda's original bottle tree, Tabitha becomes suspicious of Henry, and they get into an accident, leading to their landing smack-dab back in the town.
Tabitha's trip back to the real world was not a total waste. She calls her worried mother and brings Henry into the town, allowing him to reunite with his long-lost son, Victor. Tabitha also reunites with her family, who feared she was dead. However, the subplot with Tabitha leaving the town and returning to the real world feels like a wasted opportunity. Visiting Miranda's original bottle tree felt like something that needed to happen. Tabitha's sudden suspicion of Henry, which led to their car accident, felt convoluted and forced. Not to mention, Tabitha never again brings up the issue of her suspicions.
'From's Central Mystery Always Feels Frustratingly Out of Reach
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The key to balancing a show like From is keeping the audience tuning in and rewarding them while keeping the mystery at bay. The problem is that whenever it seems like the characters are about to uncover something new or important about the Town or the malevolent creatures and entities terrorizing the survivors, more mysteries pop up, distracting attention away from the central one. Tabitha gave the information about Miranda to Jade (Tobey McCray), who is desperately trying to figure out the mystery of the Town; yet, Jade has been working on that since last season. As of Season 3, Episode 6, "Scar Tissue," despite all the new information Jade and Tabitha have uncovered, the mystery of the Town is no closer to being solved.
At the end of "Scar Tissue," after Jade shares the details of the new settlement they discovered, Tabitha reveals that she had dreams of the settlement and the mysterious wards there when she was a child. While her dream seems important, From has played with the audience with these strange types of visions before. The series seldom provides any satisfying answers. Tabitha's dream about the settlement years earlier comes off as another mystery on top of the endless pile of mysteries and red herrings that From has already established. It remains to be seen if the ghostly children, Tabitha's trip to Maine, the reveal of Tabitha's childhood nightmares, the terrifying ventriloquist doll Victor located, and Miranda's artwork will eventually pay off.
'From' Is Still Destination TV Viewing
All criticisms and frustrations aside, From draws us in every week. However, it's hard to see the show continuing at its current pace of adding more recurring characters, subplots, and new mysteries without at least answering a few of the show’s burning questions. The show is riveting because, despite all the new mysteries and questions baked into the plot, it keeps us coming back for more. That said, it would be nice to get some clarity about a few subplots and smaller mysteries before the show is ready to answer the big ones or at least drop some stronger hints. Hopefully, the writers of From will be able to finish their storyline. It would be a shame if the series was cancelled before the mystery is finally solved.
From Season 3 is streaming now on MGM+ in the U.S. New episodes debut on Sunday.
From is a horror TV series centered around a mysterious town that traps all who enter. As residents struggle to find a way out, they must also contend with terrifying creatures that come out at night. The show explores the residents' fight for survival and the eerie secrets hidden within the town.
Release Date February 20, 2022
CastHarold Perrineau , Catalina Sandino Moreno , Eion Bailey , David Alpay , Elizabeth Saunders , Shaun Majumder , Scott McCord , Ricky He , Chloe Van Landschoot , Pegah Ghafoori , Corteon Moore , Hannah Cheramy , Simon Webster , Avery Konrad , Paul Zinno
Image via MGM+
Image via MGM+ 
Image via MGM+ 
Image via MGM+ 
English (US) ·