Good morning! I hope the world is being good to you and you’re being good to it.
Grab your coffee or beverage of choice and share a thought with me.
I just finished season 4 of From, and I don’t know how I feel about where the show is at and where it is going.
Quick backstory, it’s early 2025 and I’m searching for a show I can watch during the wee hours of the morning while I’m up with my infant daughter. I’d always seen From lauded for its story and considered one of the best sci-fi/horror series out there. Unfortunately, to watch I would have to get another subscription, this time to MGM+.
Not unfortunately, however, Roku had a new year subscription sale where I could get three months for $3 a month. So, in the morning’s early hours, as I rocked my daughter back to sleep, I was serenaded by Que Sera, Sera performed by The Pixies and transported to the inescapable hell-town of From. Oddly enough, I found the song made a good lullaby while I tried to recollect the nursery rhymes and soothing songs of my earliest years. Parenting comes at you fast and I’d apparently not studied enough for the test.
Anyway, I made quick work of the first three seasons and enjoyed what I watched. The timing of my viewing with a major life milestone established a special bond with the show. But, during the third season, cracks began to show.
My worry for From is that it will collapse under the weight of the complexities of its own world. Season 4 spent most of its time not doing anything other than having the town’s inhabitants stating each episode how scared they were and how much they wanted to go home with a few deaths sprinkled in. Then, there were characters trying to be bold in order to not put others in danger while subterfuge played just outside everyone’s awareness.
By season’s end, there was the usual surprise reveal and cliffhanger, but the season essentially felt pointless and incomplete without any intermediate resolution. (micro spoiler: Is the golem just for show? That’s a lot of clay for no play.) The thing I disliked the most was the minimal presence of the creatures that plague the inhabitants each night. Yes, they were present, but they felt like more of an afterthought, despite wreaking havoc at the end.
Now, despite my gripes, I will continue watching, because I need to know how From ends and what happens to all the characters that got me through many sleepless nights. My hope is that the show rediscovers its roots while still introducing fresh ideas like those that could be good but made season 4 shaky. If the From team can’t do that, well, maybe it’s time to admit is was all a dream or the characters have actually been dead this entire time. (Please, for the love, don’t do that.)
There is still plenty good about From that makes it a tense, fascinating watch. Hopefully, those in charge can steer it safely into port and avoid a Game of Thrones-esque debacle.
Question 1: Are you watching From? How are you feeling about it?
(Insert your answer in the comments with the question number – I’m not supposed to be doing ALL the talking here.)
Question 2: How did you discover From?
Question 3: Seriously, did I miss something with the golem?
Question 4: What’s your theory about the town’s existence and/or how the inhabitants may ever leave?
P.S.: MGM+ is actually worth the price of admission. It hosts a number of other good shows and gets the occasional movie streaming premier that other options may not.
HobbyScope 