The first season of From was a genuine masterpiece — great premise, acting, and production qualities.
But in Season 2, things took a different turn when the story started piling on more mysteries while adding numerous characters.
By the third season, it felt like the story was going around in circles with the writers having no intention — or ability — to offer answers for the mysteries in the preceding episodes.
(Chris Reardon/MGM+)
I recently recalled that From Season 4 aired this year, and I can barely remember what happened because it was so unmemorable and there are some things you can’t unsee once you’re tuned to them.
After seeing that From has been relying on overwhelming the viewer with too much to keep them occupied chasing tails years ago, it’s now clear that the show has always had a formula.
And I can’t unsee that, so I’ll share the burden with you.
A Twisted Serial Procedural
Every episode of From now has a pattern.
(Chris Reardon/MGM+)
It starts by either toning down or amping up the cliffhanger from the previous episode.
The cliffhanger is typically something gnarly that makes you think the fan is about to come off the roof, but in the episode, the writers fall back into either of these cheat codes.
They either chalk everything up to confusion or the mystery from the cliffhanger is connected to some character’s past, further piling up the mysteries.
The midsection of the episode is a frustrating bloat of the same dynamics we’ve seen before as Boyd runs around or some argument or the other breaks out.
It gets incredibly frustrating to see characters who have been in this town for years getting shocked that something weird just happened.
(MGM+/Screenshot)
Isn’t this the norm in this town? The odd thing would be if nothing bad happened.
So when everyone freaks about what some life-sized dolls mean — and somehow they are tied to Tabitha — it feels like they are all insane.
Perhaps this show is taking place in an asylum.
And Tabitha? How many of these things are connected to her?
Given the sheer scale of how weird her life was in the past, she should have gone mad a long time ago.
But Tabitha is not even the most frustrating character — that honor goes to Victor.
No, No, No. Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen
(Chris Reardon/MGM+)
I have always found the character of Victor to be quite odd, and not because he suffers from PTSD and doesn’t have any social skills.
Somewhere along, I realized that the character is the writers’ biggest cheat code because through him, they have a reason not to offer any answers.
It seems like after living in this town for most of his life, Victor knows more than everyone else.
When something weird happens, he either remembers something he witnessed or the Boy in White has told him.
(Chris Reardon/MGM+)
But Victor has never been forthcoming with information, constantly retreating to the same pattern where he warns everyone not to do something but never says why.
And for the empathetic viewer, no one wants to see the character forced to do things he doesn’t want to.
But that is how the writers have gotten away with locking the answers — or the non-answers — behind the Victor vault for so long.
It has added to the frustration of a story that goes nowhere.
Wait and See, For Four Seasons
Every season of this show now feels like a prelude for what is to come.
(Chris Reardon/MGM+)
I’d venture to say that most of us are just ready to see how this ends, and we don’t even care for the mysteries surrounding the town or its residents.
Each season features underwhelming developments but just enough to keep viewers hooked on the next.
Did we really need to spend an entire season learning that some of the residents have reincarnated over and over? It took one episode to learn this.
The rest of them were padded out with The Man In Yellow’s antics and Fatima’s monster evolution — just enough narrative bait to keep viewers on the hook, but nowhere near enough substance to deliver an actually entertaining season.
(Chris Reardon/MGM+)
That is the ultimate paradox of the series at this point: it remains begrudgingly watchable entirely on the backs of stellar casting, even as the story itself rots on the vine.
The talent on screen is doing heavy lifting that the writing simply doesn’t deserve.
At this stage, the lingering question isn’t whether the lore will finally pay off.
It’s whether the writers possess the capability to land a ship they’ve spent four seasons steering in circles.
All signs point to no, but we reserve judgment until we’ve seen the final product.
(Jessie Redmond/MGM+)
Over to you, From fanatics.
What is the most memorable scene from Season 4, and how did it factor into the larger mystery?
Are you fatigued by the story going in circles, or are you still holding out hope?
Let’s keep the conversation going — it’s the only way the good stuff survives.
Say something in the comments, share if you’re moved to, and keep reading. Independent voices need readers like you.
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