Every small step the protagonists take forward is met with grueling steps back, courtesy of the mysterious puzzle box of horrors in the propulsive MGM+ series “From.” Or rather, the harder the humans fight to escape their bizarre purgatory, the crueler the enigmatic evil gets, aiming to crush their spirits before devouring them. And it’s evolving. “From” Season 3 picks up immediately from where Season 2 left off, and while the first five episodes screened for critics put us no closer to answers, one thing is certain: the gloves are now fully off for the horror.
Time is of the essence this season. The dawning realization that resources were growing scarce has snowballed into the very real possibility of starvation. Boyd (Harold Perrineau) faces a ticking clock of his own with an illness, one that’s emboldened him to fight back in his relentless pursuit to find salvation for the survivors. But what victory he earned last season with the vanquishing of an enemy once thought unkillable has provoked a terrible wrath. It comes at a time where morale is already circling the drain, splintering the group further.
It likely doesn’t help that no one knows Tabitha (Catalina Sandino Moreno) was shoved back into the real world, leaving her family deeply worried. Jim Matthews (Eion Bailey) frantically searches for her while also helping Deputy Kenny (Ricky He) search for food. Donna (Elizabeth Saunders) continues her struggle to keep the peace amidst growing turmoil and unpredictable conflicts, but survival odds are dwindling and the creatures are reveling in the suffering.
To emphasize that the gloves are off, “From” Season 3’s first episode culminates in a stunning, potent sequence of horror that induces chills. A brutal moment of retaliation leaves Boyd bound and forced to watch the unspeakable, with the camera closing in on Perrineau, letting his performance carry the full weight of the harrowing act while screams and squelching sounds are heard off-screen. The aftermath is every bit as grisly as this show has previously established, but the confidence in trusting the audience to use their imagination combined with Perrineau’s heart wrenching performance goes further in selling the bone-chilling tragedy. That it brings about a major death only underscores that the creatures were playing nice before.
The message is abundantly clear: things are going to get so much worse.
Series creator John Griffin (Crater), executive producer and showrunner Jeff Pinkner (“Fringe,” “Alias,” “Lost”), and executive producer and director Jack Bender (“Lost,” “Game of Thrones,” “Mr. Mercedes”) shift gears ever so slightly in Season 3. With the horror escalating and obstacles mounting, fully taking center stage now (yes, that’s saying a lot in this gruesome horror series), there’s less room for the quieter character moments so far. That Boyd is such a driving force, both in personality and in narrative momentum, leaves some of the supporting players without much to do in the first half of the season. It’s all careful maneuvering of the chess pieces, in service of deepening mysteries and teases of answers. It’s clear the catastrophic consequences of episode one will reverberate throughout the season, but just how remains to be seen.
Rivaling Boyd for the most compelling plotline this season so far is that of Tabitha’s new journey. Armed with the vintage lunchbox given to her by the kindhearted Victor (Scott McCord), Tabitha finds herself desperate to find a way back to her family. It’s her journey that dangles the most potential for answers, while introducing series newcomer Robert Joy (The Hills Have Eyes, Land of the Dead) for some added depth and tension.
Even with the mysteries as thorny as ever, Griffin and Pinkner know how to keep us hooked. Even when the central quest to escape can feel stalled, the showrunners find creative new ways to induce frights and shakeup the method of terror. Last season saw the evil go airborne, introducing a rather grotesque horde of carnivorous bugs. This season pulls the curtain back a bit more, giving a little more insight into the machinations of the strange, supernatural forces at play. More specifically, it’s become painfully clear that there’s a terrifying tactical intelligence behind the enemy.
The battle lines are firming up in Season 3, and if the first half of the season is any indicator, it’s going to be an epic bloodbath in the battle for survival. Thanks to the cast, led by the reliably great Harold Perrineau, it’s easy to follow “From” down whatever dark path it wants to lead us, no matter how winding.
“From” returns for its new season on September 22 on MGM+.
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