Old School. Biblically Independent.
By Petr Navovy | TV | October 23, 2024
Obviously, there be spoilers ahead.
We have just passed the halfway point of the third season of the most addictive, beguiling, tear-your-hair-out frustrating TV show out there-MGM's From. The fifth episode, 'The Light of Day', aired last weekend, and it was a belter, perhaps my favorite so far this season. I think this is largely because the townsfolk finally properly started talking to each other! The perceived lack of communication that is usually the norm in the town in From is a recurring complaint--or maybe 'complaint' is too strong a word, so perhaps just 'light-hearted gripe' will do--among the From fandom: A group of people are trapped in the most nightmarish situation you could possibly imagine, with no clear set of rules on what governs the suffering that is meted out to them and with various individuals experiencing aberrant events that others do not experience--you'd think that they would share as much information between each other as possible. Come on guys, get it together! Hold daily meetings! Get everything down on one of those big movie-style conspiracy boards with bits of string linking everything! Every bit of information matters!
To be fair to the good, traumatised folk of Fromville, there have been plenty of examples of proof that they do talk to each other, just sometimes offscreen, as characters have directly referenced bits of information given to them by others at times that we haven't seen. That's fair. You can't show everything. Nevertheless, in the most recent episode, this very much moved onscreen, and was a prominent part of the proceedings, with an actual, honest-to-god town meeting taking place in Tian-Chen's (RIP) diner. It didn't go well, but, you know, at least they tried! And, yes, it's about damn time that they all started talking more and holding meetings. If the writers and creators of From are to be believed, then the fears that some (many, in fact, including me) have about the show--that the story is being made up as they go along and there is no clear plan--are unfounded, and we are in good hands. They insist they have a road map. Good. Great. I hope so.
As we pass the midpoint of the third season, the townsfolk in From are talking, and the fans are certainly talking. Surely some answers must start to be forthcoming soon, but in the meantime, here are some of the most popular fan theories about just what is going on in From.
Donna is a mole
One of the most terrifying things about From is that the monsters seem to be aware of everything that the townspeople do. When Boyd shouted his 'You won't break me' cry of defiance out in the (seemingly) abandoned woods in season two, the monsters had a way of hearing, and they took note, as we saw in the opening episode of season three with Tian-Chen's awful, protracted death. One way or another, the monsters have a way of knowing practically everything about the townspeople, including their names and what they are doing at most times. Some have posited that this is because they have an informant in the human camp-which leads us to...
Tilly is a mole
A much more believable version of the above. Whereas I have zero doubts about Donna, Tilly has been the walking definition of 'sus' ever since she arrived on that bus full of new meat in season two. Performing a jolly dance when arriving at a town of nightmares, being present at multiple key events without any clear reason, and an overall fey presence (including in Elgin's dreams!)--all reasons to look sideways at Tilly. While I personally don't buy into the mole theory (more on that in the next entry), there is definitely something up with Tilly.
The town is controlled by an omniscient (or near enough) entity
This seems like such a foregone enough conclusion now so as almost to be wasting an entry including it here, but for completeness, I might as well. There's definitely some sort of all-powerful entity controlling everything in Fromville. It could even be the town itself. The proof is in how reactive events are: Things are customised to maximise the fear and trauma of the residents, and events occur that counter their efforts at fighting back. Monsters take the shape of people that the townsfolk knew (e.g. Julie's encounter with the young man-looking monster early in the series). Weather events appear (the storm that wiped out the town's radio tower project), and the ground itself shifts (the Matthews' house being swallowed by the ground during Tabitha's underground probing). Whatever it is, something malicious is watching the town very closely, and orchestrating things carefully.
It's all an experiment
From's opening includes details of some of Victor's child-like drawings, which do appear to depict events that happen on the show, so a lot of fans have taken to scrutinising these carefully in an effort to try to predict what will happen. I think there may be some value to this. One of the sketches that stands out to me is of the From town in a snow globe. It's pretty clear that this hints at what we have just discussed--that the town is under close observation. Whether that is by a supernatural entity of some sort, or a human-led experiment, is yet to be determined. The latter felt a bit more believable earlier on, but as impossible-seeming events have piled up--teleportation, cicada monsters, Dale not getting smacked at least once a day--the supernatural theory has become the clear front-runner.
There is more out there than the monsters
Another foregone conclusion as far as I'm concerned. Martin (the chained man that Boyd encounters in the dungeon) outright says that the monsters are the tip of the spear. We've seen relatively small glimpses of other malevolent forces (the cicada monster for one, and whatever carried Boyd and Sara's tent when they ventured out into the woods), but other than that we're quite in the dark as to what else might be out there.
Giant spiders!
A popular theory among the fandom, mostly for two main reasons: 1) the huge spiderwebs that Boyd and Sara encounter in the woods after their tent is dragged, and 2) the sounds that Kenny and others have heard this season as a result of something moving around outside the cabins at night in the 'healthy food area'. The thing is that this could easily be written off: number 2 could easily be something else entirely, and number 1 could simply be the forest manifesting Boyd's fear of spiders.
But still, giant spiders!
The drowned/kimono lady is Fatima
Poor Elgin. Ever since he first rolled into town with his glum expression and (accurate) forebodings of doom, he's not been able to catch a break. Not that anyone in town can, but Elgin does seem to be having some quite special experiences, chiefly involving a ghost (?) of a desiccated lady clad in a kimono. One of the wilder theories about who this might be is that it's actually Fatima. Somehow. Mostly because her kimono kinda sorta (but not really) looks like some of the tops that Fatima has occasionally worn (!). It's nonsense, obviously, but one emerging theory about the kimono lady that does seem to hold a lot of water (sorry) is that she is not a malignant force. Latest evidence for this: Her plea of 'help me' during Elgin's last vision.
All a dream
This was an early theory that now nobody really subscribes to, hopefully including the show's writers, because there would be hell to pay if it turned out to be true.
Tabitha is still trapped
As should be obvious from this entry, I started writing this piece before the most recent episodes of season three. Tabitha's miraculous escape from Fromville has been, and will surely prove to be, one of the most pivotal moments in the whole series. While she was out, there was some ambiguity over just how out she was. We now know that the town has the power to pull people back in even if they do manage to escape.
Fatima pregnant with Elgin
This is such a bonkers theory that I feel the only thing I can do here is link to the Reddit thread where I got it from: A Reddit thread of people's favorite ridiculous From theories. It's a blast.
The boy in white is Jim and Tabitha's deceased son Thomas
Nah. Nonsense.
Everyone has a role
Another insane theory on the face of it, but one that hints at what seem more and more to be some definitive truths about the nature of the town in From: That everyone has a role to play, they have to play until they win or die, and there have been many cycles and no one has won yet. Evidenced by Tabitha echoing aspects Miranda's life, growing similarities between Jade and Christopher, and the dates on the lighthouse and in the bottles on the bottle tree.
The monsters are hiding their true abilities--the talismans don't even really work! The monsters could run if they wanted to!
This is a big one. It also feels very plausible now. Where once we assumed that the town fed on hope, we have since been explicitly told by avatars of the town that it (or the forest that surrounds it) feeds on hope. In other words, the suffering that the town imposes on its residents is periodically peppered with some hope (the finding of the talismans, the discovery of food, some little personal joy allowed to certain characters), so that by contrasting it against the darkness it flares all the stronger, and thus provides more potent material for consumption.
Bottle tree
The bottle tree is one of the central pillars of the From mystery, and there are many theories swirling around it, including the idea that it takes you places that a key item you hold is linked to (Victor's lunchbox taking Tabitha to his hometown), to its teleportation being somehow linked to your intent when you step inside it, to the dates written on the pieces of paper in the bottles serving as some form of coordinates.
That's just a tiny fraction of the wildly differently plausible theories about this ridiculously addictive show out there. At the end of the day, what we really know is that the town is fu*king with people, causing suffering, and we viewers are suffering right alongside them, as we wait patiently for each new episode to add yet more layers to the mystery and provide no answers! And we can't get enough. I've not been this excited about a show in years. Weekly release works!
