Despite moving closer to the finale every week, the MGM supernatural science fiction thriller series From remains as confusing as ever in season 3, with strange new developments taking place in this week’s episode 9 as well. With just one more episode left for the series this year, a new connection is seemingly introduced between Tabitha Matthews and the late Miranda Kavanaugh. On the other side, Fatima is in serious trouble now, as she is kept hostage in the underground cellar by Elgin and is haunted by the ghostly spirit of the kimono-wearing woman as well.
Spoiler Alert
What does Ellis learn about his father?
From season 3 episode 9 begins right where episode 8 had left us, with Ellis and Boyd terribly shocked to realize that Fatima is no longer inside the shed in the forest. Knowing very well that the townsfolk would want to hurt her in retaliation for killing Tillie, Sheriff Boyd decided to keep his daughter-in-law safe at all costs, and so he prepared the shed in the forest to be her and Ellis’ home for the next few weeks, until the situation calmed down. Although Boyd did not initially want his son to live in the same shed as Fatima, since there was clearly an evil monster growing inside her and making her commit horrific crimes, the young man refused to abandon his beloved. Therefore, Boyd finally agreed to let Ellis move away from the town and live with Fatima, but just as they returned to the place to execute their plan, they realized that Fatima was nowhere to be found.
Therefore, the father and son rush to various parts of the forest and the fringes of the town, looking for Fatima and desperately calling out her name. There is no trace of her to be found, though, and during their search, Boyd suddenly experiences a sharp pain shooting up his hand. He flinches so hard that Ellis immediately notices that something is wrong with his father, and the sheriff then also stumbles, as his legs seemingly stop working for a moment. Ellis is naturally very concerned about his father’s health, especially since Boyd keeps claiming that he is fine after being asked numerous times. Because of this sudden development, the two decide to put their search for Fatima on hold and return to the sheriff’s office for a little respite.
It is here that Boyd finally reveals what is wrong with his hands and legs, after Ellis still tries to figure out what is going on. Sheriff Boyd opens up about him being sure that he has developed Parkinson’s disease after symptoms of the neurological condition have begun appearing. His father also had the same disease, and it has been clear to the viewers for quite some time now that he is indeed suffering from Parkinson’s. While this had been revealed in the earlier seasons of From, and a number of people at Fromville, like Kristy and Kenny, knew about it, Ellis did not have any idea about his father’s deteriorating health. The fact that Boyd trusted others with the information and kept it a secret from his own son is also evidently hurtful for Ellis, but then he also understands the man’s sentiment in trying to not make him feel worried.
Ellis questions his father further about his physical health, and Boyd confirms that he has never had any trouble with his legs before, meaning that the condition is actually getting worse. He very plainly admits to his son that he is most certainly moving closer to a life of immobility, which in this cruel and twisted world would mean death, and there is an awkward silence between them for some time. Boyd then also opens up about his struggles with his mental health recently, as he tells Ellis how the monsters have been trying to taunt and torture him emotionally. He recounts how the monsters tortured Tian Chen right in front of his eyes and then how they made him cruelly abandon Randall in the face of danger. Boyd actually wonders whether the monster growing in Fatima’s womb and now her going missing out of the blue are all part of a plan executed by the monsters only to mock and humiliate him further.
Ellis tries to calm his father, saying that he should not be feeling guilty for any of it, but there is one more incident to add to the mockery, as there is a knock on the window of the office. As it is already dark outside, a monster has walked up to the sheriff’s office, and it taunts Boyd to the extent that the sheriff is incredibly angry and points his gun at the creature. The monster, with the physical appearance of a human nurse, does not flinch at all and instead holds up her fingers in the shape of a gun and points them at her own head. This is a cruel and menacing taunt at Sheriff Boyd, suggesting that he should shoot himself because of how many of the townsfolk he’s let down, and Ellis has to calm the situation down. The matter is temporarily suppressed, and the next morning, Boyd and Ellis go out in search of Fatima once again, but the sheriff clearly remains in a lot of danger, with the monsters seemingly having developed a personal vendetta against him.
Why does Donna not tell the townsfolk about Fatima’s crime?
As Boyd and Ellis are about to leave the sheriff’s office the next morning, Sara Myers rushes to the place and makes a claim that absolutely stuns the two men. She reveals that she knows that Fatima is missing and is confident that she did not disappear of her own accord but was abducted by something. Sara had actually had visions the previous evening, when she was by herself in her house. She seemed to be taken over, or possessed by some greater power, and as her body suffered convulsions, she heard voices just like earlier. The major difference was that while the voices earlier made her commit heinous crimes, they now informed her about Fatima’s situation. She reports that although the voices made it clear that Fatima was somewhere close, in an extremely frightened state, they were also laughing at her and mocking that Ellis and Boyd will not be able to find her in time. If this is indeed a premonition of the future, then things surely look bleak for Ellis and also his father.
But before anything more significant takes place, the two men have to worry about the fact that Donna had made it clear in the previous episode about how she would tell the townsfolk about Fatima’s crime. The leader of the Colony House had been losing her mental strength in the last few weeks, as she was left shattered by all the sudden deaths and horrific events, and so she wanted the townsfolk to know what had actually happened. She had warned Boyd that if he did not tell everyone about Fatima, then she would do it, just to warn the others about the impending danger with the demonic baby. However, as Donna spends some time alone at Colony House in this episode, she has a major change of heart, particularly after she remembers Fatima’s contributions to the community.
We are shown one such memory of Donna, when the residents at Colony House came together to celebrate the anniversary of Fatima’s arrival at Fromville. Everyone, and especially Donna, spoke about how the young woman had been so kind and lovely to everyone at the place and how she had genuinely helped everyone with the exquisite quality of marijuana that she grew and supplied to everyone. It is primarily these memories that make Donna question whether throwing Fatima to the angry crowds would be the correct thing to do, as she is also very helpless in her situation and terribly scared too, with a demonic baby growing in her belly. Donna obviously knows that Fatima had not been right in the head when she killed Tillie, and so she too has to choose between protecting Fatima or warning the townsfolk about her situation, just like Boyd. But despite not having any blood ties to her, Donna ultimately chooses to take Fatima’s side and help her in whatever way possible.
Therefore, Donna and Boyd gather all the townsfolk at the diner and inform them about Fatima’s disappearance. They do not say anything about her connection with Tillie’s murder and instead suggest that something or someone has abducted her and is keeping her hostage somewhere. Naturally, a few of the townsfolk wonder whether the murderer might be the same person behind the kidnapping, but they all readily agree to help find the missing woman. Search parties are arranged, and they go around looking for Fatima but still do not find any trace of her. The only notable absentees from the meeting and the search effort are Victor, who now blames himself for having pushed his mother towards death, and Jade, who now hallucinates Christopher and Jasper and is spooked by them.
Is Fatima killed by the ghostly spirit?
Unbeknownst to everyone at Fromville, Fatima had actually been taken away by Elgin, who had seemingly been converted into an ally of the monsters by the kimono-wearing spirit. After starting to believe that the spirit could help him liberate all the people in Fromville and take them home, Elgin began following all its orders and even drew his own blood into pouches to take them for Fatima. Elgin now totally believes that Fatima must give birth to the demonic baby in her body, which will lead to the salvation of the townsfolk somehow, and all of this is evidently conveyed to him by the ghostly spirit. Therefore, he abducts Fatima and brings her to the underground cellar, and then tries to calm her down.
At the beginning of From season 3 episode 9, Elgin tells Fatima that she should not panic and should simply be proud and happy about the part she will be playing in helping the townsfolk. He states that she should start eating and preparing her body to give birth, and then hands over the blood bags he had brought, filled with his own blood, as food for her. Fatima is initially disgusted by the idea and even tries to push Elgin away, but as soon as he is able to make her take a sip from the bag, Fatima cannot resist her craving any longer and drinks up all the blood. In just a few hours’ time, the large amounts of blood that she drank, which acted as nourishing food for her body, show great effects, as her belly grows massively, showing that she is indeed ready to give birth.
Distressed and scared about what is going to happen, Fatima even frees herself from the chain tying her to the bed and then attacks Elgin when he returns in an effort to escape the cellar. Although she succeeds in the initial part of the plan, Elgin regains control very quickly and prevents Fatima from running out. The woman is trapped once again, and Elgin steps out to join the search party, possibly in order to not appear suspicious. Elgin actually chooses to go with Ellis, and he tries to calm the aggrieved husband, stating that there might be some secret purpose to Fatima’s abduction and that it might all turn out to be for the greater good.
Fatima, meanwhile, spots a metal ring poking out of the dirt on the floor of the cellar, and she realizes that there is a trapdoor buried under all the soil. She puts all her time and effort into removing the dirt and clearing the trapdoor before trying to pull it open. However, she is unable to do so yet, and just then, the ghostly spirit wearing the kimono appears in front of her and seemingly pins her to the bed. Although the spirit puts a hand on Fatima’s mouth, trying to silence her cries for help, it is still not clear whether the spirit is trying to comfort her or take her life. In case the spirit is actually evil and wants to kill Fatima right after she gives birth to the demon, the woman might end up using the talisman which she had removed from the shed in the forest to protect herself. However, it might just actually be that the ghostly spirit wants to genuinely help her, and Elgin might be correct in his assessment, after all.
What does Tabitha realize about herself in the end?
The penultimate episode of From season 3 actually ends with some seriously mind-boggling hints, but Victor’s experiences should be reported before that. After spending most of the episode lamenting the fact that he had actually told his mother to go save the children in the tower, which Victor remembered only recently, the man goes into the forest and decides to angrily chop down the first faraway tree, with the bottles hanging from it. But just as Victor starts hitting the trunk of the tee with a laughably small ax, the Boy in White appears out of nowhere. The boy, who evidently looks different and slightly grown up now, tells Victor to not hurt the tree, for it is important in some unexplained way. Victor questions the change in the appearance of the Boy in White but is answered with more riddles, as the boy says that everything is changing now, hinting at the weather and the lack of harvest at Fromville.
The Boy in White claims that he had already tried to help the humans by telling Christopher about the children who needed to be saved from the tower, but since the ventriloquist did not believe in him at the time, he wants humans to suffer and learn from their mistakes. Therefore, the Boy in White only tells Victor to not cut down the faraway tree and disappears, without providing any other answers for now. Following this interaction, Victor walks down to the underground cellar and stands by its door, without any idea that Fatima is having a tussle with the ghostly spirit inside the place. Incidentally, Tabitha and Julie are also led to the place after the woman sees the unnatural children once again, only this time they ask her to follow her instead of shouting “angkhooey” randomly.
While Tabitha had met Victor earlier in this episode too and seemed to have some sort of vision when she touched the man’s shoulder, it did not seem anything too significant until now at the very end of From season 3 episode 9. As Tabitha touches Victor’s shoulder to comfort him, she has very clear visions of the fateful night from Victor’s childhood, when Miranda left her children at the underground cellar. She then also sees Miranda getting killed by the Smiley Creature monster even before she could get inside the faraway tree, meaning that the woman was unable to reach the lighthouse. However, these visions now suggest that Tabitha has somehow established a connection with Miranda, either channeling her spirit through her body or by being a reincarnation of Miranda, perhaps. What exactly this means and how it will be significant for the people at Fromville will only be known in the finale episode next week, when From will once again surely leave us with more questions than answers.
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