Horror TV series From, even as it enters its third season, is wildly unknown. It doesn’t help that this show that no one’s heard of—that shares writers, directors and a lot of influence with Lost—is on a streaming network that no one’s heard of. Literally everyone I’ve recommended watch this terrifying show didn’t know there even was an MGM+, let alone that it made original TV. So, yes, there’s an MGM+ (it used to be Epix, but changed its name when no one was looking or caring), and yes, there’s a Lost-ish horror show on it called From, and yes, it’s been one of the best things on TV in the last three years.
There is no better way of convincing you to watch the frightening and engrossing From than describing its opening premise:
You’re driving down a forest road when you have to suddenly hit the brakes— there’s a tree down, blocking your way. You get out of your car to look around, notice the crows in the sky, and realize there’s no way through. So you get back in, turn the car around, and drive to find another route. As you do, you pass through a tiny, one-street town. You barely notice it as you go through. Then as you carry on down the road you re-enter that tiny, one-street town. The locals look up and murmur something about it being your second time through as you drive on. Then you’re back in the town again. The friendlier locals will explain that this it, you’re here now, but you’ll probably ignore them and do a couple more loops before you give in. Then you’re warned to be inside by dark. That’s when the creatures come out.
That’s how it starts for family-of-four, the Matthews, parents Jim and Tabitha (Eion Bailey and Catalina Sanino Moreno) and children Julie and Ethan (Hannah Cheramy and Simon Webster). Except on one of their attempts to go anywhere else, their RV skids off the road and lands on its side among the trees, just outside town. And it’s getting dark. And they’re about to very quickly learn about the creatures.
The terrifying opening episode brilliantly introduces many of the long-term residents of this unnamed town as they rally to attempt to save the Matthews from the anachronistically dressed yet seemingly human people who wander about at night. Primary among the enormous cast are Boyd Stevens (Lost’s woefully underused Harold Perrineau getting the starring role he deserves), the town’s self-appointed sheriff/mayor, and Donna Raines (Elizabeth Saunders), the leader of a separated group who live in commune in the Colony House, on the outskirts of what is known as the Township. And both are heavily involved in keeping everyone alive.
There is so much lore to From, but what’s extraordinary is how rarely the show feels expositional. The cast has around 20 main characters, most of whom arrived in the town at different times, and—intriguingly—from different parts of the United States, with the potential for new people to arrive any time. And, to some degree, the potential for long-term residents to…well, not leave. No one leaves. The Matthews play the part of the viewer—newly arriving in town, and getting to know all the significant players, alongside the extent of their new, awful reality. And it really is awful. Because as much as we’re going to get into the comparisons with Lost, this is no cheerful primetime network show.
There are some truly alarming moments in just the first few episodes. There’s that spike through the head and into the tree. There’s the first time you see a creature get indoors. There’s the fact that any character, no matter how central they may appear, is very much at risk. And the gore. It’s not possible to say it’s “sparing,” given how so many scenes are permanently etched into my memory, but it’s infrequent enough that when it occurs, it’s really fucking shocking.
This is combined with the more insidiously unsettling wrongness about the place. Nothing is quite right, no part of nature behaves quite as it should, and what keeps people safe is as impossible to understand as anything else. Oh, and it’s definitely kinda weird that there are some trees that can teleport you. So much of this is expressed through Victor (Scott McCord), a child in a man’s body who has lived in the town the longest, but can only express the worst of what he knows through crayon drawings.
From had a bit of a bump last year, after Stephen King—a sleeve-worn influence for the series—noticed it and told his enormous X following that they should watch. This meant those weirdo sites that write a news story every time the horror writer tweets (“Stephen King Shocks Readers With News Of New Sandwich Filling”) then all mentioned the program, so there’s the vaguest chance it might have crossed your radar. (Only the cynical may note that MGM+ recently announced a series order based on King’s book The Institute.)
But I bring From to your attention now because season 3 just started, the first episode aired Sunday the 22, and oh my God. At one point I thought, “Huh, they’re really showing a lot more of [censored], that’s going to make [that] less scary,” and then by the end of the episode I was sitting there, my mouth slightly open, staring wide-eyed in utter horror. When the credits rolled, it took me a good few seconds to snap out of it.
From is very much about how different people manage to survive in such a bizarre reality. There are those who see a chance to live a life without society’s rules, albeit by following new rules that let them survive the nights. There are others who try to make the best of a terrible situation through acceptance and attempts to carve a new normality. And there are those who just want to escape. It’s the latter that are most feared, and the most likely to get themselves and others killed.
And it’s here you can see the obvious overlaps with Lost. The behind-the-scenes links, beyond Perrineau finally getting his dues, are writers Jeff Pinkner and Javier Grillo-Marxuach, and most significantly, director Jack Bender. However From was created by relative newcomer, John Griffin, and there’s no involvement by J.J. Abrams, Damon Lindelof or Carlton Cuse. (And it seems very unlikely Perrineau would have been involved if there had been.) There is, however, some executive producer tagging of the Russo brothers, which is intriguing, given the relative obscurity.
The on-camera links are far more obvious. A large group of people trapped in a small space, all thrown into a perilous and inexplicable situation together, where monstrous threats loom at the edges, and large, crucial questions sit unanswered. Like, here: Where does the electricity come from? How do they have food and animals? And, you know, what the actual hell is going on? Fortunately, unlike Lost, the characters in the show have these questions too, and are loudly asking and trying to resolve them, just like you would.
(Although I need to do the obligatory Lost disclaimer: As a new generation discovers the show via its recent appearance on Netflix, people will once again be furious at its ending, and declarations of “Season X didn’t make sense!”, and we once again need to reiterate: it’s OK to not have all the answers, and for mystery to be at the center. That can be a good thing.)
It’s also promised that with From, there is a plan, the creators do know where this is going. The miracle is that it’s had three seasons to keep trying to get there, despite no one I know ever having heard of the show. It’s hard to imagine it can keep being this lucky in a streaming world where even huge successes get canned, let alone on an obscure network best known for flops like Pennyworth and Beacon 23.
What really fascinates and engages me most about From was my realization, very early on, that the biggest questions don’t actually need answers. And watching from that space is very freeing. Imagine watching all of Lost but without ever needing to know what the island was, why they were there—not something possible because the show endlessly begged you to ask—but imagine how much less frustrating it would have been. From never begs you to ask anything. It says, “This is the situation, and it’s dreadful.”
If anything, finding out that some ancient angry witch once cast a spell on a tree, or an alien race wanted to run some experiments, or—God forbid—they’re all dead, would be ruinous. What I want to know as I watch is: Will they be OK? Will they get the radio to work? Why do the sigils keep them safe? Where does the electricity come from? I don’t need to know why the town exists, because it does, and that’s enough to be dealing with.
I implore everyone to seek it out. MGM+ is an available add-on for Amazon Prime and has the usual free starter offer, so if you already subscribe you should be able to check out a bunch of episodes for no extra cost. Each season has ten episodes, and the story advances forward at a fair pace. And remember, if you watch, not knowing the answers to the questions is OK. Sometimes we don’t know, and have to live anyway, no matter how curious we might be.
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