What to Watch: FROM

Horror. TVMA. 2022-current.

Bad Brains Rating: 🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝

“Now, you all remember what it was like for you. Leave these people be.”

Guys. If you never take my advice on anything again, please take my advice on this: FROM is an absolute masterpiece, and I cannot recommend it highly enough. That's why I have given it 5—that's right, FIVE bowls of pasta! (Well, that, and I'm a little touched in the head, but let's focus on the show for now.) I don't rate this show lightly either, especially considering it is still ongoing, which means there is always the chance it'll end on a cliffhanger some day and then get canceled before we get closure. But that is a risk I am willing to take for this show. It is quite literally the horror genre's equivalent of Breaking Bad right now, and if you're sleeping on it you owe yourself an apology!

Let me explain the plot badly: People get lost while driving and come upon a tree down across the road. They manage to make their way into this quiet, disheveled little town that looks like it's been locked in a time capsule for the past 50 years, but they quickly realize that no matter which way they drive, walk or run, every direction they go just brings them right back to the same place. They're trapped... and then they begin to panic. Oh, and then there's these monsters that come out at night and violently rip anyone they can find into human-flavored confetti, we mustn't forget that part. The monsters look like regular people, but they walk around at half the speed of a colonoscopy with these big, creepy smiles on their faces. They are very off-putting in an uncanny valley sort of way. Actually, they're so slow it's a wonder they manage to be dangerous at all, but don't let them fool you, they're vicious little bastards.

The first episode starts with a man walking down a dusty main road, ringing a bell. As the residents start to notice him, they immediately drop whatever they are doing and head indoors. A waitress in a small diner quickly snatches plates away from her patrons, tells them that the diner is now closed for the evening, and shuffles them hastily towards the door. As the camera pans around the small town following the man with the bell (who we can now see is the Sheriff) you see that all of the houses lining the road are in various states of disrepair. The paint is faded and peeling, there are broken railings on some of the porches, every lawn is significantly overgrown, and there is an overturned car balanced precariously on the edge of an empty swimming pool. A sign outside the door of the post office reads “96 days without incident,” but the show would be pretty boring if that count kept going up, wouldn't it? I won't spoil it for you, but I will say this: the events that follow are very gory, and it is handled in such a way that the emotional impact somehow manages to outweigh the shock factor. For a moment, you are forced to put yourself in the position of one of the characters, and you'll quickly realize that sometimes even a violent death isn't the worst thing a human being can endure. This conflicting feeling is one that is revisited frequently throughout the series in different ways, and will keep you unsettled long after the end credits roll.

The thing I like the most about this show is the intelligent writing. They don't overly explain things as if they believe everyone in the audience is a toddler— The story is a puzzle that we are expected to solve together. It's very well-planned and thorough, and it's definitely one of those shows that you pick up a bunch of details you missed the first time when you inevitably watch it again. Just like in real life, every character has a compelling back story that you might not understand right away, but it greatly influences the choices they make in ways that make more sense once you do. It doesn't feel scripted, it genuinely feels like you are learning about real people at a natural pace. The writers are not just throwing a bunch of random things together at the last minute because they are out of ideas and didn't expect the show to run this long—it's obvious that they had a detailed plan for the direction of the show right from the beginning, and we're just patiently waiting to see how it all comes together. Bottom line: They know what they're bringing to the table, and I guarantee you will be hooked within the first 15 minutes.

Another thing I like about this show is that no character is safe. It doesn't matter if its a main character, a child, or anything else. They are all playing musical chairs with death, and the chairs are becoming sparse. Just when you think someone is safe, their jugular gets ripped out and there goes the neighborhood! The show also has a way of challenging perceptions- If a good person does something really bad, but they were influenced by something evil at the time, can they be forgiven? Ah well, minor details. The theme song, “Que Sera, Sera” (performed by the Pixies) is pretty rad, too. Go check it out or I'll toilet paper your house.

Season 4 has been confirmed for 2026.

☘️🖤