From Season 4 Review: It’s Okay, But Losing Steam
From is a show that seems to be on a slight downward trajectory in terms of quality since its first couple of seasons. It remains totally watchable, but my patience for the show has grown a little bit thin. Next season will be the final season of From, and I feel like how the show’s creators wrap everything up will play a major role in whether or not viewers look back on the show positively.
Reflecting back on this fourth season specifically though, I think it’s the weakest installment so far. However, there are still a couple of aspects of the series that it really gets right for a horror TV show, and I’d like to touch on those first.
One element of From that worked in Season 1 that still works now is the sense of atmospheric horror that the series is able to encapsulate. From doesn’t rely on lots of jump scares or cheap tricks. It’s a horror show that fully commits to being a horror show. That’s rarely successful on TV these days, with horror often being combined with another genre, like comedy, in a series.
While I’m not sure that I’d ever classify From as being truly terrifying to me personally, it’s excellent at creating an overwhelming sense of dread. It feels like at any moment something awful could happen to any of the characters. The actual horror setting of the nameless town, which has been somewhat expanded on (but not overly so) since the earlier seasons with things like the tunnels, remains really strong and spooky.
Another strength that I’ve touched on in the past that remains stellar here, is the acting of lead Harold Perrineau. I’ve always enjoyed Perrineau’s acting, going back to his earlier work on shows like Oz and Lost. He has a likeable manner about himself without ever feeling too overbearing.
While the acting of the rest of the cast collectively feels weaker overall (which I’ll get into more in just a moment), Perrineau remains a clear standout. He’s regularly asked to do much of the heavy lifting in terms of scenes and, despite how crazy everything gets, he keeps everything feeling grounded with his realistic portrayal of Boyd.
The final positive aspect of Season 4 I want to touch on is what the show chooses to do with the villainous “Man in Yellow.” I think it works well for the show to finally have an actual big bad for us to root against. It’s interesting to me that the show chooses to reveal the Man in Yellow’s method for infiltrating the town at the end of the season’s first episode instead of choosing to keep it a mystery for later on. This was still successful for me, nonetheless, and it added a fun, sinister element that was present in the everyday goings-on around the town.
With the exception of enjoying the storyline given to Victor’s father, Henry, the positives for From this season end there. I’ve had gripes with the acting on this show in the past, and it’s clearly downright bad in some key areas. As we’ve gone through the seasons, and Tabitha and Jim’s children have been asked to play a bigger role in the story, it’s evident they’re just not particularly strong actors. I’m sure the actors playing Julie and Ethan are nice people, and I couldn’t do any better in their roles (mainly since I’m far too large to play a child), but, wow, could they benefit from some acting lessons.
Ellis, Boyd’s son, is equally poorly portrayed. He’s always been a weak point among the cast. You’d think maybe he’d have gotten better over these seasons. He hasn’t. Acosta, a character they introduced last season, basically contributes nothing to the show besides some really subpar scenes. I think everyone else is fine, but Julie, Ethan, Ellis, and Acosta really drag many of their scenes down to the level of community theater. And that’s probably being a bit insulting to some of the quality acting you might see at your local community theater.
The main problem with Season 4, however – and it’s a big problem – is that not a whole lot happens. From’s seasons have always felt a little stretched out, but this season, we get three or four hours’ worth of content stretched out over 10 episodes. It ends up being a lot of characters standing around talking without much of importance progressing. Basically, if you wanted, I could summarize the first six episodes in a sentence or two and you can start watching with Episode 7 and you won’t have missed much. That’s a problem.
Much of watching From has become just waiting to see what the answers to all of the mysteries are, and I’m essentially ready at this point to receive said answers and see if they’re satisfying. From has often felt like a horror version of Lost. That still feels true, and it has some of the same problems about adding mystery upon mystery without providing satisfying answers in the way Lost ultimately struggled with. Viewers received a little taste of the answers with From at the end of Season 3, but the latest season really felt like a stretched-out period before the big reveals of Season 5.
Despite all of this, From remains watchable. If you’ve made it three seasons into this show, I think you’ll make it through Season 4. It’s alright. Judgment for From, overall, will truly come down to whether the next, final season delivers, and I’m curious to see whether it will. Hopefully, we don’t have to wait another two years between seasons to finally get some answers.
Grade: 6/10
Past From Reviews: