We’ll never look at the color yellow the same way again. Just like the town keeps its characters trapped, the penultimate episode of Season 4 of MGM+’s supernatural horror series From traps fans on the edge of their seat, even if they have no idea what they just watched after the episode’s endless twists and turns. If Episode 9 had you digging underground for answers, we at DECIDER are here to lend you a shovel.
The overarching plot of From is essentially about the world’s worst road trip: a tree in the road blocks your path, you see some crows, and before you know it, you’re trapped in a town that the outside world has no idea exists. No one can leave, everyone’s paranoid, and there are bloodthirsty monsters that come out at night ready to hunt you down. And there’s no cell service. The horror! It’s up to Boyd Stevens (Harold Perrineau), the town sheriff, to find a way to get everyone home before they lose their lives — and before he loses himself.
**Spoilers for From Season 4 Episode 9 “The Calm Before,” now streaming on MGM+**
The ending of Episode 8 threw us for quite a loop. Henry’s (Robert Joy) visions leave him questioning his reality while contemplating whether he should “eliminate” his “anchor” to the town. We learn that Fatima (Pegah Ghafoori), with the most foreboding case of stretch marks known to man, shouldn’t even be alive, all while Boyd’s mind continues to fray. Jade (David Alpay) thinks he’s cracked the code on how to dig up the dead children’s bones, but Tabitha’s (Catalina Sandino Moreno) chilling encounter with the Man in Yellow (Douglas E. Hughes) suggests that Jade’s plan to bring everyone home has the potential to unleash suffering beyond their comprehension.
Will the townspeople find a way to avoid being tortured? What, or who, is truly the key to their escape? Here’s everything we learned from Season 4, Episode 9 of From, titled “The Calm Before.”
From Season 4 Episode 9 Ending Explained: What Is the Man in Yellow’s Plan?
The Man in Yellow has been doing a whole lot of lurking this season. Taking the form of innocent pastor’s daughter Sophia (Julia Doyle), he’s been making subtle moves in the background to strike fear into the hearts of the townspeople and prevent them from making any progress. While the Man in Yellow is still keeping a low profile, he begins to emerge from the shadows this episode. Early on in Episode 9, Sophia takes Colony House dweller Clara (Katerina Bakolias) aside and makes her own eyes black, revealing herself to her. It turns out Clara struck a deal with the Man in Yellow when she came to town. In exchange for her being able to go home eventually, she agreed to help the Man in Yellow with something later on. Sophia tells her that the time has come now that Jade, Tabitha, and the rest of the crew have formulated their plan to find the children’s bones, and to rip the Bottle Tree out by the roots in order to provide an escape from the underground tunnels. Sophia explains that their plan won’t work — as close as they are to the solution, this town is built on ritual, and the way you do something here is just as important as what you do.
She then enlists Clara’s help in providing a little push to all the games she’s playing to “speed things up.” She cuts her own hand, then Clara’s, and then holds Clara’s hand and tells her to let her in.
So, at least for the time being, Clara is the Man in Yellow’s henchman willing to do whatever he asks, as we see later on in the episode. Sophia also does some classic undercover sabotage, like cutting the rope ladder in the diner while “helping” put it together for those who go into the cave.
At this point in the series, it seems like the Man in Yellow’s plan is just to play with his food; he has to intervene because the townspeople are getting so close to an answer, but they’re far enough away from one that he can have his fun while doing so. But as the finale draws near, something tells us that the Man in Yellow is going to get a little more involved in the plot.
Is Fatima Dying on From?
Not right now, but it’s not looking too good for her either. Last episode, Fatima displayed some troubling symptoms after taking control of the monster she gave birth to — strange black marks stretched over her stomach, along with the blood pressure and heart rate of a woman who should already be dead. From here, things only get worse. After her blood pact with the Man in Yellow, Clara squeezes some blood from her hand into a thermos, which she gives to Fatima as an old family remedy. Hours after drinking it, Fatima wakes up to her hair falling out, crying and doubling over in pain from her marked-up stomach.
We know from the way Boyd’s body got infested in Season 2 and from the way Boyd killed Smiley in Season 3 that when you transfer blood with a monster or other entity from the town, a dark, deadly energy is also transferred from one being to the next. It’s not too late to save Fatima, but if that blood isn’t transferred out of her soon, she may run out of time fast.
What is Tabitha and Jade’s New Plan on From?
When Tabitha tells Boyd about her encounter with the Man in Yellow, he decides to go all in on Jade’s plan to get the children’s bones. In the last episode, Jade said that his plan was to have a group of townspeople enter the underground tunnels and dig the bones out, while another group stays above ground. Since there is only one entrance to the tunnels, the group above ground will rip out the Bottle Tree by the roots and pull the first group out so they can escape. However, based on Sophia’s vague words to Clara about ritual and the need for things to be done a certain way, it sounds like this original plan is missing the key element it needs to work.
Fortunately, Tabitha may have discovered that key element: herself and Jade. After seeing a vision of all the dead children pointing at her, she tells Boyd that it has to be only her and Jade that enter the tunnels to get the bones. She shows him a talisman, and points out that there are two figures drawn on it. Those two figures are her and Jade, the two souls who keep being brought back to this place to free the children.
Is this really what the townspeople need to complete the ritual? It sure seems like it. Tabitha says that she and Jade need to enter the tunnels alone because the way they go about executing their plan matters. That sounds a lot like what Sophia told Clara about the ritualistic nature of this place, and when Sophia learns about the change of plans at the end of the episode, it’s the first time we see her start to panic. Tabitha, Jade, and the rest of the gang are on the right track, but will they be able to pull it off?
Why Does the Boy in White Return?
As usual, this show is the best at giving its characters and the fans mixed signals. Henry begins to push Victor (Scott McCord) away because his visions are telling him to kill Victor so that he can return to “the real world.” Victor is worried about his dad’s welfare, so he goes to his mother and sister’s graves to vent. Just then, the Boy in White appears and tells Victor that Boyd and the townspeople are planning to take down the Bottle Tree. The tree is important, the Boy in White says, and Victor has to do whatever it takes to stop them.
A frantic Victor tries to warn Boyd and the others about the tree, but to no avail. When he refuses to calm down, Boyd is forced to arrest him and hold him in the station until after they take down the tree the next day.
So now we’re getting two different messages: one, that taking down the tree at all is a bad idea, and two, that taking down the tree is probably fine as long as the ritual is done correctly. Tabitha tells Boyd about her new plan to complete the ritual after he arrests Victor, but we still aren’t sure whether ripping the tree out is going to ensure their safety or lead to their demise. We’ll have to wait for the finale to know for sure.
Do Elgin and Clara Die?
The next day, Boyd, Tabitha, and Jade gather a group to go to the forest and begin preparing the tree, while some townspeople — including Sophia, Elgin (Nathan D. Simmons), and Clara — stay behind. Sophia and Elgin sort through junk at the diner, and Elgin finds a puzzling old photograph of old townspeople which Sophia is in. Just after Clara comes in and breaks the news to Sophia about Tabitha and Jade going into the tunnels, Elgin asks Sophia about the photo. Sophia tells Clara to lock the doors, reveals that she can only take the form of people who have died in this place, and then grabs Elgin’s arm.
We cut away after that, so it’s not one hundred percent confirmed that Sophia kills Elgin, although given the circumstances, it seems safe to assume that Elgin is not long for this world. As for Clara, it’s a little less clear. Sophia was angry at her for not telling her about the change of plans sooner, but she may still need to keep her around to act as a spy on the inside whom the townspeople have long learned to trust. We’ll discover her fate when Episode 10 drops.
Do Tabitha and Jade Survive?
At the end of the episode, Jade and Tabitha enter the tunnels. They put up a wall of plastic wrap to hang a talisman on, and as the two begin to dig, the monsters start waking up. Jade hits his shovel on something solid, and he and Tabitha pry the tomb open with crowbars while the monsters approach. Just as they finally uncover the bones of the dead children, they see the creatures smiling at them through the plastic wrap. “You know, you really shouldn’t be doing that,” one says.
Will Tabitha and Jade be able to escape? What is the Man in Yellow going to do next? And what is going to happen once the Bottle Tree falls? Be sure to tune in to the finale of From Season 4 next week to find out.
Watch From now on MGM+. New episodes of Season 4 are released every Sunday.
Lauren Goodman is a writer who lives in New York City. Often covering entertainment and pop culture landscapes, she strives to bring strong cultural insight and investigative depth to each of her stories. Her writing can be read on Decider, Glitter Magazine, and Brookline.News.
