FROM Season 2 Episode 2 Review: The Kindness of Strangers

You can’t blame Fatima for breaking down.

Imagine living in that nightmare over and over again, and then having to live through a new crop of people’s initiation into said nightmare, and standing by helplessly while they die close by, and there’s nothing you can do lest you join them to be slaughtered yourself.

FROM Season 2 Episode 2 was the first night following the bus’ arrival. And what a tragically sad and horrific night it was.

The diner was a ball of tension, and there wasn’t a whole lot Donna could do besides be honest with everyone. But that first conversation is never easy, and the diner had one particularly rowdy newcomer who wasn’t keen to sit around at take orders.

You would think hearing the death in the streets would have gotten through to the man, but he was scared and confused, and he took that out on poor Kenny, holding him at gunpoint and acting like it was a righteous move to help those outside.

You have to admire Donna for continuously putting the needs of many over the few because it’s the only way you can survive in a place like that.

Donna: I know this is scary. But we are not the enemy. The enemy’s out there.
Woman From The Bus: Well, that’s an odd thing to say.
Donna: Please, just let me explain.
Woman From The Bus: Okay.
Donna: Let’s just start with the tree you saw in the road.
Bakta: How did you know about the tree?
Donna: Everyone sees the tree.

Would she have allowed Kenny to be shot and then killed that man if given a chance? Absolutely. Because opening those doors and potentially allowing all those people to be killed was never an option for her.

The night in the diner was nerve-wracking, and while Julie was fretting about her father, Kristi was face to face with her fiancée, who was understandably pissed off.

You had to feel for Kristi, who listened patiently to Mary’s tirade because she had to be in a state of shock. On the one hand, her love was right in front of her. She could touch and feel her again, and she no longer had to wonder where she was, what she was doing, and if she was okay.

But on the other hand, she was right in front of her and about to be subjected to unrelenting trauma and pain in the form of the worst town in existence.

She had to be completely overwhelmed, with many conflicting emotions to contend with. Happiness and despair warring with one another to take root.

She let Mary vent. She let her get out months’ worth of fear and frustrations. It’s unfortunate that Kristi’s disappearance caused that, but it was also hard to see how broken Kristi was at that moment.

And yet those in the town must be strong. Even Kenny, with his poor heart tattered into pieces, tasked Kristi with getting back out there and being there for Mary because he knew she would need the support.

Those that have been in the town for a while have enormous expectations placed on them every time a new car makes that continuous loop, and it’s a wonder so many of them wake up every morning and step foot outside to get some fresh air because that paralyzing agony has to be unbearable.

Fatima’s breakdown felt like a breakdown for everyone in the town. They do their best to survive every day, but some days you can’t just pretend you’re not living inside a nightmare.

Some nights, you must look the monster right in the eye and give them the middle finger for your sanity.

The diner people had a hell of a night, but it was nothing compared to those left outside, including Jim and Tom, who were still trapped under that house with an injured guy who had no clue what was lurking outside.

Brick didn’t stand a chance out there. We didn’t hear the conversation Tom must have had with him explaining the situation, but with the discomfort and adrenaline that had to be coursing through his body, it was a very tall task to ask him to be silent.

He was literally dying and didn’t even realize that a house falling on him wasn’t the worst thing that could happen that night.

Tom wasn’t a main character, but he was part of that wacky family. His death this early in the season, much like Father Khatri’s death in FROM Season 1, once again showcases how high the stakes are here.

No one is safe in that town, and as the audience, we shouldn’t get lulled into a sense of calm that any of these characters are untouchable.

To think we’ll make it through this series without continued heartbreak is wishful thinking.

For his part, Boyd was forever being the good man he is and trying to help Martin get down from that wall, no matter how much Martin tried to talk Boyd out of it.

Everything involving Martin and Boyd was weird. Like even stranger than things usually are on this series.

Martin: You ever wonder if Abby was right?
Boyd: What’d you say?
Martin: What if it’s all just a dream?

Martin was one in a long line of people chained up in that place, but by who? God only knows.

His knowledge was far-reaching, but when he mentioned Abby, I wondered if the whole thing was just a product of his imagination. That theory felt truer when Boyd walked through a door and was suddenly in the middle of nowhere.

Odd and unexplainable things are normal on FROM, but occasionally things happen that don’t necessarily feel real. It’s hard to explain, but this felt like one of those moments where I began to question if Boyd ever even made it into the tree or if everything from then on has just been a figment of his imagination.

But Martin sharing his blood with Boyd, who now has those creepy crawlers under his skin that even Victor could seemingly notice, makes me think that the whole interaction with Martin was very real and very terrifying.

Nothing good comes from creepy crawlers under the skin, okay? I saw The Faculty back in the day!

But what does it mean here? Will this cause Boyd to go insane or get sicker? Were the creepy crawlers the reason that Martin was locked up in the first place?

The list of questions continues to grow with each passing hour, and the answers sometimes seem to be nowhere in sight.

I love a good mystery, and I love a good horror tale, and FROM is both. But the riddles and the half-answers have gotten old, and that won’t stop unless we get the hint of an answer or something to cling to soon.

The ride is enjoyable, and it’s one of the most engrossing series currently on television, both from a production standpoint and story, but it sometimes feels like whole episodes pass, and we’ve not moved forward in the slightest.

Just give us a sign of something. Disprove a theory or prove one right. Let us know that this magical ride is worth the investment by slowly unraveling the mystery over time and not saving it all until the very last minute.

Patience is a virtue, I know. And I’m jumping ahead here, as the series hopefully has a long way to go, but I want an answer to one of the million questions hanging out there.

I think we’ve earned it!

Loose Ends

• There is something majorly off about Elgin, and maybe Victor is right not to trust him, but there’s also something inherently likable about him, so I don’t want anything to happen to him. But I have to wonder how he was outside alone with the monsters so close and managed to find safety. It’s too convenient.

• When are Victor and Jade going to talk? Actually, give me Victor, Ethan, and Jade all talking and figuring out the next steps of the quest because those three have different skill sets that could be invaluable.

• Where are all these bus people going to live? Colony House must be a mess now, and the town could be in better shape. Plus, the Matthews also need new housing.

They survived the night, well, some of them, so what’s next for the town after the failed radio tower experiment and the arrival of a new batch of personalities?

Let me know in the comments what you think.

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Whitney Evans is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on Twitter.

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