From Season 4: Episode 3: Time is running out (recap and review)

Courtesy of MGM

During the last episode of From, the survivors were warned, in brutal fashion, that knowledge has a cost. This warning was delivered as they discovered Jim's (Eion Bailey) dead body in a barn. In the most recent episode, titled "Merrily We Go," one of the ghost children states to Tabitha (Catalina Sandino Moreno) and Henry (Robert Joy), who accompanies her to the mysterious bottle tree, that time may be running out.

More than anything, "Merrily We Go" establishes what will likely be major narrative threads and plot points moving forward. While the episode is a bit slower compared to Season 4's first two entries, it does have ominous signs. Let's recap and review.

Crows and Chilling Warnings

Crows are a major factor in "Merrily We Go." When the town holds a burial ceremony for Jim and Sophia's (Julia Doyle) pretend father, crows flock to the scene, squawking and alarming the townsfolk. This disrupts the ceremony and denies Tabitha and her children, Ethan (Simon Webster) and Julie (Hannah Cheramy), the chance to give a proper goodbye to Jim.

Much later in the episode, a crow arrives on the scene when Victor (Scott McCord) discovers clothing in the woods. At first glance, it looks like it could be the Man in Yellow's (Douglas E. Hughes) trademark raincoat. This causes Victor to recoil and turn around on his way to find the Lake of Tears with Ethan and Jade (David Alpay). Perhaps the fact Victor spotted the clothing will lead he and the others to discover the Man in Yellow has infiltrated the group as Sophia and plans to tear and split them apart, or maybe it's a deterrent to keep the group from discovering the Lake of Tears and an escape. Since crows are often associated with the death, the number of them in this episode can't be a good sign.

Everyone has a plan, but still no answers

This episode also sparked a number of side narratives, though it's unclear which direction they'll go in at this point. As already stated, Tabitha is determined to return to the bottle tree, find the lighthouse, and potentially find a way out. Meanwhile, Fatima (Pegah Ghafoori) works with Elgin (Nathan D. Simmons), though the extent of their plan is unclear and unrevealed by the episode's conclusion. Before the end credits, we do see Elgin and Fatima talk to each other again, as he piles dirt in a room. It's unclear what they're doing, but hopefully they're not conjuring something horrible. Keep in mind that Fatima birthed a monster that Boyd (Harold Perrineau killed).

Meanwhile, Julie enlists Randall's (A.J. Simmons) help to recover books that belonged to Jim from their house that collapsed in a previous season. Randall crawls into the rubble and does find the books, but it makes for plenty of hair-raising moments, considering the house is unstable and he also encounters a corpse. Perhaps the books will reveal some clues.

Additionally, Boyd talks Acosta (Samantha Brown) off the ledge and gives her a pep talk about why she became a police officer in the first place. Eventually, she agrees to treat items that once belonged to the deceased as a crime scene. Perhaps this will turn up some answers. In the meantime, Sophia/the Man in Yellow continues trying to split the group, and in one startling moment, the villain blames Julie and her family for all of the horrible stuff that's happened to the townspeople. Yet, the full extent of the Man in Yellow's plan is still unclear, though by the end of the episode, Sophia moves in with Sara (Avery Konrad), perhaps to encourage her to kill again. Regardless, this likely won't have a good outcome.

Final verdict

"Merrily We Go" mostly functions as a set-up for future plot threads and narratives. It also raises more questions that have no answers yet. For instance, when Boyd visits his wife's grave, her arm pushes out from the ground and grabs him. Does this hint the dead may return as monsters? That would be a chilling twist, but again, we don't know yet. We also don't know what meaning the Lake of Tears has. That said, at least some other characters had something to do this episode, including Tabitha, Julie, Jade, Victor, Ethan, and to a lesser extent, Fatima, Ellis, and Elgin.

As the dead child warned, though, time may be running out, literally and figuratively. We know next season will be the show's last. The number of crows in this episode created a sense of dread and foreboding. Hopefully, by the series' mid-point, something happens and the group discovers more clear-cut answers, but at what cost?

The fourth episode of From: Season 4 will debut next Sunday on MGM+.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GV-amY8PMu0