this post was submitted on 01 Feb 2026
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I stumbled upon "From" on one of those YouTube channels that gives a synopsis of a whole TV series or movie in a fraction of the time. I started watching this one and decided I liked the sound of it, then when I saw it had reviewed really well I stop watching the YT video and went to watch the show myself. We're about half way through the show now and really enjoying it.

The premise in a nutshell is that there's this town and when people find themselves there they can't leave (because magic) and there's these creepy monsters that come out at night and try to kill everyone. People are fine as long as they stay in the houses but if they let them in it's game over. The monsters can make themselves look like people and they constantly try to trick people into letting them in. At the very beginning of the show a monster convinces a little girl to open the window by appearing to be her grandmother.

The show is very much like Lost only without the astronomical budget and it's got much more of a horror vibe going on. I'd heard absolutely nothing about this show and I don't know anyone else who's heard of it either. It must be doing quite well as they're working on season 4 right now. I feel like there must be some demographic somewhere where everyone's heard of this show, but it's not round here.

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[–] Sunsofold@lemmings.world 4 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Imagine a man walks up to you in a top hat and suit. He shows his gloved hands are empty. He removes his gloves. He shows his ungloved hands are empty. He shows up his cuffs. His cuffs are empty. He removes his jacket. He rolls up his sleeves. His forearms are now bare. There is no place to hide a gimmick up his sleeves now. He guides you to a table. He knocks on it to show it is solid and ungimmicked. He shows you underneath and has you knock as well, to show that it is ungimmicked. He gingerly, with two fingers, reaches into a pocket, carefully and slowly, to pull out a deck of cards. He places it on the table. He picks it back up and removes the plastic wrap in front of you to show it's not a deck he could have done something to. He reaches into another pocket. He pulls out a coin. He taps it on the table to show it is a real coin. He let's you look at it for a moment, just to make sure you know it's real. He reaches into a pocket again, and pulls out another coin. He taps it again. He shows it to you again. He reaches into a pocket again, and pulls out a pencil, painted like a magic wand, classic black with white tips. He lets you examine it, to see it is real. He places it carefully parallel to the cards next to the table. He picks up the coin, holds it up to catch the light, and then piles all of it back into his pockets, says, 'Shows canceled,' and walks away. It was never a magic trick, just all the hallmarks of a magic trick to hold your attention for a while.


I started From but I didn't get the sense that it was building anything. There is a style of writing for shows, like Lost, where once you understand it, you can't watch them anymore. They are made to get you to ask questions but never actually pull anything together, curiosity edging. It's a process of making it seem like they have a plan, where anything might be the foreshadowing key to understanding the rules for the world they've built. However, there is no world which has been built, and thus no foreshadowing, no key, no past context or future destination to constrain the moment. It's just a sequence of events with no rules and no goal, milking attention out of you drip by drip, the signifiers of mystery with no mystery, jigsaw puzzle pieces from a hundred different puzzles that can never be made whole.

[–] Ilandar@lemmy.today 1 points 22 hours ago* (last edited 22 hours ago) (1 children)

That's a fairly long-winded analogy but I understand what you mean. Mystery box seems to be a really divisive genre/style in television, and I'm definitely more in your camp where I really start to lose interest in a show once I feel it's going down that route. I think a lot of people love the online communities and detailed discussions that these shows generate, because fan theories are never really disproven until the final episode or two of a show. However, I think that's also part of the reason why the endings tend to be so divisive - a lot of people get caught up in their own fan-canon idea of what the show is about and are very disappointed when they get a reality check from the people actually making it.

[–] Sunsofold@lemmings.world 2 points 6 hours ago

The length is part of the analogy. The whole genre is a waste of time. A 'mystery box' is to mystery as a shaggy dog story is to a joke, but at least there's some absurdist humour in a shaggy dog story when you realize it's an anti-joke. The mystery box is just pretending to have put in effort. It's human made but with the same level of 'intelligence' as AI slop.

These shows are insulting to the audience at the end because the whole production is just the producers saying 'it doesn't matter if it makes sense. These idiots will eat the slop and love it anyway.' The people who say 'I don't care. I liked it anyway,' are the exact idiots the producers are mocking, but too stupid to know they're being mocked.

[–] Shadow@lemmy.ca 10 points 2 days ago

As someone who doesn't like horror usually, it's fantastic. Super excited for the new season

[–] Grimy@lemmy.world 10 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Loved the first season. I feel it's starting to drag on and not answering many of the questions it's throwing out (a bit like lost as well). It's a good watch with some phenomenal actors (not the main family). It does feel unique in terms of tv shows.

Same. I feel like they just keep bringing up more questions without answering any.

I don't really see a way to tie it all together other than purgatory, a nightmare, a science experiment with some impressive tech, or magic.

I'll be impressed and shocked if they can thread this all together.

[–] Die4Ever@retrolemmy.com 8 points 2 days ago

I love this show! You've started at a good time, you don't have to wait years for season 4 lol

[–] Brkdncr@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago

Watched up until it fell off of Prime and became a paid series. It’s fine.

[–] Ilandar@lemmy.today 5 points 2 days ago (2 children)

I watched most of the first season when it came out but decided to drop it as a precaution. It seemed very obvious to me from the start that they were all just dead and it was some kind of purgatory. People who watched Lost kept saying it felt similar, too. The show was giving off real meandering mystery box vibes and it felt like something that could have a very unsatisfying end or perhaps not even make it there due to a cancellation. I might pick it up again if/when it's completed and if the big twist isn't just "they were dead all along".

[–] Shadow@lemmy.ca 6 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Yeah, your purgatory assumption is wrong. It might be the theme but the writers have said they don't want that.

[–] PrimeErective@startrek.website 4 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Well, that would be a unique twist, since that was not the twist in Lost

[–] Grimy@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago

The reality were the plane landed safely was a purgatory.

[–] CmdrShepard49@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 days ago

The twist in lost was that Christian Shepard was manipulating everyone until they accepted the Christian shepard, Jesus Christ, into their hearts and he could capture their souls in heaven for eternity.

[–] Beacon@fedia.io 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Seems like there would be easy ways to make this never happen. Like just never ever let anyone in after sundown, and make a bunch of extra shelter sheds in front of every house so if a human really does need emergency shelter then they can just go into one of the many safety sheds

[–] CmdrShepard49@sh.itjust.works 4 points 2 days ago

Without spoiling too much, it isn't being inside the house that keeps them safe it's something else and OP mentions how they subvert this proposed rule about not letting anyone in the house.

[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 1 points 2 days ago

I saw some of it and it was worth the watch. It was one of those things where it was free somewhere so I only saw up to a certain part. Possibly the whole first season.