Things move quickly in this penultimate episode, which picks up right after Boyd agrees to Jade’s plan. Boyd pulls Donna aside to confide in her, then tells Jade to get everything ready, just as the Man in Yellow begins to reveal his true intentions.
The ninth episode, titled "The Calm Before," opens with Tabitha recounting her tense encounter with the Man in Yellow at the edge of the forest. After threatening Tabitha, the Man in Yellow suddenly transforms back into Sophia and returns to town to meet Clara — the desperate woman who believes Sophia will help her escape Fromville if she assists in carrying out her sinister plan. Sophia then cuts both her own and Clara’s palms, sealing their pact with a bloody handshake ritual. Later, Clara visits Fatima and gives her a drink laced with her own blood.
The episode doesn’t hold back when it comes to Henry’s visions, which grow increasingly intense and disturbingly real. In one powerful sequence, Victor urges Henry to sever his connection to Fromville by removing the “anchor.” However, that anchor is none other than his own son, Victor. Henry immediately resists, making it clear that he could never kill his child. The vision’s version of Victor insists that the boy Henry sees isn’t real and that he must kill him if he ever wants to return to his own reality. With Henry’s mind in complete turmoil, it’s impossible to tell whether he might take a drastic step.
In town, Boyd is fully prepared to retrieve the bones from the tunnels, with everyone pitching in to help execute the plan. It’s decided that Tabitha and Jade will be the ones to take the risk, heading into the tunnels to dig up the children’s bones hidden beneath a tomb. Meanwhile, Victor encounters the Boy in White, who warns him not to uproot the Bottle Tree, as doing so could bring harm in unforeseen ways. Victor rushes back to town to warn Boyd and the others, but Boyd quickly restrains him to prevent him from interfering with the plan. Victor continues crying and desperately repeating the Boy in White’s warning, pleading with them to stop.
The final moments of the episode are incredibly tense. Elgin finds an old photograph of Sophia inside one of the boxes at Colony House. Being the impulsive and not-so-bright person he is, he immediately takes it to Sophia herself to verify. The show has already established Elgin’s character — he previously kidnapped Fatima and only revealed her location after losing an eye — so his decision here feels completely in line with who he is. He simply isn’t very smart. Why would anyone take a photo of the culprit straight to the culprit? Sophia, however, is far more calculating. She doesn’t take any chances once she realizes Elgin has found something he wasn’t supposed to see. She reveals that she can only take the form of people who have died in the town. Sophia quickly tells Clara to shut the door and then moves against Elgin. We don’t see what happens to him, but it’s heavily implied that she kills him. The only real question left is whether Sophia will go as far as tasting or eating Elgin's flesh afterward.
The episode ends on a major cliffhanger and a very tense moment. Just as Tabitha and Jade dig up the bones, the monsters suddenly appear and greet them with a chilling “Hello!”I really enjoyed this episode. After several weeks of scattered storylines, it was refreshing to finally see the entire town working together on a plan that could potentially help them escape this nightmare. The last time something like this happened was when Jim was building the antenna to reach the outside world — and we all know how badly that turned out, and how the town “punished” them for it.
With only one episode left in the season, I’m a bit disappointed with how little attention the time-travel storyline has received. Julie barely got any screen time, and even when she mentioned her story-walking ability to her mom, it didn’t really go anywhere. Randall and Acosta were also completely absent. I’m hoping the finale gives us at least some closure or meaningful updates on these characters before the show wraps up the season and returns next year for its final run.
Final Score - [8.5/10]