A terrifying return to the scariest show on television

It feels like it has been a long time since we last hid in fear from the demonic inhabitants that stalk the nameless city at night, where FROM Residents are trapped. Somehow it's only been a little over a year. It feels longer, maybe because this show is so dreamlike – so nightmarish – that it fades after a while.

I won't soon forget tonight's awful season 3 premiere. Everything that makes this show great was clearly on display in the first episode, and that gives me hope that the rest of the season will be just as exciting.

For a refresher, you can read my review of the season two finale here. I called it an “almost perfect” season finale. No wonder it feels like it's been so long since the show aired – we're all dying to find out what happens next!

As good as this show may be, it can also be frustrating for several reasons:

• Too many F-bombs! It's not that I'm sensitive to curse words, but I feel like the writers got worked up about this word in particular. F-this, F-that, blah blah blah. Now, there were a few F-bombs in this episode, but it felt like they toned it down a bit, and the dialogue felt a lot more beep of course thanks to that.
• Characters don't communicate! A friend shared a quote from George Bernard Shaw with me this week that I thought would fit perfectly into a discussion about OUT OF. Shaw said, “The biggest problem with communication is the illusion that it has happened.” That pretty much describes the people of Fromville. They. Never. Talk. About. Important. Things. Thankfully, that wasn't the case in tonight's episode. When Jim (Eion Bailey – as Irish a name as you can find) races to find Tabitha (Catalina Sandino Moreno – as Colombian a name as you can find), Boyd (Harold Perrineau) stops him and they hatch a proper plan. Kenny (Ricky He) – oh, poor Kenny! – decides to accompany him on his search as well. And later, when the crops have withered and they desperately need food, Boyd and Donna (Elizabeth Saunders) actually argue about what to do with the cattle. Hurray for communication!

These are the show's two biggest problems. The third is the amount of random extras that show up, which almost feels like a loving homage to Has lost. BY, is, after all, the spiritual successor to that show. We have several obnoxious extras in tonight's episode, and they remain as annoying and ridiculous as ever. But that's a small problem.

Of course, not all of the communication that should have taken place actually happened. Victor (Scott McCord) didn't tell Jim about the Faraway Tree he took Tabitha to, although he may not have done so for a good reason: Tabitha wouldn't want Jim to leave her children behind and look for her, and he might be more willing to do so if he knew the exact location. However, he goes to look for her and instead finds a strange, ruined homestead surrounded by these very, very creepy mannequins:

These must have a deeper – and probably completely crazy – meaning, but we don't yet know what it is. However, we do hear hammering on the hut where our heroes are hiding that night. Maybe some new monster.

That night, however, Jim realizes how foolish he is and tells Kenny that they will return to town at daybreak. It will not be a happy homecoming.

Also, Jade (David Alpay) looks bearded than ever. I feel like barely any time has passed since the season two finale, but Jade has a bushier – and grayer – beard and a longer, shaggier mane. I'd put that down to trauma.

Jade had a pretty scary experience in the cave tunnels at the end of last season. The kids were all lying there like corpses, muttering “Anghkooey” over and over, and the vines formed this weird symbol that he keeps seeing.

In tonight's Season 3 premiere, Jade is having something of a nervous breakdown. Boyd and Kenny find him sprawled on the bar floor after assembling a makeshift replica of the symbol above him. He's drunk, ranting, and most importantly, not communicating with his fellow Fromvillians. It might be a good idea for him to go there with a team to see what they can find.

Tabitha has since emerged into the seemingly real world. Various clues (if they were indeed clues) have me pretty convinced that she has simply found herself in another “level” of this twisted game, and that may still be the case, although it seems less likely than before. After all, she is able to call her mother using a stranger's phone. She also follows the address in Victor's lunchbox and meets his father (though the guy doesn't look much older than Victor in my opinion).

The doctor at St. Anthony's Hospital tells her she's in Camden, Maine, but the scenes were filmed at least partially in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. I've been to Camden, and it's tiny. Camden doesn't have 13-story hospitals. It's a seaside town of 5,000 people with pretty colonial homes and a touristy downtown. Dartmouth has a population of 70,000. I just think it's kind of funny when you've been to a place portrayed in a TV show or a movie, and it's so obviously not the same place.

Tabitha also visits a priest because she can't think of anyone else to talk to, and her story is obviously pretty crazy. What Victor's father will think of this remains to be seen. Whether this is actually the real world or just a gruesome illusion also remains to be seen. The only remaining clue that Tabitha is still trapped is the boy in white. She spots him on the street and he waves, but when she tries to find him, he's gone. Is she just seeing things? The prisoner Boyd encountered at the end of season one said the city was just the “tip of the spear,” so I wouldn't be surprised to learn that this “real world” is actually a cruel and deceptive deeper level.

Speaking of gruesome, we finally come to the terrifying final act of the season 3 premiere. Night falls and the monsters come out, only this time they don't just knock on the walls and try to use tricks to sneak in. Instead, they go to the animal pen and barn and let all the livestock out. When Boyd and Jade see what's going on, they run out into the street to try to get the cows, sheep, and goats back to the barn. Victor and several others join them, including Tian-Chen (Elizabeth Moy). As they try to get the animals to safety, the monsters appear.

Young Ethan (Simon Webster, looking not a day older) spots his pet goat Alma on the street and runs to the door to save her. His big sister Julie (Hanna Cheramy) isn't fast enough to stop him. The creepy old lady pushes her way in and the kids run. “Don't you want to play?” the monster asks, her face turning into the vampire monster she is behind her fake visage. She lets out a bloodcurdling scream. Outside, Sara (Avery Konrad) grabs the kids and they hide in some bushes. Other monsters arrive and they run to the street, where everyone's favorite hothead Randall (AJ Simmons) stops them and they get on the bus to safety.

Victor begins to herd the sheep into the bar, and Boyd, Jade, and Tian-Chen push and pull at the two cows. A monster walks up to Jade and rips out the cow's throat, sending her into shock. Victor grabs him and drags him to the bar and to safety.

Boyd and Tian-Chen push the last cow into the barn, slam the door, and Boyd places a talisman on the ground to protect it. But the monsters are already there, lurking. “You said this place couldn't break you,” one of them says threateningly. They grab him, cut his arm, and then tie him to a post. Tian-Chen is dragged away from him. “We won't kill you,” the monster tells Boyd. “That would be too easy.”

The slaughter begins. One of the monsters rips a clump of hair and skill out of Tian-Chen's head. She talks excitedly while Boyd tells her to look at him, that everything will be OK, that she is so strong. Thankfully we don't see what they do to her. She screams while Boyd watches, the screen goes black and the credits roll.

Rest in peace, Tian-Chen. You were brave and fierce and always tried to do the right thing. You kept the place running and fought off the mob of annoying extras. Poor Kenny is an orphan now.

All in all, an exciting return to one of my favorite shows. Yes, I'm sure many of the little annoying things that bothered me last season will rear their ugly heads again. No, I don't think we'll get the town meeting that I keep calling for so that everyone can put their heads together and think about what to do. But if the episodes continue to be this exciting and thrilling, I'm in.

Scattered thoughts:

• Elgin (Nathan D. Simmons) is still having trouble sleeping. The ballerina demon is gone and can't hurt them anymore, but he still sees her in his nightmares. Could this be a natural result of all that fear, or is she not as dead as we hoped?
• Victor pointed his gun at Randall in this episode, and then Boyd took the gun from him. I still maintain that any time a gun is drawn in shows like this, it foreshadows things to come. Chekhov's gun. Will Victor need it later and not have it, or will someone else get their hands on it, or will Boyd's life be saved because he has it? On the other hand, Boyd seems safe for now: the monsters don't want him dead yet.
• Fatima (Pegah Ghafoori) is suffering from severe morning sickness due to her pregnancy, but I wonder if this isn't a natural baby. She shouldn't be able to get pregnant, and unlike Lost Island and its healing powers with Locke, I think this place is complete evil. Demon baby coming…

I'll add more scattered thoughts as they come to me. For now, what do you think of the season 3 premiere? Let me know on ÞjórsárdenInstagram or Facebook. Also, be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel and follow me here on this blog. Sign up for my newsletter for more reviews and commentary on entertainment and culture.