The finale of From Season 4 killed off several main characters, some of them in messy circumstances, but of everyone’s outcomes, it was definitely Fatima’s ambiguous fate that seemed the most resonant. While it’s unclear how her turning into one of the Creatures fits in with either her season-long golem-building arc or the show’s overarching good vs. evil mythological structure, she’s a fan-favourite character whose unique circumstances might help to shine a light on what’s going on elsewhere.
She also wasn’t the only victim of a finale that claimed several lives; on the contrary, she seems very much alive, although the likelihood of seeing her again in a recognisable form seems vanishingly slim. In the Township, survival always seems to come at a considerable cost, and Fatima may have paid it. Ironically, she’s one of the lucky ones.
Elgin Rejected Sophia’s Bargain
Compared to Clara, Elgin showed significantly more spirit in rejecting Sophia’s highly questionable bargain. We’ve had nothing but choice words for what is arguably From‘s dumbest character, but he ended up having a lot more about him than Clara did.
It was obvious that Elgin was going to bite the bullet when he dopily presented the Polaroid to Sophia in Episode 9. However, the finale found him alive, at least temporarily. Sophia was attempting to make a deal with him to turn him into one of her agents, just like Clara, but Elgin wasn’t having that. He rejected the bargain outright, turned briefly to God, and then died fairly miserably.
Importantly, Elgin proved that the Man in Yellow can’t control people through force alone. He requires a bargain to be struck or deception to be employed, like slipping his blood into Henry’s drink. Elgin’s refusal to play ball made him surplus to requirements, but he went out proudly enough to have earned a reprieve for some of his dumber decisions.
Mari’s Death Brought Boyd’s Trauma Full Circle
Mari’s death was especially tragic because so much of it was down to chance. Many viewers assumed that her death would come at Fatima’s hands as part of her transformation, but that isn’t how it worked. Instead, the earthquake caused by uprooting the Bottle Tree knocked the talisman loose from the door of the clinic, allowing Smiley to enter and disembowel Mari in front of his “Mother”, even though she screamed him off.
Fatima takes Mari’s death especially badly, since she feels responsible for having “birthed” Smiley, and given their connection that allows her to see through his eyes. But Mari’s demise resonates most strongly for Kristi, who arrives at the clinic after she has already been grievously wounded and can only kiss her goodbye as she expires, and for Boyd, who arrives after that and consoles Kristi.
The fact that Kristi only truly unburdens herself to Boyd speaks to why he’s an ideal leader of the group, and it isn’t just because of his military background and his get-things-done attitude. Boyd has experienced and been haunted by profound loss after Abby’s massacre and death. In consoling Kristi, he’s able to channel that pain into being a useful shoulder to cry on. It’s an underrated character moment in a finale almost too busy to accommodate them.
Fatima Is Gone For Good — Or Is She?
The big theory swirling around Fatima is that she was changing into the Kimono Woman. After her experiences birthing Smiley, she spent most of Season 4 in isolation, building a golem as a cultural coping mechanism. However, things started to take a serious turn when her connection to Smiley really manifested, causing physical symptoms, including varicose veins spidering across her stomach and her vital signs slowing down to the point that, technically, she should have already been dead.
Fatima’s first moment of “transformation” comes when Smiley kills Mari, but oddly, it’s in Mari’s defense, and she immediately reverts back to normal. The guilt over Mari’s fate compels Fatima to confess to Boyd about what’s happening to her, and she accompanies him into the tunnels to rescue Jade and Tabitha. Ultimately, she chooses to “sacrifice” herself to allow them to escape with the bones. This is the moment of her proper transformation, when we see her as a fully transformed Creature.
However, Tabitha still seems possessed of her own mind. She didn’t switch sides in the clinic, and she didn’t in the tunnels, either. She continues to scream and ward off the Creatures while the others make it out, even while having technically become one of the Creatures. This has some interesting implications, most notably whether Fatima might function as a kind of inside man for the good guys, fighting the Creatures from within.
There’s also the golem to consider. It seems unlikely that Fatima would have spent all season building it just for it to never be used. Many fans have theorised that it might be a vessel through which she can be reborn. In that case, perhaps we haven’t seen the end of Fatima after all.
