From S3E1 recap: Season 3 premiere 'Shatter' opens with more grim discoveries and carnage

One of television's best horror series is finally back! From season 3 wastes no time at all, jumping right into the heart of things in a stunning premiere episode that entertains as much as it horrifies. Seriously. They are not messing around this season.

To begin with, we get a lengthy recap of all major moments that have happened in Fromville since the beginning, so pay attention if you don't recall where we left off last season. Thankfully, From picks up where we left off, and doesn't really skip over anything, so it's not too hard to pick up the story threads.

If you recall, one of the most pivotal moments of the season 2 finale featured the mysterious "Boy in White" shoving Tabitha (Catalina Sandino Moreno) out of the tower/lighthouse. She wakes up in a hospital, seemingly outside of Fromville, which would make her the first character (that we know of) to escape. The season 3 premiere confirms that, yes, Tabitha is back in the "real world," specifically a hospital in Camden, Maine. Not wanting to deal with the inquisitive nurses and incoming police officers, Tabitha sneaks out of the hospital.

Back in Fromville, we catch up with Boyd (Harold Perrineau) in the aftermath of his foray into the dungeon, the sleeping victims of the music box, and all that other crazy stuff that went down in the season 2 finale. Things are worse than ever in this town. Boyd catches up with his imaginary vision of Father Khatri (Shaun Majumder) to give us some exposition on where we're at as season 3 gets underway. It's not good. Food stores have been thoroughly depleted, people are getting increasingly anxious and scared, and the weather is changing. It's starting to get very cold.

Then we learn that all the new crops Donna (Elizabeth Saunders) and co. had planted are rotten. It's all going from bad to worse. There is literally no food outside the rations stored in the diner run by Kenny's (Ricky He) mother, Tian-Chen (Elizabeth Moy). So, guess where all the angry, hungry people go? Other than the diner, the only other viable food source is in the barn, meaning the goats and cows. Problem is, if they slaughter the livestock, they have no way to get other necessities like eggs and milk.

Boyd is forced to step in and diffuse the situation as Randall (A.J. Simmons) looks to make off with Ethan's beloved goat, Alma. He points out that the animals need to last them a while, until they figure out what to do next. They will get out of this town together. They just need a little time. Randall reluctantly returns the goat.

With Tabitha on the outside now, Jim (Eion Bailey) is determined to look for his wife, even if it means leaving Julie (Hannah Cheramy) and Ethan (Simon Webster) behind for a bit. Kenny volunteers to go with him. He knows what it's like to only have one parent and wouldn't wish that on Julie or Ethan. Interesting foreshadowing.

Their trek into the woods is mostly uneventful, at least compared to what happens back in town, but more on that soon. Kenny and Jim make one freaky discovery: a series of sinister-looking effigies that lead them toward an area with several abandoned log cabins—something Boyd never mentioned.

Jim and Kenny decide to spend the night in one of the cabins with their trusty talisman. Staying out there overnight makes Jim rethink his decision. For one, he points out that they haven't seen any of the spiderwebs Boyd mentioned, meaning they're probably going the wrong way. Two, Tabitha wouldn't want him out there. What if something happens to him? He tells Kenny he's changed his mind. They'll return to town in the morning.

Speaking of Tabitha, she visits a nearby church and goes to confession for the first time in who knows how long. I don't know about anyone else, but I got some weird vibes from that priest. Tabitha ends up telling him all about the town and her family being left behind. He almost seems to believe her. Then he points to the lunchbox she's been carrying around. The one she got from Victor (Scott McCord).

He asks what's inside it, prompting Tabitha to peek for the first time. On the bottom, she finds an inscription, "If lost, return to Victor Kavanaugh," and lists an address. That's her next destination. When she arrives at the address, she meets a man we can assume is Victor's father!

That night in Fromville, things take a horrific turn that will surely make things exponentially worse in the coming episodes. The monsters, who we know are capable of being cunning, immediately make for the barn and fenced-in area outside, opening all of the doors and gates to let the animals go free.

Seeing as the animals are basically the only sure food they have at the moment, Boyd and the other people in town immediately panic and rush outside to corral them back to the barn. I don't know why they didn't just try to shove the animals into their houses temporarily to avoid spending more time outdoors near the monsters than necessary, but I digress. As you might guess, Boyd, Jade (David Alpay), Donna, Victor, Tian-Chen, and several others find themselves directly on the monsters' playing field as they desperately try to round up the goats and cows. It proves to be a fatal mistake. One of the monsters slaughters a cow right in front of Jade.

And then, just when it looks like Boyd and Tian-Chen might be safe as they get a cow back into the barn, close the door, and arm it with a talisman, it's revealed that they've walked into a trap. The waiting monsters grab Boyd and Tian-Chen, tying them up before torturing and killing Tian-Chen as a helpless Boyd is forced to watch.

One creature even tells Boyd that they don't intend to kill him. He once said he wouldn't let this town break him, and they're determined to make him eat his words. This whole scene is grim, and it reveals even more about these monstrous creatures. They are fully sentient and know what they're doing. They're not just here to kill senselessly; they enjoy taking their time and playing with their food, so to speak. Poor Boyd. And poor Kenny!

I know that the town's citizens are terrified of being without food, but would the animals actually be able to leave the town? Or would they be trapped like humans? If a goat crossed the invisible boundary, would it end up in the outside world? It's an interesting thing to consider.

Odds & Ends

• Ethan gets another eerie moment of foreshadowing here. At one point he asks Boyd to kill Alma first, "so she doesn't have to watch her friends die," and seeing how the episode ends...
• Jade doesn't feature prominently in this episode, but our first look at him isn't great. He's completely spiraled over the symbols and locked himself away in the bar with strings, diagrams, and scribbles all over the place.
• Colony House features a few short, yet interesting scenes, like Fatima struggling with her morning sickness and Elgin having another strange vision of a skeletal woman coming toward him.
• Tabitha sees a vision of the Boy in White again while she's in Camden and tries to walk toward him, but he disappears before she can get to him.

New episodes of From season 3 air Sunday nights on MGM+. Stay tuned to 1428 Elm for more coverage of this season and more!