Summary<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Calm Before\u201d is proudly a penultimate episode, which you\u2019d think would frustrate viewers already upset about filler, but it also has an escalating sense of dread that feels just right.<\/p>\n
Given that people have already been complaining about\u00a0From<\/a>\u00a0Season 4 dragging its feet and biding its time, the fact that Episode 9 is titled \u201cThe Calm Before\u201d feels almost like a deliberate provocation. To be fair, though, things aren\u2019t all that calm. Sure, not a great deal actually happens here, and nothing that does happen dissuades from the notion that we\u2019ll have to wait until Season 5 to get to the really good stuff<\/a>, but there\u2019s a very palpable sense of escalating dread that I personally found really effective. This is a show that relies on us not knowing quite what\u2019s going on, but what we know for certain is that whatever it is, it\u2019s going to go badly wrong and get much worse before it gets any better.<\/p>\n With the Man in Yellow having tipped his hand to Tabitha<\/a>, things are really starting to kick into gear. She rushes straight to Boyd and tells him that it\u2019s time to get moving, since not only is the MIY back, he must have been in her house to retrieve Ethan\u2019s drawings. Even Tabitha, the most frustratingly sceptical character in the entire show, sees the issue there. After a reanimated Roger went rampaging through Colony House<\/a>, this is only further evidence that the talismans can\u2019t be relied upon to protect the residents of the Township from anything. And if their defenses are failing, they have to go on the attack.<\/p>\n This is the dramatic impetus for the entire episode. Boyd finally reconciles the idea that any potential plan is never going to be perfect, and at some point, he\u2019s just going to have to risk getting people killed. As Fromville prepares to retrieve the bones, the MIY transforms back into Sophia and resumes working on disrupting this plan. First, he reveals himself to Clara to cash in on their prior arrangement. There are also some clues here, if you\u2019re looking for them. The Man in Yellow indicates that the residents are on the right track in going after the bones, but since the Township was built on ritual, it matters how you do something, not just what you do. As long as Boyd and the others seem likely to do the wrong thing, the MIY is quite happy to let them get on with it.<\/p>\n In the meantime, Sophia and Clara carry out a little blood pact so that the MIY can worm his way into Clara in the same way he did Henry (more on him shortly). Clara then drips some of her tainted blood into a flask and gives it to Fatima under the guise of a family recipe that will help her heal. Quite to the contrary, that night Fatima wakes up with crippling stomach pain and her hair falling out. Fans think she\u2019s transitioning into the Kimono Woman, and this might well have hastened that process.<\/p>\n Sophia also offers to help to create the rope ladder in the diner, but naturally she secretly sabotages it. All seems to be going well for her, at least until it isn\u2019t. Clara arrives with some bad news (more on this, also, below), and Elgin finds a photo in the back of the diner that seems to show Sophia in an earlier cycle. When he confronts her, she realises the jig is up and confesses that she can only transform into people who died in the town. A confused Elgin doesn\u2019t realise why Clara is closing the diner door until it\u2019s too late. We don\u2019t see what happens to him, but we can assume it\u2019s nothing good.<\/p>\n