And just like that, we only have one more hour.

FROM Season 1 Episode 9 is the kind of penultimate episode that leaves you both excited and frustrated because you can tell you're right on the cusp of putting things together.

Answers are right within our grasp, people! We just have to hang on a little bit longer.

Boyd and Sara's woods journey is all over the place.

Boyd is still very much in his anger phase, and he's rightfully treating Sara as a would-be murderer, while Sara is doing her best to try and make this scary march into the unknown as pleasant as she can.

They have a few conversations during their trip, and Sara reveals a few interesting tidbits along the way, like something Nathan told her.

Nathan had a theory about this place. If we tried to leave, if we pushed too hard, then something would push back.

Sara [to Boyd]

• Permalink: Nathan had a theory about this place. If we tried to leave, if we pushed too hard, then...

And isn't that an intriguing theory!

FROM is a complex show to predict because things are constantly shifting and morphing, and new information pops up seemingly every hour. It's like once you've locked in your final answer, the next scene reveals something that debunks your whole hypothesis.

But one thing that's for sure is that the monsters appear to be gathering momentum. And this idea that pushing against them, which Boyd and Sara are doing at that very moment, will cause them to push back harder sounds credible.

Think about the change from the monster's shrieking to whispering once the talisman entered the equation.

The monsters hit a wall, and they changed course. Do we think they wouldn't also react to the town pushing back even harder against them?

Say what you want about Sara, and I have said plenty, but she continues to prove that she's not lying. She knows things that no one else can know, and while it's appropriate to question why she's blindly following the voices in her head, you can't deny there's something bigger happening here.

It's almost like Sara is a vessel of some sort, but why her? And why now?

The Mathews and Jade's arrival in town has seemed to scare the monsters, and it's easy to see why. While the town had settled into its own sense of normalcy, there didn't seem to be any rush to leave. If anything, they were more interested in making long-term preparations to stay and try to live the best lives they could.

But Jade, in particular, comes into town like a bat out of hell, not even slightly interested in sitting still and accepting his fate. Couple that with Jim and their radio tower idea, and you've got the greatest sense of hope the town has seen in a long time.

And hope can be a dangerous thing for different reasons.

On the one hand, if you hope for something that doesn't come true, it can destroy you. But there's also a scenario where you wish for something that doesn't happen, but the failure spurs you to keep trying.

So, let's say the radio tower doesn't work. Maybe there's a period where everyone feels sorry for themselves, but maybe there's also a rejuvenation where they decide to try again. They decide to try something bigger. The possibilities are endless, and there's no way that doesn't piss the monsters off.

I loved the idea of hope that permeated throughout the hour and culminated in that beautifully acted scene between Donna and Kenny at the bar.

Since the attack at Colony House, Donna has done her best to still lead, but you can tell the whole thing did a number on her. It took work to turn the town and Colony House it places where people could feel at least a little bit safe. And that security was taken from them in a matter of minutes.

And Donna's allowed to be sad about that and pissed off.

Eric's suicide just brings things into tighter focus for Donna, as she wonders what the fallout will be if the one thing people are suddenly banking on doesn't work out.

It's a legitimate fear, and it's clearly not something many people are thinking about, too caught up in the hope that maybe there is a way out of hell. Perhaps they don't need to worry about making the town as safe as possible because they're all going home soon.

I don't know if the tower will work, and neither do they, but you have to prepare for anything. You must be ready to deal with a town full of people who may break down if the tower doesn't answer all their hopes and prayers.

But they have to try. They've spent too much time sitting still, and at the very least, they have to try. They can't be scared off by the what-ifs, though Donna isn't wrong to want Kenny to be ready for whatever new storm may come his way.

Speaking of storms, what in the world was throwing Boyd and Sara to and fro in the woods?

After finding those glass bottles hanging from the trees, which were visually stunning, Boyd and Sara found themselves inside a tent that felt like the inside of a pinball machine. But no one ever entered the tent, and they remained unharmed, though things only got creepier when that horn blared.

I kept waiting for something to tear into the tent because, for some reason, whatever was happening to them felt different from the monsters. We may not "know" the monsters that well, as in we don't know what they're after, whether they need to kill to survive, or if they're just bored. But they don't often play with their food.

They get in and get out, and what was happening in the woods felt like intimidation. The shaking, the horns, and the bright white lights don't make sense at all and don't match up with anything else we've seen.

The talisman pretty much gets the monsters to move onto something else, but that's not exactly happening here. Which begs the question, what the hell IS happening?

We've got one more installment to go, and how many questions do we have? Well, the sky is the limit.

But even though we still have no idea what's happening, whether the town has a legitimate chance to get home, and where we go from here, we will be firmly seated for the rest of this fascinating ride.

Loose Ends

• Where is Victor? Has he just been chilling in the wood with the boy in white and the dog?

• Ethan is so smart, and I still think he will play a massive role in how they get home. His thoughts and theories get ignored because he's a child, but all those pictures telling a story? I mean, hello, what else could it be if not that?

• The Matthews have hit rock bottom, literally. I have absolutely no idea what's down there, but I still think there is a portal somewhere, so why not underneath the town?

• I love that Julie went inside a tree and just ended up somewhere else, and she's not continuously thinking about how utterly ridiculous that is. But I guess considering everything else going on, that must feel like small potatoes.

Alright, people! Jade may be on the verge of powering the radio, Boyd, and Sara may be in trouble, and we get to find out if all the digging in the Matthews' basement will yield some answers!

Let me know in the comments your theories as we approach the finale, and make sure you watch FROM online so you can join the conversation!

Whitney Evans is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. She is a lover of all things TV. Follow her on X.