From Season 4: Does Boyd’s 47 Bullets Foreshadow Yellow Suit Man’s Endgame?

In the second season of From, when Boyd told the spectral vision of his wife that he would never let this town “break him,” the monsters took it as a challenge and decided to break Boyd’s spirit by any means possible. In season 3, the monsters captured Kenny’s mom and ripped her apart in front of Boyd to push him to the brink of madness. He didn’t tell anyone about what he was feeling on the inside, but slowly it became apparent that Boyd hadn’t been the same after that tragic incident inside the barn. It’s likely Tian-Chen Liu’s brutal death that forced Boyd to give up his righteous path and become a monster himself, to deal with the ones lurking in the woods. This change in his character (or approach) explains why he decided to torture Elgin like a true maniac. I know he had his reasons. He wanted to find his daughter-in-law, Fatima, but hurting the people he had sworn to protect signifies that Boyd had actually lost his way. Police Officer Acosta pointed out the same thing in season 4, episode 1, where she made it clear that an officer of the law should not cross the line, no matter what the circumstances are, and by hurting Elgin, Boyd had actually failed everyone in town, especially the ones who looked up to him and saw him as their hero.

Spoiler Alert

I guess, after Tian-Chen Liu’s death, Boyd convinced himself that a much harsher approach to this battle with the monsters was the only way for them to survive against the odds. However, when he saw Smiley coming back to life, he lost what little hope he had left, as it made him realize that these creatures couldn’t be killed (or defeated). They would keep coming back and hunt them down, no matter where they hide or how they fight. There was no way to escape this place, so what was the point of even trying? This was the reason Boyd gave up and went straight to his office, where he took out the bullets that he had hidden in the secret compartment and asked Kenny the most horrifying question possible. Boyd asked Kenny for the “headcount,” suggesting that Boyd was planning to shoot himself, and he wanted to give the rest of the folks in town the same choice, as he believed that was the only way to escape this nightmare. And from Boyd’s point of view, that may make sense, because they didn’t choose to come to this eerie town, but by killing themselves before the monsters got a chance to, they’d have a chance to leave this place of their own free will. However, the question that you need to be asking is whether they will be acting on their free will or if they will just be carrying out the objectives of the entity that has been manipulating them since the very beginning.

The thing is, the entry of the Yellow Suit Man suggests that the recurring theme of this season is that each resident of the town is eventually gonna dig their own grave, just like Boyd, who, after losing control of himself, came up with a plan to shoot himself. In episode 1, the Yellow Suit Man establishes that this was his favorite part of the story, likely the last chapter, where “everyone tears themselves apart.” It’s no longer a surprise that the Yellow Suit Man shape-shifted into a harmless young girl, Sophia, so he could manipulate the residents of the town and turn them against each other. In the same way, the monsters manipulated Boyd and pushed him to the point where he ended up hurting Elgin like a monster. And it seems like Kenny is Sophia’s first target. We know that Kenny has witnessed the death of both his parents in this town, so he doesn’t exactly have any will to live left, or any real reason to go back home, which makes him perfect prey for the devil. Also, Boyd had given up and was freaking out, but Kenny could still have held back the information or tried to convince Boyd not to give up. But he didn’t. Instead, he just told Boyd the total headcount, making it seem like he wanted the same thing. This is why I must repeat again that everyone else in the town can afford to lose their way, but not Boyd, because he’s kinda the anchor to this ship, the one last thread holding everyone together. It’s possible that in each cycle, the Yellow Suit Man crafts the narrative in such a way that a leader like Boyd emerges, thereby prompting the townsfolk to pin their hopes on him. If the leader’s mind unravels, then the rest are bound to come undone in one fell swoop; then Yellow Suit Man won’t have to pick apart each resident one by one. Maybe that’s what he’s going for this time as well, and the only way he can be thwarted is if, instead of putting the town’s burden on Boyd’s shoulders, everyone comes together to support him; that’d be unprecedented and put the Yellow Suit Man on the backfoot.

So, if the Yellow Suit Man succeeds in his plans, then Boyd may not need those 47 bullets after all, and the whole town will just end up slaughtering each other, in the same manner the residents killed each other in the previous cycle (when Victor was a kid). Additionally, the way the Yellow Suit Man tells the dying pastor (and had previously told the dying Jim) that this is his favorite part suggests that this has all happened before. It can be assumed that every cycle ends in the same manner: with people killing each other in cold blood. So Boyd’s paranoia could actually be foreshadowing the fate of the townsfolk. Though I really want to believe that things won’t come to that, and Boyd, Tabitha, Jade, and Julie will somehow manage to break the cycle to make sure each of them returns to their respective homes safely.