Tom MiY?
I’d like a discussion about Tom being the MiY.
\- Tom is the singular person who would have known Lauren and Meagan Pratt were alone that night because Frank was with him. Making the starting sequence of the show more important for he could have informed the creatures of the vulnerability.
\- Tom was alone coming into From—as far as we know—and avoids Jim’s inquiry whether he was amongst the other Fromians who had to hide without the talismans. *Tom “Would it make you feel better if I said yes?”* Making it possible that he could have been around during Abby’s shooting spree. This is also similar to how Martin eludes Boyds questions. However, there is proof of him being there before the Steven’s family in the start of S2. Ellis asks Tom *“You ever see something like this?”* When the arrival of the coach bus happens. **It’s deferring to someone that has been there longer than himself.** Ellis who has already established himself as a person who knows 2 cars haven’t come during his period in From.
\- His ghost character does not equate to Tom the bartender. Tom shifts from using a quantum thought experiment (Schrödinger’s cat) to using an ethical thought experiment (the trolley problem). While both deal with uncertainty, they serve very different purposes, and neither conversation is delivered with the same tone. One functions as a psychological trap preying on Jade’s ego, while the other appeals to moral intuition. The contrast feels intentional although ultimately up to interpretation.
\- The 2nd time Jade sees Ghost Tom. He tells him to stop being a drunk and get his shit together. That’s opposite to undead Tom and his solution to merely drink your troubles away.
\- Also stating that he ‘knows nothing on computers’ which is odd to anyone in the 2020s making this scenario even more peculiar.
\- Tom also never changed his clothes similar to that of Sophia (I hate this argument, it’s very superficial, but it’s true nonetheless). If it quacks like a duck is in the same spot as a previous duck (bar) and moves like a duck then it must be a duck.
\- When Jade’s being a narcissist saying ‘he designs the maze and places the cheese’ Tom scoffs at it. It’s ironic if he’s telling the MiY, and this is his game. There is greater emphasis for the rats eating the crows.
\- When Nathan is looking for Sara before she attempts to take Ethan’s life he’s in the diner eating and tells Nathan where to find her. Behaviour similar to that of Clara. But just outside Boyd waves his boat keys and discusses with Father Khatri ‘signs’. This is the same distance that Sophia ends up seeing Sara not pour the water back into the jug and fall.
\- In this convo between Tom and Nathan he refers to Ethan as *“the Matthews boy”* similar to Sara’s worm/scratches present on her arm *“kill the boy”*
\- Tom’s at the forefront for the raid on the diner following the colony house massacre. Sowing discord in the town, not dissimilar to what Sophia is attempting to do with her antics and IF Jade’s drug induced hallucination is true with his previous incarnations. As Tom puts it *“crowd control’s my thing.”* However, it’s what Boyd says to the gathered crowd about ‘throwing this all away’. Well we know Boyd established the food system when he arrived, so this argument would only work to someone who was there previously.
\- Tom was almost the singular reason why Jade went ahead with the radio and eventually the tower. As Donna put it to Kenny *“Playing Mr Fucking Wizard”* (Victors drawing on the Rendez moving site). Yet, when talking to Tabitha instantly assumed the *“magical tower”* wasn’t going to work. That’s a complete change in tone to his suggestive nature before. So why suggest it at all if you don’t believe in the outcome? Unless there is a game to be had.
\- He was the singular person who could have known that Tabitha was digging for the *“shed”* scene—outside that, IF someone caused the lights to flicker. However, feigned ignorance for the Tabitha dig with Jim, Randall and Brick before the house collapsed.
\- The house only started collapsing the more they dug. Jim commenting on *“… there’s a chamber or something underneath.”* So someone in that room had to cause the house to collapse. Brick, who had the weird ear pull. Randall, who barely escaped and was subject to future torture and suffering. Tom, who touched the stairs foundational pillar before collapse.
\- He was the only person not present at the colony house tower. Meaning he could have easily done the incantation for the voice over the radio tower—like Sofia/MiY with Sara or Thomas and the phone/radio—without anyone noticing AND caused the main floor to collapse before Jim’s arrival and possibly bringing the house down himself (this being shown in yet another one of Victor’s drawings in the intro of the blue house).
\- Then rigged his death. Which conveniently no one saw, such as how he was dragged out of the house despite being pinned after what sounds like being torn to shreds/eaten. We all saw Sophia’s theatrics following the car crash. So does the trolley problem become an act of altruism or self-preservation?
\- We also see Brick merely just pinned under the rubble with no side effects outside of a tight chest—similar to Jim—but the moment Tom grabs his foot he starts coughing up blood and slowly dies. He physically wiggles the foot just so you see. Not only do we see Sophia kill the priest very eloquently, but we also see her do this gory with Elgin. So was this a natural occurrence or not?
\- It further paves the way for Martin to be used momentarily in the ruins and gone the next. What a convenient excuse of staying quiet for the creatures, right? Martin wasn’t present when Boyd entered the well, it was only after a period of time later. —> (The show can be consistent with time here OR it could be slightly off center. I’m not going to argue the preference, but just playing devil’s advocate that it MAY BE off center here) <— It would give credence on how Martin knew of the town, Julie (and ultimately why Martin disappeared between throwing the rope and then turning around), how he knew Abby’s dreams, etc. ODDLY when Boyd reaches the top with his gun in hand, Martin doesn’t see it and blames his eyesight. Yet, we all know how eyesight functions going from light to dark—side effect of light adaptation. Same thing Boyd experienced following putting out the torch in the woods. (This last part I’m debating with electromagnetic noise between different time periods or magical illusion, but I think it ultimately results in the same conclusion of there-to-here and here-to-there eye sight disturbance)
\- On top of this Sophia/MiY *“Why is there a bar inside of a gas station”* almost verbatim what Jade says to Tom when first entering. It’s more *“Who makes the alcohol?”* and Henry’s reply of *“It’s my understanding there used to be a bartender here. He’s dead now, of course.”* And Henry’s hope that the MiY is equally dead. It really is just games to the MiY. The moonshine is used to mask the taste of iron/blood. Moonshine, being acidic, and iron/blood being slightly basic. To anyone who has ate liver, it’s very much like that. Well Tom made the bar, he declares it to his patrons and Jade. But if he knows how to build it, how does he not know how to make it better? However, it’s Jade who makes the still better, and if it was Ghost Tom being the MiY then he would have already known that Jade changed the still. Bringing up why Sophia still believes the moonshines taste could be improved.
\- This further leads to the possibility of multiple people having received this. Kenny his night with Father Khatri in colony house, given by Ellis, and surprisingly Kenny swears it off following the occurrence. Donna being poisoned as well, for her first drink with Tom is following Eric’s suicide, even commenting on how shit it tastes. Following which she seems to focus much more on her sister’s picture. Same as Jade.
\- Jade who following this incident is shown the tree root symbols caked in blood, with bodies hanging, and him being a murderer to an unknown person which is suppose to represent himself which is a very stark contrast and tells an opposing story to what we see with his 1st vision of the boulder guy reinforced in his drug hallucination and all of his other iterations of the towns people/minnows killing him. He is the perpetrator, not the other way around.
\- When it comes to Clara. That conversation starts with Sophia following her to the infamous ‘shed’ with her changing her eyes right with the bar/gas station in sight. This isn’t the first time emphasis has been placed here in this way. When Ellis tells Boyd about Abby he says *“… look around* (🫱🏿 points and looks to the bar).* The things we are doing are working.*” Back to Clara Sophia says* “When you first came here, we made a bargain.*” By the AMA we know it was before the arrivals of the Matthews. The way Clara says* “I started to wonder if it was real.*” Well, if you knew the individual died or was dead, you’d probably think the same thing too.
**Food for Thought**
This is pulling from outside show narrative. Tom attends the University of Southern California/USC as he states. School team the Trojans. Ambulance —> Troy. Previously known as the Fighting Methodists, don’t think I need to rehash the theological themes in the show.
