In the beginning, Before raises a series of questions surrounding the complicated and confusing connection between Eli, a psychologist, and Noah, a young boy in need of help. Kicking off their complicated dynamic from the jump, Eli grows confused but feels a strong need to help Noah, a boy he has never met, upon seeing Noah at his doorstep. At first, the mystery of Noah, including how this young boy knew dead languages and appeared to have knowledge he should not, was an intriguing and unique mystery to follow. It felt original and different, something akin to taking a risk in storytelling. But, it did not take long for this mystery to become stale.
Eli and Noah are the central characters, and the mystery surrounding the show's ongoings follows them and how they are connected. So, the show's refusal to move forward quickly on tackling what is really going on with them shows a frustrating slow pacing for the series that only really has one mystery shared by the only two characters of interest. None of the supporting characters have any real stakes or inclusion in the plot and are only there to fill empty space. This is Eli and Noah's show, and because no one else has anything interesting going on, there are no other plot lines occurring that allow Before to feel like it is actually moving forward as it becomes a season of filler episodes until the narrative is finally ready to address its biggest mysteries in its final two episodes.
The season finale finally addresses the original traumatic event that Eli had been insistent happened. But, rather than actually taking the farmhouse storyline seriously, this main event does not take place in the farmhouse at all. Instead, Eli runs away from the farmhouse, following the memory of the past lives of himself, Noah, and Eli's late wife, Lynn. The truth does answer a few questions, but it is still not a sufficient ending for everything the series has put the characters through.
The reveal that in a past life, Noah had been a young girl who had died in a freezing lake after being accidentally pushed in by Eli's past self works to explain why Noah was certain that Eli had hurt him and Noah's connection to freezing and drowning. However, it does not explain anything else, such as the scary shadows on the walls, Noah's connections to a dead language, or why Noah's previous life included being Lynn's late boyfriend was relevant to the storyline at hand. Before tries to give Eli a solid conclusion by allowing him to finally solve the mystery while allowing Noah to continue his life as a young boy without the memories of what he had just experienced. Still, this is a season finale that does more to check boxes than it does to give its characters a strong conclusion.
Many of this show's problems stem from its refusal to move the story along at a quicker pace earlier in the season. Had Before committed to the reincarnation plot line earlier on, then maybe there could have been more of the story devoted to unraveling what the traumatic event of the past was or how or why Noah and Eli are connected without writing the series as the narrative chose to, by making vague references until it was finally time for the series to reach an ending. Before could have been an exciting psychological thriller, offering a tale that allowed for a storyline and characters worth investing in with an ending that made audiences excited. Instead, Before concludes on an uneven note.