I don't often feel emotional watching shows - while I thoroughly enjoy the concept of Tales from the loop, the cinematic experience is beautiful and the stories are familiar, sort of a roundup of what's out there , enmeshed with beauty and emotion, but it often feels a bit slow. Even when I understand why,. Had episodes been 1/2 hour with less 'space' maybe but It has to be this way. I can imagine a season two can be amazing as they are in the right path and so I can't give up on it - an episode like this shows the potential.
These stories are told with heart and care and my need to be entertained is not lost on me. It's become too easy to mistake my preferences for quality reviewing of films . This episode is a great example. It's all there it's beautiful and it stuck with me. Now feels like what they are doing for with thus series and I appreciate this and hope for a season two.
12 Reviews
Lovely.
W011y4m530 September 2020
What begins as one of the weakest episodes of the series gradually becomes one of the strongest as its story slowly progresses.
Initially, we're questioning "who are these characters & why are they relevant?" but once answers begin to reveal themselves to us, the impacts of their delivery are really quite extraordinary - considering the fact that they provide context we never knew we needed, clarifying ambiguities which were previously vague throughout the rest of the season - but left to the audience's imaginations. One might say - ironically - it acts as an unexpectedly welcome & poignant "closed loop" within "Tales From The Loop" - ending on a befitting & poetic conclusion.
Initially, we're questioning "who are these characters & why are they relevant?" but once answers begin to reveal themselves to us, the impacts of their delivery are really quite extraordinary - considering the fact that they provide context we never knew we needed, clarifying ambiguities which were previously vague throughout the rest of the season - but left to the audience's imaginations. One might say - ironically - it acts as an unexpectedly welcome & poignant "closed loop" within "Tales From The Loop" - ending on a befitting & poetic conclusion.
Why couldn't they all have been like this one?
ginger-11127 August 2020
This is probably the best, and most frustrating, of the episodes. A tremendous amount of backstory is filled in and questions are answered. It's frustrating because as many new questions have been asked as were answered. Given the aimlessness we've put up with until now, there is no hope we'll have those answers before the end of the series.
It's also frustrating because it shows that the writers are capable of thinking their way across episodes into a proper arc, and that we only see a glimpse of it this late in the game.
Granted, it has the same slow first half that tests the patience, but the second half tells the story, causing even more frustration for having wasted time while this type of storytelling was possible.
The relationship between Russ and George has a bit more detail now. We can see the father-son relationship passed down the generations. The chill between fathers and sons is a contrast to the warmth between grandfather and grandson.
The final scene is a masterpiece and as another reviewer said, it's several seconds short of being totally satisfying. The closure we are all after is something we have to make up in our own imaginations one way or another.
It's also frustrating because it shows that the writers are capable of thinking their way across episodes into a proper arc, and that we only see a glimpse of it this late in the game.
Granted, it has the same slow first half that tests the patience, but the second half tells the story, causing even more frustration for having wasted time while this type of storytelling was possible.
The relationship between Russ and George has a bit more detail now. We can see the father-son relationship passed down the generations. The chill between fathers and sons is a contrast to the warmth between grandfather and grandson.
The final scene is a masterpiece and as another reviewer said, it's several seconds short of being totally satisfying. The closure we are all after is something we have to make up in our own imaginations one way or another.
This one really got to me
Maacaw14 June 2020
Warning: Spoilers
This episode really struck a chord with me, I haven't felt this much empathy for a robot since wall-e. Something about all the different forms of abandonment just hit home. This was my favorite of the series, I really hope they produce more of these. Also make sure you check out Simon Stålenhag's work, the inspiration for this series.
Very touching episode
matejmaricposlovni12 April 2020
This episode shines
generic230-110 April 2020
One Shot Shy of an Ending
Zoltanko29 April 2020
"People don't like things that are different."
classicsoncall21 February 2022
Warning: Spoilers
It seems like this series is purposely trying to be obtuse. The creator of The Loop, Russ (Jonathan Pryce), is an unseen character here decades before his death, as the father of the main protagonist in this story. As a young boy, George
(Emjay Anthony) and a couple of his buddies were intrigued by tales of a monster on an island near their home. Deciding to put the rumor to rest, they head for the island in a motorboat, but George's so-called friends prank him by leaving him there to spend the night. Though he finds evidence of someone or something on the island, he doesn't discover anything, except to have his arm injured and become infected so badly, that when he's returned home, he has to have his arm amputated. Fast forward to George as an adult (Paul Schneider), who wants to finally resolve the mystery of the monster. He learns from his mother that it was a creation by her husband Russ, who relegated the subject to the island because it was different, and would have invited derision from those who wouldn't understand. I couldn't help thinking that the resolution here was rather weak, as George locates the robot his father built, and attempts to explain why he's alone on the island. The robot wasn't monstrous or scary, it had almost a jovial kind of appearance like C-3PO and to my thinking, would have been accepted just fine by old Russ's colleagues. What I would have liked to find out is why the robot found it necessary to build a fire by its tent. Come to think of it, why did it even need a tent? With those questions in mind, the story just ends, and not in a very satisfying manner.
My fav episode so far
sbo_10013 January 2021
People Don't Like Things That Are Different
wandernn1-81-6832748 October 2020
Warning: Spoilers
Okay I certainly hope this EP is better than the last one.
We begin here with some boys messing around with some makeshift radio. Then goofing around as boys are apt to do. Then they talk about how some 'monster' lives on this island they can see from the dock they are hanging out on. How the LOOP grew it underground. And they left his 'monster' on this island out there.
So the boys decide they are going out there to that island to check it out!!
Well at least they have a little boat with an engine on it anyway. Altho there's no way I would motor that little boat way out to that island, no way. Haha. LOL especially with 'friends' like the one dude has. Two of his buddies leave one of them on the island. Nice. So dude is on the island that has the 'monster' living on it. We'll see how this works out.
So dude starts looking around the island, and he finds a pile of electionic stuff. Mostly junk. But then he gets bit by osmething in the water. WAs it poisonous? I guess we'll see. All around the island he keeps running into little alarms. Can's hung up attached to rope. He finds what looks like claw marks in a tree. He also finds fish heads stuck up as warnings?? Okay obviously these were put up by a human. Not some 'monster'.
And he finds some sort of tent home. Does he dare to venture inside???? NO. And his bite, looks infected and / or poisoned. But after spending the night inside a hollow log, he does go into the tent!! And then he hears the creature!!!! But he doesn't see it!!! Not yet!!!
+1 Star for the kid having some balls to go in the tent!!
But he runs from the creature and hides!!! It walks right by him!! You can see it has some kind of metal or armored feet / legs!! What is it???? LOL it finds him in his hollow log, and he SHOCKS it with his SHOCKSTICK!! Oh now we see!!! It is some sort of ROBOT!!! He runs back to the shore!! Oh are those his two a-hole friends boating away agian?? Oh wait they come back!!
So dude wakes up back at the hospital. I guess his 'buddies' got him. His mother is there. Oh wow they had to amputate his arm. He is being given a robotic arm. He meets with someone who sounds like RUSS. RUSS asks him if he saw anything on that island, and if he told anyone what he saw. And makes him promise not to tell anyone about what he saw!!!
Then he goes back to school!!! LOL, A GIRL sends him a note asking him 'ARE YOU A ROBOT?' JUST because he has a robot arm now. That's funny.
Oh no! He hears the creature CALL from his bed, inside his house!! How is that possible??? Oh hell no what just happened??? We fast forwarded years??? Oh hell no that was George's story??? George has problems watching a monster movie!! What was that? 'Creature From the Black Lagoon? Hey I remember that movie!!! Haha
George laments with Loretta that he never told the boys the story of the island and what happened with his arm. George also asks Klara, Russ's widow, if Russ ever talked about the island with her. Klara says that whatever is out there, Russ made it. It was like a child to him. But people wouldn't accept it. So they exiled it, to the island.
George doesn't like it. So George decides to go back out to this island. YEARS LATER. YEARS!!!! LIKE 40 YEARS HAVE PASSED .
+1 Star for Klara's true line. 'People Don't Like Things That Are Different'.
So George is out there, 30 or 40 years later. What will he find??? He finds the creature. The creature screams at him. But this time, he doesn't run. He talks to the creature. The monster. This robot. He explains to the Robot that Russ made him, put him on this island to keep him safe. George, tells the Robot, he's not going to hurt him. And basically that's the end.
Kind've a lackluster ending, but this one gets 7/10
We begin here with some boys messing around with some makeshift radio. Then goofing around as boys are apt to do. Then they talk about how some 'monster' lives on this island they can see from the dock they are hanging out on. How the LOOP grew it underground. And they left his 'monster' on this island out there.
So the boys decide they are going out there to that island to check it out!!
Well at least they have a little boat with an engine on it anyway. Altho there's no way I would motor that little boat way out to that island, no way. Haha. LOL especially with 'friends' like the one dude has. Two of his buddies leave one of them on the island. Nice. So dude is on the island that has the 'monster' living on it. We'll see how this works out.
So dude starts looking around the island, and he finds a pile of electionic stuff. Mostly junk. But then he gets bit by osmething in the water. WAs it poisonous? I guess we'll see. All around the island he keeps running into little alarms. Can's hung up attached to rope. He finds what looks like claw marks in a tree. He also finds fish heads stuck up as warnings?? Okay obviously these were put up by a human. Not some 'monster'.
And he finds some sort of tent home. Does he dare to venture inside???? NO. And his bite, looks infected and / or poisoned. But after spending the night inside a hollow log, he does go into the tent!! And then he hears the creature!!!! But he doesn't see it!!! Not yet!!!
+1 Star for the kid having some balls to go in the tent!!
But he runs from the creature and hides!!! It walks right by him!! You can see it has some kind of metal or armored feet / legs!! What is it???? LOL it finds him in his hollow log, and he SHOCKS it with his SHOCKSTICK!! Oh now we see!!! It is some sort of ROBOT!!! He runs back to the shore!! Oh are those his two a-hole friends boating away agian?? Oh wait they come back!!
So dude wakes up back at the hospital. I guess his 'buddies' got him. His mother is there. Oh wow they had to amputate his arm. He is being given a robotic arm. He meets with someone who sounds like RUSS. RUSS asks him if he saw anything on that island, and if he told anyone what he saw. And makes him promise not to tell anyone about what he saw!!!
Then he goes back to school!!! LOL, A GIRL sends him a note asking him 'ARE YOU A ROBOT?' JUST because he has a robot arm now. That's funny.
Oh no! He hears the creature CALL from his bed, inside his house!! How is that possible??? Oh hell no what just happened??? We fast forwarded years??? Oh hell no that was George's story??? George has problems watching a monster movie!! What was that? 'Creature From the Black Lagoon? Hey I remember that movie!!! Haha
George laments with Loretta that he never told the boys the story of the island and what happened with his arm. George also asks Klara, Russ's widow, if Russ ever talked about the island with her. Klara says that whatever is out there, Russ made it. It was like a child to him. But people wouldn't accept it. So they exiled it, to the island.
George doesn't like it. So George decides to go back out to this island. YEARS LATER. YEARS!!!! LIKE 40 YEARS HAVE PASSED .
+1 Star for Klara's true line. 'People Don't Like Things That Are Different'.
So George is out there, 30 or 40 years later. What will he find??? He finds the creature. The creature screams at him. But this time, he doesn't run. He talks to the creature. The monster. This robot. He explains to the Robot that Russ made him, put him on this island to keep him safe. George, tells the Robot, he's not going to hurt him. And basically that's the end.
Kind've a lackluster ending, but this one gets 7/10
It's clever but not really clever!
spmcdonalduk14 December 2020
Warning: Spoilers
The creepiness is good and suspense builds well.
It makes you think of Predator and borrows heavily on that in building up your image of what the creature is like. Using the hideaway in the fallen tree, trophies of fish heads on sticks, a burning fire. Also with talk at the beginning about it killing men.
When the creature is revealed it is non human based but obviously modelled on a real human child.
It makes you think of Predator and borrows heavily on that in building up your image of what the creature is like. Using the hideaway in the fallen tree, trophies of fish heads on sticks, a burning fire. Also with talk at the beginning about it killing men.
When the creature is revealed it is non human based but obviously modelled on a real human child.
Pulls back just as it starts to get good
scragglywags1018 June 2021
Warning: Spoilers
The whole episode you're waiting for the inevitable reunion of the father and the robot, and what a disappointment. Just as it starts to get emotional and you can start to feel sad for the robot, it just.... ends. Dude puts his arm on the ground for the robot, robot creaks, and then it's just over. Really left me wanting something more because I was ready to be sad/happy that the robot was being helped but I just couldn't because the episode didn't give us any time to feel what was happening. Such a disappointment...
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