Tales From The Loop is mostly an anthology of interconnected stories involving a mysterious lab that is also the major employer in a relatively small town.
If you like WTF stories where you have almost no idea where they’re headed, don’t read this post. If you like these things combined with the supernatural, then go watch this show and come back. If you’re looking for shows that raise a bunch of questions and try to answer them, then this show may not be for you. Not all of the questions are really meant to be answered. Most aren’t. The supernatural is mostly a means through which the show looks at its characters. They just are. I knew next to nothing about the show going in and was better off for it. But if you want or need to know more before investing your time, then read on.
To give you a bit of a glimpse in how the show sets up, the first story involves a character who goes to school, comes back home, and her house isn’t there. And it never was there. And nobody knows who she is. Well, except one person.
Tales From The Loop is mostly an anthology of interconnected stories involving a mysterious lab that is also the major employer in a relatively small town. Five of the eight stories involve the family that runs the lab. Surrounding the lab is everything from alternate timelines, time-travel, and a broken down tractor in a field just floating there that no one really questions because that’s how things are in this town.
There is no lead in the show, really, because character appears in more than six of the eight episodes and only one actor does (what do I mean by that? Well… good question.) Jonathan Pryce is the only name actor (paying the grandfather who runs the lab), but at the center of it is Rebecca Hall. She is absolutely fantastic. I’ve never seen her before but will be looking out for her going forward.
The show does a good job of laying some mysteries out there to be answered later. One of the characters has a robotic arm. Why does he have a robotic arm? You know you’re going to get the answer later (and it actually exceeds expectations). Some you have to figure out for yourself. Why is there a robot out in the woods willing to do battle to prevent people from passing? Turns out there’s a reason, but you only realize it after the fact. Others, like the tractor, are never really answered. They just are.
I’m not great at watching shows about unhappy people and this is one of those series. I had to put it down and pick it back up again later on a couple of occasions. There were storylines that really hit close to home.
At times she show looks like one of those morality tales where characters learn a Valuable Lesson and move forward, and then doesn’t really go in that direction. Things are not left back the way they are found. Some things broken aren’t fixed. And some are. The result is that each story is more gripping.
It is, at times, incredibly bleak. Which can be really over-the-top, but in this case it isn’t because it doesn’t even seem like it’s trying to be tragic. If anything, it’s trying to be hopeful and often failing badly. Which just makes it so much more tragic.
The best movies and best shows are the ones where I finish and say “I haven’t seen that show before.” This is definitely one of those.
Amazon has a really bad habit of taking shows that have one good season of story and bringing it back for more. I really hope they don’t do that here. This was a good set of stories but it is done.
2 thoughts on “Tenshot: Tales From The Loop”
I too have taken a break from the show. It is creepy and dark and yet rewarding somehow. I need to finish watching the rest of the episodes. Also a big fan of Hall’s work.Report
Yes, great summary. I watched it over a couple of months. Maybe one a week is all we could manage. It was slow, meditative, wistful bordering on genuinely sorrowful. It was definitely art.Report
I too have taken a break from the show. It is creepy and dark and yet rewarding somehow. I need to finish watching the rest of the episodes. Also a big fan of Hall’s work.Report
Yes, great summary. I watched it over a couple of months. Maybe one a week is all we could manage. It was slow, meditative, wistful bordering on genuinely sorrowful. It was definitely art.Report