Echo Sphere

After the very lacluster 3rd episode "Stasis", Tales of the Loop episode 4 "Echo Sphere" is a wonderful, gentle and bittersweet tale of life, and coming to terms with death.

The SF elements are very much muted here, and this allows the story of Cole, and his Grandpa Russ, to come very nicely to the fore.

The episode for me captures the very essence of the show, that the Loop may be the core of the town, but it's the humans who live and work there that bring it life.

Most excellent and a happy return to form for this interesting little show. More please!

The thematics are excellent in this episode. There's no moral dilemma, no wasted downtime, just a very relatable story of a boy and his grandfather. The symbolism is well done without being over the top and this story sets Cole up for the rest of his growth in the following episodes.

The huge difference between father and son is subtly demonstrated in just a couple of short, simple scenes. The causes for this difference is revisited in later episodes.

The final scene is a huge reward and even more meaningful when looking back from the end of the series.

Fine storytelling that hits a soft spot if you're ever had to let go of someone you love and trust that life goes on without them.

Episodes 4, 5, and 6 are filler and a complete waste of time. Skip to episode 7 to continue the story. Nothing even remotely interesting happens in these episodes, and they contribute nothing to the story. Nor do they convey any relevant information about the loop. You can skip them entirely and it'll make no difference to the last two episodes.

Episodes 4 and 6 are just drama episodes with little to no sci-fi elements. In 4, an old man dies of some disease (seemingly cancer). That's it. Episode 6 is a love-triangle episode with a sci-fi twist. Except the twist makes no real difference and it plays out like every love triangle story ever. Episode 5 is kind of sci-fi, but just uninteresting. It's got something involving the loop, but that /thing/ could be replaced with a number of real-world objects, and the entire story would stay the same. Simply put, it's a boring everyday drama with a couple loop-things inserted. Also completely irrelevant to the other episodes.

This series should have been 5 episodes, but apparently Netflix over-ordered.

With a very skilled cast and perfect writing this episode is the most intriguing and intense. Great sets and paste. this episode takes the genre to a next level. So believable and yet so out of this world.

The artwork is stunning (where is this sphere? It should be in a museum)

There is nothing to compare it to.

This episode was crap. A guy dies. Whoopee do. Boring. Still no explanation as to what the loop and the spherical object really are, why there are odd structures everywhere, and what the nature and cause of the many distortions of reality are.