Tales from the Loop: What the Must Watch reviewers think

Every week, the Must Watch podcasters review the biggest TV and streaming shows.

This week, Hayley Campbell and Scott Bryan share their thoughts on Tales from the Loop.

It's a retro futuristic sci-fi show set in a small midwestern American town where strange things happen thanks to a machine built beneath it called the Loop.

The machine's purpose is to explore the mysteries of the universe and make the impossible possible which means things tend to get weird above it.

It's available now on Amazon Prime.

Have you watched it? What did you think? Leave your comments below...

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Hayley says: "I'm not sure there's a lot of anything here"

"Each episode is a different story but it’s set in the same universe, sort of like a Twilight Zone anthology. Each one has a different director: Jodie Foster directed one of them, Mark Romanek did one - he's the director of the Robin Williams movie One Hour Photo as well as loads of music videos you will have seen (‘Hurt’ by Johnny Cash, ‘Closer’ by Nine Inch Nails), and Andrew Stanton did one too — he’s won Academy Awards for writing on Pixar movies and directed some episodes of Stranger Things.

"It reminds me a lot of Westworld, when it was more 'thinky' than 'shooty' and maybe even The OA in its feel and intent. Definitely Twin Peaks: The Return in its pace. But I’m not sure there’s a lot of anything here. It’s long and slow and makes moral and philosophical points but I don’t think it needs to be this long and I don’t think you're adding anything from dragging it out.

"When I started this I thought it would be a Must Watch, purely on the basis that it feels new and different and odd and maybe because it’s trying to do something ambitious with ideas of death and mortality — plus it’s got all these interesting people involved — but ultimately, it’s just too boring."

Scott says: "The plot is genuinely non-existent"

“It’s based on an art book by Simon Stålenhag, who would draw stunning futuristic robots but would place them in a modern, Swedish setting. So robots and machines are next to ordinary things like cars and computers, as if it is an everyday thing to these people in this alternative universe.

“Cinematically, it looks stunning, every scene could be a painting with all of these robots in. It’s just like the book. The CGI is on point, the score is also on point, the whole thing visually creates a genuine 'wow' feeling.

“Yet the plot… is genuinely non-existent. It’s infuriating. I couldn’t be more annoyed of the potential of something to be so great, that looks great, that feels great, that’s got great acting, that’s got great directing ... has have no plot whatsoever, or a plot that’s so stretched out it loses your attention halfway through."

Tales from the Loop is available now on Amazon Prime.

Must Watch is available as a podcast every Monday evening from BBC Sounds, or through your podcast app.

This week, the team also review Dynamo: Beyond Belief on Sky One, Home Before Dark on Apple TV, plus they speak to Tony Close from Ofcom.

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