Home

"**Home**" is the eighth episode of the Prime Video series *Tales from the Loop*. It and all other episodes of the series were written by series creator Nathaniel Halpern. It was directed by Jodie Foster.

## Plot

A boy searches for his lost brother in an attempt to recapture the past.

## Summary

### Missing a brother

There is a stream in a forest which is iced over, an odd phenomenon, as the trees by it are in full, leafy green. Outside his home, the boy Cole kicks a soccer ball against the garage door. Jakob, who is actually Danny Jannson inside Jakob's body, does panel repair at the Mercer Center for Experimental Physics, a.k.a. "The Loop." Cole's parents Loretta and George Willard, work at computers near the Eclipse, the beating heart of the Loop. Cole's grandmother, Klara, stands in a grassy field and snaps of a photo of the three large cooling towers associated with the Loop. Cole tires of kicking the ball and heads inside. He goes to school and sketches a diagram of the planets, notating Earth as "Home." He tries to open his locker, but has trouble with the combination. His teacher, Sarah, greets him, asking him if middle school feels like a big change for him. He shrugs and she says that it was hard for his brother. Cole wonders at this and she says that she'll tell him what she told his brother, that if it ever feels like to much, he can always come and talk with her. She asks if that's okay. Cole agrees that it is and she hands him a book, saying that he might like it. He tells her that he has homework and she says that there's no rush and that it was good seeing him.

At home, he sets the table, starting to put out four place settings, then thinking better of it. As he, George and Loretta have their meal, he asks if he can call Jakob. George agrees that he can after dinner. Loretta says that Jakob is working hard. Cole asks "So?" and George explains that he needs his space. Loretta comments that it'll be the same for him when he's older. Cole replies that it won't and George says that he'll change his mind. He asks why things can't stay how they were. "Because of time," replies George. Loretta tells that they'll always be there for him. After dinner, Cole makes his call, but gets no answer, so he hangs up. Out in the field, he snaps a photo. "Easy, yes?" comments Klara. He asks what he should take photos of and she tells him that it can be anything he wants to preserve. He takes some picture of flowers. She points out the tower in the center, saying that she thought she saw someone at the top the other day, and that would be a long way to climb. He snaps a photo of her from behind. She asks if it's nice for him having his own room with his brother living in town. He sort of shakes his head and she says that it's good to have space, but sometimes there's too much. He snaps another photo of her and she playfully puts her hand up to stop him. He keeps snapping and she playfully snaps at him with a picked flower and they play-fight.

Back at home, Loretta tells Cole that his brother is on the phone. He takes the call. Only his end of the call is depicted. He says that he's good asks if he could visit if Jakob isn't busy. He asks if he could perhaps visit tomorrow or next weekend. "Oh," he says and asks him when he's coming home. He says that he misses him and there is the sound of a disconnect. That evening, he is up reading the book that the teacher gave him. His mother comes in, asking if he's still up. She says that it's odd, his brother not being there. She sits with him and asks to see the book. She examines it and says that she remembers it. She ask if he likes it and he shrugs. She pulls out a card from a pocket in the book and sees her own name written on it - Mar 1954 Loretta N. She chuckles and shows Cole, saying that it's hard to believe. He asks if it feels like a long time ago. "Blink of an eye," she replies. She tells him that it might not seem like it, but it's a special time in his life. "I guess," he replies and she places her hand on his shoulder, telling him she loves him. She bids him good night and leaves. He sits and considers the book on the table.

### The robot brother

The next morning, he goes to the Mercer Barber Shop, where Danny/Jakob is living in a flat above, carrying his soccer ball. He shouts out the name "Jakob," which catches attention of the barber, Lenny, who is sweeping up. Danny/Jakob calls down, asking what he's doing, and he replies that he brought him something from home. Danny/Jakob is standing at the window, shirtless, as Cole asks if he can come up. Danny/Jakob tells him to hold on, then returns to the window and tells him to come up. He asks how and Danny/Jakob replies that someone is coming out. The girl Lauren emerges from a side door and Cole comes in. He goes upstairs, where Danny/Jakob tells him he has to go to work soon. Cole asks what it is that he does at the Loop and he tells him that he calibrates electric panels. Danny/Jakob asks about him bringing something and he pulls Jakob's sketchbook out of a satchel, saying that he forgot it. Danny/Jakob sets it on the table and asks him how school is. Cole replies that some of his teachers call him by his name because they taught him first. Danny/Jakob agrees that that's weird. Cole tosses him the soccer ball and he hands it back, saying that he's going to be late. Cole asks why he doesn't come home anymore. He sort of shakes his head and mutters and Cole asks if he's mad at him. He says that he isn't. Cole tries to say that if there's anything that he did, but he says again that he's not mad at him. He tells him again that he's going to be late. Cole sits sadly on the bed and Danny/Jakob tells him that he just doesn't feel comfortable at home. Cole asks why not and he replies that it's not his home.

He says that he doesn't know how to say it, then tells him that he's not his brother. He says that it might sound, then cuts himself off. He tells Cole that he and Cole's brother found something in the woods. It let them switch bodies. He didn't want to switch back. Cole asks why he's making this up and Danny/Jakob replies that he's trying to tell him the truth. Cole starts to get up, but he holds him down. Cole tells him to let him go. He does so, and Cole asks if he's really not his brother, then where his brother is. Danny/Jakob gets up, goes over to the table and picks up the sketchbook. He shows Cole the drawing of the robot that Jakob made. "He's in that." Cole asks who he is. "I'm Danny," he replies. Cole says that Danny died and he replies that he never meant for this to happen and felt really bad about it. He hopes that Jakob isn't mad at him. Cole gets up and leaves.

Cole heads to the Loop, asking the guard at the station, Walter, if he can see his mom. The guard asks who is mom is and he tells him that she's Loretta Willard, that she runs the Loop. The guard calls, then tells him that Loretta is in the city. He asks if everything's alright, but Cole just walks off. He stares at the towers, then heads into the nearby woods and starts calling out Jakob's name. He pulls out the sketch and looks around. He sees the robot through a clearing in some trees. He holds up the sketch and finds it to be a match. "Jakob?" he asks and the robot moves in response. He kicks over the soccer ball. The robot raises his eyes, then kicks the ball back. Cole smiles and kicks the ball again, and the robot once again kicks it back. He rushes up and hugs the robot's head. The two sit together. Cole tells him "You work underground now, or Danny does." He comments that Danny thinks he's mad at him and he shakes his head. Cole replies that he would be. Cole tells him a riddle, asking "What has ears, but can't hear?" Cole replies that it's a cornfield and the robot sort of waggles his ears. Cole tells another joke - "Never trust an atom. They make up everything." The robot nods his head vigorously and Cole says that he thought he'd like it. He says that their mother will know how to get him out and they should go find her. He gets up, telling him not to worry, that she'll make everything like it was before. He walks off, telling him to follow, and he does.

They walk a little ways until they come to the frozen stream seen at the beginning of the episode. Cole reaches his hand out to touch it and looks back to the robot. He looks puzzled, but walks across the stream and the Jakob robot follows. Near sunset, he talks with the Jakob robot, asking if he'll move home when they get everything fixed. The robot nods. Cole lays down and the robot turns on the lights on his eyes and looks into the woods. Cole asks what is, if there's someone there. The robot whirs his ears and a bird hoots. Then he turns off the lights. Cole lies back and asks he can sleep. The robot nods and he bids him good night, saying that he missed him and goes to sleep. In the morning, they continue their long walk through the woods. They hear a whooshing, which gets the robot's attention. There is a loud thump and another, very mean-looking robot appears before them. Cole asks the Jakob robot what it wants. The Jakob robot turns to it, then stands in front of Cole. Cole shouts at the other robot to go away the Jakob robot turns on the lights on his eyes. The other robot charges forward and attacks. Cole runs to hide behind a tree as the two robots begin a savage fight. Metal clanks and grinds as the two go back and forth, until finally the Jakob robot delivers a crushing blow to the attacking robot. Cole gasps and gets up, then runs to the Jakob robot, asking if he's hurt. The Jakob robot shakes his head. Cole gives the attacking robot a kick, asking what its problem was. He picks up his soccer ball and heads off again. The Jakob robot starts to follow, but as he does, a component falls off of him. Cole stops, asking if he's coming. The Jakob robot considers the component, then follows.

### I'd always be here for you

They arrive at the edge of the woods and Cole says that they're almost there. The Jakob robot, however, has trouble climbing over a tree branch and Cole does not notice, now racing out of the woods. The air seems to shimmer around him as he reaches the edge and sees the city in the distance. He comments that they made it, then hears the clanking from behind. He runs back to the Jakob robot, finding him clanking and whirring, having fallen over the branch. He asks what he should do, but the robot just whirs. He strains to try to put back the broken leg, but cannot. He begs "please, Jakob," but the robot stops moving. "Jakob!" he shouts, then whispers his brother's name. "Don't go," he pleads, but there is no life left in the robot. Jakob is shown wandering the woods, then appearing to vanish into thin air. The ice on the frozen stream cracks. Cole gets up, then starts gathering pine cones. He places them in a ring around the remains of the Jakob robot as a memorial. He then re-enters the forest proper and returns to the stream, which is now in full flow. He splashes the water, then sets his soccer ball down in the stream. He watches as it flows away down the stream, then it re-emerges from the other end. He picks it up, confused. He wades across the stream and continues on his journey. There is a low rumbling and the crackling of ice. He turns and sees that behind him, the stream has again frozen over. He turns and leaves, then returns to the barber shop. He calls for Danny, but there is no answer, and a woman, Tina, instead of the barber Lenny, comes out and sweeps. Loud techno music is playing above and a curtain waves in the window.

Cole returns to the Loop, where he meets another security guard, Steven, at the guard box. He asks he can call his mom and the guard asks for her name. Cole replies that it's "Loretta Willard" and the guard looks dubious, but makes the call. Cole sits on top of the ball and hears a whooshing in the distance. Overhead, an airship flies over the Loop. Loretta emerges from the Loop's entrance, but something is very off. There is gray in her hair and she looks much older. Cole, stunned, considers as she approaches. "Mom?" he asks. "Told you," she says. "I'd always be here for you." She gives him a big hug and he sobs, saying Jakob's name. She tells him that she knows.

In a series of silent flashbacks, the truth is revealed. Danny/Jakob came to her and revealed the truth. He took her and George to the remains of the broken robot. That evening, they lay in bed, bereft. They went to a local restaurant, and there Danny was reunited with his true family - his parents Ed and Kate and his sister Beth. At home, Loretta pulled a piece off a pine cone, much like the piece that came from the Eclipse, then slotted it back in. She went to work at the Loop, but seemed distracted, though she took solace in George's presence. The two passed the days, George feeding Klara, who was growing infirm and Loretta reminding George to sit up straight during a meal. One day, George collapsed at the Loop, and then it was just her, lying alone in bed at night, listless, and passing the days at the Loop and eating lonely meals at home, taking out the trash in the evening, just as she had done as a young girl. She oversaw as the Loop's projects grew bigger and grander and one day, she received a phone call, and there was Cole outside.

### Blink of an eye

The two sit together on a bench outside. Loretta explains that Cole crossed the stream in the woods when it was thawed, and that's why he was gone for so long. Cole shakes his head, saying that it doesn't feel like a long time. She tells him that it really was and that she wishes his father and grandmother were still there to see him. He tells her it's not fair, that he wants it to be like it was. She takes his hand and they sit together as the evening fades. Sometime in the days later, Cole again kicks the soccer ball outside his garage. Loretta watches from an upstairs window as a car pulls up outside. "Cole," says the man who emerges from the car, "It's me." It is the adult Jakob, but not really Jakob, as it is still Danny Jannson inside Jakob's body. "Danny," he continues. He explains that he told Cole's parents what happened. He asks if Cole found his brother and he nods. He tells Danny that he wasn't mad at him. Danny sighs and nods. He tells Cole that he has a daughter now and asks if he'd like to meet her. Cole says "Sure," so Danny beckons for his daughter, Nora. She emerges from the car, a young girl about Cole's age. "Nora, this is your, um..." Danny says, struggling and unable to say the word "uncle." Cole says "hi" to her and Nora says "hi" back. He shows her his soccer ball and the two play together, Danny and Loretta watching. Danny smiles at Loretta, who gives him a smile back, seeing the man who would be her son.

Cole sits outside by a tree and finishes the book given to him by his teacher, Sarah, so long ago, and considers the card with his mother's name on it. He replaces it in the book. At school, he again struggles with his locker, unable to remember the combination. He heads into the empty classroom, where Sarah sits grading test papers, not appearing to have changed a bit. "Cole," she greets him, calling it a nice surprise, but not seeming surprised by the fact that he's still a child. He tells her that he finished the book and gives it back to her. She asks what he thinks and he says that it was sad. "And beautiful," replies Sarah. Cole agrees that it was that too. She asks how it feels being back home. He replies that everything has changed. She says it tends to happen and he notes that she didn't. "Why?" he asks. She tells him that she taught his brother, his mother and father too, when they were his age. He asks how that could possibly be. She tells him that there was a first, which his grandfather sent away, and then her, the second. "Second what?" he asks and she tells him that change is a part of nature, and she's not. She pulls off her her head to reveal a head of circuitry, the head of an android. He reaches out and touches it.

Cole sits at home, looking over his possessions, removed from boxes from storage. He examines his drawing of the planets, and also finds Klara's camera. Loretta takes off her glasses and poses for a photo for him. He tells her not to move and asks her if, when he was gone, she missed him. She closes her eyes and nods. "More than anything," she whispers, crying. She wipes the tears and composes her herself, though one more tear still trickles down. She tells him she's ready and he recalls the face the young girl he met before, the young version of her. He snaps the photo. Outside, he snaps a photo of his home. He hears a horn in the distance and observes the towers. He walks through the field and looks up at one of the towers, the horn blowing again. He climbs the tall ladder on the tower and reaches the top, then looks out at the landscape below.

A woman calls his name. It is now many years later and Cole is an adult in his 40s, again looking off to the towers. The woman calls again to get his attention. It's his wife, Molly. She asks if he sees something, but he shakes his head. She asks if it's the right house and he says that it used to look a little different. She tells the boy with them, Nate, that this is where his father grew up. He asks who lives there now and Cole shakes his head, saying that he doesn't know. Nate asks if it feels like a long time ago. Cole turns and sees two kids walking down the street. "Blink of an eye," he tells his son, recalling his young self snapping a photo.

## Cast

### Starring

* Rebecca Hall as Loretta Willard
* Paul Schneider as George Willard
* Duncan Joiner as Cole
* Daniel Zolghadri as Jakob (Danny Jannson)

### Guest starring

* Dan Bakkedahl as Ed
* Lauren Weedman as Kate
* Abby Ryder Fortson as Young Loretta
* Shane Carruth as Cole (40s)
* Jane Alexander as Klara

### Co-starring

* Alessandra de Sa Pereira as Beth
* Robert Nahum as Logan the Bartender
* Tatiana Latreille as Lauren
* Stefanie Estes as Sarah the Teacher
* Kassianni Austin as Molly (40s)
* Carter Heintz as Nate
* Roger Clown as Lenny
* Shaun McComb as Adult Jakob (Danny Jannson)
* Erik Athavale as Walter
* Chelsey Mark as Teacher
* Trinity King as Nora
* Solange Sookram as Tina
* Kurtis Allen as Steven

## Scene breakdown

*The following are the scenes of this episode, as indicated via Amazon's X-ray feature*:

1. Amazon Original (00:00:00)
2. Title Sequence (00:00:05)
3. Life continues at The Loop (00:00:27)
4. Time changes everything (00:03:34)
5. Fun with Grandma (00:05:09)
6. Missing Jakob (00:06:16)
7. Jakob tells the truth (00:09:14)
8. Cole goes to see his mom (00:13:50)
9. Cole goes looking for Jakob (00:14:48)
10. Trouble in the woods (00:20:19)
11. Time changes everything [2] (00:27:03)
12. An explanation (00:35:34)
13. Making amends (00:36:25)
14. Change is part of nature (00:38:33)
15. Preservation (00:41:29)
16. The blink of an eye (00:44:11)
17. End Credits (00:47:37)

## Music

* "Can't Get You Out of My Head" by Kylie Minogue

## Behind the scenes

* The scene at the end of this episode in which Cole visits his family home with his wife and son was first seen briefly in the earlier episode "Echo Sphere."
* The robot which the Jakob robot fights in this episode was known among the show's production crew as the "spider robot." This robot was created entirely using computer graphics, as opposed to the Jakob robot, which was mostly a practical effect.

## References

1. ↑ Writer's Guild of America West - *Tales from the Loop*
2. ↑ *Tales from the Loop* on Amazon
3. ↑ Marshall, Rick (May 31, 2020). How visual effects brought sci-fi art to life in Amazon’s Tales From the Loop. Yahoo! via Digital Trends. Retrieved on May 31, 2020.