The Listener
Season 1 "The Golden Age": While watching the show, all I wanted to do was learn about the protagonist. There were a lot of mysteries that developed over the season. They played on the notion that he couldn't quite control his abilities to the point where he heard everyone talking at the same time. The only person that knew his secret was a psychiatrist that acted more as a mentor whenever Toby needed assistance on a matter. Not much is known about his childhood or what happened to his mother. Oddly enough, our gifted friend chose to be in EMS instead of being a detective. He thought things could be normal for him... until people started sending out "distress beacons" that made their way through his mental block. Then suddenly, everyone around him seemed to learn about his telekinesis. His friend Oz learns it in Episode 3, the detective becomes aware of it somewhere around Episode 6 & 7, the doctor finds out in Episode 13.
Although the story reveals tidbits of information about Toby's past, the show is designed so you can watch any episode as standalone. There are a lot of minor continuity breaks when it comes to secondary stories happening in the background. The episodes themselves can get rather weird, but interesting to see when it plays on "what a mind reader would see" from your non-typical person. Episode 6 revolves around a blind woman, Episode 7 is an origin story of another telepath with slightly different abilities (that never gets shown again), and Episode 9 has a man dealing with a split personality disorder. During the final few episodes, the writers really pushed the narrative towards this dangerous organization hunting down Toby's family to the point of killing off our favorite detective. But I have to give them props for including an awesome song in Episode 12.
Season 2 "The Edgy Boy": Then something immediately became apparent while watching the opening episode of the second season. Everything is different. Toby gets a haircut, starts wearing a leather jacket since now he drives around on a motorcycle, puts on some black shades, and starts working at the gym. He no longer visits the original precinct since he got the detective killed, but bumps heads with another hot-headed detective with a tomboy haircut in another district to which he immediately tells her about what he can do in Episode 2. The psychiatrist disappears almost entirely without a single mention and the story about Toby's past with him. The camera filter changes from an orange tint to the stereotypical detective blue tint. Music changes from the inspirational style to a more robust electronic funk.
Oz starts dating Sandy in Episode 3, but the idea gets dropped and swapped for a young blonde in Episode 9 (since the writers have to develop drama). Then we roll into your standard detective stories where Toby becomes an informant and "probes people" for the detective's cases. There's still humor sprinkled in here-and-there, like how Oz deals with the new mechanical stretchers in Episode 4, but it is not enough to hold it together compared to the emotional impact in the first season. The only interesting concept that I remembered was how they showed what it looked like in the mind of a musician in that same episode.
When I scoured the Internet for an explanation of the change, the only thing I could find was Craig Olejnik saying that "season two is more mature, stronger, smoother, and it really picks up... it really moves into a whole new world." So instead of the mysterious and philosophical concepts of what happens to a mind reader in Season 1, we essentially drop the sci-fi element to a simple guy who helps the cops in getting information they normally can't get on their own. Although the writers do play with the idea that using his powers in such a capacity is "burning out his synapses" in Episode 12, it gets quickly dropped at the beginning of the next season.
Season 3 "Rise to Power": Ok, someone tell me if it's possible the actress playing Michelle McCluskey actually grew her hair out like that within a year span or if that's really a wig. Maybe it's both? So I guess it is now official - they have their own Special Ops team for the IIB. Toby stops being a paramedic and starts working with the team full-time. So the cases start becoming a little more drastic with a few episodes where the villains actually get away. It is clear they don't know what to do with everybody else in the show. The actress portraying Sandy gets pregnant (you can tell from her face alone). She leaves to help with "Doctors without borders" for a few episodes while Oz learns how to be a supervisor (now that his partner is gone). He gets rid of his old busted car for "Red Thunder 2.0" in Episode 11. Olivia dies from a Pandemic in Episode 10. Episode 8 is perhaps the only "sequel episode" that I know of where the madman comes back to finish the job (in a creative way I should mention). Oh, and there is that really bossy reporter in Episode 9 that Toby can't read. I hope we don't see her again.
Season 4 "The Girlfriend": So obviously by now you might have realized that my interest in the show has left with everything else. Toby finds out the reason why he can't read this reporter is because she takes medicine for her epilepsy. They start dating to the point where he tells her about his gift in Episode 8. That doesn't seem surprising since the show hired Jewel Staite (from Firefly) to be his retro-girlfriend that also knows about his secret in the first episode of the season. Tia takes a break from the show to sort things out only to return in the season finale to reveal that she stopped taking her medicine and wants to be with Toby. There is this whole substory where the husband of the detective keeps pestering her about having a baby. A new, very extravagant superintendent comes in brings down unnecessary heat onto the department in Episodes 4 & 8. Episode 7 did something completely different and promoted the Sick Kid Foundation.
While watching Season 4, I noticed I was having problems keeping up with the episodes. So as an experiment, I decided to re-watch Season 4 Episode 8 from an objective point-of-view. The story-telling is solid with a few minor stretches of disbelief. Oz appeared in only one scene in his apartment while Toby's girlfriend had a couple of extended scenes. I don't recall any moment an ambulance or hospital is shown in the episode. Then I realized what the problem was - every scene lasted between 30 seconds to 2 minutes (with the exception of the climax and conclusion lasting four minutes). There was a total of 32 scenes in a 43 minute program. This is why I have trouble remembering what happened. It was only after watching the episode a second time through that I caught the things relevant to the case.
Season 4 Episode 10 through Season 5 "Pasazade": When Michelle reverted back to her original haircut from the second season, I knew the writing team must have decided to change their approach to the show. So it is time to switch sets! Sandy leaves Oz and gets engaged with someone else within three months (to make it clear she isn't returning to the show). Oz buys into his cousin's bar, the Pasazade (to make it clear we won't be seeing the hospital anymore). Toby and Tia move into a home together. Adam Reynolds stays home with Michelle's new baby. The head of IIB leaves and we get... the chief from season 1? So obviously we need to make him question Toby's abilities for a few episodes before he finally gets told about it. Then there is a subplot revolved around Toby's ambition to carry a weapon (which I definitely remember him pulling out in Episode 11). There are two really interesting stories about someone with a clear case of multiple personality disorder, properly known as Dissociative Identity Disorder, in Episode 6 and someone with a photographic memory, or an extended form of eidetic memory, in Episode 7. In the final episode, we get a few minutes of Toby's mom in the final shot. Although we still don't really know what happened to her, I'll take it as a satisfactory ending.
Review: The Listener does a fairly decent job presenting what a mind reader would have to deal with in a realistic world. The first season lays out for us a promising good start of a man's mysterious background without making it the forefront of the cases presented in each episode. The enthralling search for his past made me want to watch every episode. Unfortunately, the entire tone of the story is scrapped in the season finale to the point where the series morphs into your stereotypical detective drama. What once was accurately shown as vague reads of a person's mind becomes mere plot points where explicit details, sometimes not even humanly possible to learn about from their point-of-view, gives the team another lead to chase down in the case. As much as I wanted to engage myself in the show, it turned out to be something you might watch while winding down on the couch. I'd say give the show a chance without putting too much investment into it.
5-32-2021