June 2nd mapped the finale episode of the Listener, which I formed an overnight attachment to. There are few shows that present a sense of consistency in each episode in the first season, but The Listener put a new spin on things.I took a liking to Toby in the first episode and I picked up on the shows' concept almost immediately; a guy who hears people's thoughts, but everything isn't quite as visible to the naked eye, even in his head Toby may hear people's thoughts, but his memory is a blur when it comes to his past.
The pilot picked up gradually throughout the episode and presented such chemistry between each character which gave you the feel like you knew them and the friendship between Toby and Oz was unlike non ever and their relationship picked up even more since Oz discovered Toby's ability.
Olivia kind of grew on me actually, I liked the chemistry between her and Toby, but sometimes I felt as though she was the only doctor Toby referred with, but seeing as they dated Toby would make it his priority to always run into her. Their relationship is complicated, but predictable. Toby is a cool guy, but he still has a lot of secrets and probably even holds back at times which could cause the ripple in his relationship with Olivia. I could also understand how they met; he's the EMA, she's a doctor, a few pick up lines upon bonding over patients and that was it, but really, they are both good individuals, not to mention easy on the eyes. Toby probably didn't wow me in the beginning, but he found his way into 'stud' mode in the end and Olivia looks extraordinary when she goes out.
Another potential love interest for Toby would have been Charlie, the cop who Toby often crossed parts with on his dangerous 'hero' complex side. While Toby is solving crimes and reading people's mind, Charlie is behind Toby trying to figure him out. She was the second person to find out about Toby's gift and she reacted with denial, just like Oz, but it felt more like a violation on her part, while Oz took it to be something cool. It left me wondering, what if people could read your thoughts? Your boss slams you with an extra work load asking you if it's alright and you smile nodding your head while inside your thinking, Yeah you... anyway I strayed for a bit, but would that be cool or a complete slap in the face, especially knowing you could lose your job if your boss only knew how you truly felt.
Charlie took a while to get used to Toby's abilities, but I still found it strange in the beginning how trusting she was of Toby. Probably Toby came of as a guy who really had a big heart and made her guilty for every detail she didn't follow through, being a cop she had an obligation to follow. Charlie also had the bad boy appeal to her in the beginning, but we gain a bit of insight into her past which probably explains why she became a cop to begin with.
Being a La Femme Nikita Fan I picked up on a guest star; Don Francks played Walter in La Femme Nikita guest starred as Wally in the Iris installment, in good shape since the last time we saw him on La Femme Nikita. I also picked up on a main character, Ray Mercer played by Colm Feore also starred in a small role in La Femme Nikita, he also starred in 24 as President Allison Taylor's husband, Henry. Ray plays Toby's mentor and he's the guy that basically has first hand knowledge over Toby's gift.
This series gathered a majority of their cast from the "Flashpoint" series, maybe it had something to do with Russ Cochrane being a writer on both series.
What I mostly loved from this series is their ability to tell a story with Toby's mind. We were able to gather that his mother was protecting him from something or someone. We also learnt that he changed his name and until the 12th installment we learnt that his name was William. First we believed that Toby's mother was dead, but later discover that she was alive and she sent Frank to find Toby, who later loses his memory unfortunately Toby can't let that go and pressures Frank into remembering little details.
Everything basically came together in the last two episodes as the guy who was supposedly after Toby and his mother and who supposedly took his brother away from them, showed up on a hunt. At first I believed he probably had similar abilities, but he wasn't much of a muscle, just another villain with a gun. He called himself Victor, don't really know if that's his real name, but he broke into Ray's office and took all the files on Toby. After all the drama, he still managed to come off as an amateur when the end game came along. He blurted out his thoughts for Toby, probably it's something you can't help, but he didn't seem so scary in the end, his death was so well nothing amazing per say.
Toby offered himself up to take instead of Frank, I guess Victor believed an old man on the verge of memory loss wasn't much of a threat, but Frank proved him wrong with a bullet in the gut.
In the end we are still left with questions.
Where is Toby's mother?
Was this really the guy she was running away from?
Are there more people out there?
Would Toby's abilities grow?
What happened to Olivia's sister?
Basically Olivia was the last person to find out about Toby, but she was the only person that believed him on the first say. In fact it made them closer and I'm really growing to love their relationship together.
Brian, Charlies boss, seem to have something going together as well and the details aren't exactly out there, so I really like that the suspense between them. They obviously dated before and for some reason they began seeing other people, but still manage to go out on the occasion, somewhat like Toby's and Olivia relationship, but at least Toby found his way to make it official.
This one is new, very unique, even though it has the Journeyman meet Traveler feel, it still pulls through and I desperately look forward for next season, it looks like it would be a good one.
Lexa
Five Stars
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