The Listener is a somewhat unusual show, not just in that it is a show produced in Canada that actually takes place there, but that the basis of the show is when I first heard of the show was fairly high concept – He's a paramedic who can read peoples' minds. Now I know this doesn't really fill anyone with confidence, especially with recent usage like the character of Matt Parkman in Heroes (A cop that can read minds) or the usual draught of cautionary tales in superpowers where X has superpower Y, find it really cool then discovers a rather massive downside. The Listener instead tries to focus on this being a gift rather than something they can use as a crutch for character development by focusing on all the negatives.
The Show...
Toby Logan(Craig Olejnik) has been able to read minds since he was a boy and having handily learnt a method of controlling the overwhelming flow of information.
In more modern times, he works as one of Toronto's paramedics, working to save lives on a daily basis with the help of his affable sidekick/best friend Oz Bey(Ennis Esmer) Oz plays the more comedic foil to Toby's more careworn white knight.
Soon after you are introduced to Olivia(Mylene Dinh-Robic), the cold snappish sort-of girlfriend of our virtuous hero. Who is fairly exasperated with Toby and offers a 'will they, won't they' element to the show.
The show does shift from the apparent hospital drama to more of a cop show when Toby discovers he can just as easily use his telepathy to get information out of people and tries his hand at some amateur detective work, which gets the attention of the local detective Charlie Marks(Lisa Marcos) who is inherently suspicious of Toby and his constant running into trouble.
Eventually you meet Doctor Ray Mercer(Colm Feore) who is Toby's mentor and initially the only person aware of his ability. Mercer provides the usual sorts of advice about the hero's powers, taking up an Uncle Ben role in the show.
The Review...
As I discovered The Listener is one of those shows you need to give a chance to find its feet, as the series starts off with an interesting premise and ideas, but a bit lacklustre in execution. After the first couple of episodes though it does get its act together and becomes a more compelling show over its rather short 13 episode run.
You have examples of this in the choice for Toby's career, initially it seems at odds with the shows desire to become more of a cop drama acting as little more than a means for him to get to a crime scene. You also have his strange knowledge of the crimes, especially when dealing with detective Marks, which is mostly hand-waved away rather than dealt with. If somebody came up to me with knowledge that only an accomplice would know i'd probably be a fair bit more suspicious.
I'm guessing the writers must have noticed this as it is addressed soon after with more of the story and characters shifting to the hospital rather than the main characters just happen to drive by an exploding car or shootout and there is an implied moment at the end of one of the episodes that the detective has suspicions about Toby but this is never really shown up to this point or properly explored. Although his eventually reveal of his powers to the main cast does render this somewhat moot.
It does raise the big question that if they were aware of these problems why was there not more of an apparent effort to tweak the original scripts to make the start of the show stronger, because the hook should be there from the get go rather than introduced at a later date.
The only real gripes character-wise are Olivia, who starts off as fairly cold, almost bitchy, which makes it difficult to see why the two of them even have some sort of relationship, especially as it takes a while for her to get any kind of proper development. The other is the overly stylish local police force, which detracts from their role in the show, for example Marks spends most of her time with completely impractical hairstyles and clothing considering she's in law enforcement.
This aside, the show is pretty enjoyable overall with nothing being as clear cut as it seems, for example the pilot episode, which starts with a crashed car that works its way through to revealing police corruption. Other examples are episodes like 'Lisa Says' which highlight the fact that even though he can read minds he is still fallible and not able to determine exactly which mind the thought came from.
Another and one of the stronger episodes of the season is 'One way or Another', which deals with a local rapist, bringing in some more background to detective Marks it also tries to take you inside the mind of the victim as Toby tries to find out what happened and who attacked her. You can see him suffering with what he sees almost as much as she does.
Extras
Another blow for the box set however is the lack of any kind of extras. I know they're not entirely necessary for a show to have, but atleast some form of commentary would have been nice, even if just to know about some of the odd decisions and setups you notice in the show's production qualities.
The Score...
The show is strong overall but hampered by some lacklustre decisions and elments that will probably put people off giving it the chance it deserves, especially considering it has since been renewed for a second season.
Buy The Listener on dvd from Amazon