As the opening episode of The Listeners begins, Claire (Rebecca Hall) says she couldn’t imagine how her life could unravel so completely. She begins hearing a hum that she describes as “small and innocuous”. Claire speaks to her husband Paul (Prasanna Puwanarajah) in the morning. She admits she’s having difficulty sleeping. Claire leaves with Ashley (Mia Tharia) moments later. Once they get out of the car, Claire hears a low hum. Claire speaks to her students. She asks Mr. Francis a question, but he’s listening to something on earbuds. He takes them out and tries to answer the question. Claire’s nose starts bleeding. Later, Claire hangs out with Cassandra (Franc Ashman) who claims she’s driven. Aldo (Delroy Brown) is asked about writing sermons.

Claire has no interest in going to the church. When she goes to the kitchen, she hears a low hum again. Later, Claire thinks she hears the hum again. Paul does not hear anything though. She gets up to look around to see if she can identify the source of the humming sound. Claire asks Ashley about it, but her daughter doesn’t hear anything either. Next, Claire continues hearing the noise during rehearsal. Rory (Akai Coleman) says he’s not hearing the noise. Kyle (Ollie West) doesn’t say anything. Claire goes for a walk and tries to find out where the humming is coming from. Back at home, she complains about the new mast to Paul. He thinks she should get checked. Claire insists the noise is happening out in the world and not in her head. She still looks around for the noise. Eventually, Paul gives her a pair of headphones. They talk about the noise and try to figure out what it could be.

Claire begins researching the noise online and finds out that more people hear it as well. Some blame tinnitus. Claire goes to the clinic to see if she can find out what is wrong with her. She’s told she doesn’t have perceptible hearing damage. The audiologist (Anne Hornby) says he’s hypersensitive to white noise in her environment. She’s become fixated on tones that would usually go unnoticed. Claire insists it’s not anxiety or stress. She asks if they can run more tests and she wants some referrals. At the school, Claire gets upset at Kyle and curses. Kyle decides to leave. Later, Raina (Romy Kelleher) and the other girls talk about Kyle being weird. Raina claims the other girls are just sheltered. Claire’s nose bleeds again. Cass tells her she should go home, but Claire says it’s just a nosebleed. Claire says there’s nothing wrong with her medically. Cassandra agrees to run the rehearsals on her own. Claire hangs out with Ashley at home.

Ashley admits her mom has been weird lately. She goes on to say she’s worried about her. Ashley believes her mom needs actual help. Claire insists she’ll sort it out. Paul finds another place to sleep so he doesn’t have to endure another sleepless night. Claire struggles to sleep because of the humming noise. In the morning, she admits she doesn’t know what’s real and what isn’t. She returns to work with a bottle of medication. Kyle enters her classroom early to apologize for being checked out recently. Claire apologizes as well. Kyle claims he’s just listening to some old-school stuff like Missy Elliott. Sometimes, it helps distract him from the sound that’s always there. Kyle thought he was the only one who could hear it until Claire asked about it during the rehearsal. Claire admits she still hears it. In private, they continue talking about the noise. Kyle thought it was a concussion at first. All of his teachers think he’s high or something, but it can be very difficult to concentrate.

Kyle also says it gives him headaches. Cassandra bursts into the room and finds them talking in private. Kyle asks Claire if they can talk about it again. Claire says she’ll see it at the rehearsal. Kyle ends up staying around after the rehearsal. He tells Claire that he sometimes gets lost in the music. She asks if he’s told anyone. Kyle told his mom who freaked out. He told her it’s gone. He also told his mates but they were high. Claire questions why it’s just them. He shows her a map and points out how the industrial park is nearby. Kyle thinks they should go there and take measurements. Claire isn’t eager to go with him though because she cannot see him out of school. Kyle asks for her number. At home, Claire receives a message from Kyle who says he’s going to take some readings. Kyle meets up with her a bit later. When other students walk by, Claire makes him hide.

He tells her about the sounds elephants make that people can’t hear. They go to the scene to measure the noises. They take readings and talk about the noise. Security at the site runs them off moments later. Paul speaks to Claire at home while we see scenes of Kyle and Claire checking another site. In the middle of the night, Claire receives a text from Kyle. She asks him not to text her unless it’s an emergency. Ashley asks who she’s talking to and whether she’s having an affair. Claire denies it. Claire and the others watch the school play. After the show, Kyle introduces Claire to Siobhan (Niamh McCann). In private, Kyle tells Claire that other people can hear the hum and they have a hearing. Claire doesn’t want to talk about it in public. Ashley watches her from a distance. The next day, Claire says goodbye to Ashley who leaves moments later.

Claire ends up meeting Kyle again. They go to the group and they’re greeted by Omar.

 

The Listeners Review

The opening episode of The Listeners has an interesting story that will hit close to home for some. At the very least, most people have heard of the phenomenon of people hearing humming noises. It’s hard to know exactly where this is going through one episode. That will likely help determine whether it’s worth the time.

The opening episode was a little tedious as Claire identified the problem and found someone else experiencing it. The family dynamic is pretty generic from the casting to the daughter’s suspicions. That aspect of the series certainly isn’t going to win high praise because it’s pretty typical.

The story has been predictable so far. It was fairly easy to predict that Kyle would have the same problem and that he’d become involved in some type of relationship with Claire. This may still get more interesting, but it will depend on which route the writers decide to travel.

The opening episode scores a 5 out of 10. Recaps of The Listeners can be found here. Find out how to support our independent site at this link. Learn more about advertising with us here. Join the discussion here.