What’s the name of the show? The Whispers.
When does it premiere? Monday 1 June at 10pm EST on ABC.
What is this show? Children are hearing whispers from an imaginary friend and doing awful things to their parents. Naturally the FBI is trying to figure out what is going on.
If the friend is imaginary, how do we see him on screen? Well, the kids talk to him, so we know he’s there and he talks back to them in whispers you can’t really decipher. Also he makes lights flicker and turns electronic devices on and off.
Oh, that old trick. Yeah.
What’s the show’s pedigree? The show is based on a 10-page Ray Bradbury story called Zero Hour where aliens talk to kids and make them do bad things. Soo Hugh, who previously worked on Under the Dome, The Killing, and a show called Zero Hour, created this show for television. Steven Spielberg serves as one of the executive producers.
What happens in the premiere? A little girl, under the direction of her new best friend Drill, lures her mother into her tree house and tells her to stand on the X on the floor. She falls through the floor and winds up in a coma. The FBI’s child expert Claire Bennigan (Lily Rabe) comes to investigate even though she recently lost her husband. Meanwhile, her old superior Wes (Barry Sloane) is called off to Africa to investigate a strange phenomenon involving an air force plane that crashed. Wes has trouble at home, not only with the wife he cheated on, but with his daughter (Kylie Rogers) who has recently become acquainted with Drill and is doing his bidding. This is all somehow connected to a mysterious tattooed man (Milo Ventimiglia) who has been lurking around when Drill makes kids do bad things.
Is this show any good? The idea of children being coaxed into committing crimes is genuinely upsetting to watch. When the little girl watches her mother fall through the floor with a look of strange satisfaction, it was almost enough to make me shut off the show for good. Still, it is one of the few horrors left unexplored by TV or film; the idea that a loving and innocent child could change a suburban idyll into a murder scene.
Unfortunately the show then takes that premise and muddies it up with all sorts of other crap. All the accidents seem to have something to do with a conspiracy and all the parents being attacked have some sort of connection to the government, the military, or a company that makes cutting-edge weapons. It’s not possible to have a truly malevolent force manipulating our children – they have to be doing it for the greater good as some sort of high-minded vengeance. That’s a network horror show cop-out if I ever saw one.
The coincidences that link the people in the story to one other strain credulity to begin with, but it’s really the complication in the storytelling that will turn viewers off faster than an imaginary friend short-circuiting a microwave. The plot is so convoluted after the first episode that most people won’t be entirely sure who the characters are, how they’re all connected, or what their motivations are. There is no sense of suspense as the show slowly metes out information to make everything gel; it’s just a head-spinning confusion. It’s not like Game of Thrones or Mad Men, which is complicated in a way that seems intelligent and ordered. This just seems like it’s in over its head.
Which characters will you love? Lily Rabe, who was so excellent for seasons on American Horror Story, really knows how to make the most out of her scary scenes. Thank heavens the character at the center of this show is likable, because it makes you think it’s a better show than it really is.
Which characters will you hate? Claire is saddled with a gruff partner, Jessup Rollins (Derek Webster), who has some secrets of his own but seems more like a stereotype than an actual character. As the one person not involved in the conspiracy web surrounding Drill, he just seems superfluous.
What’s the best thing about it? Like I said, the concept is great and seeing creepy children do awful things is kind of fun, but waiting around to try to figure out why they’re doing them doesn’t seem like it will be worth your time.
What’s the worst thing about it? One of the children is actually named Minx.
Should you watch this show? No, especially if a young child tells you to do it.
