BBC One’s The Listeners continues to weave its peculiar sonic tapestry, posing the question: Is a shared auditory hallucination a pathway to connection or a recipe for familial discord? In “The Hum of Secrets,” the mysterious low-frequency hum that haunts Claire (Rebecca Hall) and her stepson, Kyle (Ollie West), becomes a point of both unity and division.
Claire and Kyle, initially isolated in their experience, discover others drawn to the enigmatic hum. These gatherings offer a sense of belonging, a validation of their shared reality, but the secrecy surrounding these meetings creates a fissure within their own family. Teresa (Lucy Sheen), Kyle’s ever-watchful mother, senses a shift, an unspoken bond between Claire and Kyle that excludes her. Her discovery of their clandestine hum-centric activities injects a potent dose of suspicion and resentment into the already fragile family dynamic.
The episode skillfully balances the intrigue of the hum’s origins with the messy reality of human relationships. The hum itself remains an enigma, a blank canvas onto which the characters project their hopes, fears, and insecurities. Is it a benign anomaly, a cosmic call to connection, or something more sinister, a harbinger of disruption? The Listeners smartly avoids easy answers, allowing the mystery to simmer beneath the surface of these increasingly complicated interpersonal relationships.
With a cast anchored by Hall’s restrained intensity and Sheen’s simmering suspicion, “The Hum of Secrets” maintains a delicate balance between the supernatural and the deeply personal. This is a show less interested in providing explanations than in exploring how extraordinary circumstances can expose the fault lines within ordinary lives.
The Listeners airs Tuesdays at 9:00 PM on BBC One.
