Sometimes the past repeats itself. Today, Calls, which is now streaming on Apple TV+, is doing just that. They are taking us back to the days when shows aired on the radio, and we had to imagine what the story we were listening to looked like. By picturing what was going, it made the story even more chilling because your mind can and will play tricks on you.
For example, Orson Wells made people believe on Halloween in 1938, that New Jersey was being attacked by Martians. When you can’t see what is going on, it makes things even scarier and more believable. They say seeing is believing, but what happens when you can’t see anything? Calls is working with that concept, and giving us a television series with no images.
All we can do is listen to the strange phone calls that are going on between two people. Have you ever been talking to someone, and then you hear something odd in the background, and the person you are talking to has suddenly stops talking. In your mind, you are imagining the most horrific thing is happening until they speak to you again.
Instead of this being a one-sided conversation, you are listening to conversations of several people in nine different episodes. The voices behind the phone calls are Nicholas Braun, Clancy Brown, Lily Collins, Rosario Dawson, Mark Duplass, Karen Gillan, Judy Greer, Paul Walter Hauser, Danny Huston, Nick Jonas, Riley Keough, Joey King, Stephen Lang, Jaeden Martell, Paola Nuñez, Pedro Pascal, Edi Patterson, Aubrey Plaza, Danny Pudi, Ben Schwartz, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and Jennifer Tilly.
Imagine you are an old school phone operator listening in the conversations of strangers, and something strange is going on. That is exactly what you are doing the second you press play on this intense and thrilling drama.
In episode 1 – A man calls his girlfriend in NYC, and then his mistress in Los Angeles, where he lives now. While on the phone with his mistress, she calls him on the same line. And it just gets weirder from that point on.
In episode 2 – A man runs out on his wife after she tells him she was pregnant. Every time he calls someone, days and then years have passed by. However, for him, it is the same day, and only minutes have passed since his last phone to them.
In episode 3 – A man gets a call from his neighbor to check on his house because he had already left for the airport. When the man gets there, he notices that the door is wide open. The neighbor asks him to look inside the house, including his bedroom closet. When the man opens up the closet door, he sees a box inside and takes that box back to his house with him. What happens next changes the man’s life forever. And it has nothing to do with the contents of the box.
In episode 4 – A woman’s marriage is on the rocks because her sister is a hypochondriac. While the woman is on the phone with her husband trying to save her marriage, her sister calls her and says that this is the sickest she has ever felt. Is her sister really sick this time?
In episode 5- A man accidentally shoots and kills his fiancee, so he calls 911 to report the murder. Then while he is on the phone with the 911 operator, his dead fiancee calls him. How is that possible?
In episode 6 – A man is in jail for killing someone he didn’t, or at least he does not have any memory of killing her. His friend says that he left a message confessing to the murder, but he doesn’t remember making the call. Did he black out the murder?
In episode 7 – A 21-year-old girl calls her mom from the future due to a glitch that allows her to do it. When she gets in touch with her mom, she then has to convince her that she is the future version of the 8-year-old girl who is calling her from 13 years in the future. Why is the call so important? She has to tell her not to do something on a future date. What happens when her mom from the past gets to that date. Another glitch allows her to find out.
In episode 8 – A pilot calls his young daughter from the plane, and she tells him that her mom, his wife, is crying because she told her that he just died. Then the stewardess tells the pilot that the passengers on the flight just saw on the news that the plane they are on crashed. How could that be if we are listening to their conversation?
All of this leads to episode 9 that wraps up this season brilliantly.
After these episodes end, you are going to want to listen to it all over again to hear what you missed.
I honestly cannot remember the last time a series blew me away like this one. It could be because I had to use my imagination, and I have one that is warped and very visual. I think I made the scenarios scarier and more intense because of that. Not that I am complaining because I loved every minute of this first season.
The season is roughly four hours long. After you hit stop for the last time, it will like no time has passed since you hit play for the first one.
Since we all have time on our hands, this is the perfect way to waste it. It is something different, original, and exciting. Something we all need these days.
Calls is based on the French show created by Timothée Hochet that aired on Canal+.
Just one final thought, you might want to put your phones on mute or shut them off when you are watching the drama. There is nothing scarier than hearing your phone ring while you are watching Calls.
