Joel Hamlin, dressed as a hotdog, is accused of murdering another man after he insulted him. Avi takes him to the station and asks him not to take the dress off. Avi is kind of a legend in the station. His unique ability to draw out people and extract confessions is well revered.
Captain Kathleen Davies, Janine, and Detective Earl watch from behind the glass as Avi gets the confession from Joel. Joel lost his well-paying job during COVID and could not find another. He killed the man because he couldn’t handle the embarrassment. ..
Avi is called into a new case. This time, it’s a young boy named Vincent Conte who has gone missing. His mother Nora has come to report him missing and Vincent’s father Leonard is on a business trip and will be arriving in the city shortly. There isn’t much that Nora is able to provide Avi with, evidence-wise, just that he went missing on a Tuesday morning and was never seen again after that. ..
Nora is not sure if Zachary Miller, an aspiring writer, ran away or if he just didn’t have the talent to write. Michael Rosen, an instructor at the school where Zachary is attending, tells Nora that he’s not sure Zachary is good enough to write. Despite several tries, the end product has been mediocre.
Zachary leaves the class and almost walks onto incoming traffic due to the trauma of this revelation. He goes back home to his wife Dania and infant son Luke. Dania is in the bathtub and Zachary, for some reason, projects his anger onto her and gets into the tub to have sex with Dania. Janine aspires to be a detective one day and goes to Kathleen to request her to make Janine Avi’s partner.
Kathleen is skeptical of Janine’s plan and suggests she think it through. Danie expresses her discomfort with what Zach did and lies to her about the class and that his work is soon going to be published. Avi is a deeply religious man and we see glimpses of his Orthodox offerings. Janine has her own rituals and we see a starry-eyed girl obsessed with crimes and solving them. ..
Janine gets the nod from Kathleen the next day and Nora comes back to talk about the investigation. The police question the neighbors and it turns out that the Millers live in the same building. Avi visits the couple and discovers that Zach used to tutor Vincent. They do not reveal much except for the fact that Vincent’s father is quick to anger and an overbearing parent, so much so that Nora hardly dares to interfere. There was some yelling on Monday night as well that Zach mentions to Avi. The detective spots an old friend in the street, whose name is John Wentworth, a former philosophy teacher at the Rockefeller, now homeless. ..
Janine and Avi receive a distress call from Art’s Deli, where the owner is Avi’s friend. Despite strict instructions not to go in, Avi goes in and puts his life on the line to neutralize Kyle Henderson, a schizophrenic drug-addicted veteran. Zach confronts Michael at his workplace and gets advice to channel something from his own experiences into his writing. ..
“Avi inspects Vincent’s room and discovers it to be quite well put. He also finds Vincent’s phone and his coat and jacket, which dampens his suspicion that he has run away.”
Janine pesters Avi with questions about the case. His assessment is still that he ran away, or at least the fact that he is hiding from something and the parents are lying about the situation. John is not able to tell Avi a lot, just that he knew Vincent from his class and he was a sweet boy. Leonard is brought to the station and he is indeed a cantankerous man. Avi has trouble getting anything from him but he is definitely a suspect. Janine notices Avi drawing and he tells her that it is his way of communicating with the victims in his cases.
He sees the world in those drawings and allows his hands to draw freely in order to embellish his senses. Janine tells him about herself and how “Law & Order” inspired her to take up policing. That night, they find Vincent’s bag and belongings dumped in a garbage can near the river.
The Episode Review
Wilbusch has taken on a more isolating, challenging role in his latest project, Detective Avi. ..
In episode one of Succession, Julia Canfield plays Janine, a breezy and self-assured woman who gives an account of herself. The central mystery proposed in this episode is one we have seen unfold many times before: a teenage boy goes missing and his parents (especially the mother) turn her life upside down till he is found. There is nothing new in this story, which has been played out time and time again in movies and television shows. ..
The Calling has potential but it feels like it’s missing something. First impressions are good, but the feeling is not as cinematic as it should have been. Other Kelley productions have had that grand, refinement about the production whereas The Calling feels “tv-like”.
But anyway, that cannot be a sustainable criticism if the drama is good. There is promise but I would hold our horses for now! ..
