He’s handsome, mysterious and says he is meant to do mitzvahs, or good deeds. He’s an NYPD officer with a strange ability to get people to confess their crimes. NYPD Officer Avraham Avraham, known as “Avi” in the Peacock show “The Calling,” is on the case of a missing teenage boy named Vincent Conte. We learn Avraham was motivated to be a police officer due to the unsolved murder of his own father.
If this teen was killed, who did it? Was it his writing tutor, who seems suspicious? Was it the wife of his writing tutor who seems like she is hiding something, or a homeless man who used to be the boy’s teacher and is believed to have had Nazi sympathies? What about his father and mother, who have their own quirks? Could his sister be involved? Does Avraham have some powers that help him see the truth and know when suspects are lying?
The first four episodes are captivating. Jeff Wilbusch, who plays Avi and was once a Satmar Hasid who lived for some time in Germany, plays his role like someone who clearly knows how to take down a bad guy, both physically and mentally.
Jeff Wilbusch, who plays Avi and was once a Satmar Hasid, plays his role like someone who clearly knows how to take down a bad guy, both physically and mentally.
Jewish religious rituals are fully integrated. We see him pray while wearing tefillin and a tallit and say Hebrew prayers over a dead man. There’s a synagogue scene that seems to come out of nowhere (is it Simchat Torah?). At one point, we hear him sing along to “Am Yisrael Chai” from a distance.
The third episode includes the inevitable surprise when Avi realizes he has great chemistry with the non-Jewish Juliana Canfield, who plays Janine, a cop who becomes his partner.
“The Talmud says it’s forbidden for a teacher to reject a student, so halachically speaking, if I ask, you kind of have to teach me,” Janine cleverly tells him, mispronouncing the term that refers to Jewish law.
Noel Fisher, who many know as the violent Mickey Milkovich from “Shameless,” plays Zach Miller, the writing tutor who is trying to write a novel of his own. It becomes a bit surreal when his character writes poetry instead of toting a gun, but Fisher knows how to pull off the contradiction. And his anger, of course, eventually comes out.
Steven Pasquale and Stephanie Szostak are impressive as the couple whose son has gone missing, and so is Anabelle Dexter-Jon as Dania, who will invariably throw in red herrings into the story arc.
Created by David E. Kelly and based on the series of novels by Dror Mishani, the production gives Wilbusch an opportunity to further his career success.
Wilbusch’s other roles include Israeli negotiator Uri Savir in “Oslo,” and Moishe in Netflix’s “Unorthodox.” He also plays Victor, a young businessman who must decide if he should take the law into his own hands in the Menemsha Film, “Schächten.” It’s clear that we haven’t heard the last of this crazy cop.
