Alicia Malone
A few days ago it was announced that “24” star Kiefer Sutherland would be returning to TV – I know, so soon! – with a new series called “Touch”. Created by Tim Kring (“Heroes”) the show, we were told, would star Sutherland as a “a blue-collar baggage handler at New York’s JFK airport” who “soon finds his ordinary life taking a new turn when he discovers his autistic, mute son has the ability to predict upcoming events before they occur.”.
What’s Playing has uncovered more details on the series and it’s definitely sparking zee interest on this end.
Sutherland plays a former journalist cum baggage handler Martin Bohm, a single father (He and his wife were due to see a divorce lawyer on Sep 12, 2001 – – fill in the rest) whose young son Jacob has always been – what some may describe as – special.
Jake is a numbers man…. and a climber.
‘Jake’ is climbing cell towers (the security cameras capture him at 3:18; same time he’s been setting the clock’s at the house on), doing strange things with cell phones, writing down winning lottery numbers before they’re drawn, and yet, has no voice. And no, this isn’t no Rainman situation either – the kid is a magic man. And dad knows it.
With human services threatening to take away his boy (they believe he’s autistic and needs to be institutionalized before he can harm anyone), Martin needs someone to listen to him… help him.
Thankfully, Martin’s got one supporter at human services – 27-year-old Clea Hopkins; she lends a sympathetic ear to Martin and will be the one to ultimately champion his cause to retain custody. But she, of course, is skeptical of Martin’s claims that his boy is picking lottery numbers and the like.
With the lad growing stranger by the day, a distraught and desperate Martin seeks a man he once saw on the Charley Rose show, Boris Podoltsky (A great part for a Judd Hirsch type), a disheveled but brilliant grump who can potentially help the former’s son. (‘The Podoltsky Institute’, much to Martin’s surprise, is an old row house).
Podoltsky explains to Martin that his boy is a “conduit for energy”. Human life, he goes on, is simply “electromagnetic energy and connections.” And you see, even though Martin’s son doesn’t communicate as we do, via speaking, he’s still a “radar” for these connections.
The boy, we discover, is super brilliant – that whole one plus one equals three thing? That’s part of a mathematical pattern that nobody but the gifted and truly special can spot and decipher. It’s called the ‘Fibonacci sequence’ and, if the numbers choose, can ultimately lead to one being able to predict future events.
For more spoilers for “Touch” click here
