Actress Rachel Brosnahan from The Marvelous Mrs. maizel stars in the intriguing fiction podcast Listening In† When Julia asks her Alexa-like device to turn on jazz radio, it somehow broadcasts her neighbors’ conversations. She overhears a woman talking to her daughter about cupcakes, an intimate conversation between her neighbors, and even kissing sounds at night.
Julia becomes addicted to following the lives of her neighbors, the way you sometimes get hooked on the characters of a Netflix series. Only: these people are real. It starts out as a funny, voyeuristic adventure, but culminates in more complicated questions about privacy and trust. She knows she has to let go of the story, but she can’t keep her distance.
A version of this article also appeared in the newspaper of June 4, 2022