Frequency - Harmonic - Review

Raimy finally finds Megan again, only this time she’s with her brother. He’s alive, but injured. Once he’s out of surgery, Raimy gets him to tell her about his mother’s death. Not only was 13 year old Robbie a witness to his mother’s murder, but he helped his father give her a “good death” (ars moriendi). We’re finally given the context to the state of the Nightingale victims. I can’t help but think I know where the episode is going.

Megan and Robbie point Raimy and Satch to a shed at the family cabin. (She took her partner with her; maybe Raimy has learned something.) They find the Nightingale’s trophies…including the locket picture Raimy’s mother had with her when she was killed.

Raimy’s not that happy that the precinct is not focusing on building their case. She complains to Frank because she’ll never be able to get close enough to have a go at him. I didn't quite get why she was so upset, but as she reminds Frank, her goal is to get evidence that can be used to save her mother. She needs to ask Joe some different questions. They need to prove the case against Joe in 1996 so she can save her mother. When she calms down, she realizes that if Frank can find the trophies in 1996 then they can still save Julie.

Before I return to discussing the investigation, I’d like to discuss the scene between Gordo and Raimy. Gordo’s kind of the odd character on the landscape. He drops by frequently and occasionally offers up advice to Raimy, but their relationship has generally felt to me like it’s there because the character was in the movie. This scene added some much needed depth to the relationship.

Gordo apologizes for giving Raimy a hard time about working so much. It turns out that he’s been pushing her because he feels like it’s his fault her mother was killed. Gordo had been forced to walk to school. The day Julie was taken, she’d given Gordo a ride. He’s believed, all these years, that if she hadn’t altered her routine for him, she’d still be alive.

Raimy quickly tells him it wasn’t his fault. Her mother was targeted. She confesses her own childhood guilt. She’d spent that day wishing she had anyone’s mother but her own only to end the day with no mother at all. It was a touching scene that made me believe these two were lifelong best friends.

Frank get’s Deacon Joe in the interrogation room, but the man refuses to confess. Frank tells Joe that he’s the person who stuffed him in the car trunk, and if he walks without confessing Frank will kill him. Does the fact that Frank and Raimy believe that because they’re certain they have the bad guy the rules don’t apply to them disturb anyone else? Joe doesn’t flinch. He simply asks for a lawyer. Then bashes his own head against the table.

Raimy fills her Dad in on what she’s found in 2016, but when Frank tries to think through how to build a solid case, she demands he go at Joe harder. Frank refuses. He doesn’t get a do over. If he tanks his career or gets arrested for breaking the law it sticks.

Frank's shenanigans do land him in hot water. IA is looking at him for beating up Deacon Joe. He's lost his opportunity to use Raimy's information. At a loss, Frank enlists Satch’s help in getting the evidence he needs.

One of the subtle things I liked about this scene was the fact that, still feeling guilty about betraying Frank, Satch notes, several times, that IA is breathing down his neck. I thought it was a nice touch to have Satch make it clear that the only reason he’d question Frank about The Deacon being beat up is because of IA. What surprised me was that Frank decided to trust Satch by telling him he had The Deacon in his trunk. It makes me feel a little better about Raimy trusting Satch in 2016.

Frank tries to talk to Robbie, he needs him to testify that The Deacon killed his wife, but it doesn’t go well. Robbie takes off. Frank stashes Megan with Julie while he tries to stop The Deacon. I’m not sure what Satch’s assignment was, I’d assumed it was to go to the shack and find the box of trophies, but that night The Deacon retrieves the box from the shack and there’s no sign of the police.

In 2016, Satch interrogates Deacon Joe. This dude is interrogation proof. The most Satch gets out of him is a request to go to the bathroom. Raimy proves that she doesn’t have her father’s issues with roughing up a prisoner. She goes after Joe and this time he survives. Raimy gets Joe to admit that his kids are who they are because of his sins. This conversation confirmed my thoughts about where the episode was headed.

Another sequence I liked was the end of Deacon Joe’s story. The intercut between Deacon Joe’s suicide in 2016 and turning himself in, in 1996 was nicely done.

I suppose Satch was getting the paperwork done to get a team up to the cabin to search for Deacon Joe’s wife’s body. They find it. Joe is going to be put away for life. Does this mean Julie is saved?

Frank gives Raimy the news, but she’s freaking out. Nothing has changed. Frank suggests it may take some time. He sends her to get some rest. While she’s brushing her teeth, she hears something downstairs and finds Julie retrieving her phone.

Yes! They saved Julie. I actually wasn’t expecting that. I was expecting the reveal that Robbie was the Nightingale, but I thought it would be after Raimy realized that her mother still wasn’t back. I’m glad they did save her. It left me with several story questions I was excited to find out about in the season finale, but sadly, whoever put together the promo for next week answered most of my questions. I hate that.

We’re still waiting on a definitive conclusion to the Nightingale story. I hope we are going to get a definite conclusion to that story. If the show gets picked up I hope they’ve got a different way to keep the show going without having Raimy dealing with the loss of someone else close to her. For example, I don’t want season 2 to be about saving Gordo. I’d prefer a fresh story.

I thought it was a pretty solid episode. What did you guys think?