Frequency - Signal Loss - Review: "Maybe We Need To Stop Poking at What We Already Have."

They didn’t wrap up the season the way I was expecting, but I was really happy with how the season conclusion was handled.

Frank and Raimy adjust to a world where they were able to fix things. Well, for Frank it’s just another day. He put away The Nightingale and is a hero in the department. He decides to take his family to a cabin for a few days. Having his wife give him another chance is his perfect outcome.

Raimy breaks into tears whenever she realizes how perfect her life is now. But she’s been so stressed over the last two months that she can’t seem to believe it all. When she sees Robbie’s truck at the hospital where Julie works, she realizes that Robbie lied to her about why he was at the cabin in the other time line. She asks Frank to check in on Robbie and Meghan, which he agrees to do.

As Frank talks to Robbie and Meghan in 1996, 2016 Robbie comes home to discover his son has been in a fight at school. A kid found out about this Grandfather the serial killer, and, between that and the realization that the woman he targeted in 1996 is now Meghan’s doctor (she has cancer), Robbie believes it’s time for him to return to his work.

When he confesses to Deacon Joe, the first question he asks is ‘are you insane’? Um, hello!, that ship sailed when your kid started killing women ‘to save them’.

Luckily, for women in 2016, the conversation Frank had in 1996 pushed Robbie too far back then. Robbie confesses to his sister that he is the Nightingale killer. Her reaction pushes Robbie to bash Meghan’s head into a wall until she’s dead. Robbie calls Frank to confess and lure him away from the house so he can finish his work.

I’m going to take a brief aside, because it affects the climax of the show/season. In part an effort to tie up all of the loose ends a couple of, seemingly, unrelated things happened.

First, Miracella called to tell Frank that she doesn’t hate him. She wants him to know, before things get crazy, that she considers them square.

Second, we see a bit of Stan’s home life. His father seems to be dealing with depression. He sits in one spot all day and doesn’t eat. Stan tries to get him to engage. Stan tries to pat himself on the back about how much he’s made of his life as opposed to his brothers.

Stan’s proud of himself, until he hears the disappointment in his father’s voice as he notes that it’s because “you’re dirty”. That conversation struck me as one of the reasons Stan decided to give Frank the leverage he was holding on him; proof that Frank kidnapped Joe Womack. Stan believes they’re not that different. Frank doesn’t forgive him.

These two moments added some push/pull to the finale. I liked the way this episode played with events happening, seemingly, at the same time. They did it at the tail end of the previous episode, and it’s something I wish they’d been doing for more of the season.

We got Frank discovering Meghan’s body at the same time that Raimy finds out how the past changed to prove that Robbie was the Nightingale killer. Both Raimy and Frank rush to save lives. Frank calls Stan, because he’s only 3 blocks away from the Sullivan house. Stan rushes right out to help, but is shot before he can get into his car. Miracella pulled the trigger. This is what Miracella meant by things getting crazy. No one is going to save Julie.

In 2016, Raimy rushes through her engagement party to get to the garage to warn Frank as Robbie finds Julie, Raimy and Gordo around the radio in 1996. Raimy tries to scare Robbie into backing down. Not having had training from the FBI Behavioral unit, she only succeeds in pissing him off. He breaks the radio. Raimy is stuck in 2016 terrified that she’s lost everything again.

Luckily we’re not left in the dark. We can see that Frank and Satch made it in time to save Julie. Raimy returns to her darkened house certain all was lost, but it’s not. They just turned off the lights so they could watch a sappy video of the engaged couple. Raimy has lost her connection with her father, but they succeeded in saving her mother.

I really enjoyed the episode. The conclusion of the Nightingale story was satisfying. They also left room for Frank stories to start off a second season.

My one disappointment was that they felt the need to tag the end with Robbie Womack, in 2016, watching Raimy’s house. Completely unnecessary. I confess that I haven’t been keeping up with the ratings for the show but I hope we do get a second season.

What did you guys think?