Frequency – Signal and Noise

By: Cade Taylor

Frequency episode “Signal and Noise” picks up right where we left off in the pilot, with Raimy finding out about her mother being the one who is killed by the Nightingale Killer instead of her co-worker, Susie. Raimy (Peyton List) is finding out the hard way that you can’t just change things in the past and expect everything to stay the same in the present.

With the recent uncovering of her mother’s murder, Satch (Mekhi Phifer) wants her to take some time off and give Julie a proper funeral, not wanting her to regret anything in the future. But Raimy being dead set on changing what happened to her mother actually pays no attention. Gordo, on the other hand, wants his best friend to start acting the same again and explain what’s going on. Raimy isn’t planning on putting him in the loop anytime soon. Poor Gordo (Lenny Jacobson) just wants to make sure his friend is okay. After all, Julie was a mom to him as well.

Raimy wants Frank (Riley Smith) to tell Julie that she dies in eleven weeks, but Frank has bigger things to worry about at the moment. Besides, you can’t just go up to somebody and tell them, “Hey, you’re going to die in eleven weeks. I spoke to our daughter in the future so you can totally trust me.” Back in Frank’s time, he’s a hero. He got a great support crowd as he is discharged from the hospital. He’s back with his wife and daughter, and he’s not undercover anymore. What could upset his mood? Oh, yeah, the fact that Stan Moreno (Anthony Ruivivar) is the one who tried to get him murdered.

Frank brings Little Jay up to Stan, wanting to help go after him. Unfortunately, Stan just tells him not to worry about it before sending him to an office for a meeting with internal affairs to recount what had happened while he was undercover. Frank sits down with an NYPD lawyer and woman with Internal Affairs. On record, he admits that the gunfight that landed him in the hospital was a part of a secret sting. That’s when they stop recording. The NYPD lawyer informs Frank that Moreno and two other men had already testified that the gunfight was not part of a sting that night. He then bribes Frank with any job that he wants, as long as he lies and plays along.

Meanwhile, in present time, Raimy is all over the Nightingale case. She digs up a case where a woman was sexually assaulted, nearly two years before her mother gets abducted, near the same marsh where her mother was found. Raimy believes that Thomas Goff (Michael Charles Roman) could, in fact, be the Nightingale Killer who was just starting off in 1996. So, she decides to pay a little visit to Goff, all the way in New Jersey where he lives with his wife and two children. He recalls the incident with Lisa, the victim, as a “youthful indiscretion.” Raimy then has a sit-down meeting with Lisa, who has a very different memory of that night, getting her to admit what had happened after she mentioned that there could be other women besides her. Lisa, who was paid to keep silent about the incident, can take no more and tells Raimy everything.

Frank turns to Raimy, informing her that he’s going to try to get Little Jay to cooperate and help turn Moreno in. He goes down to the docks convincing Little Jay that it would be better for the both of them if they worked together to bring Stan Moreno down. Little Jay is visibly torn on what to do, but eventually sets up a time for him and Frank to meet at the station. Only, Little Jay never makes it. As he is making his way there, we see someone gun him down.

The next time Raimy connects with Frank via ham radio she asks him to check out Goff during his time, just to make sure everything turns out okay. Then she loses it. When Frank informs her that he still hasn’t told Julie, her mother, about her death Raimy goes off on him. It’s very clear that Raimy still has a grudge against her father for leaving her and her mother as a child as she calls him irresponsible. But, none of this would be happening if Raimy hadn’t of told Frank he was going to die. Once again, you can’t mess with the past and expect everything to be dandy and unaffected in the present. All Frank wanted was to have a nice day back with his family. One day.

Frank meets up with Satch, making their way to Goff’s house, where he lives with his mother in New Jersey. They assume that everything is over before it ever began when Goff’s mom answers the door, giving them her lawyer’s number instead of letting them talk to Goff. But as they turn around to leave they hear power tools from a nearby shed. As they make their way to the shed, we see young Goff making what looks to be some sort of handle – the camera then revealing the woman in a bunker right beside him. Thomas Goff may not be the Nightingale Killer, but he is certainly a kidnapper with mental issues.

In Goff’s hurry to hide his victim he forgets to latch the door holding her prisoner, allowing her to overpower him by whacking him with a large object when he gets back. Raimy, back in 2016, finds Maya’s (the victim in the bunker) file and communicates to Frank that she had died in the bunker of his shed. But Maya (Alexandra Metz) had already escaped on her own so it seems Frank and Satch change the history of what went down just by showing up to the house. As Maya ran into the woods, Goff’s mother stands in disbelief that her son could ever do such a thing.

Raimy jumps in her car and hastily makes her way back to Goff’s home to check on Maya, but by the time she got back time had already changed. The man that answered the door informed Raimy that the Goff’s hadn’t lived there for over 20 years. Maybe now Raimy will realize that every little thing she tells Frank will ultimately change anything and everything in the future.

Back in 1996, Frank finally tells Julie (Devin Kelley) about the Nightingale Killer and her death. Julie, understandably, does not believe him. I mean, who would believe someone when they say that they’re going to die in a few weeks? I know I wouldn’t. Frank bends all the rules and makes Julie go to the garage with him, trying to get Raimy to speak with Julie and tell her everything. Only, Raimy stays quiet the entire time. Raimy finally realizes that the more she changes in the past, the more her life in the present changes. She is going to go overboard one day, not liking the results she gets.

After Julie kicks Frank out of the house, Raimy lets him know that she doesn’t want to get her mom involved and change anything else. Later that night, Raimy has a sudden epiphany while she’s laying down that night, realizing that the shed was nowhere in sight when she had gone back to the Goffs. So, unlike every other person in the world who would wait until daylight, she drives back to the home and searches for the door to the bunker. It takes her less than twenty seconds to find the hidden bunker, opening it to reveal what looks like the remains of somebody. Could that somebody be Maya?