Frequency – The Near Far Problem

By: Cade Taylor

“Frequency” episode The Near Far Problem picks up right where we left off last week: with Raimy (Peyton List) telling her father about the missing shed in Goff’s yard and how she found an underground bunker where the shed used to be. Frank (Riley Smith) makes Satch (Mekhi Phifer) head back to the house in New Jersey to check out the shed. Goff’s mother tries to fight them off, but Frank isn’t having any of it. Instead, he grabs a shovel and breaks the lock on the shed. Inside they find that the shed was cleaned with bleach to cover up the blood from Maya and Goff’s mother, Marilyn (Melinda Paige Hamilton), doesn’t have to say one word because the look on her face proves to them that she helped.

Meanwhile, Raimy is back in 2016 stuck at her computer, waiting for the case file for Maya to change after Frank finds her. As Frank finds Maya’s unconscious body in the woods, her case file changes from “missing” to “rescued.” But the same can’t be said for Goff. Goff (Michael Charles Roman) has still been missing since 1996 so, naturally, Raimy suspects him of being the Nightingale Killer. Frank, on the other hand, doesn’t think that Goff is the Nightingale Killer because Maya doesn’t fit the profile, but Raimy insists. She is willing to go as far as she can to save her mom.

Speaking of Raimy’s mother, Julie (Devin Kelley), her family wants to have a memorial service for her to get peace after all these years. Raimy is set on a hard no because she refuses to believe that she’s dead. She didn’t even budge when Gordo (Lenny Jacobson) informed her that he’s the one handling the funeral so she invites him to grab a slice. Gordo gracefully turns down the offer due to his 7-year-old daughter currently using the bathroom. Instead, she goes to the bar to drink her sorrows away, thinking of her first date with Daniel the entire time.

Raimy, back in 1996, packs up to stay the night with Frank at his house (a.k.a. Satch’s garage) while Julie heads to work. Their plans to go to the movies with gummy bears doesn’t stick for long as he cancels to find the location of Goff. Raimy is, understandably, upset as her father leaves her with Satch’s wife, Leah. No amount of lasagna and Super Mario Bros. will cheer her up.

Frank and Satch watch the phone booth that Goff’s mother was getting phone calls from while Raimy sets up an interrogation for Present Marilyn. Raimy lays out eleven pictures of different women, explaining that Goff’s DNA is linked to all of them. Marilyn doesn’t believe any of it, but after Raimy explains that she will bring him in safely, instead of just having his head blown off, she gives up the location of where he is staying.

While Raimy was sort of telling the truth, she lied about the DNA to get the location. She also lied about bringing him in safely because when she finds the abandoned building Goff is staying in, she goes for him – ready to get some answers. Goff puts up a fight, showing some signs that he could be the Nightingale Killer, but Raimy is stronger. She eventually gets him handcuffed. Instead of taking him back to the precinct, like what was promised, she takes him to an empty lot where no one will see her interrogate him by herself. She drags him from the vehicle, kicking him in the stomach as hard as she can until he gives her the answer she’s looking for. Raimy’s anger gets the best of her as she pulls her gun out, ready to shoot. As she turns back around to point the weapon, Goff has disappeared. Back in 1996, Satch and Frank chase Goff until he finally just walks out into the street, killing himself, so he didn’t have to go to prison.

Raimy thinks that everything has been solved as she sprints back home to see her mother, only to be hit by a brick wall of emotions as the flowers from the grieving families is still sitting on her table. Her mother didn’t come back and Goff was not the Nightingale Killer. So, to drown her sorrows, she and Gordo go to the bar (the same bar that she and Daniel used to go to), only to find Daniel (Daniel Bonjour) there. Daniel confronts Raimy, asking if she was stalking him. She says no, but on some level, it’s a yes.

The day of the memorial comes and Raimy still hasn’t changed her mind about not going, telling Satch that she will man the phones at the precinct. Satch is so disappointed in Raimy that he even tells her, “For the first time, you’re letting me down,” as he and the rest of the officers head off to the memorial.

The last scene sees past Julie sitting on her porch enjoying a nice glass of wine. Everything seems to be normal until a man with rosaries hanging from his rearview mirror is seen. The Nightingale Killer is on the move and Julie is his next target.

Do you think that we’ve met the real killer yet? Could it be someone close to Raimy without her knowing? Or maybe a cop gone wrong? So many questions and not enough answers…