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Hello, Freqs!  This week on Radio Static, we discuss the Frequency Season 1 Episode 2,  Signal and Noise, which originally aired on October 12, 2016.  Raimy Sullivan and her father, Frank, have reconnected via their shared ham radio, saved Frank’s life, but now have put Julie’s life in jeopardy.  

This episode showed us the impacts of The Butterfly Effect.  Like a stone thrown into the water, the ripples are expanding through the 20 year period that separates father and daughter, with the most dramatic effects being felt in the future timeline.  

Raimy learned at the end of the prior episode that as a result of something they changed, Julie would die.  Raimy also shocked Frank by telling him that Stan Moreno was a “dirty cop” and that the supposed sting operation that Frank had undertaken was no sting at all, but a set up meant to kill him.   Frank is in shock.  Somehow through their shared ham radio signal, he has connected with his daughter 20 years in the future, almost been killed, learned that a previously trusted fellow police officer set him up, and now he learns that his wife may die.  Any element of that would be hard to believe, but Frank has had all of this thrown at him in a short period of time.  

For Raimy, it’s worse.  She has gained back her father, learned that he will die anyway in an automobile accident, she’s lost her almost fiance, and now her mother is gone.  rs-s1e2-pic-julie-and-raimyShe has two sets of memories while her father, who has not yet lived his future, has only one set of memories.   It would seem she is pushing away her best friend, Gordo, because she is afraid of losing her one connection to her past and her present.  But by walking away from him, she risks alienating her friend and isolating herself with her shocking current circumstances.  If she tells him what is happening, she risks being considered “crazy,” especially since the remains of her mother have just been “found” in 2016, the victim of the Nighingale Killer.  

Frank’s priority is to save his wife, so when his Fraternal Order of Police representation and the Internal Affairs Board representative turn off the tape recorder and advise him to rethink his “sting” story, he changes his story in return for getting his choice of assignments – working the Nighingale case with Satch.  Will Frank struggle with this choice, knowing he needs to save Julie but conflicted about turning a blind eye to the corruption around him?  And is Stan the “big boss” leading the corruption, or is he simply following the orders of another leader?  Who is behind this, and is it only drugs, or does this crookedness much broader?

rs-s1e2-pic-julie-and-young-raimyJulie tells Frank that he will need to leave, but allows him to have “bonding time” with his daughter.  In a touching dinner scene, we see what the Sullivans might have been like as a family in earlier, happier years.  Satch shows his care and concern for both Julie and Frank, and does seem to be a friend to the family.  We also see Julie’s love for her young daughter, and in flashbacks, we see how Julie cares for her adult daughter, when she arranged for Raimy to meet Daniel.  

We meet two new characters this week – Maya Gowan (played by Alexandra Metz), a young nursing student who is drugged and kidnapped by Thomas Goff (played by Michael Charles Roman).    rs-s1e2-pic-frank-and-satchAs Raimy investigates this missing woman, she tells her father about Thomas Goff, and the now alive Frank, accompanied by Satch, pay a visit to Goff.  Finding nothing, they leave, but this gives Maya enough time to escape from the bunker where Goff was keeping her.  When Raimy first talks to Satch about the young woman, he has no memories, but when Raimy talks to him 24 hours later, he recollects that he and Frank when to the house.  Raimy realizes how she and Frank are changing time, and how uncontrollable this could become, and how the smallest change could impact everyone they love.  

It seems that the signal is strong between Raimy and her father, even as he acknowledges that he doesn’t really know her – as an adult.  The noise?  Could that be Stan, possibly disrupting Frank in his quest to save Julie?  Or could it be Thomas Goff, as a murder suspect but perhaps not the Nightingale Killer?

Frightened, but determined to save Julie, they move forward.  But – did Maya escape, and what happened to Goff?

Tune in next week to find out, Freqs!

October 19, 2016 – Season 1 Episode 3 – “The Near Far Problem”

Fire up your ham radios, and transmit your feedback to us, Freqs! Our deadline is 7:30pm Eastern, on Thursday!  Use our Feedback page to type an email, record a voicemail, or upload an audio file, or call 304-837-2278.  We’d love to hear from you!  We will also give you a question each week about the episode – ask for your theories and thoughts – and you can reply on Twitter using #RadioStaticGSM. So watch for that the morning after Frequency airs!  And while you’re at it, why not take a few minutes to leave a rating and review in iTunes?

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