The CW’s Frequency had quite the storyline in its freshman (potentially final) season about a Catholic serial killer who wraps his victims in rosary beads, all in the name of Christianity.
Raimy Sullivan (Peyton List/Ada Breker) is a NYPD detective in 2016 who, by way of a mysterious ham radio, can communicate with her deceased father, NYPD detective Frank (Riley Smith), back in 1996. The two work together to solve the case of the Nightingale serial killer and change the future.
Through their investigation, they come to suspect a deacon named Joe (Kenneth Mitchell). While Joe is seen as a saint to the community, his daughter, Meghan, proves otherwise. During episode 10, “The Edison Effect,” Meghan speaks to a therapist about what her father had done to control her family and how he was attempting to “save” them from themselves. Joe twists the Scripture and uses it for evil. (That episode aired January 4.)
In a flashback, Meghan and her brother Robbie are huddled on the stairs while behind a closed door, Joe beats their mother while reciting 1 John 1:9 (KJV): “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” Meghan further discusses how Joe would take them a shed by their cabin to “heal” them. During a session, Robbie struggles to recite Colossians 1:13-14, causing Joe to grow impatient and beat him.
Joe confronts Meghan and tells her he knows she’s talking to the police. He then holds up rosary beads and says, “Everything is laid bare before him to whom we must give account” (see Heb. 4:13) in an attempt to silence her with fear.
In a flashback in episode 12, “Harmonic,” Joe’s wife arrives home late from work. Despite her story of bus trouble, he doesn’t believe her. He viciously beats her and calls her a whore. He then states, “Confess, or know His wrath.” As Robbie walks in, he sees his mother dead on the ground. Joe tells him, “This a good thing, son. Don’t be sad. We’re gonna save her soul. We’re gonna give her a good death: Ars moriendi.” After speaking blessings and sprinkling holy water over her, he wraps her in rosary beads and prays, “And by virtue of His passion, receive her unto you.” Disgusting that they would dare use the rosary and passion of Jesus in this manner.
In Wednesday’s 13th and final episode, “Signal Loss,” we find out Robbie was actually the Nightingale and Joe, who had turned himself into the police, was covering for him. Robbie wanted to “save” the women he killed because of their sins, just as he watched his father do to his mother.
Robbie is seen in the present as having a son who constantly gets beat up for what his grandfather (Joe) was accused of. Afterward, Robbie visits Joe in jail, stating he needs to “save” women again, aka kill. Joe tells him to stop and says, “I died for you,” indicating his sacrifice for falling on Robbie’s sword, as if he was Jesus dying for his son’s sins.
Wow. What a shame Christianity and its message get completely warped and misused, but that’s Hollywood. You rarely, if ever, see someone associated with the Catholic church or citing Scripture portrayed positively in a drama.
The message of Christianity is about love and eternal life through Jesus. When will we see a show with that in mind? It sure doesn’t happen with any frequency. {eoa}
