Raymi Sullivan (Peyton List) is in the present, Frank Sullivan (Riley Smith) is in the past. And, in the middle, trying to make sense of it all, and trying to deal with both father and daughter, in different times, is Satch DeLeon, the character played by Mekhi Phifer.
A show like this, who deals with different times, even if it’s not strictly time-travel, needs someone in the middle, a “conduit” of sorts, and Stach, being Frank’s best friend, and Raymi’s “fun uncle/surrogate father,” depending on the timeline, is just the man for the job, as viewers will discover when they get a chance to see the first episode of the show.
The fun part about playing Satch, Mekhi tells us, is that he’s “going on a journey along with the audience” because, on a show like this, no one really knows that’s going to happen and how things are going to turn out.
Describing Frequency as “more serial than procedural,” Phifer still points out that we’re going to see, after episode 1, how the characters deal with the effects, of, well, the butterfly effect, and that the Satch from the past won’t be exactly like the Satch from Raymi’s timeline, aging makeup aside.
Will he figure out what’s going on? Can be? How long will that take? Well, Phifer’s response is as diplomatic as possible: “however long it takes to make the story as interesting as possible.” And though we kind of home it’s sooner rather than later, we’ll accept his answer. We’ll take the best story as well.
Check out our complete interview with Mekhi Phifer below:
Frequency premieres Wednesday October 5th at 9/8c on the CW.