Ringer
Ringer: Pilot
Original Air Date: 9-13-2011 on The CW
It wasn’t bad for a first episode. Like most new shows I think you really have to give it a few episodes before you can really determine if it’s worth watching. It was great to see Sarah Michelle Gellar back on TV. STOP Reading HERE is you don’t want to be spoiled.
The scene opens in one of those massive loft-like apartments you only see on TV or in the movies. Its looks like its being renovated as much as you can tell when its poorly lit. Sarah Michelle Gellar is there and hiding behind a support beam. Hey this looks a lot like Buffy used too. Yay! Except at some point Buffy would come out and kick some ass.
She is hiding from a masked man with a weapon. That is so not Buffy-like and that’s the last I mention Buffy tonight, I hope. She moves to hide under a tarp but accidentally turns on a music player that tips the guy off to her location. He finds her and wrestles her to the floor. She is fighting the whole time and yells that he has the wrong girl. That would make sense seeing as this show is about identical twins.
We jump to 9 days prior to the scene we just saw. We are in Rock Springs, Wyoming. This Sarah Michelle Gellar is in an addicts anonymous meeting. I am going to guess its Bridget, the twin trying to overcome her past. She tells us she has been clean for 6 months and finally she has been able to make contact with her sister. Her sister has agreed to let her visit but she isn’t sure she is ready. All of this makes perfect sense for someone trying to make amends for what they’ve done to the people they care about while under the influence.
After the meeting wraps Bridget is talking in a semi flirty manner with a black man at the beverage table. From their conversation you can tell that they have probably known each other for a while or have some sort of history. Their conversation is cut short by a guy attempting to stare them down intensely. Bridget walks up to the man and he automatically starts grilling her about her relationship with the guy she was just chatting with. This guy must be a cop. The black man she was chatting with is actually her sponsor and his name is Malcolm. We have no name for this cop yet.
Bridget is apparently in some sort of witness protection. She was witness to a murder of a stripper. The Bodaway Macawi is about to go on trial and Bridget is needed to testify. She is fully aware this Bodaway is dangerous and doesn’t appreciate being reminded by the cop. They make their way to one of those very secure budget motels. The guy guarding her room wouldn’t be a given away at all if someone was looking for her. She can’t even enjoy her TV in this budget motel because apparently the case she is witness for is high profile because it’s on the news. Maybe I just come from a city large enough that a murder trial doesn’t warrant news coverage unless the victim is important or the murder is a big deal already. I am thinking this Macawi guy has to be a big deal because I’ve only heard about murdered strippers on TV shows and usually then it’s a cop show and not news. Bridget looks out her window at her “guard” in the parking lot.
In the morning the cop arrives back to the budget motel. The guy guarding the door is nowhere to be found and the door to the motel room is ajar. He does the typical cop search where his weapon enters first. In the bathroom he finds the guard handcuffed and duck taped to a bar in the shower. When the duct tape is removed from his mouth is he lets us in that Bridgette escaped and she took his gun. So far this show is predictable. I am thinking it would have been a better twist if the bad guy she is hiding from actually caught her right away. Like maybe he broke out of prison and is desperate to shut her up. I know this will all come later of course but it could have been fun.
We jump ahead 2 days to East Hampton, New York. There in an empty bar we again see Sarah Michelle Gellar but she is now wearing an outfit that screams high class. For a second I thought maybe it was Bridgette already stepping into the role of her sister just in case someone spots her or something. Especially because she looks a tiny bit jumpy while playing aloof and her cool cracks a little when a cop walks into the place as she is walking out. As soon as she walks out and towards a bus that just arrived we know she is Siobhan. Yep, this is Siobhan as Bridget just got off that bus. They hug and its awkward. They haven’t seen each other in 6 years. The sisters end up at Siobhan’s weekend house. There is a bit of chatter about her perfect life. Of course know no one’s life is perfect and the cracks are going to start showing soon. Siobhan says it’s just going to be them for the weekend as her husband Andrew is in London for work and Juliette. Juliette is Andrew’s daughter and in boarding school. Siobhan and Andrew have been married for 5 years. Then Siobhan drops the bomb which is going to make the twin switch so much easier. Andrew doesn’t know about Bridget….at all. Bridget automatically goes into apology mode and mentions Sean. We don’t know who Sean is yet. Siobhan doesn’t want to talk about it. Bridget starts to insist, but Siobhan stops her saying all the things Bridget needs to hear.
The cop is looking for Bridget. He questions Malcolm. Malcolm admits they were close and he regrets it. It’s probably not good for the sponsor/addict relationship. The cop pushes for more information, has Bridget contacted him. If Bridget doesn’t testify the other guy goes free. The guy is a really bad dude, he killed his own brother. The cop just hopes he finds Bridget before this guy.
Siobhan and Bridget are in a speed boat out in the open water. The CGI they are using for these backgrounds is just really noticeable. Siobhan questions Bridget about her life now. No Bridget is not a stripper anymore (must be how she knew that other stripper). She is a waitress now. There is a little more chatting about how Bridget just wants things in her life to be better than they have been. The boat speeds on.
Bridget wakes up. It’s noticeably darker out. The implication is that she napped for a while. Siobhan is nowhere to be found. It’s a pretty small boat and there aren’t really places for her to hide. Bridget finds a pill bottle with a ring inside. She starts screaming for her sister and sees something floating. The radio on the boat has no signal. She jumps into the water and swims towards the article of clothing in the water. She dives under but finds nothing.
It’s now night. Sarah Michelle Gellar steps out of a car, complete with driver, and is greeted by a door man. The implication is that this is Siobhan. She steps off the elevator and into a very large apartment. Based on the fact that we know the premise of this show and the subtle ways “Siobhan” wanders around the apartment and is surprised by what she sees we know this is actually Bridget pretending to be her sister. Not very long after she arrives Andrew comes home. She smiles and greets him with a kiss. None of these moves are Siobhan. Andrew remarks about her attitude and notes she looks too thin. He’s been gone two weeks so I guess that’s plausible. Bridget continues to say the wrong things as Siobhan but nothing she can’t easily amend or reason away. Nothing that alarms Andrew too much.
Bridget is standing on the apartment balcony. She contacts Malcolm. She tells him Siobhan killed herself. As she is explaining what happened next we are walked through it on the screen. We see her back in the weekend home. She is upset and as she looks at her sister’s driver’s license she formed the plan. As she is talking to him she sees someone watching her on the balcony from the street. She freaks out and gets off the phone. She walks back into the apartment with her purse in hand and goes to a set of drawers. She pulls the guard’s gun from her purse and hides it in a drawer. Andrew is finishing up his shower when she enters the bedroom. To avoid having to deal with him anymore tonight she lays on the bed fully clothed with a throw over her and pretends to be asleep.
The phone ringing wakes Bridget up. Andrew is getting ready in the background and notes that she isn’t up yet. The female voice on the other asks her where she is and end tells her that Siobhan was supposed to be met her 30 minutes ago. The voice tips her off to the appointment book Siobhan keeps. Really? With today’s advances and the kind of money Siobhan appears to have she is still walking around with a paper day planner?
The voice on the other end belongs to Gemma. Siobhan was supposed to met her in the loft (the same one from the beginning?). They are moving again and apparently it was Andrew’s idea. Gemma appears to be a close friend and also the person in charge of designing the loft space for Siobhan and Andrew. Bridget really didn’t know Siobhan at all with all the ways she is tripping over pretending to be her. Gemma also comments on how thin “Siobhan” looks and is envious of her “happy” marriage to Andrew. Gemma on the other hand is married to Henry. Henry is an out of work novelist she suspects is cheating on her as well. Again the background looks off enough to be noted. Gemma wants to go and get drinks and talk but reminds “Siobhan” that she has a fundraiser that evening. Did she bother to look at the planner at all? I mean I know it’s a lot to take in, but I am sure she had time to look the planner over while her driver brought her to the loft.
“Siobhan” and Andrew are watching an opera singer sing an aria. They look the perfect picture of a content couple. Bridget spots the man she saw from the balcony the previous night watching her from the back of the room. He is dressed in a tux to blend in and staring intensely. When the concert ends all the rich folks start to mingle. Andrew comments on “Siobhan’s” gown of choice and offers to go get drinks. She asks for water only using the excuse of a headache to forgo alcohol. She won’t be able to use that excuse forever though. She notices the man in the tux is still watching her. She leaves the room trying to get away from the Mr. Tux. He of course follows her. The event appears to be at a museum. They both enter an empty exhibition room. He makes his way around the large exhibit in the middle of the room and grabs her and kisses her. She pulls away completely shocked. Gemma told him she would be there tonight.
Bridget puts the pieces together. This is Henry and he is in fact having an affair…with Siobhan. He wants to know why she is acting so strangely. She stalls. He mentions meeting at the hotel soon. Of course Bridget doesn’t know anything about this so she tries to bluff her way around it and it works! He drops the name of the hotel and she reluctantly agrees to meet. I am sure she is really wondering now what kind of person her own sister was.
When Andrew and “Siobhan” arrive back at home Andrew seems very distant. Bridget questions the difference from his warmth at the event. Andrew says he is just playing the part Siobhan wants him to play. Bridget poses the idea of no more games. Andrew is enjoying “Siobhan’s” new attitude. He likes seeing her so relaxed and agreeable but just can’t bring himself to believe it. She may be agreeable but I do not see Bridget playing Siobhan very relaxed.
As Bridget is taking off her jewelry for the evening she finds a picture of “her” and a little boy. The back of the picture reads “Siobhan and Sean”. As he is not in the picture anymore, literally, he is probably dead having something to do with Bridget’s actions.
Bridget is at an addicts anonymous meeting in Brooklyn. She is echoing what seems to be her mantra. “I never meant for any of this to happen.” Or maybe I just saw the commercial too many times. Bridget is hoping for a normal life when things settle down. With everything that has happen already I think Bridget needs to look up the definition of “normal”. Everything she has been doing is sending her in the opposite direction of “normal”.
Bridget arrives back at the apartment to hear a female laugh and music playing somewhat loudly. She calls out but no one responds. She finds a girl straddling a blindfolded guy in bed. The girl turns out to be Juliet. The thing Bridget instantly zones in on is the scarf which came out of the drawer she stashed the gun in. Juliet’s fun is ruined so her bed-mate leaves. She and “Siobhan” fight. Considering Bridget is constantly reminded she knows nothing about her sister. Juliet sparring responses to everything she says points to a strained relationship between these two. Juliet answers a phone call. It’s for Siobhan but she completely ignores the question of who is it and leaves the room. It’s the lobby informing her that they are sending someone up. She looks considerable freaked as the elevator doors open and it’s the cop who has been looking for Bridget.
It turns out the cop is actually FBI agent Victor Machado. He offers to buy her a coffee and asks to talk about her sister Bridget. She claims she has had no contact with Bridget. As they are sitting on a park bench sipping coffee he remarks on not only their identical looks but also their identical attitudes. He then probes for more information playing on the fact that Bridget is now a fugitive from the law for assaulting an officer and escaping police custody. She was also a key witness in a murder case. ‘Siobhan” wants to know if she didn’t testify why is it an issue. It turns out the guy on trial has been set free without her testimony and now there is nothing stopping him from finding her and making sure she doesn’t talk for good. As this last part is being said we see Bodaway sitting in a vehicle watching Malcolm from a distance.
It’s night and Bridget is at the new loft space looking for a place to stash the gun. She spots an article in the newspaper about a body washing on shore. She freaks until she sees that it has been identified and it’s not her sister. It’s no surprise that she almost jumps out of her skin when Gemma pops up. Gemma is still working. She is also still fixated on her husband and his affair and glad to have work as the distraction. She figures it’s the maid, the trainer or…seeing as she has excuses for both of those, her best friend. She is joking of course. She just doesn’t know yet that the joke is on her. “Siobhan” does not find it funny.
Bridget arrives at the hotel and tells Henry about Gemma and all her queries about the affair. She thinks they should lay low. He doesn’t want to. So she uses the “if you really love me you’ll cool it” card. It just might work.
Andrew and Juliet are arguing about something she did. Juliet in typically whiny teen fashion uses the threat of living with mom and the burn that she can’t do that because mom doesn’t want her either and storms out of the room. Bridget receives a phone call as she enters the apartment. It’s from Siobhan’s doctor. She missed her appointment. It must not have been in the day planner. The doctor tells her over the phone the test is positive and she is 4 weeks pregnant. She is repeating this back to him as Andrew comes in the room behind her. How will Bridget be able to pull this on off?
Gemma is positively gushing about the news of the baby. Another good excuse for no drinking for Siobhan, but she is going to have difficulty faking the pregnancy. Gemma, Henry, Andrew and “Siobhan” are all standing around at a bar/club/gathering of people. Henry does not look pleased about this news but his reaction is attributed to a meeting with his editor. Gemma and Andrew go for a drink refill and Henry takes this opportunity to air his feelings. He tells her he knows the baby is his. She says that they don’t know that. Henry gives “Siobhan” an ultimatum. She has to choose, him or Andrew. He’s been an ass since Bridget has known him so I’d say it’s a pretty easy choice. She chooses Andrew and walks away.
The next day Andrew is on a cryptic phone call discussing a negotiation. “Siobhan” walks in and he gets off the phone quickly. They sit down for a chat and he mentions Henry’s attitude the previous night. She shrugs it off as an artist’s attitude. She asks about him and Juliet and the tension there. Apparently Juliet got kicked out of boarding school. Andrew pulls out a vile of white powder as the reason for her expulsion. “Siobhan” freaks a little and says Juliet can’t stay. Andrew looks at her strangely for a reason and she comments about the baby coming. He isn’t buying it and remarks she has no place to go. Of course the real reason is the drugs now in the vicinity of an addict, but she can’t explain that.
Machado is called to a scene at a bus station in the East Hamptons. Some kids apparently broke into the lockers and got caught. They found the stuff that Bridget stashed right before she slipped into Siobhan’s shoes, literally. Of course this just causes Machado to question his meeting with “Siobhan” and her claim not to have been in touch with her sister lately.
Gemma leaves Siobhan a message saying she has figured out who Henry is having an affair with and asks her to met at the loft at 9PM. It’s always creepier at night. Bridget arrives and we are back at the beginning of the episode with Bridget and the masked man struggling in the loft. Turns out she has a little Buffy left in her as she manages to get away for a second when she kicks the guy off of her. He regains his balance and tackles her right through a section of drywall. They are both stunned for a moment but she recovers more quickly and sees the newspaper pile where she stashed the gun. She gets it and shoots the guy in the chest before he has time to react. She thinks this is Bodaway or maybe someone working for him. This intruder has a picture of Siobhan on him. It turns out he wasn’t after Bridget at all.
In the final scene we see her sitting on a couch looking all sleek as the setting she is in. She answers the phone and a voice on the other end tells Siobhan they have a problem.
None of this is a major surprising seeing as we gathered a good amount of this from the preview and premise information. All and all the show looks like it will be entertaining at least for a little while. I am looking forward to discovering more about these characters and I am not just speaking about Siobhan and Bridget.
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