Hulu’s new miniseries Under the Bridge is adapted from Rebecca Godfrey’s book of the same name.
The first episode of Under the Bridge does a serviceable job of introducing us to the main players in this story.
When Josephine mentions that Reena didn’t come home, Rebecca has a few follow-up questions, but the girls shrug it off with a chilling revelation.
They’re “Bic girls” because they’re disposable, like the plastic lighters.
As the camera pans through the hallways of the station, we see young, defiant girls staring out through plexiglass.
With a look of menace in her eye, she gets up and asks Rebecca if she can keep a secret.
However, the CCTV footage of Reena also gives up a secret at the same time: Reena limped away from her altercation under the bridge.
• I have read the book and have lots of thoughts, but I promise to keep them mostly to the final section of each recap.
I would be Reena Virk’s age now if she had survived. She would presumably be well into her career, have a family of her own, own a fancy car, or all three, and only seldom reflect on the turbulent social and emotional climate of her high school years. However, the world has repeatedly paused to question why exactly Reena’s life ended before it could truly begin due to the erratic, desperate, and not-so-secretly violent nature of teenage girls.
Rebecca Godfrey’s book of the same name served as the inspiration for Hulu’s newest miniseries, Under the Bridge. It deviates from the original as do many adaptations, giving Rebecca (Riley Keough) colors that seem lifted directly from Sharp Objects. She responds to her adoring parents in short monosyllabic words while wearing all black clothing. She obviously has a self-destructive streak, and she has a mysterious loss in her past. In the first episode of the show, Rebecca goes back to her quiet, little hometown to conduct some research on the teenage girls’ secret lives, only to get swept up in an incredible tale. (For the record, Rebecca Godfrey didn’t start communicating with the parties until 1999 in real life. ( ).
The primary characters in this story are introduced to us in a passable manner in Under the Bridge’s first episode. We meet Cam Bentland, a character made entirely up for the TV show, and Rebecca, a group of local teenagers who eventually all turn out to be suspects in Reena’s murder (we’ll get to them). Lily Gladstone takes on the part of a police officer with a point to prove after suffering an unexpected defeat for Best Actress at the Oscars. Cam is a girl raised in a boys’ club, which is supported by her brother and father, who are also introduced as police officers. I’m worried about how far Cam will go to explore this story because the initial family vibe here isn’t great. We find out that these two women have HistoryTM at a late point in the episode. Okay, so all we really need to know is that things are going to get serious is hints made by Rebecca to Cam in a sideways glance while she’s at the police station.
The focal point of this episode is Reena, who is portrayed by a poignant Vritika Gupta, save for the two grown women who are peripheral to the plot. It seems like everyone working on the production is committed to making Reena more than just a dead girl token at this point in the story. In the hours before her death, writer Quinn Shephard and director Geeta Patel take the time to observe her in a number of dissimilar settings, primarily using observation rather than narration to paint a picture of her life. Conversational context mainly reveals that Reena was recently evicted from her home and was residing in Seven Oaks, a group home. She gets into arguments with her mother (Archana Panjabi) over a number of issues when she gets home for the first time, such as using the phone, wearing nail polish, and assisting with serving traditional Indian food. Choose your battles, Reena’s mother! She’s a teenager! Her father and her loving uncle appear to be willing to give Reena some leeway as she navigates her adolescence, but the tension with her mother seems intense and complex. As the season goes on, we should find out more information about it. Panjabi is a perceptive and talented actress; only cast her if you intend to use her extensively. This woman will have her chance, and it will come soon.
Reena stops by Seven Oaks before dinner to celebrate her welcome home. After dropping her off at school, her uncle gives her the requested CD and drives off in his super-cool yellow Karmann Ghia, according to the book. She introduces Biggie’s most recent release with a squeal of joy. She is giddy with excitement to be seen in this cool car with cool music blasting as she passes Connor on the street. Her desperate attempt to blend in and win acceptance is heartbreakingly understandable, but the truth unravels when we discover who she hopes to hang out with.
Reena is greeted warmly by Dusty, a girl smoking a cigarette outside, as she arrives at Seven Oaks. Dusty takes her upstairs to a shared bedroom, where Reena hovers around, unsure of her role in this scene, unable to make an impression on anyone while also aching to participate. This scene is a painful miniature representation of teenage girl hierarchy at its worst. Josephine, not impressed, takes Reena’s Biggie CD when she offers it to her. After turning it on, they break into a wild dance and singing session. Furthermore, Reena’s jumping on Josephine’s bed (Chloe Guidry) triggers Josephine’s territorial instinct. She is interrupted in her moment of happiness when Josephine yells at her to stop, really driving home the point with a subtly offensive remark about her weight. She continues by telling her that she is not invited to the party that evening. Aw, sh*t. It’s unclear why Josephine is so determined to make Reena, a girl who obviously worships her, feel bad about herself, but it would be wise to assume that it has something to do with the sense of empowerment that another girl’s destruction might give an otherwise helpless girl.
Speaking of Josephine, let’s pause for a moment. She’s captivating despite being horrible. She is residing at Seven Oaks, and it becomes apparent that she has no family support when she calls her mother later from the police station. Although her challenging circumstances may elicit empathy from the audience, her acerbic personality and quintessential Mean Girl appearance—blonde, heavily makeup, stylish attire—indicate that she may actually be the antagonist in this specific tale. In fact, that may be how she wants it. She must bring up John Gotti three times in the dialogue, and there are other allusions to her admiration for the mob kingpin. It’s obvious that she is trouble.
Josephine’s jabs sting Reena, so she takes her black book. Before cell phones, we all used to write down the contact details of our friends. On paper, friends, it was an amazing time. Using this information, Reena calls everyone Josephine knows and spreads wild rumors about her. The most heinous slight occurs when she informs Connor, Josephine’s burnout pot dealer crush, over the phone that Josephine has AIDS. The way she makes the calls and tells lies to all these other kids is a very childish defiance, and it’s an impulsive act. Reena seems happy to have access to so many other people, though, as it seems that she is lonely and longs for connection.
Regretfully, she interprets that relationship completely incorrectly. She receives a call from Josephine, inviting her to the celebration, during the disastrous dinner with her family. Right now, the only image that would play in my head was a gif of Whoopi warning her, “You in danger, girl.”. It seems absurd that Reena would accept an invitation from someone she so gleefully torpedoed just minutes before, especially someone as mean-spirited as Josephine, but teens’ decision-making abilities are still developing, and she is determined to make friends at all costs, so she accepts.
Josephine is waiting for you at the party. Reena arrives, gathers her gang, and approaches her. After being pursued by them, she finds a phone booth and uses it to inform her parents that she will be returning home. Later on though, the girls catch up. A burst illuminates the sky as they apprehend their victim. When Reena is being dragged beneath the bridge, an overhead shot shows her innocent, wide-eyed face gazing up at the sky in wonder at this unexplained phenomenon. Later on, it is revealed to be debris from a Russian satellite.
After work, Rebecca makes plans to go to Seven Oaks and strike up some conversations with the locals. She starts to get Dusty and Josephine to open up by sharing her pack of Parliament 100s, even though she gets shut down by the stressed-out house manager. The idea that Rebecca would show up the day after Reena vanished and team up with two of the main suspects seems incredibly implausible, but since this is a magic box story and not the real world, I’m willing to accept it.
Rebecca has some more questions when Josephine says that Reena didn’t return home, but the girls brush it off with a shocking disclosure. They are of little concern to the police. Because they are disposable, similar to plastic lighters, they are known as “Bic girls.”. Reena’s father and uncle encounter this stereotype in the police station while attempting to file a report regarding her disappearance. When they speak with Cam, he initially ignores them. Cam appears prepared to take the matter a little more seriously after Reena’s uncle has an emotional breakdown.
They discover Reena’s pants and underwear after Cam convinces her father to approve a call to the dive team. Her parents are horrified to learn this information and wonder why their daughter was missing her underwear. Suman believes that her daughter is definitely no longer with her.
The police are able to apprehend all of these teenagers for interrogation because of this evidence as well as a list of six children involved in the CMC (Crip Mafia Cartel) from Josephine’s black book. Young, rebellious girls can be seen peering out through plexiglass as the camera moves through the station’s hallways. When Rebecca gets to the last room, she finds Josephine pouting among the toys in a space that is obviously meant for kids. She stands up and asks Rebecca if she can keep a secret, a menacing expression on her face. But Reena’s CCTV footage also reveals something else at the same time: Reena hobbled away from her altercation beneath the bridge. She appeared injured, but not lifeless. So, where had she disappeared to?
Unplanned Thoughts.
The song “Something in the Way” by Nirvana was the ideal way to cap off this particular episode.
• The engrossing voice over that opens the show, during which Rebecca elaborates on the ostentatious endings of girls in fairy tales, was actually taken directly from Godfrey’s book’s introduction, penned by author Mary Gaitskill.
• Having read the book, I promise to save most of my thoughts for the end of each recap. I promise never to reveal anything that hasn’t been revealed in the series, but I will talk about the differences between fact and fiction and how certain issues were handled in the original material and on the show. Please come and join me here for a few weekly book club moments.
