Written by Duana

Ringer Season 1 Episode 1 recap

So okay. When we discussed what we were going to review for the site this year, Ringer was obviously at the top of our list. Tuesday nights are a very, very busy time on the TV, so you’ll forgive my lateness in getting here.

But the thing is, this first episode, it requires less of a recap – and more of a …discussion, don’t you think?

Okay, if you missed it, the deal is as follows: Bridget is an alcoholic or drug addict, she’s on the run because she witnessed a murder. Bridget sees her sister Siobhan for the first time in years, Siobhan says she can stay with her for a bit …

And then they go out on the world’s most hysterical boat trip.

I know that we have to discuss the boat trip further but let’s just continue for a second.

So Siobhan jumps off the boat, Bridget becomes her, complete with the following:

-Operas
-Giant swanky apartment
-Icy British husbands
-Having affairs with writers
-Redheaded best friends
-Bratty boarding school daughters
-Secret pregnancies that, for some reason, people believe they can replicate in their own, non-sex-having wombs.
-Gun-hiding
-Gun fighting
-Murders
-instructional graphic over the Eiffel tower that reads: ‘Paris’

So with all this campy deliciousness, it should have been great, right?

Nope.

In the words of my friend Emily, it was “so so so boring”.

But as I always say, you have to give it two episodes – although I might start to revise that to three, or that you have to give it two that aren’t the pilot. Pilots are difficult, and so many things can change once they’re put together. But Ringer – it had all of the vulnerability of any generic blonde without the zip and sarcasm and fun that makes it important that this character is played by Sarah Michelle Gellar instead of anyone else.

It’s clear from the very last shot that Siobhan – the real one – is alive and well and will cause problems. It’s also clear that Bridget’s substance abuse problem isn’t going away, which I really appreciate.

But SMG’s Bridget-in-Siobhan character spent so much time just being wide-eyed and shocked at the moral-less world, and really, are we not tired of this trope yet? People with money are actually less moral than the ‘lowlives’ who get into running from murderers, etc?

And then, there was the boat.

I don’t know.

Ringer was not one of the pilots I saw early, but it was out there for the seeing. And more than a few critics either smirked a bit at the HORRIFYING greenscreen during the boat scene (If you don’t care about Ringer, this is still worth watching on YouTube) but didn’t mention it, or alternately they hoped that Ringer was going to become that type of show. Campy, tongue-in-cheek, etc. A bit Dynasty-esque.

On Tuesday though, nothing had changed – including that scene. They didn’t reshoot, but they also didn’t make any other parts of the show campy. Do you think it’s an anomaly or a preview?

In any event, this should get entertaining. SMG is giving Dobrev a run for her money in the ‘playing two characters at once’ arena. They’ve spent a lot of money finding many brunet men just a little different than the ones beside them, and someone clearly has high hopes for the redhead.

So with luck, this will be some fun. Without luck…we’ll see. Are you in?