Bridgette vs Siobhan round 2! Ringer S01e02 review!

In the aftermath of killing the man sent to murder her we find Bridgette as confused as ever. She gets in contact with her sponsor with a plan to flee New York, but of course nothing goes to plan. Bridgette gets caught up within everyones drama and I find myself not caring about half of it!

Her stepdaughter is developing a drug problem and being just a general bitch to be fair. Of course no one else notices and despite her mean attitude throughout the episode Bridgette ends up on the bathroom consoling her. I get that the writers are trying to get us to be empathetic towards Juliette but I dont see how anyone can be? She storms around acting the moody teenager and expects everyone to bow to her by the look of it. Now that shes apologetic about the drug use is that her arc over? And if so can we get the writers to do something interesting with her?

Next Siobhans best friend is fretting over who her husband is sleeping with. Unbeknownst to her he was sleeping with Siobhan and Bridgette is the only one who knows. Again, are we supposed to care? We get it Siobhan was a bitch and no one knew about it but Id rather see the drama that would unfold if some people found out about the affair! At the very least Id like them to give Henry a bit more to do.

Next up we have Siobhans husband Andrew and his business dealings and sexy partner. This story confuses me more than the others. Im not certain which story we're supposed to be following. Is something gonna come out of his business dealings or is an affair incoming? He seems to be thankful for the way Siobhan, but really Bridgette (keep up), is acting so I dont see him cheating now.

Bridgette had all of this to deal with this week as well as the fact that she just killed a man and she has an event to throw in the loft where shes storing the body. The most interesting aspect of this arc, and the whole show really, is the fact that no one is aware that Siobhan is still alive and trying to kill her sister (and thereby fake her own death) from Paris. If the writers had any sense they would shift some of the focus onto Siobhan and not only have her pop up at the end of the episode.

The episode ends with Siobhan wanting to speed up her plans for faking her death while someone has stolen the now lifeless body of the hitman she sent after her sister. If the show can shift focus to this aspect then it should do fine but if it keeps taking the focus away from it people are gonna tune out!

Overall the episode was OK and a bit more polished than the pilot but when it comes down it, it needs to do more to live up to the potential it has.

"Ringer" begins! S01E01 Review.

And so once again all is right with the world as Sarah Michelle Gellar returns to our TV screens, not with a bang but with more than a whimper. But lets not get ahead of ourselves.

First off I've got to state how much of an SMG fan I am, to me "Buffy" is up there with the television greats and serious credit needs to be given to Gellar for that. In other words Im beyond excited to get my weekly dose of Gellar even if she isn't kicking vampire ass. Secondly, as anyone whose followed the development of this project knows its had a rocky start. "Ringer" started off as a CBS show and as the decision was being made as to whether or not the show would be picked up us fans were put through hell. First it was picked up and then it wasn't and then it was being shopped to different networks and then it was cancelled and then it was on CBS and finally it found its home on The CW. In short it was a confusing time. What one wonders now is, how this move to The CW affected the show? Personally I'm happier with that move. The show has a great premise and being The CW gives the show more room and time to grow. Now lets get down to business and see does the show match up to the expectations of the people!

Lets start with the good, which despite some other reviews there was plenty off. Like I said before I really do love the premise of the show. Its fresh and original and coupled with the noir styling of the show its something different on TV. The plot itself was well paced for a pilot. The reveal that Siobhan was still alive at the end of the episode was surprising, to me at least as I knew as little as possible about the pilot before diving in. The cast, which not only brings Gellar back to TV but reunites her with "Lost" star Nestor Carbonell (excuse me while I have a Nerdgasm) as well as "Life Unexpected" leading man Kristoffer Polaha do very well with what they've got! The cast has a lot of recognisable faces and everything is played to their strengths. The only real weak link I found in the cast was Ioan Gruffudd but I think thats maybe because he just hasn't had a lot to do yet. What Im really excited to see developed are the storylines surrounding Siobhans, presumably dead?, child Sean and Bridgets role in that. As well this I think Bridgets sobriety could be a goldmine of stories and I hope its not simply thrown aside.

And now the bad. While I thought most of the pilot was wonderfully shot I had two problems. The first that boat scene. It just looked entirely out of place with the sleekness of the rest of the pilot. It looked odd to see Gellar just bouncing around my TV screen with not a lot else going. It even appeared that Gellar herself was uncomfortable in that scene as her acting was a bit off! My second problem was the overuse of mirrors. Okay we get double identity, twin sisters and the rest but not every scene needs to being with a reflection. I think when used sparingly, like the bathroom scene or Siobhan in Paris at the end, it could be effective but if its used this much it becomes ridiculous. Something else I wasn't entirely keen on was Siobhans step-daughter Juliet. We've seen the whiny rebellious teen a million times and if this show wants to be taken seriously and not labeled a typical CW teen drama it needs to do something very inventive with her story.

Overall I really liked the pilot but Im aware my undying to loyalty to "Buffy" and "Lost" may be clouding my judgement. While it may not have been the greatest episode of television it was entertaining and left asking enough questions that I'll definitely be tuning in to get some answers.