Under The Bridge Episode 1 And 2 Recap And Review- The Portrait Of Evil On The Face Of Innocence Is Only Part Of The Story

If you haven’t read the late Rebecca Godfrey’s novel by the same name you are in for a wild and devastating ride. The opening moments set the tone for this tragic and horrifying story. It is a dark and sad fairy tale. It isn’t of the glass slippers and fairy godmother type, though. This is a Grimm fairy tale with broken dreams and destroyed children. Godfrey’s words ring ominously. They are a warning. In November of 1997, in Victoria Falls, Canada, a fourteen-year-old girl named Reena Virk went missing and was later found dead. Under The Bridge details how Reena was killed and asks serious questions about why it happened as much as how.

In Under The Bridge Episode 1, we meet Reena, a young girl from a strict family. Her parents are Jehovah’s Witnesses, and coupled with her ethnicity, she never felt she fit in. She had a troubled home life and briefly spent some time in a foster home where she met Josephine Bell(Nichole Cooke in real life). The self-styled Queen Bee of Victoria Falls was white, charismatic, controlling, and aggressive. Her gang of girls was called the Shoreline Six, the CMC in the series, and they ruled with a vicious fist. Jsphine longed for a better life. She told Rebecca she was moving to New York the first chance she got to work for John Gotti. Outsiders were not welcome, and anyone threatening their position was dealt with harshly.

Reena was an easy target. She looked different, acted differently regardless of how hard she tried to fit in, and was desperate to fit in and break free of her parents’ stranglehold on her life. Like most young people, Reena could react without thinking, and one day, when Josephine is cruel to her, Reena steals her telephone book and calls many of the people in the book. She spread nasty lies about Jospehone to get even. When Josephine found out, she tricked Reena into coming to a party, and then she and her friends attacked her. She was not seen again.

Godfrey arrived in town to write one book about the girls of Victoria Falls, but she found herself investigating Reena’s death as well. The police initially disagreed about what happened to Reena and who could have done it. Josephine and some of the others bragged about murdering Reena, but thinking a group of teenage girls killed another girl was unimaginable. Unfortunately, the impossible became a reality when Reena’s body was pulled out of the water.

A chilling picture emerges throughout the remainder of Under The Bridge, Episodes 1 and 2. This sleepy coastal town that everyone thought was so idyllic harbored many secrets. Bad things happened there, and young girls were often discarded, which fostered a false belief that life didn’t matter. The girls heartbreakingly tell Godfrey that the police referred to them as Bic girls because “they were disposable.” Godfrey’s novel and Hulu’s series take the approach that there were many factors to blame for Reena’s death.

When the members of the CMC are rounded up for questioning, surveillance footage is recovered. These kids brutally beat Reena, and it wasn’t just a few bad actors. This was an organized mob of violence led seemingly by Josephine, who was doing everything she could to portray fierceness and claim her role in the murder even if it cost her her freedom. In the final shot of Reena on the recording, however, she is limping away from the attack. So is Josphone exaggerating her role in the crime, or did the group go back for round 2?

Josephine wants to be seen as a badass with a capital B and A. Reena just wanted to matter. She wanted to be seen and heard and be special. She should have been careful what she wished for because mattering isn’t all it is cracked up when talking about teenage girls.

In the surveillance footage, Reena is alive but injured, leading the police to release all the kids. That won’t be the end of it, though. In Under The Bridge Episode 2, the story is slowly teased out. Reena was relentlessly bullied, and for a time, Jo befriended her because she cultivated people like tools. She was everything Reena wanted to be. She was beautiful, thin, and had endless freedom. At least from the outside, she had it all. Reena doesn’t feel heard by her mother, whose fundamental beliefs prevent her from understanding how bad things are for her.

When Reena still doesn’t turn up even after her underwear is found, everyone begins to believe the worst. Some believe the worst in Reena, while others think Josephine must have been involved in her absence. Rebecca isn’t entirely sure what to believe, and she asks Jo to take her under the bridge and tell her what happened. It’s pretty clear she doesn’t entirely believe Jo’s act. Even after hearing that Jo put a cigarette out between Reena’s eyes, she still holds out, hoping the girl isn’t dangerous.

Jo’s cold telling of Reena’s last moments is designed to shock. It certainly does that. Not only is Rebecca freaked out, but Dusty is horrified by what she has heard. Reena was her friend despite her actions. Moments later, Reena’s body is found, and it’s no longer possible to be optimistic. Frequent silent phone calls haunt the Virks. Dusty’s guilty conscience gets the better of her.

Overlaid with the murder mystery is Godfrey’s grief. Her brother Gabe died very young, and the trauma stayed with her. As a result, Rebecca went a little wild, and she feels she can empathize with these girls. She and Cam Bentland(Lily Gladstone) were friends growing up, but something happened, and their relationship is tense at best. Looks can be deceiving, though. What should be an easy case to solve becomes more complex.

Rebecca thinks she has a confession from Jo, but things are rarely what they seem. There is always more to the story. Just as Rebecca thought she had it all figured out, she overhears Jo being surprised that Reena is dead. Just minutes ago, she had bragged about pushing her into the water to drown. Jo is a pretender, though. She was cruel and could be violent, but only to a point, or so it seems. Those who have read the novel know what really happened. I won’t spoil it here, but be prepared to be sickened.

Under the Bridge is at its best when Godfrey and Josephine are together. Their dance for control is intoxicating, and Riley Keough(Rebecca Godfrey) and Chloe Guidry (Josephine Bell) capture just the right mix of delusional power plays and fear. Rebecca fears what she may learn, and Jo is terrified she won’t maintain her power and get out of Victoria Falls to claim the life she thinks she is owed. It’s a strange dance the two engage in that is part predatory and caring. Hulu’s series, like The Girl From Plainville, weaves past and present events together, giving us pieces of the puzzle without revealing the entire picture.

If you take anything away from Under The Bridge Episodes 1 and 2, it should be this: Killers rarely look how you expect them to, and no one is ever as innocent as you think. Fairy tales started as cautionary stories full of gore, violence, and innocence lost. For many of the girls in the foster system in Victoria Falls, that innocence was lost a long time ago. No matter how hard we cling to the hope of keeping our kids protected and safe, we can’t. Monsters exist, and sometimes, we help create those monsters.

Find all our Under The Bridge coverage here.