Review of Ringer

Ringer (2011–2012)
8/10
an exercise in complete frustration
15 September 2014
What is the problem with CW that they took this off the air after one season? Yes, season 1 was tied up for the most part, but you knew from the end that there were lots of exciting plots for season 2. The characters were left in limbo. Couldn't they have least done a special two-hour episode where they finished up? I'm really angry about this. I binge-watched, so I saw more flaws maybe than the average viewer. However, there are two things that I love - movies about twins and makeover movies, where someone has plastic surgery and changes their face.

Sarah Michelle Gellar stars as twins, Siobhan and Bridget. Bridget is a drug user and prostitute who witnessed a murder and right before she is supposed to testify against the killer, who is a monster, she becomes frightened and takes off for parts unknown. She runs to New York city and to her estranged sister, Siobhan. Siobhan married money, but she's a piece of work, as you will see.

Bridget and Siobhan seem to have settled their differences and go out to Siobhan's beach house. While they are out on Siobhan's boat, Bridget falls asleep. When she wakes up, her sister is gone, and it seems that she has committed suicide. As in "A Stolen Life," "Dead Ringer," "Deceptions," and "The Dark Mirror," Bridget steals her sister's identity. She intends to leave as soon as her Narcotics Anonymous sponsor can get to her, but it doesn't work out that way.

Ringer was a really good series, not as good as something like Homeland or The Americans or Mad Men, but still good. There were some problems, one of which was some of the dialogue. "We have to talk" was said at least 20 times on every episode - I might not have noticed except as I said, I binge watched. The other problem was the situation with Henry - I mean, how many times can he say he's through and stop seeing her? He broke things off with Siobhan in just about every episode.

Here's the next problem. Sarah Michelle Gellar, an immensely popular actress. Personally, I didn't find her very good, though attractive, and here's why. First of all, in real life, twins can't really substitute for one another unless the person absolutely doesn't know them. Everyone has their own aura, their own way of talking and moving, and it doesn't matter how identical they are. Case in point: a young woman was hit on the head with a rock, woke up in the park, and had amnesia (true story). With no identification, the hospital put her photo in the paper. Her parents rushed to the hospital. When they met her, they weren't sure it was really her. Because she didn't know who she was, everything about her was different. So it's not just looks, and differentiating twins by having one with her hair down and one with her hair up is a cheap trick.

Bridget was street-wise, rougher, tougher, unsophisticated. She wouldn't have spoken like Siobhan, she wouldn't have moved like Siobhan. Siobhan had an air of sophistication honed by several years of marriage to money and living the good life. She was also a colder person and more detached. Yet sometimes, even with the hairdos, I wasn't sure who it was in the scene.

That aside, the cast was fine: Welsh actor Ioan Gruffud as Siobhan's husband, Andrew Martin; Kristoffer Polaha as Siobhan's friend Gemma's husband Henry; Nestor Carbonell as Victor Machado, the detective assigned to Bridget's case; Zoey Deutch as Siobhan's stepdaughter; soap star Justin Bruening as Siobhan's boyfriend Tyler; and Andrea Roth as Andrew's ex-wife Catherine.

I think CW made a mistake taking this off the air. It became more and more interesting as the episodes continued, and I understand there was a campaign to keep it on the air. A shame it didn't work.
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