Recap
Episode 1 ‘Looking Glass’
It begins with a narration explaining that this is the opposite of a fairy tale. Rebecca Godfrey (Riley Keough) describes how the dangers of fairy tales are not unlike reality. As she explains, in November of 1997, the story would haunt the island for years to come. Young girls in Victoria were the ones we were supposed to protect, and not be the ones who needed to be protected from.
It’s November 14, 1997, and Reena Virk (Vritika Gupta) watches as her peers talk all around her while she waits for her ride home. When her uncle Raj (Anoop Desai) picks her up and asks if she went to school, Reena explains that she went for half the day, because the morning was gym class, and she hates wearing gym uniform shorts.
Angry at her uncle for telling her to focus on her family and not her friends, Reena gets out of the car and meets up with her friend Dusty (Aiyana Goodfellow) at the Seven Oaks provincial home. Walking into the home, they meet up with Josephine Bell (Chloe Guidry) and Reena hears the tale of how Josephine assaulted a girl at a party and stole her locket. (Reena is a fish out of water in this scenario.) Giving Josephine her gift of the Biggie Smalls CD the girls sing along as they listen to the album.
While everyone is enjoying the music Reena jumps on Josephine’s bed which prompts a swift and nasty response. Reena is told to get off her bed before she breaks it. (The brazen insult about Reena’s weight is deadly in its pursuit of pain.) Josephine leaves with Dusty and her roommates telling Reena that she is not invited. Angry, Reena steals Josephine’s diary before leaving as well.
Rebecca Godfrey is on her way home to Saanich. Arriving at her parents Charles and Elizabeth (Paul Jarrett and Glynis Davies) place, Rebecca finds that her mother has been cooking all week, and her dad is anxious to get some wine. Her mom wants her to reconnect with her old friends, but Rebecca is trying to avoid announcing her return. Insisting that she needs a minute and doesn’t want to go out to socialize, Rebecca reminds her parents that she came home to write her book.
While her dad tries to be the peacemaker between mother and daughter, he suggests that they make breakfast for dinner, which Rebecca reminds him that it was dinner for breakfast and that it was not her ‘thing’ but Gabe’s, her brother.
Reena Virk is sitting at home, getting revenge on Josephine Bell. Having stolen her personal notebook, with all of Josephine’s contacts, Reena is insulting her ‘friend’ and spreading rumors. Reena has called Josephine every name in the book, and then some, when her mother Suman (Archie Panjabi) knocks on the door and wonders what she is up to. Calling Connor Fields (Jared Ager-Foster), Reena asks him out, and tells him that Josephine gave her his number.
Showing up at Connor’s to get drugs, Josephine starts to learn about Reena’s many phone calls. At her family dinner, Reena is given the third degree about wearing makeup. The phone rings, and Reena answers. Josephine wants to invite her out to a party. Excited, Reena leaves her parents telling them that she will be home by 11 pm.
Confronted by Josephine at the party, the girls chase after Reena. She gets to a payphone where she is surrounded and grabbed by her friends and dragged under the nearby bridge. Before being dragged under the bridge, Reena sees an explosion in the sky, while on the other side of the community, Rebecca Godfrey stares at the same explosion while smoking on her parents’ deck.
The explosion was a Russian satellite reentering Earth’s atmosphere. Cam Bentland (Lily Gladstone) is training with her dad Roy (Matt Craven) and her brother Scott (Daniel Diemer). Cam asks her dad if he had heard anything about her referral to major crimes in Vancouver. Roy tells her that it is best for Cam to earn the transfer on her own merits and not from the recommendation of her dad.
At the police station, Reena’s uncle Raj and father Manjit (Ezra Khan) are wondering when someone at the police station is going to get back to them about the disappearance of Reena. They are brushed off by Scott, while Cam watches quietly as the two men explain what they know about the disappearance of Reena. Cam explains that they are not trying to be unhelpful. She explains that the police usually get a lot of missing kids which happen to be girls who are skipping school. Wondering if Reena has ever done this before, her uncle and dad admit that it has happened before, but that Reena always tells her uncle where she goes. The only clue the men give Cam is that Reena was talking to Connor Fields on the phone the night that she disappeared.
Rebecca is smoking and staring out to the ocean when she starts to record her thoughts about teens in her community. Rebecca wants to borrow her father’s car to talk to some of the girls at the Seven Oaks Youth Home. Her father relents saying that he never thought he would have to hear about that place again. (Rebecca’s backstory is going to be interesting.)
At the Seven Oaks Youth Home, Rebecca enters the home hoping to talk to some of the girls, but is brushed off by the person in charge because the girls are under government care, and they can’t have any outsiders coming in. Josephine and Dusty interrupt Rebecca’s conversation and ask for the newspaper. They are worried about Reena, (Yeah, I bet you are.) and wonder if there is any information about her disappearance. Asked if she is a cop by Dusty, Rebecca talks to Nicole and Dusty and explains that she is writing a book about the misunderstood girls of the community. She leaves her card and encourages the girls to call her.
At the Virk household, Suman is angry, and starts to pack up all of Reena’s materials. The mother thinks that Reena has run away. Since she doesn’t want to live at home anymore, Suman can’t look at the items any longer. Manjit urges his wife to not give up on their daughter. The phone rings and the voice on the other end asks Suman if Reena is there.
Cam arrives at Conner Fields house, to loud music and suspicious activity. Finding empty kegs of beer, the cop approaches the front door cautiously. Knocking on the door, Cam meets Connor, and she wants to know who he is talking to. Ignoring Connor’s lame excuse, Cam wants to know if he has heard from Reena Virk.
Connor is irritated and explains that there was a fight under the bridge, and that he thought that the rumors were lies. He explains to Cam that Josephine told him she would soon never have to hear from Reena anymore. The boy goes on to explain that people have been telling him that Reena might be floating around somewhere.
Back at the police station, Cam meets with her father and brother, and explains about the CMC (Cripp Mafia Cartel) and how she believes that Sannich police might have a potential homicide on their hands. Scott laughs it off. Wondering if Cam is trying to do some work to impress Vancouver and help her future job prospects, Cam tells her father that Reena has been missing for three days, and she believes something has happened.
Cam is allowed to lead a team and search the waterways for Reena. Scott tells her she better hope that Reena is in the water, because this is her reputation she is staking on a hunch and hearsay.
Suman Virk wanders her daughter’s room, wondering what happened to her child. She prays for her child and begs for Reena to be safe. From the high school, Dusty and her fellow students watch as Cam leads the search team through the gorge waterway. Cam watches from the boat as the dive team reports they have found something.
Back at the Virk household, Cam asks if they can identify the clothing found. Suman confirms it belongs to Reena, and the parents want to know what the police know. Cam is unwilling to speculate about what they think has happened, which only upsets Suman and Ranjit. Assuring his wife that everything is okay because the police are involved, Suman tells Ranjit that she thinks Reena is gone.
Across the city of Saanich, the police make arrests of the members of the Crip Mafia Cartel. At the police station, the kids are questioned about what happened the night Reena disappeared. Josephine has no luck in contacting her mother, and while panic ensues with the parents of the detained kids, Cam asks Josephine if she has anyone else that she can call.
Rebecca is at when the phone rings from the Saanich police department. Arriving at the police department, Rebecca convinces the desk clerk to let her in to see Josephine. Cam is shown the CCTV footage from the bus stop where the whole department witnesses the chase and how Reena is dragged under the bridge. Noticing the kids leaving, Cam is told to just wait to watch the rest of the tape.
Rebecca walks into the processing area where she walks past all the kids in the cells and meets with Josephine. The teen asks the writer if she can keep a secret.
Back at her desk, Cam is shocked to see Reena emerge from under the bridge, bloody but alive.
Recap
Episode 2 ‘The John Gotti of Seven Oaks’
Reena Virk is alive and it is eight months prior to her death. Happy to see her pet bird, she sits and has breakfast with her family. While her mother fixes Reena’s hair, the young teenager is disappointed by the breakfast being served. From the past to the night of Reena’s death we see the young girl struggle to get home from her attack.
At the police station Cam watches the young girl struggle to walk, while Rebecca sits in detention listening to Josephine insult the cops. When Scott walks in, shocked to see Rebecca, he informs Josephine that she is free to go.
Cam is upset that the suspects are let go, but her brother tells her that she should be worried about her job because she started what appears to be a false alarm. Josephine leaves with Rebecca and the writer is quickly building a relationship with the young teen. The girl admits to shoplifting and how she has a team that steals for her. Josephine is about to leave when Rebecca wants to know what the secret was that she was going to tell her at the jail.
Cam’s dad is upset with her, and while Cam wants to inform the Virk’s about what has happened, her father is furious about the lack of a body. Rebecca is at a café with Josephine taking notes about her book. The writer wants to know how Josephine ended up at Seven Oaks, and the girl tells Rebecca that she was thrown out by her mom and her boyfriend. The waiter at the diner mentions how much he liked Rebecca’s brother Gabe, and the writer admits to Josephine how her brother died when he was young.
Unwilling to talk about her brother’s death, Rebecca wants to know what Josephine’s big secret is. Rebecca mentions that she had a bad childhood herself, Josephine starts to talk about Reena Virk. She tells Rebecca how Reena was trying to ruin her life, and that they were not friends. Josephine tells Rebecca that she had to teach Reena a lesson and that she is willing to show Rebecca what happened to Reena if the writer promises to take her to New York and to make her the star of her book.
Suman Virk continues to get disturbing calls at home, while Rebecca returns home to her parents’ place only to see Cam waiting for her. Inviting the cop in, Rebecca offers Cam a drink, and the two ‘friends’ catch up on the past. Wondering what Rebecca is doing coming back home for the first time in 10 years, the writer tells Cam that she is talking to Josephine Bell about her book, and since the teen had no one else to call she called Rebecca to come and get her at the police station.
Cam asks if Josephine told her anything, but Rebecca is unwilling to say, and tells Cam that the cops have been hassling her. Rebecca does apologize for not telling her she was home Cam leaves and warns Rebecca to stay away from Josephine Bell.
Eight months earlier in the school locker room, Reena is trying to change when she is mocked by her peers for her appearance. At the store Reena is looking for a razor when she is accosted by Josephine. She introduces herself to Reena and helps her find the best razor. The new ‘friend’ encourages Reena to steal the razor. Josephine tells Reena about the murder of the Notorious BIG, (which Reena knows nothing about, and makes the earlier scene in episode one showing Reena so proud to get the new Biggie Smalls CD all the more sad. The girl was trying to fit in with her ‘friends’’.) Josephine mentions to Reena that she and her friends are having a vigil for the rapper’s death, Josephine invites her along.
Cam meets with Suman, Manjit, and Raj, and informs them that the police are looking into the upsetting calls they have been receiving, but Cam just wants to inform the family about what they know so far in the disappearance of Reena. Showing them the security camera footage, Raj asks if Reena is walking away, then why were her clothes found in the gorge. The father exclaims that the devil is working inside of Josephine, that all the girls from Seven Oaks come from broken homes, and that there is something rotten in Josephine.
Rebecca is discussing her plan for talking with Josephine to her father, and he advises her that most people would be running away from something like this. Her dad says that Rebecca loves to do whatever others tell her not to do. Wondering if Rebecca and Cam had made up over the past, Rebecca informs her father that that is not so.
At Seven Oaks the girls are all watching a cartoon when Rebecca walks in to see Josephine. She asks the teen to take her under the bridge.
Months prior, Reena is trying to shave her legs when her mom interrupts her. Reena tells her mom about the insults her peers leveled at her that day, and while her mom tries to connect with her daughter. Religious ideology from her mom conflicts with Reena’s desire to fit in and get along with her peers.
Rebecca lets Josephine and Dusty drive her to the bridge where the three walk under the bridge. Josephine describes with Dusty’s help how under the bridge on the night that Reena disappeared, Josephine put a cigarette out right between Reena’s eyes. Josephine describes how they had a plan to teach Reena a lesson. Pointing out where Reena was lying when everyone kicked her and broke her teeth, Josephine explains they did this because Reena was screaming so they knocked her unconscious.
Josephine talks about how she waited for Reena to come up. Describing how she followed Reena. Dusty is shocked to learn this from her friend. Josephine describes how she waited until Reena was near the railing when she came from behind and pushed her. Telling the writer that the reason why everyone is saying Reena is in the gorge, is because Josephine pushed her in. Dusty storms off upset, wondering what has happened.
At a park a nature group is following the path of a great blue heron when they discover the body of Reena Virk in the water.
In the past, Reena is trying on makeup, and looking to adapt to fit in with her fellow classmates. Hoping to escape the house to meet her friends, Reena runs into her uncle Raj, who has a present for her. Wondering where she is heading, Reena tells the truth that she is off to a party with her new friend. Now in the present, Suman Virk gets another eerie call which is from Dusty. She hangs up when Cam enters the Seven Oaks home. Having found out that the phone calls have been coming from Seven Oaks, Cam confronts Dusty over her guilty conscience. All Cam wants is a name, but Dusty refuses to help. Telling the officer that she got back before Josephine, Dusty is surprised to learn that Cam also was a resident at Seven Oaks as a kid.
Cam asks Dusty what happened the night Reena disappeared. Getting a call on the radio, Cam is called away leaving a panicked Dusty on the couch. Cam calls the police station and learns the fate of Reena Virk. Coming back to Dusty, Cam tells the teen that Reena is dead, and that they just found her body.
Angry, Cam has no sympathy for the upset teen. Demanding answers, Dusty admits to calling the Virk’s hoping that Reena would pick up. Dusty admits that she only learned today that Reena was killed.
Rebecca’s odyssey with Josephine ends with the teen bringing the author to her friend’s party. Josephine invites Rebecca inside telling her not to rat on her. 8 months prior we see Reena enter the same house for a party, (This is a world very foreign to Reena) She sees Josephine and her friends trying to contact Biggie Smalls via a Ouija board, when Kelly Ellard (Izzy G.) notices Reena staring at them. Kelly doesn’t like Reena, but Josphine informs her friend that they can’t have a gang without members. Josephine tells her friends that Reena is a wannabe and will do whatever they want her to do.
Saanich police are on the move, and Cam arrives at the shoreline where Reena’s body has been recovered. Seeing Scott and her father, the chief makes amends with his daughter by apologizing. It’s strange to her dad, they watched her walk away. Cam tells her dad that she told the Virk’s that she thought Reena might be okay. Her father asks if she wants to be the one to inform the parents about Reena. Telling her father that Dusty confessed that Josephine Bell did this, her father tells her to go arrest Josephine Bell.
At the party, Rebecca meets Kelly Ellard, and tells her friend that Rebecca is writing a book about her. Panicking, Rebecca hides in a room and calls Saanich police. Wanting to talk to Cam, Rebecca learns she isn’t available and hangs up. Sitting in the room Warren (Javon Walton) walks in and offers Rebecca his drink.
Cam has been staring at the surveillance photos when she realizes there is a time difference marked on the photos. Driving back to the bridge, Cam drives away to test the alibi of Josephine Bell.
Suman is at home and informs her husband Manjit that the letter arrived from the Crown Attorney for the province, with the good news that his criminal record was expunged. Roy knocks on the door soon after with his bad news.
At Warren’s the television is on, and the kids see that Reena’s body has been found. Dusty arrives at the party and Josephine acts shocked over the death of Reena, questioning Kelly about Reena being dead. This leads Rebecca to wonder how truthful the wannabe gangster was with her.
Review:
Under the Bridge had me hooked right away. Not only was this a true story, but I remember when the story broke, and how sad it was. Riley Keough is perfectly cast as Rebecca, and being paired with Lily Gladstone is dream casting.
‘Looking Glass’ sets the mood of the island and the events with an eerie calm. The scenery says this is a friendly place to be, but when the audience looks past the sanitized version of the community and meets the teens who are living wild and free from rules and consequences, this world is a dangerous place to be.
As much as I love Keough and Gladstone in their roles, Vritika Gupta is oozing talent when on screen. She plays this wonderful girl Reena with a delicacy and kindness that is trying to be herself but lacks the knowledge to understand how bad her ‘friend’ situation is. She is looking for acceptance and it just so happens that Josephine Bell is the first person in her age group to show her some kindness.
The scene where Reena is chased and dragged under the bridge is a scene straight out of a horror film. The sad thing is that this is a reenactment of reality. What’s scarier than a horror film? The cruelty and violence of teenagers.
‘The John Gotti of Seven Oaks’ is truly terrifying because we believe that Josephine Bell is the perpetrator of the crime, but Chloe Guidry does a complete one eighty at the revelation of Reena’s body, that the audience will easily believe she is not guilt. It doesn’t mean that Josephine is completely innocent, but Guidry makes the audience believe her shock.
The revelation that Cam and Rebecca have a past is not a shock, but seeing Gladstone and Keough share the screen was the best delivery of the episode. This needs to happen more throughout the show.