Recap:
In Josephine’s (Chloe Guidry) room at Seven Oaks, Reena (Vritika Gupta) Kelly and Dusty (Izzy G. and Aiyana Goodfellow) are all partying, when Josephine screams at Reena to get off her bed. The three leave for a party with Reena told she is not allowed to join them. Reena takes this opportunity to steal Josephine’s address book to enact her plan of revenge.
At Connor Fields (Jared Ager-Foster) house, the trio of girls arrive to learn that someone has been calling and telling lies about Josephine. Dusty finds the news funny, but Josephine is not amused.
Kelly is on the phone to Josephine describing all the ways she will kill Reena, and the aggrieved Josephine wants her revenge. Kelly’s mom seems oblivious to the vile nasty things that her daughter is saying about another human being.
Josephine enters Dusty’s room and complains about Reena. Josephine wants to know if she knew about Reena’s plan, and Dusty promptly denies her involvement. Josephine tells Dusty that she is impressed with Reena and wonders if they should make her part of the gang. When Dusty complains that she’s not even part of the gang officially, Josephine administers the blood oath. Josephine tells Dusty that they are family now and tonight they can initiate Reena.
Reena jumps for the phone at home and is excited to hear Josephine inviting her to the party at the shoreline because it will be fun. (Poor Reena, she thinks she has finally made it through to be friends with these girls.)
At the Godfrey house, Rebecca (Riley Keough) is staring out to where her brother died. Walking to where he met his end, she is reading through her words about Reena’s case. In the prison, Warren (Javon Walton) makes a collect call to Rebecca. He wants to know why she hasn’t been around much, and Rebecca says because she’s busy writing the book. Warren is desperate for a visitor in prison. He tells her how he’s started a group therapy session in prison, and Warren’s not sure how to live with what he did. Warren admits that he hasn’t been honest about the night Reena died.
He's inviting Rebecca to a group therapy session, and she declines. Rebecca is going back to New York and doesn’t think she would be a good support for him. Warren wonders if she is really going to leave him alone in prison.
Cam (Lily Gladstone) enters Seven Oaks as the social workers pack up. The home is closing due to a ministry decision, and Cam reassures the social worker that she didn’t have anything to do with the closing, nor does she blame the home for what happened to Reena. Cam has come on personal business, wondering about a file about her from when she was a resident in the group home. After getting her personal file, Cam heads upstairs to the girls’ rooms.
Kelly’s trial is about to begin, and the news media is overexcited by the extensive coverage they plan to give. From the detention centre, Josephine watches as Kelly is led into court, when Cam arrives and calls her aside to talk. Handing her a box from Seven Oaks, Cam brought Josephine her personal items. Josephine wants to know why Cam is there.
Playing a tape of Kelly’s statement from the night she was arrested. Josephine listens in shock as her best friend tries to pin the murder on her. Unable to take anymore, Josephine stops the recording and tells Cam that she never thought Kelly would kill Reena.
At trial, the Crown Attorney lays out their case, and how Kelly was proud of the crime she committed. Roy (Matt Craven) is worried without Warren’s testimony Kelly could get set free. Encouraging Cam to talk to Rebecca and encourage Warren to testify, Cam tells her dad to go do it herself.
Unhappy, Roy walks to where Rebecca is and wonders why she won’t help get Warren to trial. Stating that they don’t talk about the trial and that she is not Warren’s lawyer, the chief lays out the fact that Kelly has the best lawyer in BC, and without Warren, she will probably get off free. Rebecca states she is here to observe and not get involved, Roy is disgusted by her remark and reminds the author that she is already involved.
Back under the bridge, Reena endures the taunts of everyone. While trying to apologize, Reena tries to state that everyone is sick of Josephine’s controlling nature. Looking to Dusty for help, Reena is let down and then the beating commences. The ‘Shoreline Six’ begins their testimony about what happened the night Reena was attacked and died. As Dusty describes the violence of that night, Suman and Manjit (Archie Panjabi and Ezra Khan) listen to how their daughter died. Dusty states that she should have defended Reena but was afraid of everyone coming after her.
Kelly is described as the most aggressive in the attack. She appeared to love the violence. Dusty states that she heard Kelly tell her that she killed Reena when she found Reena’s boots in Kelly’s closet. The defense attorney tries to pick apart every witness by dredging up every negative thing about their past.
At the nearest bar, Cam gets a drink, and her father follows her in. Wondering if she is okay, Roy tries to comfort her daughter over the misery of the trial. Telling her dad that she feels sick over what has happened, Roy can’t get over how much Cam has been affected by the trial. What has really upset Cam is that she learned some truth to her adoption. Everything her father told her about her adoption is questionable. While Cam was told that she was an abused baby and that’s why she was put up for adoption. It appears that most likely wasn’t true. Roy tries to defuse the situation but Cam states that he lied to her, that her family was originally from Alberta, when her birth family is only a ferry ride away.
Manjit has brought food home and finds Suman alone in bed. Telling his wife that she needs to eat, he reminds Suman that the kids miss her. Manjit is starting to wonder if the family should pick up and move to India. He tells Suman that they can’t stay in Saanich. Suman states that they won’t be able to run from what happened.
Rebecca arrives at the Virk household and drops off some chapters she has written about Reena. Suman comes to the door, and they talk. Rebecca tells Suman that she hasn’t done enough in her part in the story and that she is going to encourage Warren to testify.
Warren is happy to see Rebecca arrive at the prison for a visit. They talk and as they move the conversation inside, Warren tells him that she knows why she is here. He’s wrong. In the visitor room is Suman Virk. She asked Rebecca to bring her to Warren. He walks in and meets with the mother of Reena.
Suman tells Warren that she wanted to see him. Telling him that he has done the worst thing imaginable to her family, Suman describes how she has thought of ways to hurt him. She also explains how she is unable to be a mother to her kids, because she is too afraid to love them for fear of losing them. Warren is moved to tears by Suman’s anguish. Suman tells Warren that she forgives him, and Warren is shocked. To Suman, this is the only way out of the nightmare. He tells her that he doesn’t know why he helped kill Reena.
The next day in the courtroom, Warren is waiting to testify, when Cam enters the court and sits with Rebecca instead of her father and brother. The Crown Attorney asks Warren if he wants to finally tell the truth about what happened when he and Kelly got to the other side of the bridge. He proceeds to describe in detail how Kelly started hitting Reena, and how he jumped in. When Reena was on the ground, they kicked her all over her body. Warren described it as a rush to hurt Reena.
After the beating, Warren describes how they dragged Reena by the legs and left her in the water. This is when Kelly started to drown Reena. Warren describes how he stood there saying nothing as Kelly held Reena’s head underwater. Rebecca cannot stand to listen to Warren’s testimony and leaves the courtroom in tears.
On the witness stand, Kelly is called to testify, and the Crown Attorney wonders why everyone else’s story is different than hers. Kelly has an indifferent attitude on the stand. The Crown Attorney gets Kelly to model how she would have punched Reena and continues pressing Kelly about her antagonism towards Reena.
When the Crown displays the eighteen pebbles that Reena had inhaled when she was being drowned, and presses Kelly about what she did, Kelly loses control on the witness stand and starts screaming about how she didn’t kill Reena Virk.
Only hours from the verdict in Kelly’s case, the news wonders if the Virk’s will finally get justice for Reena. In court, the jury finds Kelly guilty of second-degree murder. The judge only sentence’s Kelly to five years in prison. The courtroom is shocked by the decision.
Afterwards, Cam and Rebecca are at a bar talking about what happened. Rebecca admits that she felt close to Warren because he reminded her of her brother Gabe, when the reality is that Warren reminded her of herself. Cam tells her that she isn’t responsible for the death of Gabe.
Cam also tells Rebecca that she is resigning from the police department. She describes how she found out where her birth family is and plans to try and meet with them. Leaving as friends, the two say their goodbyes.
Rebecca visits where her brother died and reflects on everything that has changed in life. Cam goes to meet her birth family, and Kelly is returned to the detention centre. The girls do not acknowledge her return.
At the Virk household, Suman finds Reena’s CD of Biggie Smalls and plays it. While the mother and father are initially happy at hearing Reena’s favorite music, the two are left to sit in her room and the silence of an empty, never to be occupied by their daughter again.
With the conclusion of the show, the series describes what happens to the people involved in the story.
Josephine Bell became an exotic dancer after her year in the detention centre. Her sentence was extended when she escaped twice.
Dusty spoke openly in the press about the crime, and described how they should have got more of a sentence for what they did.
Warren devoted his life to restorative justice. He was granted parole in 2010, thanks to Suman and Manjit Virk advocating on his behalf.
The saga of Kelly Ellard would lead to an appeal, and two additional trials, where she was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison. It wasn’t until 2016 when Ellard admitted her role in the crime, while seeking day parole.
Rebecca Godfrey passed away in 2022, weeks before filming began on the show. Her friendship with Warren lasted for over twenty years.
The Virk’s would be staunch anti-bullying symbols for many across Canada. A book that Manjit Virk wrote about his daughter was included in the development of the series. Suman Virk passed away in 2018.
Review:
Under the Bridge was a well written show that told the story of what happened to Reena Virk. I was skeptical about if the show would be balanced and give Reena’s voice a prominent place in the series. Thankfully, viewers get to see Reena as a person, and not just a story.
Lily Gladstone in the role of Cam Bentland is crucial for this series to work. She is not only the moral conscience of the viewers and the people in the town who are afraid to say anything, but Gladstone’s righteous indignation at the lack of humanity by people is perfect for the show. I feel like if Lily Gladstone is not in contention for some awards for her work, I will be shocked.
Overall, the series was well done. I purposely waited until the show ended to see who was real and who was a composite character in Under the Bridge. Finding out that Cam is a composite of multiple police sources that the real Rebecca Godfrey had during the case was a shock.
Perhaps I liked Lily Gladstone’s character so much because she represented an idea and not just a real person. There’s a lot to dislike about how the community responded to Reena’s death, and the character of Cam shows how everyone should have responded.
Under the Bridge is not an easy watch. There is no happy ending, and no matter who it was, the death of Reena Virk is a tragedy that could have been prevented had people chosen to act rather than ignore.