Under the Bridge is a tour de force true crime thriller that explores beneath the surface of a tragedy, and how it came to be. Retracing the events surrounding the death of teenager Reena Virk, and the social causes that led to this tragedy, Lily Gladstone and Riley Keough give award worthy performances as the cop and the writer who investigate what happened and why the teenage suspects did what they did.
Riley Keough plays Rebecca Godfrey, the writer of the book which the series is adapted from. Rebecca has returned to her hometown of Saanich, British Columbia to reconcile with her past and write about the social issues surrounding teen girls in the community. As she struggles to adapt to being home, Reena Virk goes missing and Godfrey meets teen wannabe gangster Josephine Bell.
Godfrey quickly gets to know Josephine, her friend Dusty, Kelly, and their friend Warren. She sympathizes with the plight of Josephine and the other girls at the Seven Oaks girls home, but sympathy only lasts so long. When Reena’s body is discovered, her mission becomes about understanding what happened the night Reena Virk died.
Riley Keough makes us care instantly for Rebecca. From the first moment, when Keough comes on screen in the airplane on approach to the airport, the audience knows that we are about to get a long story from this character filled with pain, sadness, and a longing for some internal peace. Keough’s magnetism brings the audience in, and compels the audience to follow Rebecca with passion, because we will instantly care about Rebecca’s well-being thanks to Keough’s presence.
Lily Gladstone plays Cam Bentland and is the dual lead of this story. Bentland carries her own personal baggage. The difference is that Cam never left Saanich and has buried her own past trauma to cope. Gladstone makes the audience not only empathize with Cam, but also wish for her success. She plays the local cop who sees a different side to the idyllic island life. Rather than burying her head in the sand like much of the community, Cam Bentland sees the tearing of the social fabric and follows the evidence to where it leads in the case of Reena’s disappearance and death. Gladstone has heart, empathy, presence, and a visceral reaction to Reena’s death that will make the audience shed tears as the story unfolds.
Cam is the first cop who starts to pursue Reena’s disappearance, and it is Cam who forces the department to see the reality of the case instead of the preferred version of what happened to Reena – that she was a teenage runaway.
The fact that Gladstone and Keough are the dual leads, but also play the physical embodiment of social wounds of the past from this ‘perfect’ community, leads to the eventual pairing and sharing of the screen for the two actors.
Keough and Gladstone have electric chemistry. From the small moments of teasing each other over what they are really doing regarding the case, to their desire to find the truth, and their own personal backstory, Keough and Gladstone are stellar in their nuanced, and passionate performances that will have the audience aching for the heartbreak that is occurring in Saanich.
While much of Under the Bridge is populated with talented adult actors bringing to life this true and tragic tale, Matt Craven is always an excellent addition to any cast, the youth of Under the Bridge are bringing their talent to the screen, especially Vritika Gupta as Reena Virk, and Chloe Guidry as Josephine Bell.
Vritika Gupta lets us meet Reena. So many stories and opinions of Reena have been made public, but through Gupta, we get to see the hapless teen who doesn’t fit in with her peers. We witness the merciless teasing about her looks and the battles with her parents about wanting to fit in with the girls her own age. Gupta uses the nuanced small moments to really peer inside what may be troubling Reena. Gupta doesn’t make Reena a rebellious teen, she creates a believable and heartbreaking portrayal of a young girl who just wanted to be liked, and while may have made a few teenaged mistakes, was just trying to find her place in the world.
For all the tears brought out from Gupta’s performance, audiences will be mesmerized by Chloe Guidry’s work as Josephine Bell. Bell is not the hero of this story and is one of the catalysts to the events that leads to Virk’s death, but her layered and multifaceted work as the teen girl who lives her life at the Seven Oaks home will force audiences to see a young girl abandoned by her parents and forgotten. Josephine Bell’s story is heartbreaking too, but while Guidry makes us feel empathy for Josephine, her work also shows how dangerous and deadly Bell is.
Guidry brilliantly switches gears mid scene on multiple occasions throughout the show that allows the audience to see how even though Bell might have been a girl who wished for a better life, her attempts to better her life were often at the expense of others, through theft and assault. Watching Guidry, I found myself mesmerized and terrified because I would fear being on the wrong end of Bell’s wrath.
Under the Bridge will in no way tell the whole truth of this true crime tale. That is impossible. However, Under the Bridge helps to shed light on an awful story of cruelty and inhumanity, which was wrought by teens on another girl who was just trying to fit in.
This show and its Lily Gladstone and Riley Keough are sure bets for Emmy nominations.
Under the Bridge debuts on Hulu April 17th.