Ringer “It’s Called Improvising Bitch”

I gotta hand it to the folks at Ringer, I think they knew the end was near so they just keep going for broke with these last few episodes.  Even if they don’t get a second season at least they will be remembered as that bat-shit crazy show Sarah Michelle Gellar did for a season on The CW. We should have known the ship was going down when the wardrobe went from being cutting edge fashion to Target chic.

On last night’s episode. Catherine tries to kill Bridget, who she thinks is Shiv, when Andrew foils her plan she decides to kill them both, when Juliet foils that plan she decides to hold everyone hostage. Then she calls, wait for it… Olivia, her lover and partner in crime. Olivia is having none of this craziness and tells Catherine good-bye, sending Catherine over the edge, or more over than she is already.   Our hapless tri call Agent Machado on cell phone they have hidden in the couch, using the old one way call to fill him in on their situation.  He springs into action, and heads off to Olivia’s, he uses her to lure Catherine out of the apartment. She takes Bridget hostage and heads to Olivia’s, where our FBI guy finally gets to save the day.

Meanwhile, Shiv is still trying to get Henry cleared of Tyler’s murder. She heads over to Oksana’s (the hotel maid that fingered Henry) and quickly figures out Oksana is a high priced hooker and that is why her payoff wasn’t nearly enough. One of Oksana’s tricks shows up, she hides Shiv in the closet.  Ok, if all the crazy with Catherine wasn’t enough, check this out.  Shiv is locked in the closet while Oksana and her customer have sex, do blow and Oksana od’s, and to top it off Shiv goes into labor.  Love this crazy show!!

Shiv has a C-section, her twins, yes her female twins are premature and in bad shape. Henry is by her side, and in a move that proves Henry bought a clue, he asks the doctor for a paternity test. Go Henry.

I am not sure how they can top this if they get a second season, I am sure they will have to dial it back a bit if they do. 

What are the possible cliffhangers for next week’s finale? The paternity test? Does Macawi kill Shiv or Bridget? Does Andrew figure it out?  One thing I am sure of, I won’t get a satisfying end to the show. What would I do if it was up to me, if I was Pam Veasy and The CW let me know I had one hour to wrap it up.

First of all I would apologize to the audience that stuck it out all season, I would apologize for squandering the talents of  Ioan Gruffudd, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Jason Dohring.  I would apologize for taking a show with an interesting premise, and some great glossy noir episodes in the first half of the season and letting it unravel into the campy crapfest we witnessed in the last 12 episodes.

Then, Malcolm leads Machado to Macawi, Machado gets shot (doesn’t die) Malcolm saves him and kills Macawi in the process. A new bromance is born.  Henry finds out the twins aren’t his or Andrew’s and leaves Shiv and the twins. Shiv, leaves the hospital, abandoning  the twins to social services.  Henry and Bridget renew their vows, the second half of the episode is filled with wedding fun, Juliet and Bridge getting all gussied up. Henry and Tim coming to an agreement over Martin Charles and destroying the flash drive.

Last two minutes of the episode, set against some of the music this show is known for using. (The CW site for Ringer music)

Bridget walks down the aisle, to a beaming Andrew

Shiv walking down the street

Bridget gets to Andrew, he leans in to kiss her and whispers in her ear, I love you Bridget.  Pull back to reveal Bridget’s reaction.

Cut to Shiv walking into a strip club to apply for a job.

Chessy, obvious, but hey after the crap Pam really wrote how could my version be any worse.

Next Week:

Ringer – “Maybe we can get a dog instead”

Just when I think Ringercan’t get any crazier it does. I don’t think this show will ever jump the shark, because it is one big jump the

shark moment.

I didn’t even have to wait for the last two minutes to get the big moment this week, the highlight for me had to be when Bridget showed up at the dinner with Andrew and Siobhan’s Paris bot-toy Tyler. The look on Tyler’s face was priceless, he thinks he has been sleeping with the bosses wife.  

Question, Tyler told Bridget he didn’t realize he was sleeping with the bosses wife, will Bridget assume Tyler meant before Siobhan killed herself or will this be the first little thing that nags at Bridget, that makes her start to question if Siobhan is really dead.

Remember the rule, no body, no crime, not dead.  She needs to rent Julia Robert’s “Sleeping With the Enemy“, Julia’s character faked her death by drowning out at sea. Maybe this will ring a bell for Bridget.

I am glad this show doesn’t take itself too seriously, I really think all of this melodrama is intentional and very shrewd on the part of the creative team.

They resolved the baby storyline, with a miscarriage, thank god, I really didn’t want that to continue much longer. Juliet and Andrew’s concern was sweet and genuine. Can I please marry Ioan Gruffud, he is so awesome and that accent, so sexy.  I fast forwarded through the Malcolm stuff, but now that they hooked him up with Charlie I guess I have to pay attention.

This week we had smart Bridget (Sarah Michelle Gellar) who figured out how to warn Malcolm about the wire by using the old note in the menu trick. Charlie told Bridget he didn’t find any leads on Gemma.  I said it before I will say it again, until I see a body I say Gemma’s not dead. Maybe Charlie is holding her somewhere?  What is Charlie going to do about Malcolm, poor Malcolm, he went from one bad situation to another all for Bridget. Dude get a clue and get away from this chick she is bad news.

BTW, I love how smudged eyeliner and messy hair equal drug addict in Bridget’s NA flashbacks. 

Juliet hitting on her teacher (Jason Dohring)  is eww, stalking him to the Good Samaritan’s club is creepy. Can’t wait to see how that all plays out. 

Tyler is our new loose cannon.  Will he be the first one to figure out there is two of them, if he is, well-played show. Didn’t see that coming when we first spied him three episodes ago.  Andrew’s business partner could hardly contain her glee when she heard about the miscarriage, she is totally thinking she has a shot with Andrew.

Here is a preview for next weeks episode, “Shut up and eat your Bologna”.  I really do love the titles they use for this show.

Ringer Review “Oh Gawd, There’s Two of Them”

Malcolm is free, Charlie is a plant and Bridget has an ultrasound. The show keeps building, the story is strong and has really evolved 

courtesy of The CW

from what could have been a one note premise into something multi-layered. Good job show. The opening was made of win, with the split screen as both Henry(Kristoffer Polaha) and Andrew (Ioan Gruffud) identified the photo of Bridget. I love it when the show does that kind of crap. Like Juliet walking in with the cops.

First of all I am so glad the torture of Malcolm(Mike Colter) is over, but why is he heading to Bridget, shouldn’t he be on his way to the police.  I guess he is doing the hero thing, and off to protect Bridget. Whatever. I really want Bridget and Andrew together so Malcolm is just in my way.

Fun fact, there is a great fashion site called Go Fug Yourself, they pick apart people’s hideous fashion choices, you should check it out.  They cover the fashion on Ringer and they are merciless. I understand that Sarah Michelle Gellar sent them an email in response to some of their observations. Really a leather dress in the middle of the day.  Loved Henry’s suit, the pink tie and pocket square were awesome.

courtesy The CW

Someone please tell the costume designer, no more sleeveless for SMG, he upper arms are not up to it. I know SMG said she isn’t pregnant in real life , but she sure looks like it on the show. Full face and boobs.

A couple questions for you the viewer, why is Bridget telling Charlie all that stuff. I understand the bond between sponsor and addict is supposed to be confidential, but really Bridget, have you learned nothing.  At the beginning of the show the writers show how smart she is, setting up the Bridget info with Henry and Andrew, covering her tracks. So is she smart or dumb?

 How did Juliet (Zoey Deutch) get her teacher’s number so fast?  Not that I mind because I love Jason Dohring so any opportunity to bring him deeper into the story is fine with me, but I still think he is bad news. Who the heck drives in Manhattan, I lived there it is brutal. Really Juliet, you couldn’t cab it, and you ruined my Andrew/Bridget squee moment. Way to cock-block.

courtesy The CW

Gemma, poor Gemma, Shiv is brutal!

I wonder what Bridget saw on the ultrasound monitor? A blank screen? Malcolm’s baby? Or a baby with horns?  If she is pregnant with Malcolm’s baby she is going to have a hard time explaining that one in the delivery room.

“Call me with the next move”

Ringer – Twins with an Identity Crisis

Ringer UP 14% in the ratings!! Congrats Team Ringer.

 

I am not really sure what kind of show Ringer is trying to be, thriller, teen sex, romance drama, my neck hurts from the whiplash from trying to keep up.

No matter what type of show it wants to be, I want them to find Gemma (Tara Summers) just so I don’t have to hear her stupid voicemail message anymore, “you’ve reached, Gemma don’t be boring”. I hope somebody killed her, she is annoying. Although I doubt she is dead, I don’t care what the caller in the last scene said, until I see a body I am not buying it.

Lets say Shiv (Sarah Michelle Gellar) was behind Gemma’s disappearance. Does that mean she found out Gemma found out about Bridget. How did Shiv find out, who is Shiv’s mole in NY?

SMG is blonder, and looks a little tanner, reminds me of how her look changed between seasons 2 and 3 of Buffy.

What was good about last night, we learned how far Bridget will go to protect her new life. What I don’t get is why she implicated herself in the crime?  Agent Machado (Nestor Carbonell) will be on her doorstep every minute, is her strategy to hide in plain sight. No matter what the outcome it made for a nice twist.

There where a couple of times I thought Shiv might be pretending to be Bridget, like when they showed her at the dumpster and calling the police. But based on the last scene that doesn’t seem to be the case. Shiv pretending to be Bridget pretending to be Shiv would be a nice plot twist, it seems like something this show would do.

The rest of the episode was meh, I am over the Juliet (Zoey Deutch) new school thing, as much as I love Jason Dohring I don’t need a student teacher affair in the middle of this mess. The only thing that could redeem him, is if, his character turns out to be FBI, or working for Shiv. When are they going to introduce Juliet’s mother?

Somebody please buy Andrew a clue, they are wasting Ioan Gruffudd, I hope they are just saving him for the big drama scenes that will surely happen when he finds out about Bridget. Of course by that time he will be in love with her and it won’t matter. When the heck are they going to have sex, Bridget needs a bun in the oven, or a miscarriage stat.

Bottom line, Ringer is like watching a Laker game, it all happens in the fourth quarter.  Every week this show has a so-so 58 minutes only to be redeemed by the last two.  What can I say it’s those 2 minutes that keep me coming back.

Preview for November 1st

Ringer Most Improved Show of the Week

If you could sum up last nights episode of Ringer in one word, it would be desperate.

• Bridget was desperate to keep Gemma away from Andrew and to keep her secret
• Andrew was desperate to save Juliet
• Malcolm was desperate to stay alive and protect Bridget
• Henry was desperate to keep his meal ticket

I thought last weeks twist, when Bridget told Gemma her secret was great, but last nights episode, raised the stakes even higher. This show is definitely fast tracking the plot. It’s gone from a good premise, to great storytelling with plenty of character development.

It would be great if they brought Juliet’s mother into the mix.  A very special holiday episode indeed, Charisma Carpenter would be fantastic.

The biggest development was Gemma’s “death”, since we didn’t see the body I am not convinced she is dead. And as any longtime watcher of soap operas will tell you until there is a body the victim can be a co-conspirator.  There is a spoiler out there that Gemma isn’t dead. I think she and Henry had a fight, in the midst of it she told him the truth about Bridget and now they are going to blackmail her.

We met Charlie last night, he is either working for Shiv or the FBI agent, in either case he is bad.

What about the pregnancy, we either need a miscarriage or Andrew and Bridge need to have sex stat.

I want to know when Shiv is coming back, so she can pretend to be Bridget being Shiv, now that would be interesting TV.

Related articles

• Holy Game Changer! Ringer Bosses Dish on Tonight’s Surprising Episode and More (eonline.com)

Ringer – What a hum-dinger

Image via Wikipedia

Ringer (Tuesday at 9pm on the CW) definitely upped the ante last night.  FBI agent Machado,(Nestor Carbonell), told Gemma, (Tara Summers) about Bridget (Sarah Michelle Gellar), putting fauxShiv in an awkward position. This move set the stage for later when fauxShiv needed a get out of jail free card, her confession diffused Gemma’s anger.  Side note, the actress who plays Gemma was on season 3 for Damages she played Alex Benjamin. I love IMDB, don’t you.

Bridget telling Gemma she is not Shiv but really Bridget, will prevent Gemma from telling Andrew (Ioan Gruffudd) about the affair and confronting Henry (Kristoffer Polaha). How she will convince Gemma she is Bridget, since she just burned her id, she has quite a challenge on her hands. Only next week will tell, the previews make it look like it isn’t going to go so well. Any savvy TV watcher will tell you the previews are edited to mislead the viewer, dubbing in dialogue for a completely different scene into the action from another.

We all knew Bridget was going to need a confidant, Andrew was my first thought,  but Gemma makes more sense. This developement also makes Gemma more interesting and will give the actress more to do, besides whine about Henry.

I like the concept of the real Shiv being alive, I wonder who her partner is, who is on the other end of the phone.  I wonder if the show will hold back that piece and decide later based on how the action develops or if they have it planned out.

When does Bridge find out Shiv is still alive, until last night I was betting on a season one cliffhanger. But since the show exposed two big secrets in the fourth episode, it seems like they have fast tracked the action.

As to when Andrew finds out, I think when Bridget finally tells him, he is going to tell her he already knew, somehow he knew about the twin, plus  all the differences in her personality and behavior, no surprise he put two and two together.  He has been so happy with her and has fallen in love with her so he just let it go.  By that time, and the time Shiv shows back up Bridget will be pregnant with Andrew’s baby, yeah!

I am on team AnBridge.

Somebody has to die for sweeps, will it be November or February and will it be Gemma, Henry or Andrew’s Partner?

Shiv’s next move, frame Bridge for murder, it brings the FBI agent into the picture and nothing says drama like a murder trial, false accusations and a pregnant defendant.

I am begging you to watch this show, and tell your friends to watch.  If you need to catch up on episodes they are available at the http://www.cwtv.com/.