Most television shows draw you in from the previews as they display the basic idea so you know what you are getting yourself into when you watch the pilot. Not so with “Ringer,” which the CW aired this fall with just an aging Sarah Michelle Gellar and creepy music to entice you.
Sarah Michelle Gellar watches for those chasing after her in yet another vague picture
advertising the show.
For those of you who need a little bit more to go on before you commit to wasting an hour on the pilot, “Ringer” is a mystery drama following the life of Bridget Kelly, a recovering alcoholic who witnessed a murder. In attempts to avoid testifying, Bridget escapes to visit her long lost twin sister and through not-yet-revealed circumstances, she finds herself hiding in her sister’s life. Little by little, the pieces of her sister’s life come to light and Bridget has to cope to stay hidden. Bridget soon finds out though that she is not the only one with a price on her head.
The plot line promises a lot of potential and the story seemed to be very multi-faceted. It has got alcoholics, fugitives, love triangles, action, sex, mystery, lies, and murder-- everything a viewer could ever want! Through this episodic structure, the viewers get all types of storylines and relationships that they must figure out along the way and as some the pieces come together, even more questions arise. The pilot was very scattered, yet organized as the CW tried to give you all the background you could possibly need in order to move forward with the series. They packed a lot of information into a little amount of time, but it worked splendidly and gave me a longing to watch the next episode. Thus, the pilot’s goal was successfully accomplished.
Gellar in “Ringer” as both Bridget Kelly and Siobhan Martin
It was good to see Gellar back on TV. We have not seen her in anything that has attracted the media’s attention for years, and she has come back as if she never left. Her acting in both the role of Bridget and her twin sister Siobhan was believable and the emotion was relatable. She was supported on screen by the actors behind the many entangled characters such as Ioan Gruffudd, who played Siobhan’s husband, Tara Summers, who was Siobhan’s best friend, and Nestor Carbonell, who played the detective. Their performances were very alluring and after the watching the characters’ lives unfold, I could not help but want to feel for them and watch even more.
The only downside to the new show was possibly a little bit of the directing. They have featured guest directors for every show so this will not be a continuing problem, but for the pilot episode, I found two flaws. One, the green screen seemed very obvious and fake to me when trying to display the New York skyline. Two, there was a bit of confusion because some of the pivotal shots were not very clear, leaving the viewer to interpret the scene for themselves until clarification was provided. Those are simple things to fix and one would think that a big corporation owned by CBS and Time Warner would spend a little bit more time working out those kinks.
Despite minor issues that took me out of the fantasy of the show, I believed “Ringer” to be quite intriguing. The pilot alone has brought great ratings and guarantees that there are more of those to come. The story was clear yet the plot to come was a mystery, and one that I hope to follow and discover for myself. Gellar has done well for herself by picking this role because this show promises a lot of excitement and hopefully a lot of hype as the mysteries unravel this season.
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