The true crime genre continues to prove fertile ground for many forms of media across television, podcasts, and documentaries. But with it, ethical questions emerged regarding the victims of these crimes and their inadvertent reduction to a footnote in the criminal’s story. But with true crime simply as a narrative story, it is the criminal that is the intriguing part of the story — trying to understand what motivates someone to do terrible things. We as viewers in the position of unravelling the mystery is what makes true crime intriguing. While to claim any show has found a perfect balance of these components seems presumptuous, Under the Bridge has come the closest to accomplishing that feat.
Finding that balance in the narrative structure of the show was key. In episode one, we were literally dropped into the world of victim Reena Virk (Vritika Gupta) on the day of her death. We see not everything is well with her. She has a conflict with her parents and has not been living with them, but we do not know why. She is also not on great terms with her friends: Dusty Pace (Aiyana Goodfellow), Kelly Ellard (Izzy G), and especially not the leader of the girls, Josephine Bell (Chloe Guidry).This gives us some context to why Reena goes out one night to a party but not everything about what led to her connection with these girls and why it is now toxic.
Even knowing almost nothing about the case you couldn’t help but become aware that we know Reena was attacked at that party. But the show still leaves us with some big mysteries of not just why this happened, but by episode two we know Reena walked away from that initial attack. What happened afterwards gives us the mystery hook a good true crime needs.
As the investigation into what happened to Reena progresses, we cut back to right before Reena meets Josephine, seeing her struggle fitting in at school due to her race and appearance. She also is rebelling against parents’ religion, and seems conflicted at best about her Indian heritage. When Josephine seems to take Reena under her wing and introduces her to her friends we immediately see why this is so appealing to her. This double narrative works wonderfully in not just making Reena a fuller person, but it also works in showing us details of the build-up to the murder and the mindset of these teenagers that later attacked her.
The investigation portion is equally fascinating, represented by policewoman Cam Bentland (Lily Gladstone), investigating a fictional representation of the officers for the show, and Rebecca Godfrey (Riley Keough), the author of the book on which this series is based. For an entirely fictional relationship, it fits into the emotions of the show and the feeling of loss and abuse by the system that the teenagers we see are dealing with. The dynamic between Cam and Rebecca is wonderful due to a shared history that makes them feel something akin to soul mates but also destines them to be apart due to a shared trauma. They are both dedicated to this case but take different methods due to their careers and their interaction with these kids. It lets us in, and by seeing their viewpoints,we see how biases and blind spots can ruin the best intentions dealing with crime.
I was incredibly impressed with how the show handled the racial and economic issues that contributed to this tragedy. Reena and her family deal with the racism of being Indian-Canadian, but it never feels tacked on to provide a message. Same with Cam being Native Indian who was adopted. The pressure from that is in so much of Cam trying to be a good cop and seeing the inequality up close and reacting to it as someone who knows the system and hates it but hopes to make it work.
The social issues of the rich and poor are also clear but again never in your face. Josephine refers to her and the rest of the girls living in the foster home as Bic girls, easily disposable and forgotten. This line could have been such an easy exposition moment but the way she tells it to Rebecca so matter of fact, trying to seem proud about the way the police are irrelevant to her, makes the moment have gravitas. These issues never overshadow the murder but are integral parts of the whole that lets you see a larger picture.
Beyond the storytelling this may be the strongest ensemble of actors I have seen so far this year. I could fill the supporting actress category with all the women from this show. From long-time actors to these just found teenagers, all are doing incredible work. I find it is impossible to pick a moment; it is in watching how this show unveils more and more details on everyone, and how this case changes them. That doesn’t make them easily defined or give clear lessons. We get as much as we can from a tragedy that didn’t need to happen but feels like there was no stopping it from happening because of how random it all was.
The final shot is a perfect encapsulation of the pain of loss and how, no matter what, the pain will always be there. We have seen so much pain from so many different people and backgrounds. Yet it is so intriguing seeing the case unfold, getting to know these people, that it never feels like homework. It gives us entertainment as well as letting us learn what can happen to regular people when events align. It is scary but utterly fascinating!
Under the Bridge streams exclusively on Hulu
