It doesn’t say a lot about ‘Ringer’ that I haven’t really given it much thought since November. Given the whiplash quality of its first 10 episodes, I really wasn’t expecting much from ‘It Just Got Normal’, but weirdly, ‘Ringer’ captured me in a way it hasn’t before.
In ‘It Just Got Normal’, Siobhan tries to investigate her old life. Bridget hosts a fundraiser for one of Siobhan’s old acquaintances, leading to a discovery about her sister’s past infidelity. Juliet deals with the aftermath of her confrontation with Mr Carpenter.
Relocating Siobhan back to New York ranks as one of the writers’ best decisions all year, though given the amount of dodgy ones they’ve made it’s not that much of a stretch. A lot of the implications of the switch-up have been Bridget dealing with the masquerade, but this change of scenery for Siobhan is the best way to explore the impact Bridget’s decision has had on her. That shower scene was one of my favourites, visually, in a long while. Let’s hope this twin stuff carries over into the next 11 episodes.
Henry and Siobhan’s secret love affair has been such a huge part of the series, yet the two characters have barely shared two minutes of present day screen time. Though she spends most of her time going along with the charade, Siobhan’s interactions with him were one of the greatest things about this week’s episode. Sarah has really mastered the subtle changes in attitude of both sisters towards Henry, and I’m really enjoying the general confusion he’s feeling towards Siobhan; I hope that the ending goes somewhere interesting, and doesn’t get flown over a la the pregnancy cliff-hanger last year.
Elsewhere, the Juliet sub plot is all kinds of annoying. Without even the slightest hint of clarification of Carpenter’s innocence, we were subjected to more of the same whiny teenage drunkenness and general angst that we’ve seen from her already. Just when it seems like she’s turned a corner, the writers go and undo a lot of the character work they had done so far; it’s frustrating.
It’s still not perfect, but I think I’m starting to get more comfortable with the series ‘Ringer’ has grown to be, and though some of it still feels a little disjointed, I'm quite excited about where it could all end up.
8/10
We differ so much with this show! Heh. I agree with your major opinions (like Siobhan in New York, Siobhan's interaction with Henry), but disagree with some of the details in those opinions. If that makes sense. Like I loved the shower scene in the teaser, but the event itself turned out to be kind of redundant and uninteresting. The show always seems to cop out whenever juicy potential arises.
ReplyDeleteAnd I don't think Sarah is that great, either, at differentiating between performances. But I guess that's not really her fault, but the writing. Both Siobhan and Bridget are so bland as characters that there's nothing truly distinctive for Sarah to latch onto as an actress. Unlike Faith in the body-swap Buffy episode, you know? Faith had real fire and personality, and Sarah could play around with that. I feel like she's playing both characters on Ringer with the same sort of vacant, detached vibe, and the writers aren't allowing her to go full Kathryn Merteuil for Siobhan, which seems like a ridiculous decision.
Love the reviews, Panda!
Thanks for reading!
DeleteWhen I say she's great at differentiating, I mostly mean with both of their feelings for Henry. In general, though, there are some differences, and I don't just mean the bang piece they gave Bridget, haha. But, yeah, mostly it isn't as polarizing as it should be.
'Ringer' isn't something I could see myself revisiting at all, but I'm generally enjoying it a lot more than you, or Nadim (who hates it with a passion!) for that matter.
Do I really hate it? Haha. I'm still watching it so I guess I'm THAT loyal to SMG? Honestly I think I'm still in love with the show's original premise which really intrigued me and somehow I pray one day it will tap into it and became a Revenge-style thriller.
ReplyDeleteAll we need for that is for the entire writing staff to be fired and replaced. Here's hoping :)