by Austen Terry, Contributing Writer
True crime has blossomed among mainstream audiences in the last few years. Whether it’s Youtube videos, TikToks, podcasts, documentaries, or limited series, there is quite a bit of saturation. The only downfall in telling these types of stories is whether any of the families of the victims are still alive. You definitely need to show compassion to them. The same is true with Hulu’s latest limited series, Under The Bridge, which revolves around the murder of 14-year-old Reena Virk (Vritika Gupta). The show is based around the books of Rebecca Godfrey and Reena’s father, Manjit Virk — it details the crime, investigation, and trials in the small town of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.
In late 1997, Reena goes out to party with some friends, is attacked by those same friends, and doesn’t return home. Manjit Virk (Ezra Faroque Khan) and Raj Masihajjar (Anoop Desai) encourage the police to try and find her, but with Reena’s past runaways, they only seem to encourage Cam Bentland (Lily Gladstone) to take the case. While this is happening, Rebecca Godfrey (Riley Keough) has returned home to write about the girls of Victoria who have been forgotten by society label as “Bic” girls, as put by Josephine Bell (Chloe Guidry). Meaning the girls are like Bic lighters: disposable. Godfrey starts getting involved in the case because of Bell, but later meets Warren Glowatski (Javon Walton), who she tries to help in the process of the investigation. This show has many twists and turns as the characters navigate the small town environment and try to discover what happened to Reena.
Both Godfrey and Manjit Virk helped in the process of developing the series to ensure that the story was told the right way. Unfortunately, Godfrey passed in 2022 right before shooting began. The series, though, doesn’t just feel like a higher budget retelling of events. It has a mix of other shows like True Detective, Euphoria, and Midnight Mass. The series highlights the racism that this town has toward immigrating Indian families and First Nations people of Canada. Being in 1997 brings into the story what’s happening in the world, as the kids are fans of rap and try to have their own version of gangs. Jo desperately wants to be a mob wife, constantly referencing John Gotti and the mafia happenings in New York.
Gladstone and Keough work tremendously together, pushing each other in ways that not only help the case, but help heal the past. Gupta and Guidry also work well together, but all the teen actors are able to portray life as a teen in the ‘90s. Kelly Ellard (Izzy G.) plays the jealous best friend. She seems to want what Jo wants and doesn’t want Reena around. Most of the kids in the show don’t have a good home life, as Jo, Warren, and Dusty (Aiyana Goodfellow) are living either homeless or in a girls home. Ellard and Virk have families who love them, but Izzy shows talent in how Ellard wants the freedom the other girls have. These girls work very well together in not making it feel like they are trying too hard on the ‘90s culture.
Bullying is especially looked at in the series, as Virk struggles with looking different than most of her classmates. After these events, Manjit even advocates for anti-bullying groups.
Music in the show is important — the girls love The Notorious B.I.G. and everything in his world, and the rest of the background music is effective as well. Songs can always make hard moments hit home in deeper ways to drive home those moments.
Under the Bridge kept me gripped through the eight episodes, making me want to come back to figure out what happened to Reena. Even after the killer is revealed before the final episode, I still felt pulled back to finish the series to see how the cops figure it out and see if justice is served. What was done to Reena is disturbing and though you don’t physically see it, you see the kids involved acting like they are doing it, and the way it is described can be brutal at times. With that I have to say viewer discretion is advised, but people need to know what happened to Reena Virk.
Rating: High Side of Liked It
Under the Bridge is currently streaming on Hulu
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