Ringer

What Are You Doing Here, Ho-Bag?

Seems I may have been mistaken in assuming that Juliet and Carpenter were pulling a scam to get a juicy settlement out of Andrew. What with Tessa showing up and claiming that Carpenter also assaulted her. Although I suppose the two events are not mutually exclusive. Maybe that's why Juliet looked so stunned by Tessa's announcement. (Or maybe - like me - she was trying to remember who Tessa was since we haven't seen her in months.)

I'm still not sure why the show is spending so much time on Juliet, but I did appreciate finally seeing some cracks in Andrew's armor of detached rich person. Andrew had just seemed to resign himself to the fact that his child was a screw-up and his wife was horrid to him. Seeing him raise his voice and take some action worked for me. But then he sort of collapsed back down again, all "gee I don't know what we can do" when the legal case went away.

I mean, he doesn't have to go all Chuck Bass on folks, but a little Blair Waldorf would be appreciated. His daughter gets assaulted and his wife "loses" a diamond ring worth $200,000! Don't just sigh and fidget with your briefcase, dude. Get excited.

The one thing that made me sit up and take notice was when Henry handed Siobhan over to Machado and told the FBI that she was Bridget. I really thought they were going to do something neat with it. But then it was all over in the time it took to run her fingerprints. Which I have to admit is realistic. And smart of Machado to do. If they really want to impress me, they'll have him get something of Bridget-as-Siobhan's and run her fingerprints to see if she's who she says she is. Really that should have been an opening gambit once he knew he was dealing with twins.

Siobhan was a lot more active. Her motives are still necessarily murky, but at least she's let Henry in on some of the status quo. Poor guy. He's going to be in a "can open worms everywhere" situation next week. I wonder if Siobhan will try to hide her involvement in Gemma's death or make a full confession. (I also wonder if Henry will ever remember where he put his children. Seriously. We've seen them a grand total of once this whole time.) I have to admit - though I'm not Henry's biggest fan - I'm not sure he'll go along with Siobhan once he knows that she essentially got Gemma killed.

And Tyler is going to be hard to explain.

And I wonder where Olivia went off to. I miss Jaime Murray. (I've even missed her enough to Google to see if I've spelled her name right.)

And I'm still waiting for them to give Machado something ... to something. He's just been criminally neglected, hasn't he?

Bearing in mind that I don't really know what I'm talking about, here are some more guesses at what might happen.

Siobhan did not run because she was hiding a pregnancy.

She may have suspected she was pregnant, but if she had known in New York she wouldn't have had to buy a test in Paris. Or call Henry in a fit of melodrama. And no one fakes their death in order to hide what might be a pregnancy. Of course, she was making sad face as she called Henry, which might indicate that she really cares for him instead of Andrew. The length of the affair (per Agent Machado) is another clue. I'm still waiting for her to display that scary bitch quality that everyone claims she has. Picking up a random guy in a bar doesn't count.

The Menacing Man was not the killer's partner.

I was wrong that the guy menacing Bridget was Siobhan's partner, although it is weird that he even offered to let her go if she handed over the cell phone. If the killer was hired to kill Siobhan, then why would the clean up man not include killing her in the cleaning up part? Just kill her and take the phone. So, I'm going to guess the Menacing Man maybe needs the phone for a scheme of his own - rather than protection from exposure - but that's not set in stone.

Andrew's firm is in trouble.

This is an easy one, based on the significant looks and the fuss Olivia made about holding onto Gemma and Henry's money. The question will be whether he knows the full extent, suspects but has no details, or if he's completely in the dark.

What Did I Think?

I'm still working my theory that Siobhan got into some kind of trouble and used Bridget to cover her tracks, but isn't aware of just how badly things are going down back in New York.

If You Ever Want a French Lesson

Should I care about Malcolm?

I mean, I feel bad for him in a general sort of way that the mobster is beating and drugging him. But so far all Malcolm has really done is be the guy on the other end of the phone when Bridget is recapping the last episode for everyone. Aside from the very first scene, there has not been a single line of dialogue either from or to him that doesn't involve explaining the plot to someone.

It's like Rose from The Vampire Diaries. And yes - I cried when she died, but that was because I did believe that Damon cared for her (if only a little) so she paid off in the end. Bridget hasn't actually talked to Malcolm about anything except plot mechanics. We're supposed to believe that they care for each other, but there has been no actual dialogue or action to that effect beyond the occasional expression of concern, followed by an awkward pause where Bridget is likely thinking, "Be careful, he says. Like I couldn't think up that one on my own." He hasn't even asked her how she's doing with her sobriety!

How interesting would it be for Malcolm to have something of an idealized impression of Bridget, while she's demonstrating that she's really not that person. Wait. That would involve her doing. something.

And even if Rose was a bit shallow character-wise, she had a plot function in showing what would happen if a vampire got bit by a werewolf - which turned out to be a major element come the end of the season. If all we have with Malcolm is a way to get the mobster to New York, then there had to have been a better - less uselessly bloody - way to manage things. And while we're at it, could we give the mobster a personality trait beyond "glower." Thanks.

Please note: all of this complaining goes out the window if drugged-up Malcolm goes WWF Smackdown on the mobsters.

Obviously the central mystery in Ringer is shaping up to be "Why did Siobhan disappear and what did she think would happen to Bridget?" We could go a couple different ways on this.

Siobhan using Bridget as a mark but not necessarily having bad intentions towards her.

It could be that Siobhan decided to fake her death in such a way that her sister would be the witness and Siobhan would be free to disappear. Or collect insurance money - maybe Andrew's in on it and not sure why Bridget didn't do what she was expected to in the first place. But then, all we have towards that theory is his whispered phone call that he "wants out" and the assumption that the husband would inherit.

In that case, the implication that Bridget is messing things up comes from Bridget not reporting Siobhan dead and trying to take her place. Maybe she and Henry were planning to take the money and run and he was over-playing his needy because he thought he could nudge Bridget into giving up the ruse. So that leaves Gemma on the hook for the killer in the loft, having somehow twigged to the fact that Siobhan and Henry were having an affair. (Maybe.)

But this is a short-term solution series arc-wise. Once the truth is out, is there anywhere to go?

Siobhan wanted to fake her death and decided to set Bridget up for it along the way.

The one unarguable element is that Siobhan decided to leave town and leave her life behind. It's unlikely that all these people are in on the deal, so some of them would probably be sincerely concerned that she disappeared. Did Siobhan hope that Bridget would be blamed for what happened? She went through a certain amount of trouble to leave the rings in the pill bottle right where Bridget would likely pick it up and get her fingerprints all over it.

This is Siobhan wanting revenge on her sister, but not thinking the plot through very clearly. Maybe she thought Bridget would make a run for it, try to pawn the jewelry or something, and get caught in a situation where no one is going to believe what happened. It's less "Bridget messed up the plan" and more "not a very good plan to start with." This is like Law and Order: Criminal Intent sort of plan.

In this case, we're left not knowing who wants Siobhan dead. It also raises the possibility that Siobhan didn't know that someone was trying to kill her and wanted to disappear for other reasons - like the pregnancy. Or maybe the announcement of the pregnancy sparked the killer to make a move? More possibilities here.

Siobhan as indifferent to her sister's fate.

So the first two options assume that Siobhan is declared missing or dead right off the bat. But maybe Siobhan figured that Bridget was in the generic sort of trouble that Bridget is always in and planned for her taking Siobhan's place and drawing the heat off of Siobhan accidentally on purpose. She made a very plain statement that no one in her life knew she had a twin sister, dangling all sorts of possibilities out there for Bridget.

But then Bridget not dying doesn't exactly wreck that plan. And we're back to asking whether Siobhan knew she was a target or not. Maybe the assassination wraps back to the murder trial? The sponsor or the cop told the mobster that Bridget was masquerading as Siobhan and that's why Siobhan's name was on the photo instead of Bridget's. Though why the killer had a neatly labelled photo is strange to begin with. If you're a professional killer for hire - having successfully lured your victim to a deserted building - are you really the sort that needs to carry around your hit list in your jacket pocket?

Siobhan deliberately wanted to kill her sister in such a way that everyone would think Siobhan died.

This is Siobhan setting up the situation where Bridget takes her place and then hiring the guy to kill Bridget as Siobhan. This is Siobhan not just wanting to disappear, but needing to give everyone a body to mourn and seal the deal on it. This is Siobhan wanting her sister dead, for reasons unknown but likely related to the photo of the little boy that Bridget was sobbing over. Or being a complete psychopath and not caring at all that someone was going to die and that someone was her twin.

But of course, this plot hinges on Bridget making the choice she did to impersonate her sister, which was never the obvious choice unless Siobhan knew how much trouble Bridget was really in. I mean, it was probably safe to assume Bridget was in some kind of trouble, but stealing her sister's life is going a bit far.

What Do I Think?

I'm leaning towards the middle - indifference. Maybe Siobhan didn't care either way what happened, but figured that Bridget's presence would muddy the waters. I don't think she wanted her sister dead - perhaps just wanted her in trouble or jail. I'm going to guess that Siobhan has her own scheme going and will be surprised to learn about the attempt on "her" life.

To be ultimately satisfying, however, what I'm going to want is for the reasoning behind Siobhan's decision to leave town and target Bridget to be juicier than just hiding a pregnancy or some financial scam.

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