RINGER Recap: ‘Oh Gawd, There’s Two of Them?’

I have to admit, RINGER fans, that I did not really miss the show during its two-week break.

Do I like the show? Sure, but its plot can be exhausting (whereas REVENGE is twisty yet fun). Sadly, my mind just needed a break. (Yes, my mind needed a break from a CW show — I give you permission to make fun of me in the comments.) But within the first few minutes of Tuesday’s RINGER, I was hooked again.

The episode begins with the cops coming to Siobhan and Andrew’s apartment to talk to “Siobhan” about Gemma’s disappearance. They want to talk down at the precinct (Do any cops really say this?), and the investigators inform Andrew that they need to talk to him, too, since he was the last person Gemma called before disappearing.

As Bridget gets her purse before heading to the precinct, she takes out a phone from a shoe in her closet and makes a phone call. But to whom? Malcolm? Charlie? She leaves a voicemail for whomever it is, saying, “I think I really messed up this time.” Bridget seems to always mess up, so this message wasn’t really surprising or suspicious.

At the precinct, Victor and a NYPD investigator are debating about whether to release Bridget Kelly’s name to the press. Although the press is blaming Henry for Gemma’s disappearance, Bridget is the police’s only suspect. Victor doesn’t want Bridget’s name to be revealed because Macawi will be one step closer to finding out where she is. They agree to just tell the press they have a suspect in Gemma’s disappearance.

As Victor questions “Siobhan” about Bridget, Henry and Andrew are asked to identify a picture of Bridget. They recognize her — even though the audience was led to believe they didn’t know about her at all. Gasp! First twist of the night.

It turns out “Siobhan” told each of them about her troubled twin sister in anticipation of the cops questioning them. I don’t exactly know when Bridget had the time to talk to Henry, with the media surrounding him at all times and everything, but I’ll let that slide.

Andrew and Henry are understandably upset that “Siobhan” would hide such a big secret. “Siobhan” tells them that she took Bridget in when she was in trouble, but Bridget bolted, and the FBI thinks Bridget hurt Gemma.

In the interrogation room, “Siobhan” tells Victor she thinks Bridget has left NYC. She plays him the voicemail she had left earlier in the episode, pretending that Bridget called her and confessed to messing up.

Victor’s still suspicious, and as he asks Bridget more questions, she gets fed up and leaves the interrogation room. Before she can leave the precinct, though, Victor catches up with her and asks her about Malcolm. Victor says he knows “Siobhan” has been in contact with Malcolm, and he informs her that Malcolm is missing. He’s not sure if Malcolm’s dead, but he says there are signs of “foul play.”

Worried, Bridget calls Malcolm’s phone, which is no longer in service. We then see Malcolm tied up in the back of a van in Rock Springs, Wyo. He’s still alive (yay!), but he has a bag over his head, and one of his captors has a gun while the other talks about “the spot” where they’re going (boo!).

One of the bad guys asks the other if they can stop and get food, so they leave Malcolm in the unlocked van as they do so. Such a crack team Macawi has assembled.

Of course, Malcolm takes advantage of this moment and frees himself from the ropes tied around his hands (This seriously takes him only three seconds or so to do). He escapes from the van and somehow makes it back to his apartment, where he grabs a T-shirt to put over his bloody tank top.

Meanwhile, Bridget’s being reflective and sad on her balcony when Andrew asks her who Malcolm is. Bridget says Malcolm is her sister’s NA sponsor.

We then flashback to nine months ago, and Malcolm and Bridget are celebrating her three months of sobriety. Bridget kisses him, and even though Malcolm is at first reluctant, he kisses her back, and they have sex. Who can resist a man who bakes you a cake? Afterward, Malcolm tells Bridget they crossed a line, and it can’t happen again. He adds that even though they can’t be in a relationship, he will be there for her in other ways.

Back on the balcony, Andrew wants to know how bad Bridget’s drug problem was and if Bridget’s problems are putting them in danger. Bridget falsely assures him they’re safe and everything’s fine. This episode makes me miss BREAKING BAD a lot. I wish I had a balcony to go on and think about all of the good times we’ve had together. Alas, I don’t.

Bridget meets up with Charlie the next day, and she vaguely confides in him about Gemma’s disappearance and her role in it. She tells him that the FBI is after the wrong suspect, and since he’s a former cop, she wants him to go to the precinct and look at the evidence for her.

Charlie’s initially reluctant (seriously, Bridget, you’re asking a lot of a guy you have yet to tell your name), but she tells him that she doesn’t have anyone else whom she can trust. Then she reveals her “name,” Siobhan Martin (progress!), so he says he’ll see what he can do. That’s seriously all it took? This show teaches so much about how to persuade men to do stuff for me.

In Wyoming, Malcolm gets off a bus at a rest stop, and he runs into one of the bad guys. It turns out they let him go on purpose so they can follow him, hoping he will lead them to Bridget. Malcolm is able to beat up the guy and escape again. Yay!
After a day or so (Who really knows with this show?), Bridget meets up with Charlie, who was able to get into the precinct. He tells “Siobhan” that Bridget is the only suspect in Gemma’s disappearance. He adds that he thinks it’s suspicious they don’t know where Gemma’s car is, so Bridget tells him it’s at JFK Airport. Harmless, right? Not so much.

If you’ve been missing Juliet this episode (who am I kidding?), don’t worry! She hasn’t overdosed yet. She’s still alive and well, and she’s partying with some friend of hers in NYC. Her friend is drunk, so Juliet is taking care of her. Her friend keeps mentioning that she has to drive some car back to her parents house, but Juliet is actually responsible and tells her friend she won’t let her drive drunk.

Shortly after, Bridget and Andrew have another conversation about honesty. Andrew tells “Siobhan” that she doesn’t have to be ashamed of her family — I mean, it’s not as though she is responsible for her Bridget’s actions, right?

Bridget says she was worried that if she told Andrew the truth, it would change how he feels about her. She adds that no one, even Andrew, is honest 100 percent of the time. Andrew confesses that he wasn’t happy when he first found out Siobhan is pregnant, but he has since realized that it’s a blessing. The baby means everything to him, he says, and he doesn’t want anything bad to happen between them again. Babies solve everything! Too bad the baby doesn’t exist…or does it?

This moment is seriously romantic, and just when I think they will FINALLY kiss (do they even realize that married people actually touch each other?), they hug. But just as I was about to throw something at my TV, they kiss! Hallelujah! They have hormones!

Sadly, this moment is interrupted by a phone call from Mr. C (AKA Jason Dohring, AKA the love of my life). Juliet’s been in an accident, which I’m pretty sure the writers only included so they would have some excuse to use Jason. It doesn’t even make sense why he would call Andrew (Where are the police when you actually need them?). Mr. C says that Juliet called him after the accident because it’s apparently appropriate for students to have their teachers’ phone numbers. Whatever — I shouldn’t even be questioning this. Jason’s on TV!

Andrew gets to the scene of the accident. Juliet and her friend are okay (whew – I was really worried), but Andrew is not too happy. Because her friend was so persistent about getting that damn car back to her parents, Juliet decided to drive it for her and accidentally crashed it. Andrew says he’s done with Juliet, and he decides to cut off her trust fund until she can prove she’s back on track.

This leads to the best line of the night, when Juliet goes up to her friend and says, “You owe me, bitch. Like, $10 million.” So hilarious.

As Andrew’s cleaning up Juliet’s mess, Bridget and Henry go to the grand opening of some building Gemma designed. Even though Gemma’s missing and probably dead, Henry still wanted to hold the event to honor her memory. The building’s actually pretty gorgeous, proving that Gemma was at least good at something.

Henry gets drunk, and after Bridget convinces him to take a cab home, she sees Malcolm at the event. Who cares how he got there or how he knew she was there — I’m just glad he’s alive. Bridget faints when she sees him, and she wakes up in the hospital.

Andrew gets to the hospital and thanks Malcolm (who he doesn’t realize is Malcolm) for helping Bridget. I think Malcolm’s a little jealous of Andrew because he’s kind of rude toward him and just leaves without really saying anything. I guess NYC does change people.

In the next twist of the night, the doctors want to perform an ultrasound to make sure Bridget’s baby is okay. Bridget stupidly hasn’t dealt with this yet, so she panics. Even though she tries to fight it, Andrew is too sweet and concerned to let her go without an ultrasound. Do we find out what happens? Nope.

Finally, we see someone break into Gemma’s car at the airport. It’s Charlie, who opens the trunk and wipes off some blood in the car. He calls someone, who turns out to be…Siobhan! And, no, not “Siobhan.” The real Siobhan! We see in a flashback that Charlie actually attacked Gemma outside of her apartment. She was able to hit him with something, giving him a bloody lip (hence the blood in the car). He follows her into her apartment, where he presumably kills her.

He tells Siobhan that the police will never connect Gemma’s disappearance to him now that he’s wiped the blood off of the car, and he ends the conversation by saying, “Call me with the next move.” What that will be, I have no idea.

Other observations:

• Don’t these people have lawyers? Henry, Andrew and Bridget didn’t have lawyers with them during their interrogations. I’ve seen enough LAW & ORDER episodes to know how dumb this is. They need to put their money to good use!
• Maybe I don’t know as much as I should about investigations, but couldn’t Victor trace where Bridget’s phone is? I’m guessing the FBI can get past blocked numbers.
• I’m guessing Bridget is actually pregnant, especially since Andrew didn’t seem too mad in next week’s preview. She could say she had a miscarriage, but I think that would still make Andrew mad. If she is pregnant, then it’s probably Malcolm’s baby, meaning they didn’t stop “crossing the line” nine months ago. Someone’s going to have to switch babies at the hospital because Bridget won’t be able to talk her way out of having an black baby. Hopefully Andrew is smart enough to know that something would be off.
• For a show where many of the characters deal with addiction, the portrayal of Juliet’s addiction is bothering me. She got over it pretty quickly, which is not realistic at all. Even though I could really care less about Juliet, and I really don’t think RINGER needs anymore drug addiction storylines, I feel as though this should’ve been dealt with better.

What did you think of this week’s RINGER? Do you think Bridget’s pregnant? How is Charlie connected to Siobhan?