When it comes to true crime series, it’s rare to hear of teenage girls participating in murder. But it does happen, on occasion, and one instance is now portrayed in Under the Bridge, based on Rebecca Godfrey’s non-fiction account of the murder of Reena Virk. As Virk goes missing, the show alternates between different perspectives, with Archie Panjabi and Ezra Farouke as Virk’s concerned parents, Chloe Guidry as foster child queen bee Josephine Bell (name replacing that of one of the real perpetrators), and deviating from the real case, Lily Gladstone leading the case as fictional cop Cam Bentland, and Riley Keough as Godfrey herself. With the number of shifts, it does occasionally feel like it loses focus, but the deviations make the introduction feel compelling, especially with the performances of the whole ensemble.
"Under the Bridge deals with tough material, but it's relatively easy to watch if you're braced for the anguished gloom that accompanies most true-crime tales. But if you're a true-crime veteran, you've also seen this story and heard these points before."
— Ben Travers
"“Under the Bridge” offers an unblinking look at the ways we fail each other and, perhaps more importantly, ourselves."
— Cristina Escobar
Fourteen-year old Reena Virk went to join friends at a party and never returned home. Through the eyes of Rebecca Godfrey and a local police officer, learn the hidden world of the young girls accused of the murder — revealing startling truths about the unlikely killer.
After skipping a family dinner to join friends at a party, 14-year-old delinquent Reena Virk hasn’t returned home, which isn’t surprising to the municipality of Saanich… until seven teenage girls and one boy are suspected of her murder.
The real life Godfrey had Under the Bridge published eight years after the events of the case, so it was unlikely that she was present at the investigation in Saanich, but her portrayal here allows the show, like the book, to delve into the possible motives behind the murder, as Keough as Godfrey positions herself as the sole empathetic, adult presence in the foster girls’ lives.
Lily Gladstone and Riley Keough are excellent here!
