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This review was made possible by screeners of all episode from Hulu for Under the Bridge. Under the Bridge premieres with two episodes on Hulu on April 17th. New episodes are released every Wednesday.
Under The Bridge is a story based on true events that happened in British Columbia. This story follows our main character, Reena Virk (Vritika Gupta), a 14-year-old girl that was growing up in the mid-1990s. Reena is often influenced with what was popular during the time: a lot of Biggie Smalls songs, and rap music in general. She sought out to fit in and wanted to make friends. Income some of the girls from a youth foster home, who pretty much make their own rules.
These girls are influenced by fashion, music, and partying. This seemed to intrigue Reena, who at home had different rules. Her father Manjit and Suman ran a very religious and strict household. Many times throughout the series, it seemed that Reena’s parents treated her differently than her other two siblings. One of the voice of reasons for Reena was her Uncle Raj (Anoop Desai).
Another group that was introduced are the adults within the series. As the audience, we are introduced to police officer Cam Bentland (Lily Gladstone), Captain Roy Bentland (Matt Craven) and Rebecca Godfrey (Riley Keough). Cam is a subordinate to her father, but has ambitions to advance and move away. She thinks she has more to offer as a police officer. One day, Reena’s father and Uncle come in to report that she was missing for three days. As officers do, they think that she must of just been a runaway, even though her uncle said that she always told him where she was going.
Back to Reena, she often struggles wanting to fit in with her friends, she also betrayed her friendship with Josephine (Chloe Guidry). Reena started to spread rumors about Josephine. One night before she went missing, the girls from the foster home invited her to the party. Desperate to be accepted by this group of girls, Reena leaves dinner to meet up with them. Josephine still being mad at the rumors Reena spread, she said to the group let’s take her Under The Bridge.
Many themes throughout the episodes were relatable. As someone who has been bullied, I felt for Reena when Josephine was pointing something out about her. There was one moment on the bed that Reena was singing a Notorious B.I.G. song and jumped on Josephine’s bed. Josephine said to get down, because Reena will break her bed because she was overweight. Bullying happens so much during the middle school and high school years. The series also reveals there were many moments that she doubted herself and struggled with connecting with her Indian heritage. One night she tried to impress her friends and invite them to dinner. Reena told her parents she didn’t want to serve them the Indian food that they usually prepare for dinner.
Back to Rebecca and Cam, they were childhood friends and have known each other for a long time. It also seems that it is blossoming into a relationship, hinted many times throughout the series. Rebecca frequently gets involved with the case, because she is writing a book and came back to her childhood town for inspiration. What was a bit confusing, was that Rebecca involved herself too much with a lot of the teenagers. Many times it felt that Rebecca was the saving grace throughout the entire series.
What I loved about this series is that it took me back to what I struggled with in middle school. Desperately wanting to be the “cool kid” and wanted to be “popular”. In Reena’s eyes she felt that this could be reached easily. I also loved all of the performances, particularly from Gladstone and Keough. They really put some work into bringing their portrayal of real people to life on screen. The stand out performances from some of the teenagers were Warren (Javon Walton) and also Josephine played by Guidry.
This series will break your heart and also make you realize how much bullying is really a problem within schools. There was a running theme throughout the series, as the girl’s often described being “disposable”. It becomes haunting and heartbreaking for girls in the foster care system. It kind of made me realize these girls who were Reena’s “friends”, felt the same exact way inside.
I give this series a 10/10.
Under The Bridge premieres on Hulu on April 17th with two episodes, check out the trailer below.
