“Dad, she held my hair back while I was puking. We’re hardly besties.”
-Juliet
The fifth episode of “Ringer” is where the drama really seems to take off. More secrets are revealed, and some crazy, crazy (well, more crazy than usual) stuff starts to go down. I’d kind of like for the show to pause from the drama and develop these characters a little more, but I know this isn’t that kind of show, so I try to not let it get in the way of my enjoyment too much. What we do learn about the characters doesn’t come from their natural interactions so much as the well-timed shocking reveal designed to be shocking. The twists and turns of the plot are fun enough to make “Ringer,” including this episode, good entertainment if you don’t think about it too much. This episode was more fun than some have been because there was some serious plot movement, and with some of the twists that happened, I’m really not at all sure where they’re going to go from here.
The episode picks up pretty soon after the last one left off. Bridget, Andrew, and Henry are all driving home from the Hamptons, and nobody knows where Gemma has gone. It turns out that when Bridget revealed to Gemma that she’s not actually Siobhan, Gemma didn’t take it so well. She doesn’t believe Bridget, and she thinks she’s still standing in front of Siobhan, who has pretty much been the worst friend ever. Bridget and Andrew arrive home to find that the word “whore” has been written in big red letters on the big picture of Siobhan in the front hallway. We’re probably supposed to think that Gemma stopped by and ransacked the place, but it was actually Juliet who was responsible for the vandalism. She’s been having a little drugged-out party with a couple friends, and even though “Siobhan” helped her out the last time she was wasted, Juliet still hates her.
Henry arrives home and sees Gemma there. Gemma has been watching a video of a party with herself, Henry, Siobhan, and Andrew on her computer. She flat out refuses to talk to Henry, even though he really wants to know what has her so upset. As she continues to watch the video on her computer, Gemma notices a prominent scar on Siobhan’s wrist. Meanwhile, over at the Martin household, Bridget starts dealing with Andrew a bit more forcefully about Juliet’s drug use. Andrew has no idea she’s speaking from experience, so he’s kind of confused about how she all of a sudden is full of advice on how to handle a drug addict. He is, however, pretty impressed that she seems to finally be taking an interest in Juliet’s welfare. Sioban never did, apparently.
The next day, Gemma finds Bridget and demands to see her arm. Not surprisingly, there is no scar. Now Gemma finally believes Bridget. Siobhan got her scar from a cooking class, and Gemma seems to have known all about it. Gemma finally believes Bridget, but she’s not at all sympathetic. She thinks what Bridget has done to Siobhan by taking over her life is horrible. She also makes it clear that her first loyalty is to Siobhan, because Siobhan was her friend. I still think she was the worst friend ever, but I guess that must count for something in Gemma’s world.
Back at the Martin home, Juliet sees that her stuff has been rummaged through (thanks to Bridget, who hd earlier been bent on proving to Andrew the severity of what his daughter has been going through). She figures “Siobhan” is the culprit, and she thinks she has the perfect way to get revenge. She starts pulling fancy clothes out of Siobhan’s closet and destroying them. As Juliet starts pulling stuff of the top shelf of the closet (barely missing Bridget’s gun, of course), a pamphlet for Narcotics Anonymous falls to the ground. This leads Juliet to follow Bridget to a meeting. She spies from the doorway as Bridget has a post-meeting chat with a man named Charlie. At dinner that night, Juliet blabs to Andrew that she saw “Siobhan” at NA. She thinks “Siobhan” went to the meeting to check it out as an option for her, and she’s pissed at “Siobhan” interfering so much in her life.
Gemma bizarrely just waltzes in during dinner and says she has something to tell “Siobhan” and Andrew. Of course we’re supposed to think she’s about to dish about the affair and Bridget’s true identity to Andrew. Bridget begs her not to, and it turns out that all Gemma wanted to say was that she can’t work on the loft renovation anymore. Once Andrew leaves the room, Gemma says Bridget owes her a favor in return for her not blabbing. She wants Bridget to sleep with Henry so she has good evidence for the divorce she’s planning. She wants to make use of the infidelity clause in their pre-nup so Henry can’t get any of her money. Gemma gives Bridget an ultimatum; if Bridget doesn’t do as Gemma asks, Gemma will out her true identity to Andrew.
Being asked to sleep with Henry throws Bridget into a pretty serious crisis. We see her all weepy in front of her bedroom mirror, and she comes very, very close to owning a handful of pills. She tries to call Malcolm, but he still won’t pick up (because he’s still being tortured and suffocated by the crime lord, of course). Since she doesn’t really have anywhere else to turn, Bridget ends up meeting with Charlie at a diner. He helps her realize that her sobriety is the most important thing and she shouldn’t do anything to jeopardize it. Something as guilt-inducing as sleeping with Henry would certainly jeopardize Bridget’s sobriety. Charlie also offers to be Bridget’s new sponsor, and since Malcolm has been MIA for so long, Bridget takes him up on the offer. She also takes Charlie’s advice to heart by trying to get Gemma to back down from her ultimatum. Gemma doesn’t budge, though. Not only is she going to tell Andrew the truth, she’s going to tell Victor as well.
Meanwhile, Andrew and Juliet are having a major argument. Andrew wants to send Juliet to public school to get her away from her bad influence friends (isn’t it usually the other way around?). In retaliation, Juliet yells about how Siobhan cheated with a married man. We’re supposed to think this means she knows about Siobhan and Henry’s affair, but again, it’s a fake-out. We’ll see how in just a minute. While Andrew and Juliet are fighting, Bridget meets with Henry at the bar. Henry thinks he’s finally going to be getting lucky again, but instead, Bridget tells him about Gemma’s threat (well, the taking Henry to the cleaners in the divorce part, not the revealing real identities part). She begs Henry to make things right with Gemma so she’ll call off this ridiculous ultimatum. Finding out about the threat just makes Henry pissed, and he wants a confrontation.
A dejected Bridget arrives back at “home,” and Andrew tells her that Juliet “knows.” What she knows, however, is that Siobhan and Andrew’s relationship began as an affair. Andrew was still married to Juliet’s mother when he started seeing Siobhan. This is why Juliet is so bitter towards her. Juliet has snuck out yet again, but thanks to a matchbook from a club (really, do places still give out matchbooks these days?) that she found in Juliet’s room, Bridget thinks she knows where Juliet is. She gives Andrew the matchbook so he can find her and try to talk her down first. Right after Andrew leaves, Gemma shows up to carry out her threat. Somehow Bridget manages to finally talk her down and promises to be a friend, and Gemma starts to feel awful about what she was going to do. It doesn’t seem like the warm fuzzies are going to last for long, though. On Gemma’s cab ride home, Henry calls and starts ranting about what Bridget told him. Oops.
Meanwhile, Andrew and Bridget do indeed find Juliet at the club from the matchbook. Bridget apologizes for Siobhan breaking up Juliet’s family, and Juliet seems to actually appreciate that. At Andrew’s suggestion, she agrees to go home with “Siobhan” in a cab. Once home, she helps wipe the “whore” graffiti off the big photo of Siobhan. Before he can go home himself, Andrew gets a call from Gemma. She says she needs to meet with him right away, and it’s an emergency. When Andrew arrives at Gemma and Henry’s house, however, Henry answers the door and turns Andrew away. As the episode ends, we see Henry close the door and walk through a very blood-spattered room. Clearly something very bad has happened to Gemma.
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