Under the Bridge episode 8 is full of heartbreak and healing as the teens wrestle with what they did and the last opportunity for justice for Reena Virk arrives.
Creator: Quinn Shephard
Genre: True crime, Drama
Number of episodes: 8
Episode 8 Release Date: May 29, 2024
Where to watch: Hulu
Under the Bridge’s episode 8 is full of heartbreak and healing, and what a ride it has been learning Reena Virk’s (Vritika Gupta, of Launchpad) story—this part of it, at least. Who knows how her life would’ve turned out had she not been the target of adolescent cruelty, anger, and hatred, but, in her death, one thing’s for sure: Reena’s name will forever remain synonymous with anti-bullying awareness.
As the last opportunity for justice arrives, the Shoreline Six wrestle with what they did to Reena Virk, and a radical choice of forgiveness allows for closure.
Episode 8 opens not with just any flashback but with the flashback we’ve all been waiting for: the events that transpired up to Reena’s death. We return to the moment in the beginning when Reena, Jo (Chloe Guidry, of The Park), Kelly (Izzy G., of The Highwaymen), and Dusty (Aiyana Goodfellow, of Invasion) are listening to Biggie Smalls’ new album in Jo’s room and Reena jumps up on the bed, and it is harsh. Jo’s switch is instantly flips, as she scolds Reena to get off her bed, then excludes her from being with them.
The truth is, on the night Reena Virk died, she wasn’t supposed to die at all; she wasn’t even supposed to be beaten. She was supposed to be initiated into the Crip Mafia Cartel, but things went south when Jo and Kelly’s anger took control. After discovering Reena had stolen her address book and was spreading rumors to everyone in it, we see Jo on the phone with Kelly talking about what they should do to Reena, right in front of Kelly’s mother, who hears the malice in her daughter’s voice and the kinds of things she’s saying and doesn’t even bat an eyelash, even when Kelly tells Jo they “should get rid of her”.
Jo agrees they “should kill her”, but after they hang up the phone, Dusty and Jo rap about it more, and Jo decides to make Reena a Crip Mafia Cartel member—she’s impressed: “I didn’t think she had the balls,” she says. Except when Reena arrived at Conner’s (Jared Ager-Foster, of Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency) party that night, things took a turn.
As Jo, Laila (Arta Negahba), and Maya (Maya Da Costa, of The Healing Powers of Dude) chased Reena to underneath Craigflower Bridge, and as Dusty and a host of other teens at the party followed, they taunted and barked at her. But before Jo could tell Reena what was really going on, Reena stood up to Jo: “We’re sick of you doing, saying, and taking what you want,” she says before looking to Dusty to back her up, who does not. Dusty is too scared of Jo. Once Reena told Jo off, the initiation turned into a beating when Jo extinguished her cigarette on Reena’s forehead; then, the Shoreline Six—Jo, Dusty, Laila, Maya, Kelly, and Warren (Javon ‘Wanna’ Walton, of The Umbrella Academy)—jumped her and beat her nearly to death.
In the present, Rebecca (Riley Keough, of Daisy Jones and the Six) reflects in her book on how Reena’s murder has affected the Victoria community: “Parents are now telling their kids to stay away from the bridge, as though it holds some darkness and savagery … dark forces who could beat and attack your daughter, or who could turn your daughter into a brutal, careless thug. Everyone at Shoreline had been told they’re never going out again, as if this darkness is something they can hide from, like it’s not something that lives in us all.”
She can’t help but think of Gabe’s death, and she can’t help but acknowledge the connection she feels to Warren, as she writes about the misunderstood side of him and wrestles with letting him go. She then does just that when he calls and invites her to family therapy day because he has “no one else”. We can see that it—no pun intended—kills Becca to have to say no, but she knows she must. As Warren realizes he really is on his own, it’s hard not to feel sympathy for this kid, despite his role in Reena’s death. He accepts responsibility for his role and is genuinely affected by his actions, which now riddle him full of regret and remorse.
In the wake of the revelations surrounding Reena’s murder, Seven Oaks closes its doors, but not before Cam (Lily Gladstone, of Killers of the Flower Moon) gets her files from when she was there. In sorting through the information, she discovers the truth behind her adoption and realizes everything she’d been told is a lie. At this point, as she’s questioning her allegiance to the justice system, she also finds herself questioning her allegiance to her adoptive family.
And in yet another shocking Under the Bridge revelation, we find out as Cam does that she was not, in fact, a victim of child abuse and of parents who didn’t want her. She was born to Indigenous parents and taken away from them by a group called AIM (Adopt Indian Métis), who were “funded initially by the federal Department of Health and Welfare to determine if advertising Native children on television, radio, and in newspapers across southeastern Saskatchewan would induce families to investigate transracial adoption”. This controversial adoption program lead to the separation of thousands of Indigenous children from their families. How utterly horrifying and heartbreaking.
And this brings us to what the media dubbed as the TRIAL OF KILLER KELLY. The prosecution works to strip her of her innocent veneer to expose the monster inside while the defense places Maya, Laila, and Dusty on the stand and tears them apart, looking to place blame anywhere but on Kelly. Dusty testifies how Reena just wanted to show she could be as tough as them but took it further by spreading rumors and angering Jo. She regrets not having Reena’s back but thought if she did, “they’d come for [her], too”. She further testifies that Kelly was the most aggressive one there, that “she was loving it” before admitting Kelly confessed to her that she killed Reena. But, she says, “We were all a part of this.”
When Kelly takes the stand, her innocent veneer disappears when she loses control and, in addition to acting strangely and speaking with an English accent, starts screaming over and over that she did not kill Reena, she was not there, and she never crossed the bridge. I have to give it up to Izzy G. for an epic meltdown performance.
After the trial, Suman (Archie Panjabi, of Departure) falls into a deep depression, as any mother would after enduring such a trauma. Under the Bridge, and Reena Virk’s story, is a reminder of the ripple effect of our actions and just how truly devastating they can be not just to those involved but to others around. She ultimately decides her only way out of this is through it, so she makes a radical choice and forgives Warren so she can return to being a mother to her other children.
By the end of episode 8, everyone is left raw, numb, and stunned as fates are revealed. The reality of Reena’s story really seeped into the hearts and minds of those in the Victoria community and, on some level, changed them all, as is evident in how they chose to change their lives. As the truth prevails, the guilty are brought to justice, and realities are accepted.
“It’s a strange case for the police of Victoria,” Rebecca reads from her book, “looking for something they don’t want to find. The darkness that leapt out from under the bridge that night wasn’t some malevolent force; it was something oddly human”, and when that’s the case, mercy alone is the only option that leads to closure.
All episodes of Under the Bridge are now available to watch on Hulu. Start your free Hulu trial and read
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