‘Ringer’ Recap (Season 1, Episode 17): Malcolm’s Missing (again)

Okay, enough waffling. I’m pro-Ringer.

(For now, anyway.)

We still don’t know exactly what went down at that hotel, but Tyler is dead and Olivia has his flash drive–or so she thought, because it turns out to be a fake. The genuine article was gone before she got there. But Siobhan apparently hasn’t got it either, going by what she’s telling Henry. Andrew thinks Biobhan might have it, but even though he acts kind of nasty to her, he comes away believing that she has no clue what flash drive he’s talking about.

Anyway, while Tyler was meeting his maker, Andrew went to see Malcolm, remember? We don’t know what words were said, but Malcolm’s gone missing. He doesn’t turn up for his meeting with Agent Machado, and Bridget still can’t get in touch with him. So while Machado turns the investigative might of the FBI to the task of finding him, Biobhan and her faithful driver Solomon try to track him using the magic GPS Mal installed on his and B’s phones. But it’s no good–his phone got thrown away and wound up in the hands of some junkie. A current junkie, as opposed the the former junkie in question.

So B and Solomon go to Malcolm’s hotel to steal the security footage showing visitors to Malcolm’s room. This ends up making it inaccessible first to Andrew, who comes by looking to steal it, and then to Machado, who comes by looking to review it. When he finds out about Andrews interest in it, it makes him suspicious that Andrew did something to Malcolm. Bridget comes to the same conclusion while reviewing the footage, but tells Solomon she can’t go to the police. She won’t tell him why, but he’s guessed: because she’s Bridget, and not Siobhan as she claims. She’s a bit shocked. How did he know? Short version: because he’s not a moron. but he has no interest in outing her, so that’s nice.

Meanwhile, Juliet’s having a nice, happy day. She tells her daddy she loves him, urges him to work things out with Biobhan, goes to visit her mom, who gives her expensive jewelry, and even meets a hunky guy with a tattoo who flirts with her. He’s all cool and edge, because he says he punched a wall when his boss made him mad. And then she meets Tessa–good news, Tessa’s doing better! At least, she is until she sees a picture of Juliet’s new crush: she recognizes the tattoo. It’s the man who beat her! Juliet’s afraid he’s after her now, so she runs to her mother–and sees that someone’s punched a hole in Catherine’s wall. Juliet puts two and two together and realizes that her mother’s a lying bitch.

Speaking of lying bitches, Henry’s getting a bit tired of Siobhan’s dancing around the truth, so she finally lays out her motivations and her grand plan. Most of this info is stuff we knew already, but it’s good to have it all stitched together.

To recap:

Siobhan always blamed Bridget for her son’s death, and so she always ignored Bridget’s attempts to contact her. But six months ago, Siobhan found out about Andrew’s criminal activity and Andrew threatened to kill her (she’s got a recording as evidence!). Suddenly she saw away to escape Andrew’s crosshairs and get revenge on Bridget: trick him into killing B instead! That way, Siobhan would be free to investigate Andrew and turn evidence over to the police. The only problem was, Bridget suddenly wanted to stay put, so she could testify against Bodaway Macawi. So Siobhan had to pay off Officer Jimmy to scare her and make her run. Once Bridget showed up on her door… well, the rest is history.

And that’s the story. But lest you think Siobhan’s being completely honest with Henry now, she’s still telling him that Bridget killed Gemma, and that the twins she’s pregnant with are his.

Henry texts Bridget and says he’s coming over to meet her, but this is just a ploy to keep her at home while Siobhan goes to talk to Andrew. Pretending to be Biobhan, she says she never loved Andrew, and she’s going to turn Andrew in to the SEC. When Siobhan gets home to Henry, the two cackle. Now Andrew will have to kill Bridget!

While Bridget waits for henry, she gets a text (claiming to be) from Malcolm, asking her to meet him at the loft. Before she rushes out, she runs into Juliet, who’s quite distraught. But there’s no time for that now! Malcolm needs her! When Bridget and Solomon get to the loft, Solomon checks the roof for bad guys. Andrew pops out to confront Biobhan. But it’s not to kill her–he’s there to tell her he loves her no matter what, even if she hates him. D’aaaaw.

But just then!

An unseen assailant fires a shot! Andrew is down. By the time Agent Machado arrives on the scene, Solomon and Bridget are standing over a critically wounded Andrew, who threw himself in front of the bullet. And nary a Malcolm in sight!

I don’t know if something in my brain has snapped from watching too much show, or if it’s gotten dramatically better, or if it’s just that I’ve watched enough hours to become automatically invested in these characters, but I’m increasingly finding that Ringer just works for me. Not only am I addicted to the constant twists and turns, but I’m also genuinely affected by the show’s attempts at poignancy. When Andrew confesses his undying love to a (very confused) Bridget, or when Juliet runs crying from her mother and into the arms of Bridget, whom she used to hate, all I really want is for these three crazy rich assholes to stop with all the secrets and lies and just be one big happy family.

None of these characters (even Bridget) are particularly great people, but they inspire one another to try to be. And that’s what’s really been at stake over these past few episodes. It’s an important shift. In the early episodes, the pressing questions were things like “Is Andrew the one who wanted Siobhan dead?” Now, we’re asking questions more along the lines of “What kind of person is Andrew, and how has he changed?” In short, Biobhan has made Andrew a better person, and focusing on that has made Ringer a better show.

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