Ringer Review

No matter how you spin it, the pilot wasn't the best it could be. Had it been a movie, it would have been amazing. But, as an hour pilot (which should've been at least an 1hr and a half pilot) it suffered greatly. There's a whole complicated world to establish in such a minimal amount of time. Then add in the obvious cuts for broadcast television.

Next comes Sarah Michelle Gellar, a gem. For the most part she was amazing, I cared for her as Bridget. And sold herself as the identical but different Siobhan. However, at times during Sarah's delivery as Bridget, I could've help feeling that I was watching Buffy Summers reincarnated.

Include this with the introductory shot of the statues that reminded me a little too much of the Sunnydale cemetery (actually, nothing involving those statues did I enjoy. For the most part while I'm sure there was an emotional/symbolic connection to Bridget, it looked silly). Also, speaking of silly looking, a lot of the scenes with the twins (while they looked realistic) their backgrounds looked extremely green screen. And while that's a style some shows pull off nicely (i.e. Veronica Mars) this one seemed more cheap, clashing with the nicely done cinematography.

For the most part the direction was nice, but more than once was there poor choices that made the pilot look cheesier than it should have. Specifically when it came to the attack sequence. In fairness, some of the cheesy 1992 zoom shots did get certain thoughts across quickly. But, once again, an insert here and a close up of Gellar's great facial expressions and we would've had the same idea but with a less campy look.

So, in conclusion I had issues with this pilot. HOWEVER, in no way is it not good. It's a pilot that had a lot to get out there and now I feel the best is yet to come. It's like a superhero origin tale. We know the world, we know the people, now it's time to jump on this roller coaster and get this party started.

And I'm not just saying this because Sarah Michelle Gellar is in it. This show has a lot going for it and it's refreshing to have a show like this on the CW (and yes, my confession, I started to wander away from the CW over these past two years).