I Have a Ton of Questions After ‘Under the Bridge’ Episode 2
Where is Reena Virk? That is the question on everyone’s minds in episode 2 of Hulu’s new series Under the Bridge. If you’re still catching up: The show follows the true story of Virk’s disappearance in 1997. To solve the mystery, writer named Rebecca (Riley Keough) teams up with Cam (Lily Gladstone), a local cop. To their understanding, Reena (Vritika Gupta) was last seen at a party, where she was brutally attacked beneath a bridge. Security footage says otherwise.
Let’s backtrack a bit. In episode 1, we learn that Reena wanted to fit in with a group of girls, and in a desperate attempt to prove herself, she went after the clique’s ringleader, Josephine (Chloe Guidry). All Reena wanted was a sense of belonging. Maybe some respect, too. Instead, she was the victim of catastrophic bullying.
Episode 2 takes us back in time to Reena’s birthday. At breakfast, her father, Manjit (Ezra Faroque Khan), serves her a plate of eggs and fruit. “I just kind of wanted something special,” she tells her mother, Suman (Archie Panjabi). Her family are Jehovah’s Witnesses, so cake and candles are off the table. “Reena,” Suman says, “you remember what we learned at Kingdom Hall, that the day of one’s death is better than the day of one's birth.”
Later on, Reena’s classmates ridicule her for not shaving her legs. One person calls her a “beast,” and everyone laughs. That afternoon, Reena heads to the drugstore to buy a razor. She meets Josephine while perusing the aisle. (“I’m Jo—basically a legend around here.”) Josephine helps Reena pick a razor (the men’s ones are sharper) and then teaches her how to steal. The petty crime impresses Reena, who seemingly has never done anything rebellious. Before they leave, Josephine invites her to a party, and that night, Reena sneaks out to meet them. When she shows up, she sheepishly admits it’s her birthday, then swells with happiness when Josephine’s friend, Dusty (Aiyanna Goodfellow), acknowledges it. Someone cares. To Reena, that may as well be a miracle.
Cut to the present day. Reena is still missing, and none of the kids involved will talk—except for Josephine, who called Rebecca for backup at the police station. Josephine tells her that the police are investigating her for a homicide. Except! A disgruntled cop announces there is no homicide. Josephine and her friends can go home. Remember that security footage? Well, it shows Reena stumbling away. Battered, clearly…but alive.
Rebecca takes Josephine to a diner and they get to talking. The teenager reveals that her mother abandoned her and ran off with her boyfriend, which is why she lives at a foster-care center. Rebecca reluctantly admits that her brother died when they were kids, which might explain why she hasn’t been back home in more than a decade. When Josephine finally makes a dent in her strawberry milkshake, she is ready to talk about what’s really important. “Remember that girl Reena I told you about?” she asks. “She was not my friend. She wanted to ruin my life. She told everyone I was, like, an AIDS victim.” Then Josephine tells Rebecca she’ll take her to where Reena was attacked—only if the writer agrees to take her to New York. It’s a whole thing.
Josephine and Dusty take Rebecca under the bridge, where Josephine provides her recollection of events. She says Reena “kept talking shit,” so she put out her cigarette on her forehead. “We had a plan to teach Reena a lesson, so when I did that, everyone just jumped on her,” she said. “We broke her teeth, we kicked her in the stomach, but she started screaming—so we knocked her out.”
Something about her story seems…unlikely. It’s unnecessarily brutal—and she tells it with a grim sense of pride. (This is the kid who idolizes John Gotti, remember?) Then, to Dusty’s surprise, Josephine says she stayed behind after everyone went home, then followed Reena and pushed her over the bridge and into the water. “Why do you think everyone’s saying she’s in the gorge?” she blurts.
That evening, Cam pays Dusty a visit. She’s investigating a mysterious caller who keeps phoning the Virks, and the calls appear to come from Seven Oaks—the foster-care facility where Dusty and Josephine live. After some intense questioning, Dusty admits she’s the one contacting Reena’s family. “I was just calling to see if she picked up.” During their conversation, Cam’s phone rings: Reena is dead. A group of bird watchers found her body. Dusty, understandably, freaks out. To her understanding, Josephine is responsible for the murder—but she’s too scared to tell Cam.
She does, however, reveal that curfew is at midnight at Seven Oaks. On the night of Reena’s death, Dusty returned home at around 11:45 p.m., and she claims that Josephine came home afterward. Cam suspects that Josephine is responsible but can’t prove it. She rechecks the security footage, where time stamps show Reena above the bridge at 11:47 p.m. If Josephine killed Reena, she would’ve had to do it and make it home in thirteen minutes. Cam tests the theory by driving to the bridge, parking until 11:47 p.m., then tracing the route. She makes it to Seven Oaks by 12:04 a.m. (while speeding with her sirens on!). Meaning: Josephine isn’t the killer.
The episode ends with Josephine and Kelly watching the news at a party. “What the fuck,” Josephine says while watching divers pull Reena’s body from the water. “She’s dead?” Indeed. Someone is responsible for the murder of Reena Virk. Now the question is: Who?
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