Ringer: Series Premiere

She will always be Buffy to me. That is what most people will be thinking while watching Sarah Michelle Gellar in her new show Ringer. And I'll be honest, that’s what persuaded me into watching it. Ringer is about Sarah Michelle Gellar's comeback more than anything else, and that is the biggest problem with the show.

Gellar plays the roles of identical twin sisters: Siobhan, a wealthy, pampered, and in a seemingly fairy tale marriage, and Bridget, who is only six months sober when she becomes the sole witness to a professional mob hit. Fearing for her life, Bridget flees to New York, telling no one of the murder, and reunites with her estranged sister, Siobhan. But just as the two sisters seem to be mending their troubled relationship, Siobhan disappears overboard during a boating trip the two take together, and Bridget abruptly decides to take on her sister’s identity. And through the rest of the episode, Bridget discovers unsettling secrets of Siobhan's life, culminating with the biggest secret of all: Siobhan is wanted… dead. And in that surprise twist, Bridget is now no safer living with her new identity as Siobhan than she was as herself.

Despite the interesting premise, the pilot isn't too promising; the only thing that kept me from completely spacing out was the novelty of Sarah Michelle Gellar in a lead role on TV again. She proved she can carry a whole television series with Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but that was a very different show. And I’d be lying if I said I didn’t miss her affections for consummate vampire ass-kicking: high kicks, sucker punches, and steely glares.

In film and television we are always supposed to have a suspension of disbelief. It is entertainment after all. But Ringer pushes the boundaries of that relationship. We see Bridget attempting to step right into the life of her sister’s, but it happens all too smoothly. Her husband, who she doesn't have a great relationship with, seems to notice something is off, but that’s it. (Seriously? That’s all?) This took me completely out of the flow of the show as I started to think about what an idiot the husband must be to not recognize that the woman standing in front of him is not his wife. Even identical twins are never exactly the same.

But Siobhan’s husband isn’t alone when it comes to falling too easily for the switcheroo. Bridget then deceives Siobhan's close friend, the man she was having an affair with, and her step-daughter, all three of them only making minor references to her “strange behavior.” The audience is expected to feel suspense as she fumbles through her sister's life, fooling the closest people to her without a trace of suspicion from any of them, but it comes across as lazy, short sighted, and stupid. If we think the characters are idiots because they can’t see the obvious, then it’s almost impossible to hope and fear and care about them or the show. Ringer must expand beyond the idea of Bridget secretly portraying her sister if it wants a chance at remaining interesting.

But Ringer is not a complete disaster. It moves along at a quick pace and has secrets and twists around every corner. FBI agent Victor Machado's (played by LOST's Nestor Carbonel) cat and mouse game with Bridget is one of the most interesting story lines since he seems to be the only one who is onto Bridget and her smoke and mirrors game. Sarah Michelle Gellar still looks stunning and will attract her fair share of sexually frustrated bored high school boys, but will that be enough to give this series life? CBS and The CW seem to believe in her enough to let a story like this make it onto the small screen.

It certainly appears as if Sarah Michelle Gellar was relied on for her star power to gain support for the pilot, but without some interesting plot developments within the next few episodes, it looks like this one is headed for cancelled town. Bridget, unlike Buffy, can’t simply slay her way through early disappointments.