Ringer - Pilot

Starring: Sarah Michelle Gellar, Kristoffer Polaha, Ioan Gruffudd, Nestor Carbonell, Mike Colter, Tara Summers, Zoey Deutch
Rating: ***

Air Date: 29th September, 8pm - SkyLiving

She is back, and better than ever. After years of waiting Buffy fans can rejoice, because after a good few years away from the small screen Sarah Michelle Gellar is back in the CW's brand new show filled with twists and turns around every corner.

Bridget Kelly (Gellar) is a small town girl who is trying to make a living in life. She struggles for money and has drinking problems, but does what she can to make it through life. She has worked as a stripper and one night she gets picked up by police for prostitution. When they find out they she was a witness to a mob killing, they are willing to let her off if she testifies against the murderer. Realising the seriousness of her situation, she panics and runs away. So with the police on her tail and a murderer looking for her she is in a desperate situation. She ends up finding help in her estranged twin Siobhan Martin (Gellar).  

Siobhan lives the high life, she has lots of money, a nice apartment in New York and a healthy family, but of course not all is as it seems. After getting back together, they hang out and go on a boat trip. Whilst on the water Bridget falls asleep, and when she awakens Siobhan is gone, and she assumes she has killed herself. Seeing this as her opportunity, she replaces her twin and starts living her life. Whilst doing this she discovers not everything is as peachy keen as she thought. Siobhan is having an affair with her best friends husband, her family isn't so happy, and she has her own troubles with the law to deal with. With everything getting on top of Bridget it won't be long before she cracks. Gellar is brilliant in the roles and she plays the two different people extremely well and you can clearly tell she is putting her all into it. I'm just glad to have her back on my screen. 

Andrew (Gruffudd) is Siobhan's husband and is clearly bored of his life, relationship and family setup. There is no love in his relationship with Siobhan and they are clearly ready to split. But once Bridget takes over he sees a different side to her, and then s he discovers Siobhan was pregnant and that changes everything. Gruffudd is really good as the ailing husband and I'm looking forward to how his character will play out in the episodes to come. Henry (Polaha) is Siobhan's bit on the side, and her best friends husband. Straight away it is clear that Bridget isn't happy with the set up, and Henry notices something is wrong instantly. Bridget tries to break it off but he won't have it, and when he finds out she is pregnant (and it's clearly his) he is obviously going to cause trouble. It's going to be fun to see this story arc play out, and I hope the actors involved do it well, which I'm sure they will.

Victor (Carbonell) is the FBI agent hired to keep Bridget safe, but when she runs away he also has to try and catch her. He tracks Siobhan (Bridget) downs in New York and questions her, but she lies and says she doesn't know anything. He is clearly suspicious and when he finds evidence that the twins have been in contact he sets off on his investigation. This is yet another twist and intertwining storyline that adds to the show, and hopefully Carbonell will handle it with ease. Malcolm (Colter) is Bridget's NA Sponsor and is the person she turns to when in trouble. He is the only person to know what she has done, and this puts him in great danger. He wants to help but she won't let him, which puts him in a very awkward situation. Colter is a nice actor and hopefully he will give the character lots of depth, which will make his more dramatic scenes more poignant. Especially when it comes to him knowing her secret and trying to keep it, under pressure.

Gemma (Summer) is Siobhan's best friend and Henry's wife. She is decorating Siobhan's new house, and is a very insecure character. I hope we see more of her in future episodes, as I see her as being the comic relief, but I think Summer will be able to handle the dramatic scenes as well. Juliet (Deutch) is Andrew's daughter and is your typical spoilt rich girl. She gets kicked out of boarding school due to having drugs, and does what she can to make Siobhan and Andrew's lives hell. Hopefully Deutch gets more opportunities to shine, because I think she might be able to add a nice innocent layer to the series.

The writing is quick, clever and really interesting, and I'm looking forward to what they do with the story. There were a few cliche moments and predictable scenes but all in all it was fun to watch, and was good for a pilot. More twists came out in every scene, and I am excited to see how they are resolved and what else there is to learn about these two characters. It airs on SkyLiving in a couple of weeks, and I reckon this is going to be the next big thing. It's fun and exciting and I hope you tune in and appreciate it like I did.