Has Ringer Become Ridiculous?

Don’t you just hate it when this happens?

You get into a show, investing time into a series and then just when you’ve passed the point of no return it starts to go south! Unfortunately that’s what’s starting to happen with one of my Fall favorites, Ringer.

I’ve been in DVR catch up mode this last week – and so I only just caught the Ringer Fall finale. And I hate to say it, but the Sarah Michelle Gellar saga is in imminent danger of collapsing under its own weight.

Okay so Ringer wasn’t exactly realistic from the start! The tale of twin sisters who swap identities after one of the twins goes missing, but guess what, she’s still alive and conspiring against her sibling – was never going to be believable TV. But I don’t mind suspending my disbelief to a certain extent for the entertainment value of a show.

But there’s crazy – and then there’s just plain insulting!

In last week’s Ringer finale, corrupt cop Charlie fired a gun at point blank range at kidnapped Gemma who was trussed up in the back of his car. And yet moments later Gemma popped back up claiming that Charlie’s shot had missed her! Let me say that again. He fired at her at point blank range. She was tied up. He’s a cop!

Okay,  so then Gemma hits Charlie in the head and leaves him dazed on the ground. But then instead of smacking the crap out of the guy she starts searching his clothes for keys, and then scuttles away – but guess what Charlie is alive and shoots her anyway – thereby making the last five minutes totally pointless!

Then Siobhan (the bad, rich twin) turns up, shoots Charlie and tries to frame him for the murder / suicide. But as she places the gun in his hand – his darn finger twitches. And NO-ONE on the Ringer production team thought to reshoot the shot! Seriously? (Then again this is a show that allowed the single worst blue-screen sequence of the last decade to make it on air in the show pilot!)

Elsewhere in Ringer we have Malcolm, the sponsor of Bridget (the poor, trashy twin) addicted to smack – again – and yet two episodes later clean, sober and fully functioning. And how about Siobhan’s step-daughter accusing her teacher of rape, one of the oldest, most cliché ridden storylines in the book.

It all adds up to a show that feels like it doesn’t really know where it’s going and is kind of making it up as it goes along. At this point – and we’re only 10 episodes into the first season – it’s hard to keep track of who knows what and why they’re doing what they’re doing in the first place. At this rate can you imagine where we’ll be by the end of the first series?

I hate to keep comparing Ringer to Revenge, but both are essentially primetime soap operas so it’s hard not to draw parallels. And I’d be the first to admit that Revenge is ridiculous too! But what Revenge has done very well is taken a central story and spin off multiple characters – and their plotlines – effectively and believably. So while the core story is still Emily Thorne’s revenge plot, we now have the ‘who shot Daniel’ story, Tyler, the gay hustler trying to wheedle his way into the Grayson’s fortunes, double dealing Nolan, the ‘Poison Ivy’-like Amanda, Declan and Charlotte’s clandestine relationship and the recently comatose Lydia bent on getting back at her love rival Victoria.

With Ringer though it’s pretty much all Sarah Michelle Gellar all the time. That’s the danger of casting a star in a soap, there’s not much oxygen for the rest of the cast.

I said all along that Ringer would have played better as a one-season wonder – like the telenovelas it most closely resembles. But The CW would clearly love for Ringer to run and run, and who can blame them after all the publicity they pumped into the show. But just like other recent high profile series like The Event and Flash Forward, Ringer is more of a one shot idea. And audiences know when a story is being stretched to breaking point. Just look at the Fall finale viewing figures – just 1.60 million – the show’s second lowest rating to date. This isn’t a show that’s building buzz, as Revenge is.

Anyway, I’ll still stick with Ringer – for now – but when the show returns in the New Year it better have some great tricks up its sleeve. If not I’m afraid I’ll be jumping ship in the Spring!

But what do you think? Are you a Ringer fan? Or have you given up on the show? And how much longer do you think the show can sustain? Comment away…