Under the Bridge’s Haunting, Hopeful Finale Underscores the Gravity of Mercy and Forgiveness
Photo Courtesy of Hulu
Hulu’s Under the Bridge, the true crime miniseries based on the novel of the same name, is undoubtedly the best true crime series released in recent memory—and, if nothing else, the most respectful to its central victim.
Cataloging the brutal murder of Reena Virk (Vritika Gupta), Under the Bridge examines how growing up Indian in a small Canadian town led Reena down a path that would ultimately result in her death, highlighting the casual cruelty and racism of both the teens responsible for her murder and those charged with bringing them to justice. In the final episode, titled “Mercy Alone,” we finally learn the fate of Reena’s killers, catching the end of the trial, the verdict, and the many appeals that come down the line. But while it is satisfying to see Kelly (Izzy G) and Warren (Javon Walton) get justice served to them (even if that justice feels paltry in Kelly’s case), it’s the smaller moments with Reena’s family, as well as the closure given to Cam (Lily Gladstone) and Rebecca (Riley Keough), that make this finale as satisfying as it is when the final credits roll to bring this miniseries to a close.
In one of the most moving moments of the episode, Rebecca brings Reena’s mother, Suman (played to perfection by Archie Panjabi), to see Warren in prison, to plead with him to testify in Kelly’s trial to insure she doesn’t walk for her daughter’s death. While Suman is understandably angry at and disgusted by Warren, knowing that he aided in taking her daughter’s life, she also shocks both him and the audience with a simple line: “I forgive you.” That single sentence, and the follow-up sentiment that she’s showing Warren kindness because she believes a bit of kindness shown to him could have changed the outcome of that fateful night, reflects the central thesis of this series. Because, of course, Under the Bridge is about sharing Reena’s story and examining how and why these teenagers became murderers overnight, but it is also about forgiveness and mercy, and how we all suffer when we reduce those around us to stereotypes or one-note caricatures rather than real, tangible human beings. Suman understands that despising Warren will only allow those rotten feelings to fester within her; holding anger and hatred for Warren will never bring her daughter back, so instead, she frees herself of that burden and instead offers him forgiveness. In doing so, she exercises the hatred she feels for him and fills that hole in her heart instead with love for Reena, where her daughter will live on forever in her memory.
Similarly, both Cam and Rebecca find themselves on their own journeys with mercy and forgiveness, which each come to a head in this final episode. Cam discovers that she was removed from her birth family when she was a baby, re-homed by the controversial Canadian program AIM, which removed Native babies from their families and placed them in foster care, in the hopes they would end up in white homes. Of course, Cam ended up with her police chief father, lamenting earlier in the episode that she “look[s] like the people that took [her] away.” As the episode comes to a close, Cam tells Rebecca that she’s resigning from the police force and is going to head to Vancouver to find her birth family.