My Review of Ringer's 1x15: "P.S. You're An Idiot"

Written by Robert Berens
Directed by Allan Arkush

Doctor: “Pardon me if this is forward but are you worried your husband is not the father?”
Siobhan: “I’m worried he is.”

I have to admit during that exchange, I ended up letting out a snort because in the space of six years, Siobhan has been determined not to get knocked up by Andrew of all people and now it seems like the babies she’s carrying could be his. Of course if they are, that also puts another dent between Andrew and Bridget as well, doesn’t it?

Siobhan’s reaction to the possibility of Andrew being the father of her unborn children seemed fairly typical – she lied to Henry. Well, she was honest to him about expecting twins but left out the bit where it was possible that he didn’t father them. Then again, she does need him on side so it makes sense that she would keep that piece of information to herself.

Also I just realised that when Henry is trying to be Mr Smart, he’s an even bigger jackass when he’s Mr Confused. Seeing him lording it over Bridget when the latter confronted him about emptying Siobhan’s office and trying to play Malcolm off made me dislike the character even more than usual.

Then again, Henry should probably enjoy the victory while he can because with any luck, things will go south for both him and Siobhan if Bridget and Malcolm continue to work together as a decent team. Henry didn’t exactly seem to like the idea of having to give Bridget those incriminating papers about Martin/Charles but seeing as he’s Siobhan’s pawn, he did it nonetheless.

I’m not sure if I care all that much about Andrew setting up a Ponzi scheme within his company because while the writers might be trying to give him a flaw, they’ll probably just turn it around so that it appeared that Olivia was coercing him all along and considering that Bridget and Malcolm widely suspected Olivia of the scheme, that would make a fair amount of sense.

Olivia is still a troubling character to me. I mean, she has the potential to be a real thorn in everyone’s side but I don’t know if the writers are utilising her enough and while I enjoyed her little scenes with both Malcolm and Bridget, I do feel they could’ve been a bit snappier. Maybe it’s time to get Olivia a bit more involved with the storyline.

Which is what the writers could be doing considering she was given that text to tell her that Malcolm wasn’t the mole at Martin/Charles. It’ll be interesting to see what her scenes with Tyler in Paris will add to up next week if the trailer for the next episode is anything to go by. Maybe it’ll do wonders for the character and Tyler himself too.

Elsewhere when we didn’t have the plotline of Andrew wanting to remarry the woman he thinks is Siobhan and having him confess to the Ponzi scheme, it’s nice that the writers are showing us Juliet’s remorse for the lengths she went to get her trust fun back. Of course, both Carpenter and Catherine are a little less remorseful than Juliet.

In fact, it wasn’t really that much of a shocker to learn that Catherine had actually been sleeping with Carpenter and had orchestrated the whole thing or that she was the one who had Tessa taken care of. That being said, as horrible as Catherine is, she’s become a far more enjoyable character because of it.

I mean, she might not have any problems with putting Andrew in a financial bind of sorts but similarly, I loved the way she screwed Carpenter over in the end and the fact that she ensured Juliet didn’t reveal anything. It’s amazing what a four episode stint can do to a character who didn’t start off so promising.

Also in “P.S. You’re An Idiot”

The title isn’t actually spoken but it’s what Catherine wrote in her goodbye letter to Carpenter, aside from her threat to ruin him if he goes near Juliet.

Andrew (to Bridget): “It’s getting harder to find ways to impress you, so I thought I’d recycle one from your past.”

Siobhan may be the cold hearted twin who likes The Notebook but the rather lovely Bridget is more into Summer Camp Slasher herself.

Bridget (to dress lady): “I’m not the same woman who married Andrew six years ago. If I’m gonna marry him again, he has to know that.”

Catherine (to Carpenter): “You’re gonna stop harassing my daughter and start harassing me.”

The episode gave us some appropriate guy candy this week with Jason Dohring in a towel. At least Carpenter has something going for him.

Siobhan: “Henry, it’s not our baby, it’s babies.”

Andrew: “Let’s both live to be a hundred, okay?”
Siobhan: “Asking a lot of the universe, aren’t you?”

This is the first time we’ve actually had an Andrew/Siobhan flashback and it seems the former is aware of Sean but doesn’t know who he is exactly. Siobhan wasn’t best pleased when Andrew tried to get her to open up about Sean, so I don’t think Henry knows either.

Olivia: “What’s your secret?”
Bridget: “Now if I told you, I’d have to kill you.”

Bridget: “I’m not the person I used to be. I’m still trying to reconcile myself.”
Andrew: “Am I getting the ‘it’s not you, it’s me’ speech from my wife?”

We revisited Pratt Street in this episode as well when Malcolm was digging about Martin/Charles’s scheme and this is the third episode in a row not to feature Victor.

Andrew (to Bridget): “The Ponzi scheme wasn’t Olivia’s idea. It was mine.”

Chronology: It doesn’t seem like much time has passed since “Whores Don’t Make That Much” left off.

There might be a slight improvement when it comes to the quality of the episodes and storytelling, but even with a solid episode like “P.S. You’re An Idiot”, it does seem to be a little too late for this show. Still, at least next week’s episode looks more tension filled.

Rating: 8 out of 10