Under the Bridge

It is that rare adaptation that’s even richer than its already impressive source.

Riley Keough and Oscar nominee Lily Gladstone, are certainly compelling as the two adult women wrapped up in the investigation, it’s the teen actors who run away with the series. They give the show an unnerving, deeply gut-wrenching sense of volatility and violence, one which makes Under the Bridge almost impossible to look away from.

The result is a riveting and heartbreakingly realistic work.

While it is a triumph in its writing and pacing, it’s the performances that truly carry this series. Gladstone and Keough are phenomenal, especially as their characters reconnect and drift apart; Panjabi is a true force as a mother at her wits’ end. But while the heavy hitters (perhaps expectedly) give tour de force performances, it’s the exceptional outings from the young cast that make this series shine.

Believing it is the key to the success of “Under the Bridge.” The first couple of episodes falter a bit in this category with some dialogue, especially for the young characters, that sounds manufactured, but that falls away as the performers and writers are allowed to flesh out these people beyond how they try to look to other people. Be patient with it. It deserves it.

Under The Bridge has more than enough complications to make for compelling drama, and the first episode gives viewers just enough information about the case to hook them in without getting them frustrated.

Told through the eyes of the victim's family, a First Nations police officer, and a real author who would go on to write about the events, the show maintains a constant sense of surprise and allure for all of its eight episodes.

Thoughtful, empathetic writing and excellent performances make it more than just another dead-girl show.

Sharp and devastating, with a ’90s hip-hop soundtrack laced throughout, “Under the Bridge” is an absorbing examination of cruelty, why some people receive empathy over others and how our own biases can prevent us from recognizing the truth.

Where a lesser series could lean into shock, Under the Bridge refreshingly sidesteps most of this in favor of the darker truths one could spend lifetimes trying to understand. This crystallizes in a final sequence that, rather than settle for a clean resolution, lets the pain that accumulated over the season linger.

The talent fronting this harrowing, haunting eight-part, true-crime limited series is phenomenal. Lily Gladstone, Riley Keough and a gifted cast of newcomers deliver a shocking experience to remember. You won’t know what hit you.

The first two episodes, which debut on April 17, are the best, but every episode has its merits. “Under the Bridge” could have been a great six-episode series. As it stands, it’s a good eight-episode series.

Shephard (and others) muddy the waters with detail that isn’t necessary. Gladstone gets her own family disconnects and has a tie to Reena that makes the case important. But Godfrey’s approach doesn’t always emerge as acceptable. To fully understand what’s at play, “Under the Bridge” needed footnotes that didn’t require whole episodes of backstory.

Under the Bridge, adapted for television by Quinn Shephard, works admirably hard to differentiate itself. It is both solemn and furious about its story.

There is an angry sexual energy between Rebecca and Cam whose source will no doubt be revealed in subsequent episodes, but which, nonetheless is irrelevant, and extraneous, to the main storyline. This is not the only unrelated, fabricated side storyline on Under the Bridge, which would benefit from some streamlining. The central story is riveting enough without these random and inconsequential side ones.

Like so many series, it takes more episodes than it needs to tell its story, and struggles occasionally to settle on a point of view. But it’s gripping, a retelling of a true-life story that is heartbreaking and frustrating.

Though there are many well-written scenes — the performances would not be so impressive if there weren’t — over eight episodes, the series, with its shifting attention and skips back and forth in time, loses emotional force; it sustains one’s interest, certainly, but less so one’s sympathies.

“Under the Bridge” deals with tough material, but it’s relatively easy to watch if you’re braced for the anguished gloom that accompanies most true-crime tales (one that’s amplified here by the stormy skies and pervasive sogginess of its Northwestern locale). But if you’re a true-crime veteran, you’ve also seen this story and heard these points before, only with ample attention and insight.

Despite the uneven writing, the performances in Under the Bridge are consistently superb.