‘Under The Bridge’ Episode 1 Recap & Ending Explained: What Did Cam Bentland Find?

Under the Bridge, inspired by the works of Manjit Virk and Rebecca Godfrey, made us privy to a nerve-racking incident that shook society and brought a lot of serious social issues to light. There was something really wrong with the girls and the boys living on Vancouver Island, and the authorities didn’t pay any attention to it until a tragedy occurred and an innocent soul lost her life. So, let’s find out what happened in the first episode and what kind of conflicts Reena Virk was facing within her.

Spoiler Alert

What was bothering Reena? 

At the very beginning of Under the Bridge episode 1, we saw that something was troubling Reena, and be it Raj, her uncle, or her parents, everybody believed that she was just acting rebellious for no good reason. Reena was very temperamental, and it was quite evident by the way she reacted when Raj asked her to spend some more time with the family. Reena often used to stay at the Seven Oaks foster home together with Josephine, Dusty, and other girls, and that greatly bothered her parents. Suman wanted her kid to behave a certain way and have certain values, but there was so much going on in Reena’s head that she was just not in a state to listen to anybody. Reena wanted validation from Josephine, who apparently ran a group called CAM, which was the short form for Crip Mafia Cartel. For Reena, being a part of that group was the most important thing, and she tried to win Josephine over and make her happy. One thing that we got to know about Josephine was that, apart from being a bully, she aspired to be a criminal like John Gotti in life. She believed that in order to get something, one needed to assert their authority. She told Dusty Kelly and Reena how she went to a party the other day and snatched a piece of jewelry from a girl who was showing it off. Josephine said that the girl invited her to the party after that, as she knew that the former was not somebody to be messed with. This incident made us realize Josephine was totally on the wrong path, and she needed some serious guidance and counseling. Reena had left the foster home, but she still went to visit the girls. Josephine insulted Reena whenever she got a chance, and when she was leaving for Connor Field’s house, she told him explicitly that she was not invited there. Reena felt extremely bad, and she decided to teach Josephine a lesson, not knowing the kind of sadistic and wicked person she was dealing with. 

What did Reena do to Josephine? 

So, Reena took Josephine’s notebook, and she started calling everybody with whom Josephine used to hang out. Reena spread all sorts of misinformation about Josephine, but her intention was not to cause any permanent damage. Reena called Connor and told her that Josephine was suffering from AIDS, and when Josephine came to meet Connor, he told her about it. Obviously, Josephine was not going to take it nicely, and once she got to know what Reena was upto she made up her mind to teach her a lesson.

At that moment in Under the Bridge episode 1, nobody knew the extent to which Josephine was ready to go. The problem with the girls was that they were not able to say no to Josephine. They followed her wherever she went, even when they knew that it could land them in trouble. Dusty actually cared for Reena, but she still didn’t inform her that Josephine was not calling her to the party because she wanted to mend their relationship. The moment Reena got a call from Josephine, she rushed to the spot where the party was happening. Reena was having a meal with her family after a very long time. She didn’t care whether her mother or father felt bad, as she was way too excited to be invited by the gang she aspired to be a part of. 

Why did Rebecca come back to Vancouver Island? 

Rebecca Godfrey had come back to her hometown because she wanted to write a novel about how the girls living in Victoria were misunderstood. She was living in New York, but she decided that she would move back as she needed to interview people and gather all the data that she could. She went to Seven Oaks, and she requested the warden, Martha, let her interview a few girls there. This was at the time when Reena was already missing, and Josephine and others had not told anyone about it. Rebecca heard Josephine when she was talking to the warden about Reena. Josephine pretended that she didn’t know where Reena was, but she was worried about her. Rebecca gave her card to Josephine and asked her to call her in case she felt like talking. Josephine saw that Rebecca stayed in New York, and that attracted her way too much. Rebecca got to know a lot of things about these girls. She got to know how people used to refer to them as BIC, i.e., girls who are disposable. These girls had accepted the fact that they were not going to do any good in their lives, and so they were adamant about getting involved in all sorts of illicit activities. The government agencies had gravely failed in rehabilitating these girls, and that became one of the sole reasons for the murder of Reena Virk. 

What did Cam Bentland find on the CCTV camera? 

On the fateful night of November 14th, 1997, Reena very excitedly went to CraigFlower Bridge, but moments after reaching there, she realized that the girls hadn’t called her to reconcile. Reena ran to save her life, but Josephine, Kelly, and others got the better of her. They dragged her under the Bridge and assaulted her brutally. Reena’s parents went to the police station, where, apart from Cam Bentland, nobody was interested in hearing their sob story. Cam’s colleague even disrespected Reena by referring her as a BIC, and Raj and Manjit realized that they were just wasting their energy by hoping that the police would help their cause. But Cam just couldn’t ignore the pain that was there in Manjit’s eyes. She decided to fight for their cause, and she asked her father, who was also her superior, to allow her to go to the waterway with the diving team. Cam found Reena’s undergarments in the water body, and she brought them back to show them to the latter’s parents and get confirmation. Suman told Cam that the clothing belonged to Reena, and that was the moment when the former knew that her child had been killed. The members of the CAM group (Josephine Bell, Kelly Ellard, Laila Zahravi, Maya Longette, Dusty Pace, and Warren Glowatski) were taken into custody, and they were asked to call their parents as they were all minors. No one came for Josephine, and so she called Rebecca, as she had met the woman just a few days ago. Rebecca came to the police station, and Josephine told her at the end of the Bridge that she would tell her a secret. Josephine had no remorse whatsoever on her face, and in fact, she felt this kind of excitement, like she had accomplished some feat that would make her the next John Gotti. 

At the end of Under the Bridge episode 1, we saw that the police found the CCTV footage of that night, and they saw how Reena was dragged by her colleagues and assaulted. Surprisingly, after the group of girls and boys left, Reena also came out from there. She looked severely injured, and she was barely able to walk properly. Cam knew that something happened under that bridge, and she needed to question the girls at any cost. The episode left us on that cliffhanger, and we would get to know in the subsequent episodes what happened to Reena and if her colleagues got punished for what they did.