Sarah Michelle Gellar’s back in Ringer! Unfortunately, other than a few parts with the character Bridget that gave me Buffy deja vu, she didn’t bring any of her original series’ mojo back with her. The critics seem almost unanimously decided that the pilot didn’t make the best entrance.

In the end, however, it’s the fans’ opinions that will end up speaking the loudest. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly why most thought the “Pilot” was so bad: the production values, writing, or because it was just a mess. But let’s start with the most glaringly obvious problem:

Siobhan: I was wondering how you’d look after six years.
Bridget: Not nearly as good as you.

The Production Values

For a pilot originally created by one of the major networks, CBS, before being given to The CW, it looks worse production-wise than any of the other CW pilots. A lot of television critics, who saw it months ago, even expected the special effects to have been updated since then. Nope, that boat scene complete with green screen was still as bad as ever.

Siobhan: Bridget, Andrew doesn’t exactly know about you.
Bridget: About my visiting?
Siobhan: He doesn’t know I have a sister.

The Ridiculous Scenes

Or maybe it was the shoddy writing. First, I’m just going to mention how ridiculous I found it that Bridget, while pretending she’s Siobhan, would hide a gun in a place where people are going to be working. And then later, when she gets in a fight there, she just happens to be next to the gun right when she needs it.

But that’s really only one incident. Surely, the series can only go up from there, right? Too bad, it’s already used most of its potential storylines up in the first episode. Siobahn drowned, so I’ll take her place! Siobhan had a teenage step-daughter who hates her! Siobhan had a secret lover! Siobhan was pregnant! Siobhan had people out to kill her! But wait, Siobhan’s still alive!

Bridget: It looks just like my house. Except not at all.

What does it want to be?

The most important flaw of the series, that will affect it for episodes to come, is how it doesn’t know what it wants to be. For the first half, the show had a fair dose of mystery, ominous lighting, and killers for hire. So does it want to be a serious noir piece? Then as we continued watching, there was also plenty of silliness after Bridgett easily stepped into Siobahn’ shoes and the show started its funhouse of mirrors. So maybe it’s trying to be a melodramatic campy soap?

Sarah Michelle Gellar even seems unsure what to do with the two characters she’s been given. You can tell at times she wants to burst out and do more, but there’s something holding her back. (You really can’t tell the difference between the twins or Bridget pretending to be Siobhan.) Then, there’s the also the rest of the characters that are flat and merely exist to revolve around Bridget.

Bridget: Siobhan I don’t wanna be the sister you have to pretend doesn’t exist.

Ringer premiered this week with ok ratings, but the question is will the audience continue watching in the weeks to come? Is the glamor of Sarah Michelle Gellar being back on television enough to get people to tune in if the quality just isn’t there? We’ll have to wait and see.

Next week:

Uh, oh. Siobhan isn’t happy Bridget is taking over her life.