Warning: This article contains spoilers for Under the Bridge.
The ending of Under the Bridge episode 3 provides further clarity on who murdered Reena Virk and their motivation. The episode starts with Rebecca going to Cam about Josephine’s confession, at which point Rebecca learns that the teen girl lied. The show then cuts to Warren doing laundry at Samara’s house, where she notices the blood spatter. Reena’s mom goes to identify her daughter’s body only to find a bindi burned into her forehead, hinting at a possible racial motivation behind the attack and murder. Flashbacks show Reena growing distant from her family and closer to her friends.
As the show goes on, Cam and Rebecca both end up at a news conference at the memorial. Rebecca gets on good terms with Reena’s uncle, Raj. After that, Rebecca and Cam decide to reconnect at a bar where they drink, dance, and kiss. Cam asks Rebecca for a favor to get more information from Reena’s uncle, so she meets with Raj the next day. When the focus of the episode shifts back to the teens at the end of episode 3, Josephine makes a shocking discovery with massive implications about who killed Reena Virk in Under the Bridge.
The ending of Under the Bridge episode 2 reveals that Reena Virk was murdered, and Josephine couldn’t have killed her, despite her bragging. However, it also provides the first hints about the real killer. Suspicion pointed towards Kelly, but the end of episode 3 confirms that she killed Reena. Josephine finds Reena’s muddy shoes that she wore on the night of her death when going into Kelly’s closet. This would’ve pointed to her as a suspect, but Kelly outright confirms that she killed Reena for Josephine.
Additionally, the scene at the end of Under the Bridge episode 3 with Warren and Samara indicates that he knew Reena was dead. He said he went after Reena across the bridge, and he saw a 187 on the other side, which is slang for murder. Early in the episode, Samara finds blood on his clothes. Combining these two factors, Warren either witnessed up close or participated in the killing. Either way, by keeping this information to himself instead of turning Kelly in, he becomes an accessory to murder.
Future episodes of Under the Bridge will need to clarify what Kelly’s statement means. It seems like Josephine might have expressed to Kelly that she wanted Reena dead. Alternatively, Kelly could have tried to get revenge on Josephine’s behalf even if the other teen didn’t directly ask for it. Further episodes of Under the Bridge will also need to clarify how big of a role Warren played.
After killing Reena Virk in Under the Bridge, Kelly Ellard keeps the girl’s shoes, placing them in her closet. There are a couple of possible reasons why Kelly would’ve taken Reena’s shoes. The main reason for this can be surmised from flashbacks of Kelly and Josephine in addition to the statement about why she killed Reena. Kelly has a deep and unhealthy attachment to Josephine, meaning she’ll do anything to make Josephine happy. In one of the flashbacks, Josephine asks Reena about her boots. Because Kelly saw this interaction, she might have thought that having Reena’s boots would make Josephine happy.
Another possible reason is the lack of impulse control in someone her age. The brain’s prefrontal cortex, which controls logic, emotional regulation, and impulse control doesn’t fully develop until a person is approximately 25 years old (via National Institutes of Health). As such, a teen of Kelly’s age would act on the impulse to take Reena’s shoes without thinking about how they would incriminate her. Lastly, some murderers — usually serial killers — take trophies of their crimes (via Oxygen). It seems Kelly and her friends looked up to criminals. As such, she could have emulated this behavior to be like her idols.
From the start of Under the Bridge, it’s clear that Cam and Rebecca clearly have a history. Their sexual chemistry is off the charts. This builds throughout the first three episodes, leading to a scene where they almost hook up. It’s unknown whether they will end up as a couple, but they show all the signs of the enemies-to-lovers trope. Cam even shows a level of familiarity and affection towards Rebecca when she calls her the nickname “Becca.”
However, something clearly happened in the past that drove a wedge between them. Cam specifically calls her out in Under the Bridge episode 3, saying that Rebecca “wanted to f*ck the f*ck right out of [Cam’s] life.” The previous episodes only drop little hints about what happened. Firstly, Rebecca’s dad knows Cam, showing that their friendship stretches back to when they were kids. This is further confirmed by Cam revealing she was at Seven Oaks, matching up with Rebecca’s statement that her friend lived there previously.
Secondly, Rebecca’s brother died when she was younger. Her dad asks at one point whether Cam was dating Gabe when they were younger. Though Rebecca says no, this points to the fact that Cam was emotionally close to Gabe, enough for Rebecca and Gabe’s dad to notice. Lastly, Rebecca seems to feel deeply emotional and guilty about his death.
Based on all these clues throughout the first three episodes of Under the Bridge, Rebecca and Cam were friends and possibly more as kids, but Cam also was extremely close to Gabe. When he died, Gabe’s death emotionally affected the two, driving a wedge between them. Further episodes of Under the Bridge will likely clarify the events involving Rebecca, Cam, and Gabe.
Under the Bridge episode 3 provides the biggest clue as to what happened to Gabe in Rebecca and Cam’s childhood. When Cam and Rebecca talk about the case, Rebecca asks, “And you don’t think about how that might affect me, watching a f*cking kid’s body get pulled out of the water.” Since her brother’s death hasn’t been explained thus far, it seems highly likely that she was referencing Gabe’s death in Under the Bridge. Based on this statement, it seems that Gabe somehow drowned.
This would match up with the true story of the real Rebecca Godfrey’s brother, Jonathan Godfrey, who drowned at the age of 16 years old (via The New York Times). Additionally, it would explain one scene that previously looked peculiar. After arriving at her childhood home, Rebecca took a bath and dunked her head underwater, holding her breath for quite some time. This could be Rebecca’s way of retraumatizing herself and processing her emotions about Gabe’s death in Under the Bridge if he died by drowning.
Sources: National Institutes of Health, Oxygen, and The New York Times