Under The Bridge Episode 8 Fact-Check: 8 Biggest True Story Changes & Inaccuracies

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Under the Bridge.

Summary The show made changes to the true story for narrative and pacing, condensing significant events for dramatic effect.

Cam's adoption story reflects the real AIM program that affected around 20,000 Native Canadians in history.

The drama of Kelly Ellard's testimony on the stand was minimized in Hulu's Under the Bridge while still maintaining the drama.

While wrapping up the story, Hulu’s Under the Bridge makes numerous changes to the true story facts. Under the Bridge has finally finished with episode 8, “Mercy Alone,” outlining what happened to Reena Virk the night of her murder and depicting the first murder trial of Kelly Ellard. Because the Kelly Ellard trials stretched over such a long period and included a lot of drama, the writers needed to find a way to condense the biggest moments into a single episode.

In the process of finishing the story, Under the Bridge makes changes to the true story. Unfortunately, the justice system can be extremely tedious, stopping and starting many times. Some of these changes simply condense the timeline so that the legal process is consumable. Other changes have kernels of truth even though they deviate from the facts. Ultimately, the majority of these changes have a positive benefit to the show’s narrative and pacing.

8 Cam Discovering The Adopt Indian And Metis Program Reflected The Truth Of Around 20,000 Native Canadians

Cam Might Not Have Existed But Thousands Of Real Native Canadians Did

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A large part of Cam’s character arc in Under the Bridge is the fact that she is a First Nations woman who was adopted by a white family. In Under the Bridge episode 8, Cam finds out about her real past. Because Cam was created solely for this show, her discovering her adoption information and learning about the Adopt Indian and Metis program was fictionalized. There is no police officer in the real story of Reena Virk who is identified as having gone through this.

However, that doesn’t mean there isn’t a core of truth to this part of her story arc. The AIM program was a real and horrifying part of Canadian history that occurred alongside the Sixties Scoop. Approximately 20,000 First Nations, Metis, and Inuit children were taken from their families and placed up for adoption, often staying in foster care until they found a placement (via The University of British Columbia). This is the reason why Cam was at Seven Oaks in the series. Ultimately, she represented families ripped apart by racism and corrupt governmental policies.

7 Kelly Cut Her Hair Before The First Trial

Kelly Ellard Had A Makeunder Before Her Trial

Throughout Under the Bridge episode 8, Kelly Ellard looks and sounds relatively the same – besides one weird moment in the trial where she starts using a British accent. However, this does not reflect the reality of what happened. According to Rebecca Godfrey’s Under the Bridge, Kelly showed up to her first trial with a pageboy haircut and changed her vocal tone to sound like a little girl – very saccharine and demure. At one point, she used a British accent, and at another, she used a Valley Girl accent.

The real-life appearance change is a not-too-uncommon tactic for high-profile trials, where the person on trial gets a makeunder to make themselves seem innocent. While it’s not confirmed that this is the reason for Kelly’s change in appearance and vocal patterns, it certainly seems plausible, especially since she had one of the best lawyers available. He probably would have known how to influence the judge and jury.

6 Jo Didn’t Tell Dusty Reena’s Attack Was An Initiation

Dusty's Motivation In The Attack Is Changed In Under the Bridge

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In the show Under the Bridge, Dusty is genuinely friends with Reena and hesitant to hurt her. To get her on board, Josephine tells Dusty that the attack on Reena that night is going to be an initiation into the Crip Mafia Cartel in the same way that some gangs beat up their initiates. This is a massive deviation from the true story. In Godfrey’s book, Dusty has a vendetta against Reena Virk because her ex-boyfriend Jack got together with her rival.

However, it’s worth noting that Reena wasn’t the only person on whom Dusty took out her anger. She also lashed out in other ways. That night, Reena just happened to be the emotional and physical punching back for Dusty’s anger at life. As such, Dusty willingly becomes involved in the attack on Reena in the real story. This one element is the biggest change of Dusty Pace in Under the Bridge and the biggest signifier that the character in the Hulu show is an amalgamation of teens rather than an exact copy of the book.

5 Maya’s Credibility Wasn't Discredited Because Of Cannabis

Kelly's Defense Attorney Implied Maya Was In Love With Warren Glowatski

While on the stand in Under the Bridge episode 8, Kelly Ellard’s defense lawyer tears down Maya’s credibility by asking her whether she is a frequent user of cannabis. It’s certainly possible that she used cannabis at some point; however, being a frequent cannabis user is not a trait that describes Maya in Rebecca Godfrey‘s book. Rather, it describes Maya’s best friend, Willow.

Willow is one of the attackers of Reena Virk, but her character was one of two Shoreline Six members removed from the TV show. Instead of using cannabis as a weapon against Maya, Adrian Brooks implied that Maya was the person responsible for Reena Virk’s death because she was in love with Warren Glowatski. The proof of this was as flimsy as the assertion – the fact that Maya accepted collect calls from Warren Glowatski. However, the defense didn’t actually have to prove an alternative theory. All they needed to do was introduce reasonable doubt.

4 Rebecca Godfrey Had No Part In Warren And Suman Meeting In Real Life

Warren Glowatski Met The Virks Through His Restorative Justice Program

In Hulu’s Under the Bridge, Rebecca Godfrey helps set up a meeting between Suman Virk and Warren Glowatski. This allows Suman to offer him forgiveness for murdering Reena Virk. While the Virk really did meet with Warren after the events of Under the Bridge, it occurred under very different circumstances. According to Reena: A Father’s Story by Manjit Virk, the effort for Glowatski and the Virks to meet started after Dave Gustafson and Sandi Bergen’s Restorative Justice program contacted Warren about the Victim Offender Mediation Program (VOMP). The Virks initially felt emotional and resistant to the idea of meeting Warren.

However, after he willingly testified at Kelly Ellard’s second trial, Manjit and Suman Virk decided to say yes to meeting Warren through the program. The three first met in late fall of 2005 in the basement of a church, not in a prison. They only met at a detainment facility twice, during his first and second parole meetings. These incidents were relayed to Rebecca Godfrey and included in the Afterword of Under the Bridge’s 2019 reprint, but she wasn’t involved in arranging the meetings. This is just another example of Hulu's Under the Bridge unnecessarily inserting the character of Rebecca into the story.

3 Warren Didn’t Testify At Kelly’s First Trial

Warren Glowatski Refused To Testify Due To The Danger He Would Face

Hulu’s Under the Bridge condensed events from the first and second trials, likely for narrative purposes, changing out some small but important details. One of these changes is the fact that Warren didn’t testify at Kelly Ellard’s first trial because, according to Godfrey’s book, she felt that doing so would put his life in danger. At that time, he hadn’t yet been moved to a minimum-security prison, and he lived alongside people who had no qualms about harming others.

His prisonmates directly told him that he would be either beaten or killed if he went on the stand as a court witness, and snitching wasn’t tolerated. As such, he couldn’t even tell the court exactly why he wouldn’t testify, lest he face “prison justice.” Consequently, Warren Glowatski went in front of Madame Justice Morrison to be sentenced for contempt of court because he refused to take the witness stand. However, Warren changed his tune by the time Kelly’s second trial came around, deciding to testify even if it put him in danger because he owed it to the Virks.

2 Kelly’s Outburst On The Stand Occurred During The Second Trial (And Was Much More Dramatic)

Kelly Ellard Switched Back And Forth Between Robotic And Yelling While On The Stand

One of the most tense and dramatic moments in Under the Bridge episode 8, “Mercy Alone,” occurs when Kelly begins screaming on the stand about her innocence. Even though this occurs during the first trial in the show, it actually happened during the second trial. The show pulled Kelly's monologue almost word for word from Rebecca Godfrey's account of the testimony on the stand. Part of the way through her testimony on the stand, Kelly Ellard screamed:

“I did not kill Reena Virk, and I will repeat it and repeat it, and I will stick with that until the day I die! I don’t care how much jail time I do, I did not kill Reena Virk. I will still say I did not kill Reena Virk until the day I die. I don’t care if I get another life sentence, but I did not kill Reena Virk.”

However, despite this being the end of that scene in the Hulu miniseries, the outburst continued after they took a break in court. The interrogation got more dramatic over time. Kelly proceeded to repeat, “I did not kill Reena Virk,” or a variation of that statement at least six more times. Then, she said, “I did not cross the bridge,” at least twenty-three times in a row. She went back and forth between speaking robotically and screaming at the prosecutor, Catherine Murray.

Eventually, Kelly Ellard broke down when telling Murray to stop questioning her because she was obviously going to be convicted. She sobbed on the stand for quite some time before saying, “I didn’t kill Reena Virk” one last time. Shockingly, Ellard was wrong because this trial ended in a mistrial due to a hung jury.

1 Kelly Ellard Didn’t Spend The Entire Time Between Her Trials In Custody

Kelly Ellard Was In And Out Of Jail Between Her Trials

After Kelly is sentenced to five years in Hulu’s Under the Bridge, she is shown going back to the juvenile detention center where Jo, Maya, and Laila are being held. This scene implies that she spent the time between her trials in custody. However, according to Rebecca Godfrey’s book, Kelly was almost immediately let out of jail and placed under house arrest because she “poses no threat to society,” a statement by the judge which is a slap in the face to Reena Virk, her family, and everyone who testified at her trial.

Kelly Ellard was put back into a jail cell temporarily during the appeal hearing and then released on bail after the Court overturned the guilty verdict and ordered a new trial. She was once again on house arrest for a period until a Chief Justice loosened her bail conditions. Only two months after this, Kelly Ellard’s bail was revoked after an alleged assault of a woman. Ellard stayed in jail for the next four months until her second trial. By implying Kelly spent the time between trials in juvie, Hulu’s Under the Bridge dismissed the immense privilege of the teenager.

Sources: Reena: A Father's Story by Manjit Virk, The University of British Columbia, and Under the Bridge by Rebecca Godfrey