Audrina then tells her feelings about the breaking-in. It happened on the night of the Oscars. The door was again left unlocked. She thought that someone would kill her and locked herself in the closet and started shaking when she found out. She described it as “the most terrifying night of her life”. Audrina was out for revenge. She gave the surveillance video to the police. They also took family heirlooms and the robbery then became personal. Greg Kading was the lead detective in the county and took the case. ..
They then talk about the beginning of the influencer era at that point when magazines and print media became secondary. It marked the start of digital organizations like TMZ and the epidemic of paparazzi. The police used it to speak out to the younger generation to scope out the culprits. “Exploiting the moment” is what celeb culture is about, TMZ’s chief says. While Nick was on with the thefts, Alexis focused on her career in Hollywood. Dan Levy, an actor from Frat Party, a film Tess and Alexis were doing, called them. He talked to them about the pilot of a reality tv show. Their lives were broadcast on television. They would essentially be the “poor man’s Kardashians”.
Nick and Rachel were caught burglarizing the home of Rachel Bilson in Los Feliz, CA. Bilson was in New York for a fashion event at the time and her closet was full of designer accessories. The couple had been caught speeding on the night of the burglary, but no charges were filed. The burglars targeted Bilson’s home because it was in a more affluent area than their previous targets. Bilson’s boyfriend, Alexis Ohanian, drove Nick and Rachel to her house with stolen clothes so they could make their choice. ..
After the burglaries, Alexis knew that Nick was involved. She called him and told him that they had been caught and that they needed to get the clothes back. But their mother said they were being lent them the clothes by a stylist. Some belongings of the celebrities that were taken were too personal to be overlooked. Like Audrina’s heirlooms or Bilsen’s mother’s engagement ring. These things cannot be replaced. The producers from E! Entertainment called them back and picked up the show for the pilot. Nick was cast as a B-character on Alexis’ behest but was quickly dismissed due to his incompetence.
Andrea was an overbearing mother and suffocated her daughters. She was a realistically driven woman and made her daughters dependent on her. She didn’t want to be abandoned like her own mother. The sisters were then hooked on Oxycontin. It is an extremely addictive opiate. Andrea was getting worried that it would take a toll on their reality show and hence ousted Tess. Alexis followed her and went to Nick’s. That’s when Alexis wanted to become a part of the group. But Alexis denies it on the camera. Nick eventually decided against it.
Orlando Bloom was next. The highest profile star yet. He was shooting a movie when the group decided to strike. Alexis went on that run to get more money for drugs. Rachel brought a friend too, Diana. Alexis claims on camera that she was under the effect of drugs on the run but Nick denies it in the next scene. Alexis claims she wasn’t aware of whose house that night. Nick denies it again. Another thing he said about the issue of Alexis peeing in the house. And then some more contradictory accounts of how Alexis felt and how readily she took to the burgling.
Nick says that Alexis came to the documentary with the intention of saving face. The wealth that lured him and she got caught up in the lifestyle made her scared and she called her mother to move back in with her. The police now see them as serial burglars because of their recent spree. The ring wanted to be celebrities by stealing other people’s stuff, but this emotion of looking perfect led them into doing all of it. Nick was especially enticed by the idea of becoming a celebrity himself. ..
The reality show changed the girls’ attitude. They started distancing themselves from Nick. Tess somehow was able to meet Kid rock. Alexis also mentions talking to a huge actor from Hollywood. The girls were drawn by this new world and would disappear for days on the stretch in the private jets of older men, Andrea explains. But she had done the same and didn’t bother probing more or stopping them. Lindsay Lohan became the face of LA from 08-10. Nick felt he wanted to emulate all of Lohan’s antics and shenanigans. They hit her house.
The trio left with loads of stuff from the house in both burglaries. But this time, the police got more substantial clues about the perpetrators’ identity- connecting the Patridge and Lohan burglaries. Nick panicked and moved the stolen cargo from his house to a stronger facility at his grandmother’s. ..
Tess and Alexis, burdened with guilt, called the police and gave them a description of the burglar. The police went on to Facebook, compared his face with the photos they had of the suspect, and were certain they’d found their guy. ..
The Episode Review
I think the Sofia Coppola movie and the burglaries committed in it have lost their luster for me. Granted, the insights into the members of the ring and the truth about appearances are fascinating at times. But they’re not enough to keep me glued to my television screen.
The Bling Ring is a film about a group of people who use the internet to buy and sell items that they believe are worth more than their real value. The film follows the detectives who investigate the group, as they try to figure out what was going on and why these people were so interested in buying and selling things that were only worth a fraction of their true value.
The film-makers seem to have been inspired by a true story of a group of criminals who were caught on camera. However, the documentary-like feel is not what the film-makers wanted. They wanted to explore the psychology of crime and how it manifests itself in real life. Unfortunately, this didn’t quite work out as they had hoped.
