I very much enjoyed the first episode (90 minutes total) of FX's "The Bridge". The show is an American adaptation of a Danish/Swedish series. The main characters are a US detective (Sonya Cross) and a Mexican detective (Marco Ruiz). The scene opens with a bisected dead body on the Bridge of Americas (which is located between El Paso TX and Juarez Mexico). Well it's actually two different bodies so there is a serial killer on the loose. There's also a wealthy American husband and wife. When we first meet them they are in an ambulance trying to cross to the US because the husband is having a heart attack. He tells the wife (Charlotte) he doesn't love her and wants a divorce. He dies shortly thereafter. She finds his password protected phone and a mysterious key. She asks the ranch hand Cesar if he knows. At first he denies any knowledge but when pressed takes her to a house that has all the windows papered up and a padlocked room in the basement. Wonder what's in there? And how much money do you have to have a house on your property that you've never been to?
"The Bridge" reminds me of "The Americans" (which is another FX show) in that it takes a topic that I'm not particularly interested in (US/Mexico relations or the Cold War) and adds compelling characters that make you want to keep watching. So far I've found Sonya to be interesting. When she asks callous questions of one of the victim's husbands, she says she's "sorry I failed to provide empathy" as he tosses her out the door. She apparently has Aspergers Syndrome. Her boss Hank tries to help her display appropriate emotions. Marco is the polar opposite to Sonya. He is very friendly with everyone. Sonya's trying to report him for letting the ambulance through in the beginning scene will put a damper on their relationship.
And did anyone pick up on the fact that the actor who plays Hank (Ted Levine) was Buffalo Bill in "The Silence of the Lambs"? I kept staring at him till it finally dawned on me. "It puts the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again" still makes me squeal like a little girl.
Death toll: 4- the judge, Cristina Fuentes, Charlotte's husband (heart attack) and maybe the girl in the trailer in the desert.
From Wikipedia:
Episode 1: Pilot (since all first shows are named "Pilot")
The lights go out on the Bridge of the Americas, plunging the US-Mexican border into darkness. When power is restored, Judge Lorraine Gates's body is found directly on the border line. Both El Paso Detective Sonya Cross (Diane Kruger) and Chihuahua Detective Marco Ruiz (Demián Bichir) arrive on the scene. Ruiz allows an ambulance with Charlotte Millwright (Annabeth Gish) and her husband (Robert R. Shafer), who is having a heart attack, to cross back into the States. When Gates's body is moved, it comes apart at the waist. The coroner (Mary Pat Gleason) informs Cross and supervisor Lt. Hank Wade (Ted Levine) that the top part of the body is Gates's, but the bottom part is a young Hispanic female's, later identified as Cristina Fuentes. Ruiz matches Fuentes with a previous case where 25 dismembered bodies were found in a "death house," one of many body drop sites. The judge's car and her lower half are found, but her ID card is missing. Ruiz considers it the killer's trophy. Meanwhile, the person (Thomas M. Wright) who dropped the body off at the bridge has abducted Eva Guerra (Sandra EcheverrÃa), his next intended victim. The car the abductor had used is traced to reporter Daniel Frye (Matthew Lillard), but he becomes trapped inside by an apparent bomb with a timer. The timer elapses, leaving a message saying this crime wave is "only the beginning." Elsewhere, Charlotte's husband has died and she goes through his personal effects at their ranch. She finds a second cell phone, which is password protected, and is hung up on when she answers a call. She also finds a key in his wallet. She asks a ranch hand (Alejandro Patino) about both. He doesn't know about the phone, but takes her to a remote cabin on the ranch. In its cellar, she finds a padlocked door which the key unlocks.
Grade: 4 Monsters (out of 5). If you're not watching "The Bridge" you should be. I very much enjoyed the first episode and am looking forward to next week already.
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