It's hard to say whether or not I can actually recommend the first season of The Bridge, even if I admit that I quite liked the show and plan on sticking around for a second season. For the most part, the first season ofThe Bridge revolves around an absurdly complicated serial killer plot that soon loses much of the interesting ideas that seem to be in play in favor of a fairly uninvolving and kind of silly revenge plot that costs the show a lot of its momentum and interest. And yet, for all of that, I still really enjoyed The Bridge, which created a rich, complex world and populated it with truly interesting characters that fascinated me far more than their main story did. Although the serial killer story only ended up using the titular bridge - one that spans the America/Mexico border in El Paso - as backdrop, the show itself used the border and its attendant surroundings in fascinating and complex ways that got to much deeper and thoughtful issues than you might expect from a cop show. Indeed, as you watched The Bridge, the fact that the showrunners so often spoke of The Wire as an inspiration began to seem less and less like hyperbole and more like an honest statement, and at its best times, the show lived up to that high standard. But for all the great moments - many of them coming courtesy of a great supporting cast, including Matthew Lillard as an acerbic reporter struggling with his own addictions and Annabeth Gish as a rich widow who finds opportunity courtesy of a tunnel under the border - the show could never really escape the serial killer storyline, which felt unworthy of the show around it and its ambitions. As the show neared the end of the season, though, that storyline began to wrap up with two episodes to go, and the last stretch found the show expanding into far more interesting and richer storylines. So I don't know if I can entirely recommend The Bridge...and yet, I'm eager to see where the show goes from here, and to see if the show can realize the potential it clearly has.
- Josh Mauthe
- Josh Mauthe
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