The Bridge (FX TV Series)

Finished watching the first season of the FX TV series 'The Bridge' which is based on the Danish-Swedish TVseries 'Bron'. I'm not going to comment on the Danish-Swedish version since I haven't seen it before and neither do I plan to do so in the near future but I found the American version to be quite good. The series is about an American police detective, Sonya Cross, who is forced to collaborate with her Mexican counterpart, Marco Ruiz, to solve a homicide on a bridge that serves as a border between El-Paso Texas and Juarez Chihuahua. Their attempts to solve the case is complicated by the shady dealings that happen around the border which include corruption, drug cartels, illegal immigrants/ human trafficking etc.  What I find most interesting about the series is that along the way, the duo is introduced to many characters on both sides of the law that may at first seem stereotypical but later revealed to have hidden agendas/secrets and idiosyncrasies. The twist and turns in the plot are many but the second interesting thing that attracts me to the series is the relationship between the two detectives which are excellently played by German actress, Diane Kruger and Mexican actor, Demian Bichir. Unlike other detective series, where the main protagonists of different sexes get romantically involved, both detectives in this series seem to exemplify a real working relationship which, as the series progresses, grows into something akin to comradeship (anyone remember Cagney & Lacey/Starsky & Hutch?). Besides this, Detective Sonya Cross (Diane Kruger) suffers from Asperger (which is not mentioned but only hinted at in the series) and this makes the interactions and dynamics of the relationship between the two detectives an even more interesting watch. Last TV series that had a character (suspected) with Asperger was the BBC series Sherlock and even then it was never mentioned that the great detective himself (potrayed by the excellent Benedict Cumberbatch) suffers from it. In contrast to the the straight and narrow Detective Cross, we have Detective Marco Ruiz (Demian Bichir) on the other side of the border. He is a deeply flawed character but someone who is able to adapt and eventually work with her despite her lack of social skills. Recently, the series was canceled by FX after the second season, which is a shame but you can always catch up on this series on dvd/blu-ray. An interesting watch due to the high production quality, great writing and cast. Will wait for the second season to be released on dvd/blu-ray.

Available on DVD 6th Jan 2015

The Bridge Official Series Trailer FX

(courtesy of FX Networks on YouTube)

Addendum (30th April 2024) : If you are interested in viewing this series for the first time or wish to revisit it, both seasons of this series are now available on Amazon Prime. Unfortunately, the DVD for the second season (there was a Blu-Ray release only for the first season) are not widely available anymore. 

 FX The Bridge Amazon Prime (paid link)

        FX The Bridge Season 1 Blu-Ray Amazon US (paid link)    

   FX The Bridge Season 2 DVD Amazon US (paid link)