The Bridge is an adaptation of the Danish-Swedish show called (Bron/Broen).

I came across it while I was checking out summer thriller series, and I go between really liking the show and being turned off by it.

The Bridge is like a weird combination of gory thriller, compelling human drama and well, annoying soap. I hate the soap part. Let me walk you over the plot if you haven’t checked it out already:

El Paso detective Sonya Cross (Diane Kruger) and Mexican cop Marco Ruiz (Damien Bichir) find themselves at the same crime scene when a murder has cut a body in half, and well placed it so that half will be on the Mexican and half on American soil. Sonya is a *strange workaholic who follows the rules, and because the victim is an American judge, claims the crime scene is theirs. Marco has no objections.

But it later turns out that one half of the body doesn’t belong to the judge, but a Mexican woman-which also gets the Mexico PD involved.

There is a serial killer out there who is killing Mexican women so that people will pay attention, but he isn’t above trying to kill or threaten others who get in his way.

It doesn’t help matters that the killer loves sending his messages through the substance-loving journalist Daniel Frye (Matthew Lillard), Sonya has a condition which disables her to be sensitive, diplomatic or empathetic, there’s a secret tunnel a widower’s (Annabeth Gish) late husband used for illegal purposes and Marco’s marriage is about to get on shaky ground. And then there is Steven Linder (Thomas M. Wright) who would quite fit the profile of a serial killer, except he seems to be more interested in saving women in some way than killing them….

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I really like the (possibly) Asperger’s syndrome-suffering Sonya and how her condition makes for stressful, difficult or sometimes downright funny situations.

For instance: how Marco’s wife found out a certain thing.

I like how Marco presents a full contrast to Sonya’s rule-abiding and literal behavior and logic.

The serial killer aspect is engaging, chilling and it is fun watching Marco’s interactions with Hank (Sonya’s boss, played by Ted Levine), Sonya and others at the station.

But even though the events might be connected, I absolutely can’t stand the widow, the female Mexican gangster as well as the male one and their interactions with anyone. It feels too much like a soap.

I also don’t understand why we have to see the personal life of every character, minor or major. I am not interested  in Marco’s wife’s life outside of Marco or the kids, the widow’s sex/business partnership with Ray (Bryan Van Holt) or internal/external struggles of Daniel.

So the show ranges from promising to annoying, boring to engaging and back. So far I have seen all episodes, but I did use the fast-forward button at times. I recommend giving it a shot, but be prepared for all the goriness and raunchiness FX allows.

I’m not against gory or raunchy if used well, but I just didn’t see the point of Ray going down on the Mexican mob woman, e.g. I don’t think a lot of viewers enjoyed the scene. Oh well… I’ll give it the next episode for the sake of all the scenes that were worth watching.

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Yeah, I know, I have mixed feelings about the show. I also think each episode can be 5-10 minutes shorter.  I’d watch the original, but I’ve been to movie message boards and know who the killer is there. Ouch.

How do you like The Bridge? And have you seen the original?

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Fun cast note: Matthew Lillard and Diane Kruger worked together before in Wicker Park.

 

Also on Diane Kruger

Unknown starring Liam Neeson, Diane Kruger, January Jones & Aidan Quinn

Wicker Park starring Josh Hartnett, Diane Kruger, Rose Byrne & Matthew Lillard

Copying Beethoven starring Ed Harris, Diane Kruger and Matthew Goode 

The Hunting Party starring Richard Gere, Terrence Howard and Jesse Eisenberg