TV Review: The Bridge 1.3, "Rio"
rating: 4
The Bridge is a series which should be as well talked up as the other stellarbreak-out series of 2013 such as The Americans (another FX production), House of Cards, Orphan Black, Rectify, Utopia, Vikings, and Hannibal. Far superior to ratings power-houses such as The Following, Under the Dome, or even the older The Walking Dead (of which I'm a fan), The Bridge is not only making the most of its character development and world-building, but consistently and efficiently setting up narratives which will inevitably collide for those genuine, Oh, shit! moments viewers love so much. Rio gave us a few of those (which were relatively minor to the reveals I believe we'll eventually see, yet no less effective), but even more impressive than the construction of scenes which elicit shock and awe derived from careful character development is the series' use of ambiguity to create real suspense and genuine intrigue. When I first wrote about this show I supposed based on its promotional campaign that it was as much concerned with doing justice to its apparent noir sensibilities as it was its procedural influences, and I was right. Like so many of the dark, pulpy mysteries of film and television which spawned whole genres, The Bridge is an actual mystery story. Unlike weaker contemporary efforts such as The Event or The River, series which utterly failed to earn their supposedly mysterious intrigue, aiming for effective ambiguity and instead achieving sloppy vagueness, The Bridge is drawing its audience in by keeping them in the dark, a tightrope walk most shows can't successfully pull off. For example, one of my favorite aspects of the story so far is the fact that it's uncertain if Steven Linder, the sideburns and moisturizer enthusiast, is the so-called Bridge Butcher, one of the many depraved men whom exploit the lax and corrupt circumstances in Juarez (to which the Butcher is trying to call attention), or actually a misunderstood good Samaritan. Steven has definitely been cast in a super creepy light, plus there are those sideburns I mentioned as well as the lotion and Buffalo Bill voice (hey, Ted Levine!), but even having locked Eva in his motor home near the site of the nine poisoned immigrants and burning her clothes and personal effects (save her phone and ID, like the judge the Butcher killed), we haven't actually seen him kill anyone. But we have seen him. Whereas when we do see the Bridge Butcher, we never see his face. What we have seen Steven definitively do is work at a homeless shelter and search for Marina, a missing girl whom may or may not be Steven's estranged sister, a story Sonya believes and therefore one I do too. Sonya may have Asperger's, but she's displayed a sensitivity to displays of uncommon human emotions (such as when she talked down Daniel Frye when it seemed the car he was trapped in would explode any second) so I trust her assessment that Steven was telling the truth about Marina. In addition to the activities and motives of Steven Linder, those surrounding the man looking for Eva Guerra are also ambiguous. Though we only saw him briefly this episode, ramifications of the murder he committed last episode of Steven's neighbor played a major role as they brought Steven into the interrogation room. Though I suspect this man is actually Eva's pimp as opposed to her brother or boyfriend, his relation to the absent woman is unclear. If he is Eva's pimp then maybe Steven is even more of a man who tries to help people than he let on. It definitely doesn't look good that Steven locked Eva in that motor home against her will and later burned her clothes, but maybe he helped her escape her life in Juarez to America as opposed to murdering her. They key difference here is that which distinguishes being ambiguous from being vague purpose. Whereas it's unclear what exactly motivates Steven and the man tracking Eva, what we've seen of them isn't contradictory or aimless. On the contrary, their ambiguity has purpose and will lead to substantially meaningful scenes such as their near encounter in the alley. If Eva's tracker is her pimp and Steven was her (albeit awkward and creepy) savior (which I think is the case), how much more meaningful and intense would their confrontation have been than if they're each merely the type of despicable man the Butcher is trying to prevent from hurting more women? Speaking of ambiguity and the Butcher, I love the juxtaposition of how honorable and morally upstanding his intentions and goals are working toward cracking down on the conditions which facilitate the hundreds of unsolved murders and exploitation of young women in Juarez and how horrible and morally repugnant his methods of achieving those goals are. Again, this is more ambiguity which is used not to attain a false sense of suspense and intrigue which eventually falls apart, but to force the audience to consider the moral quandaries of whether the ends justify the means, and whether illegal acts are truly unjust when legal methods fail to achieve justice. The Butcher isn't the only character embodying effective juxtaposition. When Charlotte comes to the El Paso Police Department and opts to talk with Marco over Sonya, Sonya looks subtly but deeply hurt despite her clear inability to navigate the murky waters of human social interaction. Diane Kruger is brilliant for being able to consistently communicate such deep emotions through a character whom simultaneously exhibits a lack of understanding of emotions' role in social settings. This contrast is another risky tightrope walk few other series manage to pull off but Kruger is absolutely nailing it. In terms of those aforementioned jaw-dropping moments from the episode, in addition to Steven and Eva's tracker's near encounter, there was also the Godfathered horse in Charlotte's barn, her and Marco's impromptu liaison (booo!), and the more superficial (but still shocking) headshot we saw escalate from a simple financial dispute at the market (which led Frye and Adriana to her family's home in Mexico where we learn how much of an asshole Frye can be as well as how strong Adriana is). Considering all these substantial moments, I can't wait to see where the other threads introduced this episode will lead such as Gus' continued poor academic performance and attraction to Sonya, Sonya's bar friend returning, and that weirdo deputy (Stokes) who killed a coyote like Vlad the Impaler for supposedly disturbing a crime scene being written off as spooky but dumb. The Bridge is clearly one of the most purposeful and capable series on TV and I'm sure that by the end of this season the seeds its been planting in these first few episodes will have blossomed into arcs as satisfying as its subject matter is disturbing.