
FX
A review of tonight's “The Bridge” coming up just as soon as I turn up the relaxing strings…
“That war is finally here, in the U.S.” -Marco
Season 2 of “The Bridge” has featured a pretty sprawling narrative – too sprawling, on occasion. But the stories have been converging nicely in the last several weeks, and “Rakshasa” is a fairly streamlined episode. There's action on both sides of the border, but all of it spins out of various factions – the DEA, Sebastian and Eleanor, Marco and Sonya – trying to take down the fugitive Fausto Galvan, and on Fausto's attempts to strike back at his many enemies. No reporters this week, no Linder and Eva freelance revenge squadding, just the bare minimum needed to move this part of the story along.
By the end of another violent hour, the Chopper, the DEA agents, Charlotte, Chip the realtor(*) and the notary are all dead – while Hank is badly wounded but is allowed to crawl away by Cesar, whose life Hank saved during the gunfight – but the major players are still standing, and the game is still to bring down Galvan by any means necessary.
(*) Presumably, this is the massacre whose aftermath Monte P. Flagman got on his shoes in the season's opening scene. Well, it's either that, or Eleanor is going to start using that house to butcher many, many people.
That Joe and his partner have been removed from the board complicates things from the American side. But the heart of the show isn't the feuding between different U.S. federal agencies, but the partnership between Sonya and Marco. In an episode that kills off one of the show's original core characters (if never one of its most interesting), the biggest development is the tentative reconciliation between our two cop heroes.
Now, Sonya being taken out to the desert to be killed by the Chopper is on the more clichéd Woman In Peril end of things that “The Bridge” has tried, but director Guillermo Navarro and his crew did an excellent job capturing the oppressive desert heat and light that would make Sonya's escape so difficult. (Sonya's inability to recognize Marco at first, due to both the position of the sun and her own delirium, was a powerful moment.) And I appreciated that Marco saving her life didn't just magically heal the rift between them. Sonya felt too betrayed, and is too much of a rigid thinker, to simply wave away what she believes to be Marco's sins. But she also recognizes the importance of their working together, and news of the shootout at Red Ridge(**) will only increase the urgency that they find a way to end this war.
(**) Sonya doesn't know about Hank yet, but she's spent the past few episodes feeling let down by the two most important men in her life. Here, one of them saves her from being murdered (and, as has been Marco's wont of late, executes a potential threat to Sonya), while the other is shot up trying to play hero with the two DEA agents. Assuming Hank survives, will Sonya be willing to forgive him for what he cost her?
Another strong outing. Season 2's definitely building up steam. The ratings haven't been good, and I have no idea whether FX (which seems to have an over-abundance of original programming at the moment) wants to continue. But “The Bridge” is definitely starting to live up to its potential at this point.
Some other thoughts:
* I keep failing to note that Sebastian is played by Demián Bichir's brother Bruno, and the sibling resemblance adds an extra level of uncomfortable familiarity to their scenes together.
* At first, I assumed the Juarez cops were planning to abduct Sebastian's daughter like they did Eva, but it turns out they were just arresting her for the drugs, since they had already bothered to put her info into the system by the time Marco came over to ask about her.
* I fear for Cesar, especially once he runs out of erotic vampire books to loan to Eleanor. Once he's taught Jaime everything he knows, will his usefulness to Eleanor be at an end?
What did everybody else think?
Alan Sepinwall may be reached at sepinwall@hitfix.com
i thought the lyle lovett blood scene was from the death of the ear cutting henchman
I thought the same thing, but went back and watched the opening scene of the season. It is absolutely the aftermath of this incident, but it also seems pretty clear that the bloodbath is far from over. It looks like there is a lot more to happen before Monte shows up.
@Mike:
I agree. Eleanor is wearing the same blue shirt she was “then”.
I have been wondering about the opening scene all season since it never really made sense and still doesn’t. Someone has to lose a hand yet, because a severed hand was on the floor as Lyle Lovett walked in.
I was thinking it was the henchman, Chip (but he then reappeared), the DEA agent found in the cupboard …
Not to mention Eleanor is upstairs holding a seriously bloody machete and Jaime’s sucker on the floor. After first viewing, this felt like a massacre. Seriously, go back to the opening scene of the season. It’s just getting started.
What is the CIA’s angle?
They were clearing the way for Sebastian and Grupo Clio by getting rid of Galvan and possibly Eleanor (they were probably behind the raid the Mexican Marines launched against Galvan and definitely behind the killing of the two people on Galvan’s payroll earlier in the season). If it works Sebastian will be the CIA’s man in the drug trade, at worse helping him in the drug trade, at best he will be an informant snitching on any higher officials in the Mexican Government and business world. Don’t know which it is yet. It is possible that the Officer running Sebastian is a rogue operative but I doubt it.
Sorry to hear the ratings haven’t been good. Didn’t Alan say something in a previous review about Spanish speaking audiences watching the show? Hoped that would help. Itsure does get frustrating when the highestquality shows get cancelled
Yes indeed that first scene where we saw Eleanor for the first time was likely a flash forward. I didn’t think so until I noticed that she was wearing the same blue shirt in this episode she was wearing at the very beginning of the season premier. Someone here said it was a flashforward so kudos to him or her!
Can’t say I feel sorry for Charlotte. Ray is going to be heart broken.
I was surprised that the Juarez cops actually just arrested Sebastian’s daughter too. They were actually doing their jobs!
The Calvary will have to come over the hill very fast for Hank to be saved. Cesar can stall Eleanor for only so long.
Auto-correct?
@Ian:
Yep, I meant “Cavalry”, albeit “Calvary” still fits because Hank does need Jesus right now. ;-)
I won’t be happy if FX actually walks away from this show; David Tate aside, I really enjoy this and it can be FX’s show that has something to say (a la The Wire) more than even The Shield ever did.
As for the ep, that was a fun way of ratcheting things up even more. I’m glad Eleanor (and Cesar) avoided death and I’d totally forgotten about the initial opening scene with Lyle Lovett. The “Chopper” was quite the letdown though. Sadism is only terrifying when an attempt at it doesn’t make you look like a moron.
I enjoy this show very much.
I still feel like it doesn’t put all the really good pieces it has together a lot of the time, so I’ll understand a cancellation in a way I wouldn’t other shows. Still, I hope it comes back. When it’s good, it’s excellent, and it does the border better than anything I’ve ever seen on TV.
I thought Alan’s tag (in light of current news) would be:
‘just as soon as I critique your weak [cell phone] passcode”
Would Eleanor really have let Charlotte go? It doesn’t seem like something she would do. I think Eleanor would want to tie up all loose ends, and even if she had not have found out Charlotte’s involvement with the DEA, I just can’t see her allowing Charlotte to “go live her life”.
I dont think Eleanor knew Charlotte was a mole.
They just took the ownership away from her to transfer it to Cerisola’s/CIA’s ppl.
Eleanor seemed surprised when the cops appeared.
“Would Eleanor really have let Charlotte go?”
We’ll never know… but personally, I’m dubious. Not least because Eleanor didn’t actually promise to “let her go” but rather to “free her”… and I think we all know what else *that* might mean!
The whole Chopper thing was disappointing.
But I loved Marco on the rescue :)
It seems someone in the production of the show is very much in love with Kruger’s butt/legs.
Dont blame him/her but ermm…. really that “pee” scene with Chopper was about what exactly?
She was hoping to use sex to save her life. Her reaction to Choppers indifference was telling.
As the gun fight ended I was hoping Cesar would pick up a gun and put Eleanor to sleep.
As far as that being the flash forward scene, I don’t remember all that glass and blood on the floor where Hank crawled out. And there was definitely no clean up before Monte showed up. I just can’t go back to rewatch.
I’d be very surprised if this wasn’t the thing that led up to that scene in the season debut.
We never saw the side sliding door that Hank slithered through in the flash forward in the season debut so there is nothing shown now that would contradict that this was what happened before Monte got there. The blood at the front door that Monte almost slipped in could’ve been from one of Galvan’s assassins that was killed and bled out near the front door. Eleanor’s slow partner Jaime and Cesar likely manhandled most of the bodies away by the time Monte came around with only Charlotte’s body still in the kitchen and the poor notary upstairs.
I’m lost on Eleanor, the acorn and the cage. Did I miss something or is this another enigmatic puzzle set-up for a later explanation.
She explained it to Charlotte and Ray a week or two ago.
She tells the story to Charlotte and Ray in a diner. Her father badly abused her, and Galvan rescued her. The creature in the cave is her father, a neutered pet, who apparently has suffered like that since Eleanor was a teenager. Best if you rewatch the scene in the diner–it is a good one. She tells the story so that Ray realizes who they are dealing with.
I haven’t actually finished this episode, but I’m finding it increasingly difficult to get through them week by week. I can only imagine that the Chopper took Sonya somewhere remote, and began monologuing at length.
The scenes involving the Mexican actors are about the only saving grace of this show left – but the continued (or perhaps even growing – if that’s possible) weakness of the lead actor (Kruger) – coupled with the relentlessly absurd and cliched plot twists – make this show, IMO, something which has utterly failed to deliver on what it promised 2 years ago. How many more seasons do they need to make ‘The Wire of the border’?
Alan, just wanted to let you know that “Rakshasa” is a Sanskrit work that basically means “demon” and many of these demons appear in Hindu mythological stories. I wonder who they are referring to as the demon in this episode? The Chopper, Fausto, Eleanor?
Sorry meant to say “word” not “work”…….