Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: The Bridge: Season 1

 

The Bridge was a crime drama that aired on FX for two seasons. The 13 episodes of the first season aired during the summer and fall of 2013. The series starred Diane Kruger, Demian Bichir, Ted Levine, Annabeth Gish, Thomas M. Wright, Matthew Lillard, and Emily Rios. The series is a US adaptation of a Danish series of the same name. The series is set on the border of El Paso, Texas, and Juárez, Mexico. There is a murder on the bridge between the two cities. Kruger's character, Detective Sonya Cross, investigates the murder from the US side, and Bichir's character, Detective Marco Ruiz, investigates from the Mexican side. The series deals with the drug trade on both sides of the border, human trafficking, and general corruption, as well as trying to catch the serial killer responsible for the body on the bridge. 

The Blu-Ray set is a three-disc set. The A/V quality is wonderful, and the show looks great in HD, with some great visuals of the desert landscape and the mountain regions. The extras include a commentary track on the pilot episode with the series creator and members of the cast, about thirty minutes of making-of material, and about twenty minutes of deleted scenes. So, while there are only a few extras,  what was included was fine. Overall, the series is good. It develops the story well throughout the thirteen episodes and does not give away too much too soon. It is well-written and very well-acted, with Kruger doing a lot of the heavy lifting playing a character with Asperger's, which causes her to be very blunt and have a non-existent brain-to-mouth filter (which can be pretty hilarious). It is primarily a drama/thriller combination with some dark humor thrown in here and there. It was definitely original for American TV and not like anything else that was on at the time. If you like crime dramas, this is definitely worth checking out and holds up pretty well despite being off the air for a few years.