Reviews, Health, and Other Stuff: The Bridge

Welcome

Welcome to my ever-evolving blog. It started out as a blog on Beachbody workouts and products, mainly when I was a Beachbody coach. I no longer coach, not because I don't believe in Beachbody's programs (I subscribe to Beachbody on Demand and use their workouts every day), I am just not a salesperson and hated that aspect of it. I am more than willing to answer questions about my experiences with their products and the various workouts, and I feel freer to do so without the appearance of giving a biased review of something.

I have also started adding reviews for various things I have purchased like movies, books, CDs, and other products. This was brought about by a fight with Amazon in which all of my reviews were removed over a completely bullshit allegation that I posted a review that violated their terms of service. After going back and forth with the morons in the community-reviews department (even after they admitted that my posts did not violate their guidelines) they restored my account (which took them six months to do), but I have been posting my reviews on my blog to have them preserved in case something like that happens again. And here, I will post uncensored reviews so I will swear from time to time and post reviews that may be longer than Amazon's character limit. Everything I post here on any topic or product is my personal opinion, and I take no compensation for any product reviews I post. I am a member of Amazon's vine program and because I get those products for free, I keep those reviews on Amazon only, but everything I have purchased with my own money, whether from Amazon or some other store/website/outlet, I will post here.

I also plan to do some longer blog posts on various topics, such as how to learn physics, how to get through calculus, and longer reviews of workout programs as I do them. Basically, whatever strikes me as interesting at the time. As you can see if you navigate around the blog, I had many years in between postings. During that time I was going back to school to get an engineering degree, and learning material that I avoided my first time through college was a different experience and one that gave me a lot of insight into how to do well in those classes, which I will try to impart here for those who are looking to get a science or engineering degree.

Tuesday, August 30, 2022

DVD/TV Series Review: The Bridge: Season 2

Season one of the Bridge was pretty closely aligned with the original source material, i.e., the Danish show from which it was adapted. Of course, it added other elements in specific to the Juarez-El Paso border, specifically, the police corruption in Mexico, the drug cartels, and the illegal border crossing to bolster the main murder mystery. Of course, that was resolved in season one, so in season two, the focus of the series shifts to the side stories of season one. So, this season really gets into the Mexican police corruption and the cartels. Where Marco (Demián Bichir) was the outsider in season one with the bulk of the show being set in El Paso, this time Sonya ( Diane Kruger ) is the outsider in Mexico for much of the season. This season also sees Franka Potente added to the cast as a fixer for the cartel named Eleanor Nacht who comes to El Paso and leaves a trail of bodies in her wake.

Unlike the season one release, which did get a Blu-Ray release, season two was only released on DVD. It got caught up in the physical media shifting from Blu-Ray back to DVD for many TV series because of lackluster Blu-Ray sales. So, unless the show was massively popular and had good overall physical media sales, they were no longer getting Blu-Ray releases. That said, the DVD set does have a handful of extras, including a couple of making-of featurettes and deleted scenes. So, it was more than just a MOD set which a lot of Fox series have become if they even get a DVD release.

Overall, the season was good but rushed. I believe the series was canceled before the season finished filming, so it seems like the writers crammed a bunch of material into the second half of the season to wrap up as many of the storylines as possible. But, it definitely does not feel like that show ever got a true series finale. So, while it is worth watching, it may not be a satisfying ending for you.