The Bridge - The Complete Season One

After "Breaking Bad" became a television phenomenon, audiences looked to the FX network for the next compelling offering. Packed with suspense, "The Bridge" may be able to fill the void that opened after Walter White left us -- but it always takes a little time for these things to catch on. Now that this series is out on DVD and Blu-ray, perhaps the popularity of this show will pick up.

When a body is dumped on a bridge that spans the U.S.-Mexico border, two detectives work together to solve a crime of ever-increasing complexity, and to take down a serial killer operating in both countries.

Marco Ruiz (Demian Bichir) is a homicide investigator for the state of Chihuahua, Mexico, living in Ciudad Ju�rez. A family man, Marco is one of the last good men in a corrupt and apathetic police force that is out-gunned by the powerful drug cartels. He's sharp, charming, and observant and painfully aware that his city is in a state of chaos.

His American counterpart, Detective Sonya Cross (Diane Kruger), is meticulously detailed and emotionally disconnected. Though she often makes observations that are brilliantly clever, she can also make choices that seem childish and inept.

An El Paso Times reporter Daniel Frye (Matthew Lillard) becomes a reluctant go-between who will lead the detective to the killer's next step, but this investigation will uncover shocking secrets and relentless danger that neither detective could possibly have imagined.

"The Bridge" is based on a recent Scandinavian crime drama, "Broen" or "Bron," co-produced by companies in both Sweden and Denmark. The original series is so thrilling that it was easy to sell when Shine America took it to FX Productions for an American adaptation. But the intent was to put in on the US and Canada border to maintain the cold winter atmosphere of the original.

Meredith Stiehm ("Cold Case") and Elwood Reid, the series' executive producers and head writers, had a different idea. They felt the conflict would be strengthened by having the two bordering countries be the U.S. and Mexico. This decision has brilliantly amplified the tension for American audiences, as New York Times reporter, Damien Cave, points out in the special feature "Ciudad Juarez: The Other Side of the Bridge."

Issues along the border between our countries echo through the media outlets. Using these facts and our country's fears, "The Bridge," makes Chihuahua into an almost expressionistic world of crime and lawlessness. Real issues are mixed with a serial-killer suspense drama that is actually more mesmerizing than the characters involved. Those characters look good on paper, but wind up less so at the end of an episode. It's as though they have been given features more interesting than the sum of their actions.

That's not to say there isn't some very good acting. Audiences won't forget the character Ted Levine played in the movie "Silence of the Lambs," Buffalo Bill. He was so terrifying, it seemed to ruin his career. We couldn't see him as anyone other than the serial killer he played. But he is surprisingly nurturing and sympathetic in "The Bridge" as the paternal Lieutenant Hank Wade, Sonya Cross' mentor.

Thomas M. Wright is now the enigmatic character Steven Linder who adopts the eerie, emotionally remote monotone that made Levine so menacing in Jonathan Demme's Academy Award-winning movie.

Although Bichir and Kruger are very adept in their roles, they are not as monumental as Bryan Cranston was in "Breaking Bad." Bichir makes a great protagonist -- he's engaging and relatable, but he doesn't have the darkness that helped Kim Bodnia win the Golden Nymph Awards for Best Actor in a Drama Series in the European version of the show.

Kruger defies stereotypes by playing a character with a condition that is rare in women. But this is a difficult disorder to give a protagonist, and her portrayal is more capable than breathtaking.

"The Bridge: Season One"
DVD
4 Disk Set, Widescreen 1.78:1
Subtitles: Spanish/French/English (Closed Captioned)
US Rating: TV-MA
$39.98
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