A female murder victim is dumped across the border line on the bridge that connects Ciudad Juarez and El Paso. When the victim proves to be victims, one half American judge, the other half Mexican unfortunate, a task force is set up that brings together Marco Ruiz, the only honest cop in Juarez, and Sonya Cross, the Asperger genius of the El Paso Police Dept. I don't know which sounds more improbable on paper, but in action I was able to suspend my disbelief as I watched Demian Bichir's performance. I couldn't do that for Diana Kruger's idiot savant, much as I like her. The story is propelled by the crimes of an evil genius who in the beginning dons the guise of a crazed do-gooder trying to expose the injustices of the border but in the ends reveals himself to be on a personal vendetta against Ruiz, a vendetta that ends in one of the most brutal and heartbreaking deaths that I've seen on television. Behind this plot are various machinations connected to the drug trade and the missing girls of Juarez. I liked this plot, especially since I couldn't predict most of the twists at the first half, but of course I've seen this kind of story, whether well done or not, many times, and I wouldn't find this one memorable just because it was good. What I will remember about The Bridge is the setting, a world more colorful and desperate and horrible that any one fiend could create, and the characters, who were developed fully, even if that meant slowing the story down. I have been irritated when crime authors, like P. D. James and Elizabeth George, slow their novels to a glacial pace just to make every character three dimensional. I didn't mind it much here, since the characters were well written and well acted, and their needs and wants fueled the plot, instead of vice versa. I found it a great show, though often wrenching to watch.
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