There were times during “Quetzalcoatl” where The Bridge addressed its viewers in the way that I sometimes talk to my four year-old. The show slowly and very carefully explained what was going on. At one point the action almost paused as Daniel laid out the crux of the season to Hank. He and Adriana had discovered a “covert CIA operation that helps Fausto Galvan launder money and move shipments of drugs over the border.”
Even though we’ve know the gist of what’s been going on, it’s great to have it spelled out. Sonya asks the most important question: Why is the CIA doing this? What are they getting in exchange? “The DEA is trying to bust Fausto while the CIA is trying to help him,” Hank marvels. What they all realize is that, no matter what is happening or why, this cartel/drug train will keep moving. If Sonya et. al. take out Fausto Galvan and arrest Eleanor, new people will come to take their place. Captain Robles has already made an easy transition to dealing with someone new.
Sonya finally cracks the code in Eleanor’s ledger, but it’s too late. She and Hank are one step behind her “clean up” as she destroys evidence and kills all those involved. It was a little unbelievable that Hank could rise from his hospital bed, cowboy up and join Sonya in her pursuit of Eleanor. But I like Hank as a character so much, that I was willing to just go with it. “The CIA put Eleanor back on the street. Either you don’t know about it, or you’re in on it,” Hank says (while bleeding) to Adam Arkin’s clueless DEA agent.
Fausto is holding both Marco and Cerisola’s drug addicted daughter hostage. His master plan is to use them as leverage to negotiate his freedom. As Marco tells him, that’s never going to happen. But Fausto, ever-philosophical about why rich kids do drugs in the first place, dreams of telling his story to Oprah. Even when the marines agree to his demands of a safe passage, Fausto sends a decoy car that ends up riddled with bullets. All season long, Marco has behaved like a man with nothing to lose. These scenes with Fausto are the culmination of his current mental state. It’s a suicide mission to try to get Fausto to turn himself in, but Marco is committed to seeing this to the end.
Steven Linder’s final scene reminded me of that famous moment with Sean Connery in The Untouchables. Connery accuses his opponent of bringing a “knife to a gun fight.” Steven Linder brought a rock (and not even a big one!) to a gun fight. Maybe it would have made a difference to Linder if he knew Robles was being charged with rape. But I doubt it. This is a man who felt he needed to avenge what happened to Eva.
I’m guessing he won’t survive, and I say good riddance. I had no emotional response to his plight. His mumbling character has never resonated with me and, as I mentioned last week, this season his storyline with Eva has never really worked.
The episode’s biggest accomplishment is finally bringing Adriana, Daniel, Hank and Sonya together to join forces. In the final moments of the episode, Sonya and Hank are following the trucks transporting drugs across the border. They may not be able to stop the cartel or the CIA, but they might be able to stop their little corner of it. I’m looking forward to next week’s finale. Are you?
Other thoughts on “Quetzalcoatl”:
•I want to try one of Hank’s caramels. They look delicious.
•Am I the only one who is super sad that Cesar has turned out to be such a terrible person? Is this the same man who didn’t even want Charlotte to get involved in the drug trade last season?
•I really hope they can get that blood out of Monte P. Flagman’s boots.
•I totally want to use Daniel’s term “journalistic probable cause” at some point.
•Now more than ever, it just seems like the whole Jack Dobbs (remember him?) storyline was just a way to bide time.
Amy Amatangelo is a Boston-based freelance writer, a member of the Television Critics Association and a regular contributor to Paste. You can follow her on
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