The Bridge: "The Beast" (Episode 1.05)

There was a moment last night during The Bridge where I thought, “Wait a minute. Are The Bridge and The Killing actually the same show?”

Gina, the shoplifting teen who traveled to Juarez, would fit right in with the homeless teens on The Killing. And it’s looking more and more like the serial killer on The Bridge is someone on the police force. Maria told Marco and Sonya that the back of the car she was held in was like a cage.

Overall, “The Beast” is my favorite episode this season. There was a sense of urgency in this episode that I haven’t felt before. Gina’s story demonstrated how easily some kids get on the wrong path. Both her parents are neglecting her, so she crosses the border. Her actions don’t make much sense (especially going into the apartment to have a beer with a man she doesn’t know) but it did make sense to me that an adolescent would act so impulsively and irrationally.

The fact that she turned out to be the daughter of Geldman’s psychiatrist who is found dead at the end of the episode was a surprising, albeit quite convenient, plot twist. Now there’s the possibility that whoever is killing the girls in Juarez is also the one making a political statement about it. Gina’s story would have worked fine on its own just to show how teens get lost. The Killing and The Bridge are one big public service announcement for better parenting.

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Sonya continues to confuse me as a character. Yes, she has Asperger’s, but she’s also highly functioning. So while I believe she would so easily tell Marco’s wife that her food doesn’t taste good, I can’t really believe she would be so clueless as to return his wallet to him in front of his wife. And also, how come Marco hasn’t been the least bit curious about the whereabouts of his wallet? Shouldn’t he be in some sort of a panic that he left it at Charlotte’s house? Marco continues to be a man not bound by rules—whether it’s the rules of a marriage or the rules of an investigation.

The series got all philosophical as Fausto ruminated on what separates him from a serial killer. It’s an interesting point for the show to make since, as Fausto points out, lots of people kill lots of people and aren’t considered serial killers. Fausto convinces himself that he doesn’t enjoy killing and that is what makes him different. He is, as his loyal employee tells him, a businessman first.

When Hector confronts Linder, Linder kills him with a hot iron. Even I know not to start a fight with someone ironing his clothes. Linder continues to bother me as a character, and it just felt like such a waste of time to follow him as he disposed of Hector’s body. And how exactly did Fausto find him in the desert burying Hector’s body? (As a side note, the most jarring accent reveal I’ve ever had came last week when I heard Thomas M. Wright speak in his native Australian tongue last week at the Television Critics Association Press Tour. I really don’t prefer the accent he’s chosen for Linder.)

When talking to television critics, the producers said the killer would be revealed before the end of the season. It certainly seems like it has to be someone we already know. It better not be Hank. That’s all I’m saying.

Other thoughts on “The Beast”:
• So fun to see Brian Van Holt, Bobby Cobb on Cougar Town, as a man from Charlotte’s Tampa past. Too bad he didn’t bring dog Travis with him.
• I’m starting to really worry about Daniel Frye. He’s my favorite character by far (his exchange this week with Sonya about his drug use were fantastic) but Matthew Lillard is only listed as guest star, which doesn’t necessarily bode well for his future on the series.
• That was a really lovely scene between Marco’s wife and his son. I would watch a whole series about the Ruiz family.

The Bridge: “The Beast” (Episode 1.05)