At one point during the second season premiere of The Bridge, Sonya (Diane Kruger) asks, “Is this weird?”
And I screamed at the TV, “YES!” Sonya was about to sleep with Jack Dobbs (Nathan Phillips), the brother of Jim Dobbs—the man who killed her sister. Yes we know Sonya has the type of one-night stands that a therapist could analyze for hours, and yes, we know she has Asperger’s which makes her interpersonal relationships challenging. And yes, I understand that sleeping with Jack is a desperate attempt—a final grasp— at maintaining a connection with her sister. But, still, this little plot development may be (pardon the pun) a bridge too far for me.
The acclaimed drama had a lot to accomplish, and the whole hour was a little weird. With last season’s central serial killer mystery behind them, the show had to introduce a new villain and a new mystery. The extremely bloody opening scene had Monte P. Flagman (Lyle Lovett) discovering (confirming?) a mass murder at a model home. In true Monte form, he’s not that fazed by the discovery and mainly seems concerned with making sure he doesn’t get blood on his clothes.
Marco (Demian Bichir) remains depressed—despondent over the loss of his son and the fact that his wife left him. His wife, he tells Sonya, doesn’t even want him at the birth of his own child (so we know not that much time has passed, since Alma is still pregnant). Marco is nursing his pain with alcohol and spurning all attempts to be helped. But he’s still on the job and, during a raid, one of his fellow officers tries to kill him. All in all, things are not going well for Marco.
And thankfully Daniel Frye (Matthew Lillard) and Adriana Mendez (Emily Rios) are back, and have been bumped up to series regulars (whoo-hoo!). They were my two favorite characters last season. (I even advocated for the duo to get their own spin-off.) Daniel is now doing his version of sober—which consists of limiting himself to two drinks a day. His sponsor (Gary, played by Brian Baumgartner of The Office) knows this is a flawed plan. Lillard is so fantastic in this role, and I loved his exchange with Gary about the Rush t-shirt he was wearing. “Rush, really? You like them when you’re sober?”