''The Bridge'' is an American crime drama

television series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed bet ...

, developed by

Meredith Stiehm Meredith Stiehm (born 1968) is an American television producer and writer. She is the creator of the hit crime drama ''Cold Case'' and the FX thriller drama '' The Bridge''. She is President of the Writers Guild of America. Early life and educ ...

and

Elwood Reid Brian "Elwood" Reid (born December 19, 1966) is an American novelist, short-story writer and television screenwriter. Early life Reid was born in Cleveland, Ohio in a working-class area. Reid played college football for the Michigan Wolverines f ...

, that was broadcast on the FX network, and based on the Danish-Swedish series '' Bron/Broen''. The series stars

Diane Kruger Diane Kruger ( Heidkrüger; ; born 15 July 1976) is a German and American actress. Early in her career, Kruger gained worldwide recognition and received the Trophée Chopard from the Cannes Film Festival. Kruger became known for her roles in f ...

and

Demián Bichir Demián Bichir Nájera (; born 1 August 1963) is a Mexican actor. After starring in telenovelas, he began to appear in Hollywood films. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in '' A Better Life''. Personal life Bich ...

in leading roles, and co-stars

Ted Levine Frank Theodore Levine (born May 29, 1957) is an American actor. He is best known for playing the roles of Buffalo Bill in the film '' The Silence of the Lambs'' (1991) and Leland Stottlemeyer in the television series ''Monk'' (2002–2009). L ...

Annabeth Gish Anne Elizabeth "Annabeth" Gish (born March 13, 1971) is an American actress. She has played roles in films '' Shag'', '' Hiding Out'', '' Mystic Pizza'', '' SLC Punk!'', '' The Last Supper'' and ''Double Jeopardy''. On television, she played Spe ...

, Thomas M. Wright,

Matthew Lillard Matthew Lyn Lillard (born January 24, 1970) is an American actor. His early film work includes Chip Sutphin in ''Serial Mom'' (1994), Emmanuel "Cereal Killer" Goldstein in ''Hackers'' (1995), Stu Macher in '' Scream'' (1996), Stevo in '' SLC Pu ...

and

Emily Rios Emily Clara Rios (born April 27, 1989) is an American actress and model. She is best known for her role as Andrea Cantillo on the AMC series ''Breaking Bad''. In 2013 she began portraying newspaper reporter Adriana Mendez on the FX series ''Th ...

in supporting roles. The complete series consists of two seasons of 13 episodes each. The series debuted on FX in the United States on July 10, 2013, and the series finale aired on October 1, 2014. The show was developed both in English and Spanish languages. The American version takes place on the U.S. and Mexican border where a murdered body on a bridge between

El Paso El Paso (; "the pass") is a city in and the seat of El Paso County in the western corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population of the city from the U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the 23rd-largest city in the U.S., the ...

and Juárez (the

Bridge of the Americas The Bridge of the Americas ( es, Puente de las Américas; originally known as the Thatcher Ferry Bridge) is a road bridge in Panama which spans the Pacific Ocean, Pacific entrance to the Panama Canal. Designed by Sverdrup & Parcel, it was comple ...

) bring together El Paso detective Sonya Cross (Kruger) who is mentored by Hank Wade (Levine) and

Chihuahua Chihuahua may refer to: Places * Chihuahua (state), a Mexican state **Chihuahua (dog), a breed of dog named after the state **Chihuahua cheese, a type of cheese originating in the state **Chihuahua City, the capital city of the state **Chihuahua Mu ...

State police State police, provincial police or regional police are a type of sub-national territorial police force found in nations organized as federations, typically in North America, South Asia, and Oceania. These forces typically have jurisdiction o ...

detective Marco Ruiz (Bichir). The story parallels the investigation by ''

El Paso Times The ''El Paso Times'' is the newspaper for the US city of El Paso, Texas. The newspaper has an approximate daily circulation of 65,000 and 125,000 on Sundays. The paper is the only English-language daily in El Paso (when the ''El Paso Herald-Pos ...

'' reporters Daniel Frye (Lillard) and Adriana Mendez (Rios). The series was a critical success and received positive reviews throughout its run. After the first season maintained a modest audience that dropped by 42 percent by the second, the series was not renewed for a third season.

Plot

''The Bridge'' follows two police detectives – one Mexican, one from the U.S. – and their joint effort to capture a serial killer who is operating in both countries when an American judge known for anti-immigration views is found dead on the bridge connecting

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by b ...

, with Juárez,

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, menacing both nations along the Texas–

border. Detective Sonya Cross, of the El Paso Police Department, works with Chihuahua State Police Detective Marco Ruiz, who knows about the slippery politics of Mexican law enforcement. Ruiz's whatever-it-takes approach doesn't sit well with Cross, who has undisclosed

Asperger's syndrome Asperger syndrome (AS), also known as Asperger's, is a former neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by significant difficulties in social interaction and nonverbal communication, along with restricted and repetitive patterns of behavi ...

or a similar

autism spectrum disorder The autism spectrum, often referred to as just autism or in the context of a professional diagnosis autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or autism spectrum condition (ASC), is a neurodevelopmental condition (or conditions) characterized by difficulti ...

and a by-the-book attitude when it comes to the job. But the two put their differences aside to solve a string of murders on the border, which is already infected with issues that include illegal immigration, drug trafficking, violence and prostitution. Their investigation is complicated by the rampant corruption and general apathy among the Mexican authorities and the violence of the powerful borderland drug cartels. The show title refers to the

that serves as a border crossing between El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, where the series is set.

Production

FX ordered the series' pilot episode in July 2012.

Shooting Shooting is the act or process of discharging a projectile from a ranged weapon (such as a gun, bow, crossbow, slingshot, or blowpipe). Even the acts of launching flame, artillery, darts, harpoons, grenades, rockets, and guided missiles c ...

for the pilot took place on location in the El Paso area and wrapped in December 2012. Critically acclaimed director Gerardo Naranjo, best known for 2011's '' Miss Bala'', directed the pilot. Work on the remaining twelve season one episodes began in early April 2013.

, creator of ''

Cold Case A cold case is a crime, or a suspected crime, that has not yet been fully resolved and is not the subject of a current criminal investigation, but for which new information could emerge from new witness testimony, re-examined archives, new or r ...

'', and

served as the series' executive producers and head writers. The show was co-produced by

Shine America Endemol Shine North America is the American division of Endemol Shine Group that was founded on March 15, 2002 as a merger of Shine Americas, Shine USA, and Reveille Productions. Endemol Shine North America produces and distributes scripted and ...

and FX Productions for FX. Alex Plank of Wrong Planet served as the consultant for Sonya's

Asperger syndrome Asperger syndrome (AS), also known as Asperger's, is a former neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by significant difficulties in social interaction and nonverbal communication, along with restricted and repetitive patterns of behavi ...

. Shine America wanted Stiehm to begin the series on the

Ambassador Bridge The Ambassador Bridge is a tolled international suspension bridge across the Detroit River that connects Detroit, Michigan, United States, with Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Opened in 1929, it is the busiest international border crossing in North A ...

connecting

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

and

Windsor, Ontario Windsor is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, on the south bank of the Detroit River directly across from Detroit, Michigan, United States. Geographically located within but administratively independent of Essex County, it is the southern ...

, in order to mirror the original series' winter setting. However, Stiehm and Reid successfully argued to set their version in

El Paso, Texas El Paso (; "the pass") is a city in and the seat of El Paso County in the western corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population of the city from the U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the 23rd-largest city in the U.S., the ...

and Ciudad Juárez at the

. In September 2013, the series was renewed for a second season of 13 episodes. After the first season, co-developer Meredith Stiehm departed the series to rejoin the writing staff of her previous TV series, ''

Homeland A homeland is a place where a cultural, national, or racial identity has formed. The definition can also mean simply one's country of birth. When used as a proper noun, the Homeland, as well as its equivalents in other languages, often has ethni ...

'', leaving Elwood Reid as the sole

showrunner A showrunner (or colloquially a helmer) is the top-level executive producer of a television series production who has creative and management authority through combining the responsibilities of employer and, in comedy or dramas, typically also the ...

for the second season. Also,

and

, who had recurring roles in the first season, were promoted to series regulars for the second season. The series was canceled after two seasons. John Solberg, FX's Executive Vice President of Communications, said, "FX will not be moving forward with a third season of ''The Bridge''. Creatively we're very proud of what we done. But this came down to the numbers, and they just weren't there."

Cast and characters

Main cast

as Det. Sonya Cross: a member of the

El Paso Police Department El Paso Police Department (EPPD) is the principal law enforcement agency serving El Paso, Texas, El Paso, Texas, United States. As of Fiscal Year 2014, the agency had an annual budget of more than $118 million and employed around 1,300 personnel, ...

who has undiagnosed

. Her sister Lisa Cross was killed when Sonya was 15. Sonya still visits her sister's murderer, who now has brain damage, and keeps his drawings on the fridge – maybe to try to find out why he killed her sister. *

as Det. Marco Ruiz: a homicide detective for the ''Policía Estatal'' (

State Police State police, provincial police or regional police are a type of sub-national territorial police force found in nations organized as federations, typically in North America, South Asia, and Oceania. These forces typically have jurisdiction o ...

) of the Mexican state of

. *

as Lieutenant Hank Wade: a jaded El Paso cop and Cross' supervisor. He finds himself often counseling Cross to be more diplomatic in her single-minded determination to catch the killer. *

as Charlotte Millwright: a wealthy widow whose rancher husband suffers a

myocardial infarction A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tra ...

on the Mexican side of the border and dies back in El Paso. Shocking secrets about his cross-border activities quickly come to light as Ruiz and Cross' investigation commences. * Thomas M. Wright as Steven Linder: a "lone wolf" trying to survive in a near-lawless borderland *

as Daniel Frye (season 2; recurring season 1): an ''

'' reporter whose once-promising career has been derailed by a life of partying and substance abuse *

as Adriana Mendez (season 2; recurring season 1): a young reporter for the ''Times'', who is a Juárez native.

Recurring cast

* Johnny Dowers as Tim Cooper: an El Paso PD detective *

Eric Lange Eric Lange (born February 19, 1973) is an American actor. He is known for his work on television, where he has appeared in a wide variety of both supporting and leading roles. Lange played the recurring roles of Stuart Radzinsky on the ''ABC'' ...

as Kenneth Hasting: a colleague of Alma's who becomes her confidante * Carlos Pratts as Gus Ruiz: Marco's son *

Catalina Sandino Moreno Catalina Sandino Moreno (born 19 April 1981) is a Colombian actress. She shared the Silver Bear with Charlize Theron and received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her leading role in '' Maria Full of Grace'' (2004). She cu ...

as Alma Ruiz: Marco's wife *

Ramón Franco Ramón Franco Bahamonde (2 February 1896 – 28 October 1938), was a Spanish pioneer of aviation, a political figure and brother of later caudillo Francisco Franco. Well before the Spanish Civil War, during the reign of Alfonso XIII, both bro ...

as Fausto Galvan: a cartel leader, and the owner of El Rey Storage * Alejandro Patiño as Cesar: loyal confidant of Karl Millwright, and Charlotte's window into her husband's shady dealings * Juan Carlos Cantu as Captain Robles: Detective Ruiz's supervisor in Juárez *

Diana-Maria Riva Diana-Maria Riva (born July 22, 1969) is an American actress, known for her performances on television. She was regular cast member in series including ''Philly'' (2001-02), '' Side Order of Life'' (2007), '' The Good Guys'' (2010), ''Telenovela ...

as Kitty Conchas: the El Paso PD's desk clerk who is of Mexican heritage, but speaks no Spanish *

Stephanie Sigman Stephanie Sigman is a Mexican-American actress. Her breakthrough role was in the 2011 Mexican crime drama film '' Miss Bala''. She has gone on to appear in ''Pioneer'' (2013), ''Spectre'' (2015), '' Going Under'' (2016), and '' Annabelle: Creati ...

as Eva Guerra: Hector's girlfriend and the object of Linder's affections * Alma Martínez as Graciela Rivera: a smuggler and former associate of Karl Millwright, who intimidates Charlotte into allowing her continued access to Charlotte's ranch * Brian Van Holt as Ray: Charlotte's shady former lover who she enlists to help her deal with Graciela Rivera * Daniel Edward Mora as Obregon: Fausto's bodyguard and enforcer * Larry Clarke as Manny Stokes: an overeager El Paso County sheriff's deputy *

Lyle Lovett Lyle Pearce Lovett (born November 1, 1957) Lyle Lovett Pageat Allmusic – Lovett's Genre and Styles. Retrieved February 2, 2007 is an American singer, songwriter, actor and record producer. Active since 1980, he has recorded 13 albums and relea ...

as Monte P. Flagman: Graciela Rivera's lawyer *

Arturo Del Puerto Arturo del Puerto is an American actor known for his roles on '' Fear the Walking Dead'', '' Chicago P.D.,'' ''Ride Along 2'', and the Apple TV+ original science fiction space drama series '' For All Mankind.'' Biography Del Puerto is half Puer ...

as Hector Valdez: an employee of Fausto's *

Don Swayze Donald Carl Swayze (born August 10, 1958) is an American character actor, noted for acting in dramatic series and soap operas as well as several feature films, and theatrical work. Early life Swayze was born in Houston, Texas, the middle child of ...

as Tim: Ray's contact in Tampa *

Chris Browning Christopher Jay Browning (born March 8, 1964) is an American television and film actor, known for film work and character roles. Career Browning began his acting career in 1987, at age 22 or 23, with a sitcom television series. Due to his drug ...

as Jackson Childress: an immigrant hunter *

Franka Potente Franka Potente (; born 22 July 1974) is a German actress. She first appeared in the comedy film '' After Five in the Forest Primeval'' (1995), for which she won a Bavarian Film Award for Best Young Actress. Her breakthrough came in 1998, when s ...

as Eleanor Nacht: a "fixer" for the cartel * Manuel Uriza as Abelardo Pintado: a Mexican state prosecutor investigating police corruption in Juárez * Nathan Phillips as Jack Dobbs: the brother of Jim Dobbs, the man who killed Sonya's sister *

Abraham Benrubi Abraham Rubin Hercules Benrubi (born October 4, 1969) is an American actor. He is known for his appearances as Jerry Markovic on the long-running medical television drama '' ER'', for his first role as Larry Kubiac on the series ''Parker Lewis C ...

as Agent Joe Mackenzie: a

DEA The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA; ) is a United States federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Justice tasked with combating drug trafficking and distribution within the U.S. It is the lead agency for domestic enf ...

agent investigating Fausto Galvan *

Bruno Bichir Bruno Bichir Nájera (born 6 October 1967) is a Mexican actor and one of the members of the Bichir family. Biography Bichir was born in Mexico City. He started his acting career at the age of five in several theater, film and television series ...

as Sebastian Cerisola: the CEO of Grupo Clio, which is connected to the Mexican cartel * Jenny Pellicer as Romina Cerisola: the daughter of Sebastian Cerisola.

Episodes

Reception

Critical response

On the review aggregator website

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc D ...

, the first season scored 77 out of 100, based on 37 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". The review aggregator

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

gave the first season a 90% rating based on 42 reviews at an average score of 8 out of 10, with the consensus "A seductive crime drama, ''The Bridge'' draws viewers in with culturally conscious themes that combine intelligent mystery and spellbinding drama." Chuck Barney from the ''

San Jose Mercury News ''The Mercury News'' (formerly ''San Jose Mercury News'', often locally known as ''The Merc'') is a morning daily newspaper published in San Jose, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is published by the Bay Area News Group, a subsidia ...

'' gave ''The Bridge'' its highest praise, saying: "FX may have struck dramatic gold again. This series is mesmerizing. It sucks you in like a good book and has you yearning for more."

Alan Sepinwall Alan Sepinwall (born October 19, 1973) is an American television reviewer and writer. He spent 14 years as a columnist with ''The Star-Ledger'' in Newark until leaving the newspaper in 2010 to work for the entertainment news website HitFix. He t ...

wrote, "With these characters, with this fascinating, complicated place – and one that's at the forefront of so much of what we're talking about in real world politics... ''The Bridge'' is off to such an outstanding start." Cast and Crew of

Maureen Ryan from ''

The Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...

'' commented: "Mismatched cops forced to work together is one of the oldest TV

tropes Trope or tropes may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Trope (cinema), a cinematic convention for conveying a concept * Trope (literature), a figure of speech or common literary device * Trope (music), any of a variety of different things ...

in the book, but ''The Bridge'' builds such a realistic, detailed world around the detectives here that the dynamic is often fresh." ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly large ...

''s Tim Goodman called the series "mandatory viewing for drama lovers", adding, "but it will be interesting to see where the writers take it and whether they have the big-league ability to make the evident potential materialize. One thing they've hopefully learned is that sometimes holding back information isn't mysterious, it's just confusing." Robert Bianco from ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...

'' thought there was "rich ground to explore in the problems Mexico faces and the responsibility we may bear for some of them", adding "but the show's clumsy attempt to boil that down to a catchphrase is offensive and silly, particularly as it has no real connection to the story being told." The second season received a Metacritic score of 67 out of 100, based on 13 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". On

the second season received an 86% rating based on 21 reviews at an average score of 7.5 out of 10 and the consensus reads, "Thanks to beautiful cinematography and unique, captivating characters, ''The Bridge'' is a chilling murder mystery, even if it meanders slightly." Alan Sepinwall writing for ''

HitFix HitFix, or HitFix.com, was an entertainment news website that launched in December 2008 specializing in breaking entertainment news, insider information, and reviews and critiques of film, music, and television. In mid-2010 HitFix crossed the 1,00 ...

'' hugely praised the season saying, "It's a show with a much stronger command of its subject matter and awareness of its own strengths and weaknesses–even as ''The Bridge'' still seems to be stuck in that nebulous border region separating the pretty good from the genuinely great. Maureen Ryan of ''The Huffington Post'' also gave a positive review, "It moves along with purpose and energy, but it's often at its best when finding colorful details and or allowing small, telling moments to breathe." ''

New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com. It was established ...

'' reviewer Robert Rorke called the show "unique" and wrote, "Drug cartels, a room of shrink-wrapped bills (worth $60 million), body bags and buckets of blood are just some of the intriguing elements in this uniquely Mexican-American drama, where the layers of corruption on both sides of the border seem impenetrable." Mike Hale of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' gave a mixed to positive review saying, "''The Bridge'' still feels like a show caught between two masters. It has a lot of the pieces it needs to actually be a compelling murder mystery–some good performances in key roles; an evocative, sun-blasted look; and an ability (presumably Mr. Reid's) to concoct creepy, suspenseful scenes. Yet we're still waiting for it all to come together."

Awards

In June 2013, the series was honored, along with five others, with the

Critics' Choice Television Award for Most Exciting New Series The Critics' Choice Television Award for Most Exciting New Series was one of the award categories presented annually by the Broadcast Television Journalists Association. It was introduced in 2011 when the event was first initiated and last presente ...

. The pilot episode of the series received the 2013 Golden Reel Award for Best Sound Editing in Television: Long Form – Dialogue & ADR from the

Motion Picture Sound Editors Motion Picture Sound Editors (M.P.S.E.) is an American honorary society of motion picture sound editors founded in 1953. The society's goals are to educate others about and increase the recognition of the sound editors, show the artistic merit o ...

society. The series won a 2013

Peabody Award The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody, honor the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in television, radio, and ...

, which noted that "its rare, non-stereotypical depiction of two cultures rubbing against and informing each other is as fascinating as the mystery."

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bridge (2013 TV series), The The Bridge (TV series) 2010s American crime drama television series 2010s American LGBT-related drama television series 2013 American television series debuts 2014 American television series endings Works about Mexican drug cartels American television series based on Danish television series Lesbian-related television shows Serial drama television series English-language television shows Spanish-language television programming in the United States Peabody Award-winning television programs Television shows set in Tijuana Television shows set in Texas FX Networks original programming Autism in television