The Bridge Season 2, Episodes 6 & 7 “Harvest of Souls”/”Lamia”
Written by Evan Wright (“Harvest of Souls”) and Dre Alvarez & Anna Fishko (“Lamia”)
Directed by Guy Ferland and Adam Arkin
Airs Wednesdays at 10pm ET on FX
There have been unfair comparisons made in the past between The Bridge and The Wire, but there’s no way not to invoke the latter during the last two episodes of The Bridge, which have seen various characters from both sides of the border crossing paths, at times seemingly at random. And like it often did with The Wire, The Bridge‘s use of this narrative device serves a useful purpose outside the plot: it narrows the show’s scope a bit, adding a bit of focus to a sprawling world rich with diverse characters that would otherwise feel like a random collection of stories only related by geography. The more characters on The Bridge enter each other’s lives, the tighter the show’s story and world feel: and in the case of both “Harvest of Souls” and “Lamia”, do wonders to bring focus to the season as a whole, and begin pushing forward to its inevitable climax.
In fact, I’d argue the way the episodes slowly connect everything in its world back to Fausto Galvan make these the best back-to-back hours yet of the series, even with the sad reminder of season one’s David Tate story line briefly running across the audiences’ sight line every now and again. But even that comes to an end, and serves purpose to the story: even if Marco wanted to torture himself with the thought of Tate being tortured every day of his life in prison, it’s merely another loose end to an increasingly-paranoid Fausto (who doesn’t want to live like a rata in his home, waiting for the pressure from Mexico’s new political administration to calm down). Fausto recognizes the power of vengeance to another human being: how it motivates some (like Eleanor, as told by her to Charlotte and Ray) and casts shadows over the loyalty of others like recently-commended detective Marco Ruiz. As a man obsessed with his ability to control his environment, Fausto is not a man for variables: in fact, he sends types like Eleanor to come through and deal with such variables when they occur north of the border.
Fausto’s mental anguish is surprisingly, an emotional anchor in “Lamia” that gives weight to the desperate, impatient actions of Fausto (encouraged by an increasingly power-hungry Cerisola) – and speaks to the desperation existing in both Mexico and the States, on either side of the law. The DEA is going after drug-pushing widows, while Fausto is unleashing Eleanor and her tactics on anybody and everybody that even comes sniffing around his business, a list which includes a Mexican federal prosecutor, two journalists working in America, and the rapist father of an employee (not a touch I particularly enjoyed with Eleanor’s character… it morphs her instantaneously into another sexually-traumatized, unstable female antagonist).
Not to mention that Marco is straight executing motherfuckers: the closing moments of “Harvest of Souls”, where Guy Ferland’s camera remains fixated on Sonya’s face and the expressionless door behind her, is on the short list of the show’s best scenes. In a season where the threat of murder lurks in the dark corners of every scene (and in Marco’s mind; him and Galvan spend lots of time with their guns drawn nervously in these two episodes), the most terrifying twist of the series comes from two muffled, unseen gunshots: to protect Sonya (and himself), Marco straight murks two dirty Mexican police officers trying to beat him and Sonya to Eva’s statement, taken by Pintado before his very graphic “accident”. They were threatening their lives, yes, but the way Marco goes about it is so cold, speaking volumes to where his mind is at after leaving David Tate alive in federal prison (which Fausto solves with… some kind of seizure-inducing liquid up the nose? I don’t know what the hell that was). And it speaks to the lengths he’ll go to protect Sonya, further solidified when he lies under oath when being questioned about the aforementioned killings.
That increased desperation – and the violence it leads to in both episodes – is really what makes these such strong hours: the growing sense of urgency and failure is seeping into every character’s personal life, be it minor things like Daniel’s coke binge, or larger things, like Charlotte reaching out to the DEA or Jack uncovering the body of another girl his brother killed (which comes hand-in-hand with the revelation of Hank shooting an unarmed Jim in the head, which fits neatly into the dominant theme of each episode). And as Fausto thinks of Norway and fjords (long, narrow bodies of water in between cliffs, which are really beautiful), others consider their own forms of revenge and escape (like Charlotte, who is trying to do both), and The Bridge gets more intriguing and exciting with every single, sweat-soaked minute.
Other thoughts/observations:
– the cost of getting access to the Secretary of State’s internal server: Gary’s five years of sobriety. Poor guy.
– man, Lucy goes ham on that assassin with those knitting needles. That was nice and gross.
– Cesar enjoys vampire novels… erotic vampire novels. How salacious.
– Marco’s girlfriend’s daughter is a Lost Girl of Juarez, another great example of the show bringing its large world of stories closer together.
– Eva + axe = no more loud noises coming from the barn. Unwieldy, but effective.
– I laughed out loud watching big ol’ Hank lumber over to awkwardly punch Jack in the face: it was a little too over-the-top for even The Bridge.
– lots of partnerships and business deals going to shit in the last two episodes – hopefully Sonya and Marco are not among them in the near future, especially with Robles breathing down Sonya’s neck.
– “Do you want to be a pet?”
— Randy