Diane Kruger

I’m glad The Bridge appears to be getting right to the point in its second season; after a premiere that felt more scatter-brained than carefully orchestrated, “Ghost of a Flea” (mostly) pulls everything back into orbit for a morbid, if slightly over-exerting hour. It still feels like a very different show than the first season, both in plot construction and how it delivers its story to the audience. Is it a better show? Only time will tell: but at the very least, it feels like the show’s beginning to figure out it’s own identity.

This week’s episode is a crucial one- after “Take the Ride, Pay the Toll” wrapped up the season-long mystery last week, we’re left with only two episodes this season. That’s too much time if the PtB are only going wrap up the hanging threads from the Tate arc and potentially not enough time for them to start something new. For the show to succeed over multiple seasons, though, a new border-spanning case is necessary and we get just that this week with the abduction and rape of Eva in Juarez by a mysterious Texas-plated car. This case feels like a bit more of a stretch for calling in our favorite international crime-fighting team than the half-bodies posed on the literal border, but given our previous relationships with the characters, it’ll work.

The reveal of ex-FBI agent David Tate as the mastermind behind the rash of cross-border crimes on this season of The Bridge brought the motivations behind the crimes into focus. What it didn’t bring into focus, however, was the machinations of Tate’s plan, nor did it bring Sonya and Marco any closer to capturing him. The effects of Tate’s actions on the police begin to show this week, as Marco and Sonya react differently to the strain Tate put on them, in a solid episode that manages to keep the tension high despite very little in the way of resolution.

There’s no shame in stealing from the greats. So when “Destino” begins to feel like a hyperkinetic Justified/Breaking Bad mashup for a few minutes during a trailer-park raid gone very wrong, it’s just the kick in the pants an hour this scattered needs. Not everything about “Destino” works, but its peaks are very encouraging.

The Bridge, Season 1, Episode 6, “ID” Written by Dario Scardapane Directed by Alex Zakrzewski Airs Wednesdays at 10pm (EST) on FX This week, on The Bridge: Bobby Cobb gets a name (and a few ideas), Sonya gets a backstory, and Gina gets the eyes right The Bridge reached an intense season best last week …

Much of the first three episodes of The Bridge have focused on fleshing out the characters on both sides of the border, giving the audience a better idea of what makes them tick, and doing a fantastic job of it. This week’s episode used the framework of a standalone case, in the form of the search for the missing woman in the desert, to give a look at how the characters relate to each other, in another solid episode that introduces a promising new character while offering a look at how the Mexican cartels operate.

The Host Directed by Andrew Niccol Written by Andrew Niccol USA, 2013 World-building is key in storytelling, but no more impactful than in the science-fiction genre, where authors literally introduce us to new universes, brand-new places for characters to exist and grapple with conflict. Andrew Niccol, writer of Gattaca and The Truman Show, is no …