The deaths from last week come back to haunt Sonya and Marco this week, when they discover that one woman survived the poisoned water shrine. Her name is Maria and she’s been duct taped to stakes in a non-descript place in the desert. A live feed is set up on the El Paso Times website to watch her suffering, as a way to taunt the police. I really enjoy the way The Bridge layers in the different characters, everything is laid out in broad strokes and everyone is important in their own ways.
Daniel Frye, the asshole reporter, is important because the killer seems to have honed in on him as the talking piece. Not only did he get the coordinates to the dead illegal immigrants, but this week Daniel is phoned by the killer to get his demands: a million dollars paid out by the four wealthiest men in El Paso. How does this fit in with his motives so far? Who knows. What good is a million dollars going to do if the real aim is to bring attention to the missing girls of Juarez and the inordinate amount of violence in Mexico? Why the richest men can’t pay (what must be to them) the pittance and sweep this all under the rug, we’ll see.
Daniel goes on to have one hell of an episode, as he and Adriana head to Mexico to follow up a lead and he witnesses a man shot point blank in front of him. He panics, everyone around him panics, and Adriana drags him to her home. Understandably shaken, he takes to drinking her mother’s tequila and flirting with her sisters while she wants to write a story and get the news out. Drunk, he pries a bit into her life, flirting and asking how she ended up where she did, rather than pregnant with three kids at twenty. It turns out he’s not her type – at all.
Elsewhere, Sonya and Marco tag-team to question Steven when they find his neighbor has turned up dead in her apartment. She questions him on a piece of paper he dropped when they came to collect him – a photo of a missing girl, whom he claims is his “sister.” They can’t hold him on anything, so they’re forced to let him go. Marco gets a little out of hand and in his parting comments, he says something to the effect of not knowing what he’d do if he were searching for a lost girl. Sonya has to remind him that, supposedly, he is looking for a lost girl – his sister, remember?
There is friction between the two because of the report Sonya filed on him for his actions in the pilot episode when he let Charlotte and her now-dead husband through the crime scene. She won’t drop the complaint and to make things worse, other people have said he took a bribe to let them go through, so it’s out of Sonya’s hands even if she wanted to take it back now. Marco soldiers on for now, meeting with Charlotte – whose husband was conveniently one of the richest men in El Paso named by the serial killer.
She’s had it rough this episode, burying her husband and clashing with her stepdaughter. Charlotte also met the mysterious woman who had called her husband’s second cellphone. She wants Charlotte to keep the tunnel open, but Charlotte continues to refuse these people. I think it’s a dangerous move to ignore what these people are telling her and it’s only going to lead to more trouble for Charlotte in the long run – especially considering she refuses to move, a surprise to many.
Sonya’s one night stand comes back to haunt her, visiting her at the office and catching her off guard enough that she blurts out, “I can’t have sex at the office.” In front of her boss and Marco. He didn’t have her name, so he hunted her down at her work to get her number… It’s a bit creepy, but not any creepier than looking at crime scene photos in bed. He only wants to ask her to dinner.
Meanwhile, Marco tries to reconcile some of his problems with his own precinct. He visits Charlotte at home and asks her to sign a paper that would say he did not take any bribes from her. She asks him to stay and he kisses her – a shocking revelation that makes a lot of things make more sense in hindsight. His pregnant wife calling him on the job for no reason, her questioning of how pretty Sonya is, Marco may actually be a bit too much of the everyman. I didn’t see it coming until the train hit me and I kind of like this development. Marco was a bit too squeaky clean compared to his counterparts on the force and this throws some dirt on his image.
But who knows what he’s gotten into now with Charlotte and her secret tunnel to Mexico. When he leaves, she goes out to find her horse strung up and killed. It’s a warning, obviously. But from who? Neither of the two imposing figures could do that by themselves – or even together – could they? The interwoven character stories that make everyone important on some level is what is going to keep me coming back to this series. Do you enjoy the layered look at El Paso and Juarez? What do you think three episodes into the series? Are you sold? Do you want to see more?
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