The Bridge

While in the original TV series Sofia Helin gives an outstanding, sometimes funny, always compelling portrait of a police detective challenged with Asperger syndrome, her US counterpart takes out most of the fun by making her personality quite unbelievable.

The same goes for Demian Bichir. His complex character of the Danish Cop in personal troubles becomes the caricature of Latino clichés similar to the perception the US has about their southern neighbor as a whole.

The crisp design of this former superb Scandinavian TV series turns into a the the kind of blunt, boring, mediocre, dark mash of cop series that swamp TV sets world wide.

If you have the possibility, see the superb original to appreciate what TV can do.

Although it's an acquired taste, any fan of AMC's "The Killing" will quickly pick up on the parallels in this unusual murder mystery. It features two oddly paired police detectives, one from the El Paso police and another from Ciudad Juarez. As in the killing, the female detective is dedicated but personally challenged by an imbalanced personality and a singular drive to follow her leads to the bitter end. Unlike other viewers, I like Diane Kruger in the role and think we're only seeing the beginning of her personality development: I do believe she is an Asperger's sufferer and captures the traits of one afflicted with this quite well. There are many high-functioning and accomplished individuals with these symptoms all around the country, and in many ways, her focus on the details and minutiae of this case will help rather than hinder her along the way.

As her mismatched Mexican partner in the investigation, Demian Bechir possesses all the odd charm of his counterpart in "The Killing," the streetwise and pragmatic Detective Holder.

I've never seen a TV program that focuses on a sensitive border issue or the tragedy of so many murdered girls in Juarez, so I applaud FX for giving us something truly original. "The Killing" is the only thing remotely comparable to it, and I actually like the same type of slow unraveling of a gripping mystery we're being drawn into. I'm so weary of the CSI and Law and Order one-hour quick kill and wrap-up compacted into one hour of predictable procedural. I'll definitely keep watching!

People involved in creation of remakes or based on series / movies often forget that they don't have or need to do it in the first place if they don't possess the true material and right script / storylines for doing so, being capable to do justice to the often bright original version and its exclusive and right atmosphere.

We have a series that fails on all accounts in regard to the original, shouldn't have been named The Bridge and shouldn't have been (falsely) based on the awesomly successful Swedish-Danish version and production.

• It lacks the cold, rightly done, grimmy, menacing and dark atmosphere and vibe of the original
• It lacks the brilliant diamond-like play and portrayal of the original female lead investigator that won't be mimicked or surpassed for a long long time. With all respect, Diane Kruger doesn't pull off an epsilone of that.
• It lacks the very good cast and acting of the original
• It has an awful and bizarre opening sequence soundtrack, not being of interest and not contributing to the show
• It has a messed up script and story with lots of fillers, blood and (unsuccessful) violence depicting the American-Mexican mishmash
• To its credit: It has some good acting, mainly by Demián Bichir (Marco Ruiz) and Eric Lange (Kenneth Hastings)
• To its credit: It has some entertaining values letting it flow mindlessly before your eyes, episode by episode, until its jumbled ending
• To its credit: Very good for practising the Spanish language and idioms

To wrap it up in one sentence, a forgettable series with latin vibes and culture, best put back on the shelves and have a restart of the nostalgic Bron/Broen.

I watched the Danish version of the bridge and am a big fan. The premise of the American version HAD me really excited. The fact that they tried to copy exactly the Danish version was a complete disaster. Diane Kruger is horrible in this role. I don't doubt she has talent but they should have allowed for her to play the role in her own way instead of copying an unforgettable role that was already done (and done well).I had a hard time sitting through the 1st episode. Demian Bichir is the only redeeming quality in this show and might be the only reason I continue to watch. The female lead in the Danish version is extremely hard to pull off, so they shouldn't have even tried. I'm seriously saddened since I had high hopes for this show. Did no one watch the reels before putting them out for human consumption? Was there not a test audience?

A woman's body is found on the bridge between El Paso and Juarez on top of the border. Sonya Cross (Diane Kruger) is a cop from the American side and Marco Ruiz (Demian Bichir) is from the Mexican side. They are forced to work together. Lieutenant Hank Wade (Ted Levine) is her supervising officer. Charlotte Millwright (Annabeth Gish) owns a ranch at the border and finds a tunnel on her property. Daniel Frye (Matthew Lillard) is an American investigative reporter on the edge.

The first season is mostly about one serial killer investigation. It's somewhat boring. I don't buy Kruger's performance. I like Bichir's performance much more. It moved fairly slowly and unconvincingly. Millwright's storyline never really connected. Then the show changed right before the end of season 1. It added quite a few weird characters. The best one is Eleanor Nacht (Franka Potente) as the unemotional disturbed hired killer. The second season is definitely crazier, and weirder. It feels almost random as the show gets wilder. At least, it gets more interesting. With the show changing over the two seasons, it feels unstable and never really settled down. I do find some of it very interesting.