“There are no sides.”

The Bridge deals not only with the lines separating El Paso and Juarez, but also with the lines separating one emotional state from another, one side from another, one idea from another. When it delves into the nitty gritty, it reveals the moral ambiguity inherent in the situation, the internal conflicts ever present in the minds of people attempting to play sides. It’s not a black-and-white world. There are shades of gray, and people are caught.

Take Marco Ruiz, for example, who’s caught between Galvan and Pintado, both of whom happen to be very persuasive and intelligent people. There’s a push and pull effect here, and given Marco’s past decisions, he’s now embroiled within the conflict; he, understandably, wants no part in the situation, but something must give at some point. The fuse is lit, and the show expanding on CEO Carisola, bringing Frye and Adriana into the mix, and detailing Pintado’s goals serves to give what is a very well done slow burn another nudge toward explosion.

It’s interesting to note that while Pintado’s all about moving forward and getting a plan into place, Marco still has to deal with the past throughout the episode. It comes up in the form of Frye and Adriana in a wonderful, tense scene in which we can feel the weight of their shared history on their shoulders. It comes up in each scene with Sonya and the El Paso PD. It comes up in each shot of exhaustion, of weariness, of conflict, and Bichir plays it beautifully.

Speaking of Sonya, she once again has sex with Jack Dobbs, this time telling him to bring choking into the mix. Although recently, the show seems to have a penchant for placing too much of an emphasis on Sonya’s various behaviors, it’s still well-handled by Diane Kruger. She breaks down at the now deceased Jim Dobbs’s bedside, whatever connection she had with her sister now diminished by the coldness of his body. She wants to confront what happened, but she feels like she’s fighting a losing battle; it’s similar to Marco’s storyline, with the exception that Marco doesn’t plan on confronting anything anytime soon.

Elsewhere, Charlotte and Ray are about to head off to Alaska; they eventually don’t, but I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t want to see them trudging through snow. Anyway, it’s another case of people stuck between the past and the future, and it’s enjoyable to watch Ray’s slowly increasing sense of desperation come into contact with Charlotte’s desire to return to something she knows well. She gets a moment of escape when Ray details his plans for the future, but when Monte knocks on their door, reality sinks in.

Finally, we see a side to Eleanor Nacht we haven’t seen before. So far, she’s been placed up against people who are intimidated by her, who acquiesce to her demands without questioning her. However, it seems as if Fausto Galvan is the one person who strikes a nerve inside of her; she seems smaller here, framed at a distance far from Galvan rather than close up like she was with Kyle or the cab driver. Instead of being able to watch his every move, Galvan is now watching her, and she can’t do anything about it.

GRADE: B+

OTHER THOUGHTS:

-Linder, you’re so entertaining, but you need subtitles.

– Who’s the prisoner? Maybe it’s a squirrel in human form.

-RIP, DeLarge. Difficult scene to watch there; here’s a man so embroiled in the situation that he sees death as the only escape.

-So, what’s up with Dobbs stealing that picture?

– “Taylor Swift? My wife got me into her.” I really wish I could see Eleanor’s reaction to “You Belong With Me” blaring over the loudspeakers. Most likely, angry glare followed by violence.

-Apologies for the lateness of this review. I was exhausted last night by the masterpiece that was Sharknado 2: The Second One.

Photo credit: FX, The Bridge