HIGH DEF UNIVERSE

I must say, I was super disappointed in the second season of The Bridge.  I expected something similar to the first season, which would have made it exciting and mysterious.  Instead, I found myself bored and not wanting to watch the season.  I watched it when it was on FX and at some point, episodes just started building up in my DVR and I found myself searching for anything else to watch.  When I received the DVDs, I was glad that I had already seen the season because it allowed me to not pay as close attention to what I was watching. 

When we last left Marco, Sonya, Hank and the others, Marco was still dealing with the loss of his son, Gus, Sonya was still dealing with the loss of her sister so many years ago, and Hank still holds a secret about what really went down when he arrested Sonya’s sister’s murderer.  Enter a mysteriously tattooed woman who seems to work for Fausto Galvan, Marco’s dilemma over his position in the Juarez Police Department, Linder and Eva’s relationship, Daniel and Adriana’s work to find out about the money found in the old lady’s home.  All this makes for what seems like an interesting season.

While Sonya and Marco continue working cases on both sides of the border, they come to realize that their suspect is a woman who works for Galvan.  This woman, Eleanor, leaves a trail of blood behind her, as she assists Galvan in taking care of loose ends and expanding his drug running business.  Sonya, while visiting the man who killed her sister, meets his brother and begins a relationship with him.  This, and her relationship with Hank, is put to the test, when she finds out that the bullet Hank put in the killer wasn’t as clean as she was led to believe.  This makes her question her life and her reason for becoming a cop.

As Sonya, Marco and Hank all work the cases – from Eva’s case on both sides of the border, to Daniel and Adriana’s money case, to Charlotte and Ray’s work with Galvan – they begin to realize that every case is connected… and it all leads back to Galvan.

I really wanted to like this season.  Unfortunately, as I said above, I could barely make it through its initial broadcast.  When I heard that the second season departed entirely from its source material, I realized that was the problem.  In my opinion, when you adapt a European show (in this case, from Denmark and Sweden) you should stay as close to the source and you can.  At least until you’ve made a name for yourself and you know the show is going somewhere.

The Bridge is presented in widescreen 1.78:1 aspect ratio and everything was similar to the previous season with the yellowish tint to it.  I again thought this was really well done because it was a realistic feel to the area and the story.  Night scenes again were sharp and the black palate was accurate and good.  Despite the storyline, it was still an enjoyable picture.

The English Dolby Digital 5.1 presentation was also good.  Dialogue was clear and intelligible, and even the scenes in Spanish were understandable.  In the scenes were Spanish was spoken, English subtitles were provided.  The volume of the show was consistent and I didn’t have to make any adjustments.  Subtitles in English SDH, Spanish and French are available if needed.

The special features were boring.  All the Building the Bridge parts were almost four minutes of talking about the episode.  All these features could have been combined into one feature. 

I looked back at my review of season one and was reminded of how much I enjoyed that season.  I was really disappointed in the second season and understand why it was cancelled.  I feel that it didn’t live up to the hype that the first season had and definitely didn’t come close to the great story of the first season.  The second season was boring, a little confusing and I really wanted to give up on it.  I stuck with it, though because I like to try to see the season through in the hopes that the show will redeem itself.  Sadly, it did not.