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“The Bridge” (1.12) recap: All About Eva

Roadkill. That’s the first shot of this, the penultimate episode of the season. How do you close out a season when you’ve already reved up the action and tragedy to level 10? You remind us that there are many more casualties on the road ahead. Losses that are mourned, and people that are sometimes forgotten in this environment of violence and greed. Steven Linder hasn’t forgotten Eva. In fact, she’s all he can think about, which is why he’s speeding down the desert road on his way to see her. He pulls up to Rev. Bob’s, wearing his best shirt and jacket. He tells Rev. Bob that he wants to marry Eva, and he’s like the good Reverend to perform the ceremony. Eva, however, is no longer on the ranch. With her dangerous boyfriend no longer a threat, she went back to her old life. Linder vows to find her.

Eva has managed to find a job in a factory in Juarez. Leaving her shift, she accidentally misses the bus that offers the women safe passage through the streets. A man in a red car pulls up and offers her a ride. At first she declines, because, well, he’s a stranger offering her a ride. However, her aching feet and long walk make her change her mind, and she hops in to the car with Texas plates.

Sonya’s beloved Bronco is smashed to smithereens, a casualty of her run in with David Tate. The kindly mechanic delivers the bad news, which Sonya refuses to accept. The car was Sonya’s sister’s and she has a very deep attachment. Lt. Wade drives up and reminds Sonya that it was the car that was destroyed, not her sister’s memory. She asks the mechanic to remove the tape from the deck for her. Reluctantly, Sonya takes the dream catcher from the rear view mirror and says a tearful goodbye.

Wade tells Sonya that no one has been able to get ahold of Marco. David Tate’s trial is set to start and Marco’s testimony is important. Sonya agrees, she’s called him eleven times and he hasn’t picked up. The mechanic hands her back the cassette, it’s ribbon blowing in the breeze much to her horror. Wade reminds her that often people stop reaching out to those in grief after the initial shock wears off, a feeling Sonya knows all too well. She decides to head to Marco’s house with pastries in hand.

Marco lies in bed, unshaven and disheveled. He’s been sleeping in Gus’s room, keeping his son close to him in whatever way he can. The doorbell rings and Marco staggers out to answer it. When he opens the door, Sonya tries to hide her shock at his appearance. Marco isn’t happy to see Sonya, but he doesn’t slam the door in her face either. She tries to talk to him about the hearing but he’s not interested in listening. Gus had no funeral and Marco has been either drunk or asleep since she last saw him. She asks Marco about Alma and it really sets him off. He yells that Alma’s gone, the girls are gone, he is all alone now. He lashes out telling her that a “normal” person would know better than to show up at a grieving father’s home bearing Danishes. Sonya, who feels a connection to Marco, tries to assert that she was worried about her partner. Marco once again diminishes their relationship and tells her to leave.

In The Bridge, the whole world is a circus where chaos and destruction are the ringmasters. How fitting then that Charlotte decides to meet up with Fausto Galvan at one. Trapeze artists are practicing in the background as she saunters up to the men. Trapeze artists need to trust each other completely, know that someone will catch them as they fly into the air. Luckily these performers have a net. Charlotte does not. Her future partnership is with a man she could not possibly trust, and will likely rain much pain down in her life.

At first Galvan laughs at her when she proposes that they join up. Charlotte points out that she’s a rich white women, who blends in, an asset Galvan does not currently have. Galvan tells Charlotte that she needs to eat a steak, and she counters by asking if that means they have a deal. (She’s already killed two people in the span of a week Galvan, so try not to push it buddy.) As she goes to leave, he grabs her inner thigh and casually mentions cutting off a former cohorts manhood and sending it to his wife. What he really means is, fuck with me and I will fuck with you.

Linder shows up at the El Paso police station, hoping to get some help finding his “bride” Eva. Sonya remembers him and they go to a room to talk privately. Linder went to the factory to ask around about Eva and was told by a woman there that Eva had been gone now for three days. The last time she was seen was getting into the red car. He clarifies that Eva is not his actual bride, but he intends to make it official when he finds her. Sonya asks him, how does she know that he didn’t take her himself. Linder reminds her that he helps people, and that he’s known for this sort of thing. He takes Sonya to his trailer, which he keeps stocked with medical supplies and food. Linder feels bound to Eva and will do whatever he can to find her. A little help would be nice, though.

Frye has survived his fall and is being pushed around the hospital grounds by Adrianna. He’s surly as ever, and refusing to learn to use his chair because he doesn’t want to accept that it may be a permanent thing. Adrianna suggests that he come back to work. Frye is lamenting all the time he’s wasted in this life, drinking away his talent, his future. Adrianna confesses she was really worried about him, and he teases her that she wants to have some Frye babies with him. Adrianna espouses some tough love measures and leaves his ass to find a way back without her assistance.

Sonya fills Lt. Wade in on her meeting with Marco, and she is still shaken by his demeanor. She holds the broken cassette tape in her hands. Wade takes a pencil, showing her how easy it is to mend. Sonya knows that Marco has the built in need to help those in danger. If pastries won’t work, maybe finding Eva will.

Speaking of Eva, she’s thankfully still alive. A police officer leads her into a Juarez jail cell. She had been held by a man for three days, and turned to the police for help. The officer locks her up inside and walks away.

Sonya finds a very drunk Marco at a local bar and escorts him home. He’s angry and sad and yells the whole way home. He tells her that she should have killed him that night on the bridge instead of letting him suffer the loss of his son. He tries to push her away, but she refuses. She doesn’t meet people often that she bonds with and she isn’t about to it Marco go. She leads Marco to Gus’s room, where he says he can still smell him. They have a moment of tender laughter over Gus’s crush and the chocolates. Sonya gets Marco a glass of water, then tucks him in. The next morning, Marco wakes to find Sonya still there. She makes him some breakfast which he devours. When her sister died, she says, Wade and his wife took her in. There was one rule in the house. Make the bed. Making the bed was the beginning to facing the day for her. Marco decides to visit the station, and agrees to let Sonya tag along.

Linder walks all over Juarez, showing Eva’s picture to anyone with eyes. He finds a wall, completely covered with pictures of other missing girls. A woman, lighting a candle, notices him. She tells him she can show him where to look for the girl.

At the Juarez station, Marco’s co-workers offer condolences. The Captain notices Sonya, and treats her like and annoying fly the needs to be shooed. Marco asks Celia to run Eva’s picture, but she’s not in the system. The Captain wants to know if Marco is coming back soon, but Marco shakes his head. The Captain laments that Tate is being charged in the states. He would have loved to give him a taste of some real justice in Juarez.

Frye is well enough to leave the hospital and get his flirt on with Adrianna’s sisters over dinner. The oldest sister asks if his equipment still works, which Frye is quick to affirm. Talk turns to marriage and Adrianna angrily asserts that she is not getting married to anyone and her mother knows why. Her mother suggests talking to a priest about her “problem.” Adrianna declares to the whole room that she dates women and is an embarrassment to her family, even though it’s her money that puts food on the table. He mother slaps her face and orders her to get out. Frye is left alone with the family, feeling more awkward than usual.

The same cop who locked Eva in the cell, pulls up in front of a large estate. Eva is dresses in a cocktail dress, looking dazed and possibly drugged. Shortly thereafter we see the world from her perspective. She’s tied up and beaten, her focus hazy as men’s voices and presence surrounds her.

Wade and Marco meet up in Juarez in the bright light of morning. Wade wants to know if Marco is coming to court, but Marco is undecided. Wade asks if Marco is experiencing any peace. For ten seconds each morning, Marco responds, he forgets that Gus is gone. Then it’s pain and grief for the rest of the day. Wade suggests that perhaps testifying against his son’s killer might bring him just a tiny bit more peace.

Adrianna and her little sister wait in line for breakfast themselves. Her sister has dropped out of school to work in a factory. (I have a sickening feeling that this is the same factory where Eva worked.) She tells Adrianna that her boss is nice and good looking. (Yep, still have that feeling.) Talk turns to Adrianna and her mother’s confrontation, and little sis wonders if Adrianna can change if she just trusts in God. Adrianna tells her that who she is has nothing to do with God.

Marco does show up for court, showered and clean shaven. Sonya and Wade wish him luck and show him that they have his back. A police escort van pulls up in front of the courthouse and David Tate is led out. When he sees Marco, a sickening smile creeps across his face and he nods in acknowledgement. Marco begins to breathe heavily, but pulls himself together and enters the building.

The next morning, Marco wakes up and makes the bed. It’s a tiny step on his road through grief, but it’s a step nonetheless. The doorbell rings but it’s not Sonya bearing baked goods. It’s Celia from the police station. She can’t take it anymore and she wants to confess to Marco. She’s been looking the other way as women and girls have been trafficked through the department. She did recognize the woman they were looking for, Eva. The cop took her to a place where she would be used and abused. Marco warns Celia that by bringing this to light, she is putting her own life in danger. She knows, but can no longer sit in silence. Marco assures her that he will handle it.

The last scene of The Bridge, gives us a glimpse at the shift in story for Season 2. (The Bridge has officially been renewed.) Linder is walking on the dusty clay, poking a sharp stick into the dirt. The camera pans out to show dozens of other men and women doing the same thing. As they walk and dig, they come closer and closer to a field of pink crosses. The crosses are the lost girls of Juarez, and there are many more left to be found.

What did you think of this episode of The Bridge?

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