In the season finale of The Bridge, Sonya and Hank follow the trail of two vehicles coming over border in the dead of night. Sonya tails the van, while Hank goes after the semi-truck. Hank tells Sonya to wait for backup to approach the van. Hank flashes his lights and the truck pulls over, but the driver is far from cooperative. They engage in a shootout, and Hank mortally wounds the man. Hank searches the cargo of the van, and finds something unexpected: a bleeding and near death Steven Linder.
Sonya follows the van to a residential neighborhood, while Hank calls in the police and Agent Elliot Adler to investigate the cargo. It’s loaded with over ten tons of heroin.
Frye arrives at home with a date, but their amorous evening is interrupted by Agent Buckley, who has broken into Frye’s apartment and found all of the stolen files. After Buckley sends Frye’s date home, he threatens to kill Frye and stage it to look like an overdose. He also warns that if Adriana is smart, she’ll ditch the story as well. He mentions in passing that Adriana has tried to kill herself two years prior, something that catches Frye by surprise. Buckley then burns all the files while Frye looks on, helpless to stop him. Buckley gets a call and has to jet to somewhere sinister, but he leaves Frye very much alive.
Speaking of sinister, in the dark of night, Fausto Galvan pushes Marco and Romina through the mountains. Romina falls down from exhaustion, but Fausto threatens to leave her to die so Marco picks her up and assists her along the way.
Sonya sees some movement at the garage where she is staked out, so she proceeds without backup. When she goes in, she discovers a body and a man trying to dispose of it. Before she can do anything about it, Agent Buckley comes up behind her and cold cocks her on the head with his pistol. He also shoots the other man, and calls for a clean up crew. He leaves Sonya passed out, but unharmed other than a nasty bump on the head.
In a dark alley, Sebastian Cerisola and Eleanor part ways for the time being. He wants her help when Fausto is taken down, and she agrees. First, she has some personal business to attend to. He hands her a key, and one of his men leads her to a locked room. Inside is the only thing Eleanor cares about. “Hello father,” she tells the dirty, bearded old man.
Sonya wakes up in an empty garage with one hell of a headache. She calls Hank, and soon he arrives with Agent Adler. Sonya is hesitant to share intel with him, but Hank assures her that Adler is on their side. Adler informs Hank and Sonya that they have intercepted the drug pipeline. Agent McKenzie had contacted him before his death with evidence that the CIA was helping Fausto smuggle drugs into the US. Sonya is pissed that Adler knew about what was happening and did nothing, but Hank whisks her away before she can really get up in Adler’s face.
After walking all night, Romina has finally had enough. Fausto assumes she’s just dope sick, and she perks up at the sight of the drugs. Marco refuses to inject her, so Fausto sits down to do it himself. Romina starts rubbing her foot against Fausto, and convinces him to let her inject herself. While he preps a vein in her foot, she plunges the needle into Fausto’s neck and injects him with the heroin. He manages to get off a shot before succumbing to the effects, wounding Romina in her side. With the distraction, Marco is able to disarm Obregon and Fausto, and take control.
Frye shows up at the newspaper office to meet with Adriana. She too has had a visit from the CIA, but hers was less terrifying. She encourages Frye to contact some bloggers she knows to find a place to publish their story, but Frye’s hesitant. He’s not too fond of “bloggers” apparently. (I’ll try not to take offense, Frye.) They head off to meet with Adriana’s CIA contact.
Linder has survived his ordeal, so Sonya and Hank pay him a visit. He has no idea how he ended up in the cargo truck, and lies about how he ended up with a bullet in the gut.
Marco pushes Obregon and a dazed Fausto through the mountains until they stumble upon the supposed getaway truck. Naturally, the engine is dead. Romina isn’t doing so well, so Marco lays her down to rest. She begs him to inject her, but he knows that the drugs will only lead to her death. He pushes her to fight on. Perhaps this is his way to make peace with losing his son, by saving someone else’s child. Fausto, still reeling from the effects of the drugs, tells Marco that his father is buried nearby. Fausto and his own father dug up his body and moved it to the mountains after Marco’s father was killed. Marco reminds Fausto that they have very different memories about the late Mr. Ruiz. Marco calls Sonya and asks for her help.
Adriana and Frye meet up with Agent Carla Garcia in a diner, where she feeds them a line about how Agent Buckley is simply a rogue agent with psychiatric problems. Frye and Adriana know she’s full of it, but when pressed, Garcia sticks to her story. Agent Garcia gets up to leave, telling them that Buckley is being evaluated. Frye knows they need to get to Buckley before it’s too late.
When Sonya arrives, Marco drives them all out of the mountains, bypassing the Marines who are searching for them. He plans to drop Romina off at the hospital, and asks Sonya to stay with her. Sonya wants to bring Cerisola, Robles and Eleanor to justice, but Marco tells her first things first. Fausto is the base of this house of cards. Once he falls, so will the rest.
Agent Buckley sits in his car eating caramel corn while waiting to meet up with the sensitive hitman from earlier in the season. Buckley asks the hitman to do a job for him, but the hitman already has his orders. He shoots Buckley twice in the chest, leaving him for dead in a pile of popcorn.
Marco and Sonya arrive at the hospital, and the EMTs rush Romina into surgery. Marco tells Sonya to keep Romina’s identity a secret. Before he leaves, he slips Sonya a gun for her own protection. Marco then arrives at the police station, with Obregon and Fausto in tow. The entire room is speechless. Robles comes out and of course, tries to take over. Marco knows full well that Robles is in deep and would probably let Fausto go or have him killed, so he refuses. Marco asks Celia to get the State’s Prosecutor down there, and drags the men off to their separate jail cells. Marco sits down beside Fausto and waits for the federal authorities to arrive.
Sonya meets up with Cerisola to let him know that his daughter is alive, and much to Cerisola’s displeasure, so is Fausto. Sonya agrees to tell Cerisola where Romina is, if he gives up Eleanor’s position.
The State’s Prosecutor arrives and offers Marco his hearty congratulations for capturing Fausto. Extra security has been called in to deal with Fausto, and Robles has disappeared, leaving his badge behind. The Prosecutor asks Marco if he’s interested in taking over as Captain, but Marco refuses.
Linder leaves the hospital in his scrubs, and crosses the border to meet with Eva. They embrace, and Linder tells her about a dream he had about her. She was watching over a brood of little baby animals. Basically that is Steven Linder speak for, lets have some babies and try to live a normal life together. They may actually have a shot at it.
Hank and Cooper are called to the scene of Buckley’s murder. Hank calls in Frye and Adriana and does them a solid. Unfettered access to the crime scene, so they can go ahead with their massive CIA/cartel story. Remembering what Buckley said about Adriana’s past, Frye turns to Adriana and asks her if she’s happy. She assures him that she is happy as one can expect and very much all in. The friendship between Frye and Adriana has really evolved this season. No longer is Frye the lecherous egomaniac he was in Season One, nor is Adriana quite as timid and unsure of herself. Their friendship is based on trust and a mutual hunger for the truth.
Cesar drops Eleanor and her father off by the oak tree she spoke of in episodes past. They bid each other goodbye and Eleanor wishes him well. She then leads her father up the hill to the tree, pulling him by a leash. He’s filthy and wearing only a jacket and underpants. She chains his collar to a rusty pipe near the tree. She sits across from him, and asks if he remembers all the vile things he did to her. She then unties his hands and taunts him to come and get her. He pulls against the leash, trying to attack her. Suddenly, the pipe comes loose and he is able to overpower her. As he chokes Eleanor, Sonya arrives and shoots him dead. Eleanor once again surrenders to Sonya, but not before trying to convince her to shoot. Eleanor should know by now, that’s not the way Sonya works. Sonya handcuffs Eleanor, and calls Marco for assistance. Sonya knows she will be fired for how she handled things, so Marco tells her that the authorities simply can’t find out then.
