BRIDGING THE GAP(S)
A Brief Look at Bron/Broen and Its International Spawn
I
found a significant portion of the first season of the original Bron/Broen
excellent and riveting procedural television. Even with the issues I ultimately
have with it, I think it’s a better freshman season than that of Forbrydelsen. (Although I do think the
second season of Forbrydelsen is
better than Bron’s first season.)
My
issues with Bron’s season one? That
point in the narrative when the apparently socio-politically motivated serial
killer turns out to be… something else. (For those who’ve yet to see Bron, I shall steer clear of spoilers.)
That
plot point wasn’t a deal-breaker, but it did impact on my view of the season as
a whole.
So
when news first broke that FX was mounting an American version--The Bridge, trading the Sweden/Denmark
settings for US/Mexico--I was naturally curious.
And as I got further into The Bridge, I appreciated those elements
of the American iteration that skillfully exploited the US/Mexico dichotomy to
bolster its storytelling. These were, I felt, among the show’s strengths,
angles and story beats that weren’t imported from Bron.
I
felt this so strongly that I hoped The
Bridge wouldn’t copy that pivotal plot detour that, at least for me, marred
Bron somewhat.
Sadly,
they did. (Every time I’d see a variation of a familiar Bron beat play out on The
Bridge, gradually edging the narrative ever closer to that damned plot
twist, I’d sigh and go--in an internal Scandinavianish voice--“Åh nej!”)
But
then, after getting the basic plot skeleton of Bron out of the way, in the tail end of the first season, The Bridge displayed a side of itself
that promised to be a riveting show in its own right, away from the long,
formidable shadow of Bron.
Though
Bron’s leads are, for me, still the
best and purest distillations of the main characters (Sofia Helin and Kim
Bodnia originated the roles, after all), Diane Kruger and Demian Bichir acquit
themselves well, particularly Kruger, who had the unenviable task of walking in
the footsteps of Helin’s Saga Norén.
The
welcome surprise of The Bridge was
its supporting cast, in particular, Jame Gumb/Buffalo Bill himself, Ted Levine,
who brings a gruff, paternal charm to the proceedings as Hank Wade, and Matthew
Lillard, as addict douchebag reporter Daniel Frye. Plus the quirky oddness of
Lyle Lovett’s Monte P. Flagman, who I sincerely hope we see more of in the
second season.
So,
yeah, while , interestingly enough, the weaker sections of The Bridge are the parts where they tried to stay too faithful to Bron,* by the time the thirteenth
episode winds up, it’s with a show that promises to be something far more
interesting in its sophomore season--its own exotic narrative creature, removed
from its Scandinavian roots.
Meanwhile,
as I was enjoying my journey on The
Bridge, I was also looking forward to the Sky English/French iteration, The Tunnel; this version’s initial dump
site: the Channel Tunnel.
And
here we are with the first episode aired…
It’s
still too early to tell how this will ultimately shape up, but it’s a promising
start. Though it does follow the same general structure of Bron’s first episode, there are also some slight deviations.
My
biggest takeaway from episode 1? That haunting theme song (“The End of Time”),
with vocals by Charlotte Gainsbourg.
Plus,
it’s a bit bizarre to see Stannis Baratheon himself on the case… (Every now and then, I'd half-expect Carice van Houten's Red Woman to come traipsing out of the woodwork.)
Stephen Dillane's “Karl
Roebuck” character, by the way, seems to have become an even bigger man-whore
in this iteration. While in Bron, the character has three
children in a current marriage and one child from a previous one, and in The Bridge, two and one, in The Tunnel, he’s got five kids from three different mums…
Here’s
to 9 more episodes of The Tunnel, and
here’s to hoping it revels in its Britishness/Frenchness, and doesn’t take that
same plot detour its predecessors chose to take.
Doubleplus,
there’s also the second season of Bron
to look forward to (four episodes have already aired in Denmark, Sweden,
Finland, Norway, and Iceland).
Hurra!
*
I should point out, in all fairness, that I nevertheless appreciated the
efforts of The Bridge writers to
tighten up the plot elements taken from Bron,
as well as delineating more clearly, the characters and their relationships
with one another.
(Bron DVD cover art courtesy of imdb.com;
The Bridge OS courtesy of
impawards.com; The Tunnel image courtesy
of mirror.co.uk.)
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