While the real world will still have problems with immigration, murder and crooked cops, the fictional world of The Bridge is done with them. FX has confirmed with us that they “will not be moving forward with a third season of The Bridge,” one of the most dark and gritty shows TV had going for it. There were enough deaths on that show that I’m sure there’s a prop tombstone we can use to mourn its absence from this point on.
I was a big fan of The Bridge, though it was hard to actually “like” the nearly fun-free approach to storytelling from creators Meredith Stiehm and Elwood Reid, who adapted it from the Danish/Swedish series Broen/Bron. That lack of attractive qualities certainly made it hard for the series to grow an audience in the two years it was on the air. Cable series have less expectations laid against them than broadcast networks’ shows do, but The Bridge did poorly even by those standards. While the first season premiered for an audience 3 million strong and held on to an average of over 1.5 million viewers for the rest of the season, Season 2’s premiere only brought in 1.5 million, and several episodes dipped beneath a million viewers as the weeks went by. Last months’ finale? Just 1.03 million watched the live airing. (I DVR it.)
Luckily, the fans that the show did earn didn’t have to go through a bunch of heartache over cliffhangers and stories not being tied up. It’s not like every little thing was cleared up, but the season’s two big baddies, the sadistic Eleanor Nacht (Franka Potente) and cartel leader Fausto Galvon (Ramón Franco), were caught. Fausto and Captain Robles would have presumably gone on to cause more hell for people in Season 3, and it’s sort of possible that Eleanor would have done so as well, but she might have been done for after her cathartic scene with her rapey father tied to a tree.
If there’s a silver lining, it’s that Demián Bichir and Diane Kruger can now act in more things with actual happiness in them. Annabeth Gish, who’d already met her maker this season, moved on to Sons of Anarchy last month, though that’s ending soon. Hopefully Thomas M. Wright’s next role allows him to enunciate his words a little better.
FX still has a solid drama lineup set up through the next year. They’ve renewed The Strain, Fargo, Tyrant and The Americans for extra seasons, and let’s not forget Justified is also coming back next year. Plus whatever that American Crime Story is going to be.
Farewell, The Bridge. Let's all tip our passports in memory.
