Episode 9 of The Bridge really brought some interesting things to the table. So let's talk about it!
Spoilers ahead in 3...2...1...
First off, the intro scene with Tate stumbling onto the eponymous bridge and finding his wife and son dead from a car accident was hard to watch. The actor playing Tate really sold it.
The episode mainly revolves around Tate. He not only has Marco's wife Alma, but their two daughters as well. And the pacing is excellent. The tension builds as we wonder what he's going to do to them, and when he'll do it. He ends up taking them to a "hunting cabin" he's been working on. There, a suspenseful scene occurs where he has Alma close her eyes...before handing her a live grenade. Now, there are a few seconds here where Alma could have thrown the grenade out the door, or run past Tate and thus had a chance to throw it farther. However, Tate outflanks her and manages to lock the cabin door.
Marco and Sonya have plenty of tension between them as well. Sonya just can't grasp the concept of telling people what they want to hear. It's all truth, all the time, as frank and unapologetic as it gets.
An interesting scene occurs between Gus and his friend Zina. I'd been wondering about her, as she hadn't been shown previously. She had said something previously to him in a text about "taking your mind off that gringa cop". But in looking at her, she appears to be a white girl as well. She also has no clue about the texts that Gus has supposedly been sending her. And the plot thickens.
Charlotte and Cesar have problems of their own. While Ray is back at the house doing Lord knows what, Charlotte is talking to Graciela, who gets a little rough. Cesar comes out with a loaded shotgun and deals with the threat nicely. A good piece of action results where he shoots Graciela's flunky, and then eventually shoots Graciela herself. As the Joker said in Batman, "never rub another man's rhubarb". Graciela called him a pussy before, and apparently Cesar took offense. Later on, we see the two of them burying Graciela, with Charlotte doing the honors of kicking her corpse into the hole Cesar has dug for them.
When Gus tells Marco, Hank, and Sonya about his supposed text relationship with Zina, they figure out the truth of the matter. Tate has been posing as Zina in an effort to get closer to Gus. They stake out the meeting place, but Tate is on to them (after all, he was an FBI agent, he ought to be able to sniff that stuff out from miles away) and hands something to a waiter to give to Gus. This turns out to be GPS coordinates of the "hunting cabin" that Alma and the two little girls are trapped in. Marco and Hank make a daring rescue while Sonya and Gus stay behind at the station. I think this just might put Marco back in Alma's good graces. We shall see.
Sonya is tasked with driving Gus to a safe house. However, a truck sideswipes them, leaving Sonya's truck upside down. She is bloody and semi-conscious, while Gus appears to be unconscious. Tate, who was driving the other truck, gets out and kidnaps Gus. I have a feeling (based on the promo for next week, of course) that this event will be the main focus of the next episode.
Let's not forget about Linder, either. Though I said last week that it looked like he was fantasizing about the daughter of his employer, apparently he's been having thoughts about Eva Guerra as well. He goes to visit her and eventually admits that he killed her boyfriend Hector. She seems neither surprised nor especially sad about this turn of events. Guess he wasn't a good boyfriend.
Even with his identity known, Tate has managed to stay a couple steps ahead of Marco and Sonya. I'm interested to see how his little game develops. There'll also be hell to pay for Ray and Charlotte. Ray's already being watched by the ATF and Charlotte is sure to be upset about his role in the Graciela situation that Cesar had to solve by force. Linder's role in this whole thing is still a bit mysterious. At first it looked like he was the killer. But now with Tate revealed, Linder just seems to be some guy who gets involved with people who are ancillary to the main plot and doesn't really affect what Marco and Sonya are doing. I think this has to be rectified at some point soon.
