I think we're starting to find our way back into a groove. And what do you know, maybe a bit of humor to lighten up these pitch black proceedings.
Spoilers after the cut.
The fourth episode of The Bridge's second season may surprise you if you've been watching from the beginning. Two things that have largely been missing showed up finally: continuity and humor.
It begins with Eleanor finding a dead armadillo on the road and burying it. She then gets into a van driven by a fellow with an appreciation for Metallica and Taylor Swift (as we find out later on) and is taken back across the border (I presume) to meet with her boss, Fausto Galvan. That was unexpected, to say the least. Then something else odd occurs: she is allowed ten minutes to meet with someone, and it turns out to be a shadowy person/creature who apparently likes acorns and the tune that Eleanor has been humming on-and-off throughout.
Finally, a title that makes sense! Huzzah!
The episode description stated that "Marco finds a new ally" (taken out of context obviously, only because I don't remember the entire thing), who turns out to be the state of Chihuahua's new prosecutor, Abelardo Pintado. This man is clearly an idealist, and clearly quite foolish. He seems to think that people will just line up to get rid of Galvan, as though people like Marco haven't been in his pocket for years. Not only will the witnesses come running to him in droves, but Marco himself is going to help.
Well, okay, the second part of that appears to be accurate. When they meet late in the episode in church, Marco says that once Capitan Robles goes down, they can start talking about Galvan.
Will this happen? Not likely. Certainly not this season. The most likely occurrence would be the idealistic Pintado getting gunned down...or something more vicious.
Sonya has her own problems. When her sister's killer dies, she seeks solace with his brother, again. What she doesn't know is that the still-living Dobbs was looking at the drawings of the killer and apparently found something he valued, which was on Sonya's refrigerator. How that connects to anything is a mystery at present. She admits to Marco that the killer Dobbs is dead while on the way to a supposedly "huge company" called Clio. It feels a bit like a scene from a previous episode when they were talking about Marco's son and how Marco still feels his presence.
She also likes to keep her bathtub full of water. Not sure why.
Frye and Adriana, the erstwhile reporters, somehow stumble onto the fact that a local El Paso bank is dealing in cartel money. They meet with the bank manager (whose assistant is being paid off for that nasty missing ear business) and ask him some questions, but basically get nowhere. What's most surprising is that the man then commits suicide right outside of the bank.
Detective Cooper and Hank talk about how bad the coffee at the bank is. Then when the DEA agent (Joe Mackenzie is his name, thanks Wikipedia!) arrives, Hank tells Cooper to get him a cup. And the line of the episode also goes to Cooper: "This is my bank". Zing!
The most interesting character thus far (besides Eleanor, obviously) is lawyer Monte Flagman. He's just so damn helpful. When Charlotte and Ray encounter a snag on their planned excursion to Alaska, he steps right in and offers them a job. Charlotte is more pleased to take it than Ray is, for some reason. Even though Monte promises that Galvan won't kill them for their screw-up, Ray just wants to keep it movin' while Charlotte wants to keep it stayin'.
I wonder if she'll change her mind once she finds out what the job entails?
There were also peripheral scenes involving Linder (no progress in the interrogation) and Raul Quintana's killer (he still feels bad).
All said, "The Acorn" is the best episode of The Bridge in 2014 thus far. Fewer fast cuts to unconnected locales and some humor from the always-welcome Detective Cooper make it a winner.
Next week: Marco confronts David Tate! Spoiler alert: He's not looking well!
