Nordic Noir Review // The Bridge, Series 2 – Episodes 5 + 6

SPOILERS AHEAD!

Starring Sofia Helin as Saga Noren and Kim Bodnia as Martin Rhodes

The Bridge excelled this week over a tight pair of episodes with much development of the various plot strands…


It took us a couple of viewing sessions (with Danish cookies and Swedish coffee, naturally…) to get a good grip of this densely plotted pair of episodes. But it wasn’t time wasted as each watch only seemed to confirm the fact that The Bridge is the ONLY way to spend a Saturday night. Who needs the pub or a night club of the type we saw Saga frequent often in series one when you have the patented Nordic Noir blend of arresting visuals, skylines that make you wish you had a private jet and a healthy melange of murder, long scientific words, eco terrorists and interior décor porn?

One of the most notable aspects of this double bill was the gradual unravelling of Saga’s on-the-surface odd behaviour to reveal a refreshingly honest questioning of society’s norms. When the somewhat less annoying Rasmus, (He does something this week – for once! But what will come of his evidence tampering from last week though?), loses his patience with her after she announces she will be reporting him to internal affairs for using suspicious investigative methods Saga is genuinely mystified – with a word from Martin needed to make her get the point. His later apology too also completely confuses her – although she does acknowledge it.

On more domestic fronts we see Saga deal with the Mother in Law – relatively more successfully than would be imagined it has to be said. When her desire to have sex comes up later, as said Mother in Law is in the next room the response is a no – so ensues a hilarious sequence where Saga questions why she would be surprised they were having sex. Then comes the masturbation the morning after...

On a more serious note though, we see some development as Saga works out (somehow) that Mette and Martin’s nanny is feeding their son blood pressure medicine in his juice under the influence of Münchausen-by-Proxy thereby making him ill. How does she know the signs – is it really from “a case” as she claims? Maybe we’ll find out next week when Pernille gets Martin the info on Saga’s sister’s death he asked her to find? Intriguing is not quite putting it strongly enough…

Talking of Martin, we see a reversal of sorts for him this week. For a start, he and Mette are actually in a bed together holding each other at one point and it’s good to see. From sheer visual concerns alone that house they live in is a masterpiece alone in modern interior design and the more we see of it the better! From the plot concern, it’s giving Martin less of a reason to look miserable and blood shot in the eyes and I’m sure it will come to a very dark resolution this being the show it is.

But back to the animal mask wearing terrorists and they are in fine kidnapping, very creepy form here. Kidnapping first a keynote speaker for the conference mentioned previously and placing her in a small cage then booting down Saga’s door in the hotel she’s trying to get some “quality  me time” in. It’s a fantastic cliff hanger for sure – and when she swiftly beats them with alarm clocks, kicks them down and unmasks the duo (Where are the other two from the video? Hopefully it won’t be a case of finding out what the fox says…) it’s one of the best moments of the show.

Unfortunately though not everyone makes it out alive; IT Entrepreneur and potential suspect is shooting the golden frog break away cell isn’t dead we learn. But he soon is – with an intravenous injection of something green and rather nasty that makes you convulse in horrific ways. When his body turns up, flesh burnt and unrecognisable from a spilled barrel of Potassium Hydroxide it’s a shocking moment – and one the special effects team should be proud of.

The question remains though – who is Mother of Three? Was it s/he at the helm of Julian’s intravenous murder? Is it Viktoria? The six months to live, bucket list ticking off one is certainly not revealing much yet – although her steeliness if very clear as she attempts to purchase a pharmaceutical company from a rather annoyed owner who tells her rather bluntly to “go stick (your offer) up your pussy” . Guess he’s not selling…

Are there any other suspects though? Not obviously – although the new connection made to the Caroline – Bodil narrative is starting to make some headway as we discover the latter is “fucking her sister’s husband”. All this makes for much to consider and with one week to go until the next episodes viewers will no doubt be doing just that…

The plots thicken… and The Bridge gets even better! See you next week…


Reviewed by Sebastian Gahan. 

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