The Bridge faces what could become a huge problem down the line: I can’t see a goddamn thing. Seriously, all the Mexico scenes in “Ghost of a Flea” were so dark that if The Bridge continues in this direction, by the season finale it’ll just be a radio drama. That said, it was a pretty good episode overall.
“Ghost of a Flea” did a great job of rounding out one of the most intriguing characters from last week’s “Yankee” – that is, Franka Potente’s creepy cartel number-cruncher (whose name, it turns out, is Eleanor). She convinces one of the teenage boys who found her last week to take her to his house, where he feeds and clothes her (in one of the episode’s few moments of levity, she refuses to wear pink, saying “It’s for whore and little girls who want to be princesses”). The boy, Kyle, is fundamentally good but also fatally stupid; he’s too distracted by Eleanor’s promise of sex (she takes her shirt off twice) to recognize red flags like THE STRANGE WOMAN TELLING YOU TO SAY GOODBYE TO YOUR BROTHER. So yeah, it’s safe to say that Kyle won’t be in season three. Potente adds a chilling sexuality to an already interesting character. I couldn’t take my eyes off her.
Sonya and Hank, meanwhile, discover that the dead body in the Prius is Yovani Garza (Eleanor’s partner), and a stuffed dog in the car leads them to a taxidermist (played, if I’m not mistaken, by “Yankee” director Keith Gordon). The taxidermist has a hell of a story to tell – a few weeks ago, Garza and Eleanor threatened to murder his entire family if he refused to stuff and mount a dead body, that of an undercover DEA agent.
This naturally brings in the DEA, in the persons of McKenzie and Rivas, who are a nice, fun addition, if a little unoriginal. I don’t buy for a second that they’ll bring down Fausto Galvan or even Eleanor, but I like hearing exchanges like this:
McKenzie: “Are you an ogre man or a troll man, Rivas?”
Rivas: “I like Call of Duty and pussy.”
Don’t we all.
Marco is having a shitty time down Mexico Way, as he’s not only being followed, but has to enter the precinct to the sight of fellow officers laughing at him. Marco, being Marco, beats the holy shit out of the man who aimed a gun at him during last week’s raid. Guys, you don’t mess with a man who can pull of a mustache like that. Pornstache on Orange is the New Black? Go ahead. Marco Ruiz? Bad idea.
Marco got the shit end of the stick last season, between Gus’s death and Alma’s departure, and The Bridge is better served for letting him have some breathing room. Nevertheless, the main goal of “Ghost of a Flea” is to bring all the main players back together – Marco is assigned to work the Garza case with Sonya, and Frye and Adriana’s investigation into the money house will bring them into the fold sooner rather than later. It’s an exciting prospect, because when everyone is firing on all cylinders – as they frequently are – The Bridge has one of the strongest ensembles on television right now.
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