The Bridge: Episode Ten

"Has everything you know ever turned out to be wrong?"

Ooh blimey. I don't think I can take much more of this. No, wait… I don't have to. What a brilliant piece of television. Suspense, mystery, character… all three of those elements delivered so, so much. Needless to say, HERE BE SPOILERS, LOTS OF THEM.

The arcs for both characters are so, so satisfying. Martin, likeable as he is, ends up being punished for what he did to Jens. I suppose his affair with Charlotte, and its consequences, were foreshadowing this. August sums him up best, I think: "He knows he's not perfect, but he does his best." Kim Bodnia deserves so, so much praise for portraying Martin's constant emotional turmoil.

For Saga, the main thread her is how good a liar she is, which proves so very relevant to the plot, but also her moves towards empathy generally; her little white lie fails, but she saves the day anyway. Except that August is still dead, and she still thinks she fails. Her connection with Martin is wonderful to see, and it's extraordinary, yet believable, for her to show so much emotion. Sofia Helin has been utterly superb, too.

There are lots of little touches on the theme of our two stars. It's made very clear, as a direct parallel, that Martin does not have the closeness to Lilian that Saga has with Hans. And there's that wonderful scene of Saga just standing, in the kitchen at Jens' mother's house, alone, silent, framed in the centre of the shot. She's alone, but comfortable that way. The pressure is on her, but she's capable.

Most wonderful of all is that last meeting between the two of them in the hospital. Saga, heartbreakingly, thinks she's let Martin down, but she hasn't. She's a good and loyal person, and he knows that. And perhaps her lack of empathy is not entirely a weakness. Perhaps Martin's greater empathy, when it manifests itself in infidelity, can be a weakness too. And the final shot, as Saga arranges a date with Anton, shows us that, even though there may be no hope for Martin, there is hope for her.

Oh, and one particularly nice touch comes at the very end of the scene in which Martin confesses to Metter that it was him who cuckolded Jens. She simply sighs, a sigh that speaks volumes. It's probably the very pinnacle of screen sighing. It's that good.

So, The Bridge is amazing. It's drama at its best. Is it was good as, say, The Wire or The Sopranos? Well, that's not a fair question, and it's one that I'm not going to answer. High expectations can be a dangerous thing. They can cause disappointment if the programme in question turns out to be merely excellent, which is why I feel a bit nervous about watching The Killing. I think, for the moment, that it's a strict diet of Buffy, Angel and movies for me. All that said, though, I was relieved that I found The Bridge superlative, gripping television.

It's not quite as good as the first series of Spiral, mind…!