The Bridge: Episode Seven

"You can't have sex with your colleagues' children!"

There's a small but interesting difference at the start of this episode: the lyrics of the song end slightly differently, with "And then you cut…" rather than "Back to the beginning…" as we've heard in all of the previous six episodes. Perhaps this is a nod towards the fact that we're close to the end? It is also, of course, accompanied by a camera cut, which is nicely metatextual. Also interesting is that this week's "previously on…" clip show refers to so many different things from so many weeks ago, many of which I'd semi-forgotten. Threads are beginning to be tied up.

Also interesting is that the first scene proper takes place on a bus which is shot as a small, insignificant speck in a bleak, wintry landscape, and that everything is shot in very muted colours. It's tempting to see a thematic connection with the existentialist subtext which so strongly pervades this episode.

The central focus here is Ferbé, whose near-death experience with his overdose has left him a changed man, deeply shocked by the strong impression that there is no afterlife and thus no meaning to existence. He spends the episode gradually rejecting nihilism and learning that he can impose his own individual meaning on the absurdities of the world, in his case by possibly throwing away his career for the sake of principle, and committing arson to save a child's life, an experience which he describes as "intense". This is an interesting word, as it connotes a chemical high, something which we associate with his pre-overdose self.

The episode ends, of course, with his death, but at least he did something with the extra time he had which had meaning for him. I'm a little wary of stereotyping Swedes as existentialists(!), but I'm reminded very, very strongly of The Seventh Seal.

All this is echoed, I think, in the other characters, albeit in a wider context. Saga, being a kind of innocent, had no faith in an afterlife to begin with, and nor has she ever assumed that the world has a divinely ordained meaning. She is therefore free of existential angst. Martin, meanwhile, sees his purpose in his family, but his family life is falling apart, which is making his life fall apart. Nevertheless, the problem is not a lack of faith.

The episode has some great Saga moments. I laughed out loud when Hans had to gently explain how Martin would be upset about her sleeping with August, and that he might want to know that they didn't have sex. Even funnier is when she shouts it across the whole office! They spend much of the episode at loggerheads, but seem to bond towards the end, and once again Martin seems very perceptive about her, and very empathetic. And his face when told "This is Anton. We have sex now and again." is priceless.

Much of this episode is about consequences. Martin has to face the consequences of cheating on his wife; things are up in the air, and who's that man who spend ninety minutes alone with Mette and texts her in the evening? Stefan, of course, has to face the consequences of what he's done at the very time his sister needs him most. Even the murderer tells Ferbé that he plans to turn himself in and face the consequences.

We seem to be entering the endgame, and we have a definite suspect in Jesper Andersson. It won't be him, of course, and I suspect it isn't a cop.