# The Bridge (2013)

> Two detectives from El Paso and Juarez must unite across the US-Mexico border to hunt a serial killer tied to cartel violence.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/42635

## Facts

- Seasons: 2
- Episodes: 26
- Episode runtime: 45 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: crime, drama, mystery
- Created by: Meredith Stiehm, Elwood Reid
- Network: FX
- Cast: Diane Kruger, Demián Bichir, Thomas M. Wright, Ted Levine, Annabeth Gish, Matthew Lillard, Emily Rios, Abraham Benrubi
- TMDB rating: 7.6/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2406376/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: brisk
- Intensity: strong
- Complexity: layered
- Violence: brutal
- Tone: gritty, tense, bleak, morally complex

## What critics say

Viewers rate the series positively, praising its cross-border procedural tension and the lead pairing of Sonya Cross and Marco Ruiz.

## Synopsis

The Bridge (2013-2014) is an American crime drama series created by Meredith Stiehm and Elwood Reid for FX. A two-season serialized procedural across 26 episodes, it follows El Paso detective Sonya Cross (Diane Kruger) and Chihuahua State Police detective Marco Ruiz (Demián Bichir) after a corpse is dropped on the bridge linking their two cities. Their investigation pulls them into a tangle of cartel violence, political pressure and a serial killer whose trail runs through both countries. Each episode pushes the case forward through interrogations, surveillance and uneasy negotiations between two police forces that distrust each other. Cross's blunt professionalism clashes with Ruiz's street-level pragmatism, and the border itself becomes a character, dividing jurisdictions and languages. The tone is gritty, tense and morally bleak, with a documentary-like realism that recalls the border noir of Narcos and the grim atmosphere of The Killing. Viewers drawn to layered police partnerships and brutal, unflinching crime stories will find it rewarding.

## Shows like The Bridge

- [The Border (2014)](https://ember.film/tv/54902)
- [Bordertown (2016)](https://ember.film/tv/59986)
- [The Bridge (2011)](https://ember.film/tv/40896)
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- [The Tunnel (2013)](https://ember.film/tv/50497)
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- [The Team (2015)](https://ember.film/tv/55347)
- [Oderbruch (2024)](https://ember.film/tv/146988)
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