I finished this show a while ago but, convinced there was a third season for some reason, I didn’t write my review at the time. That’s unfortunate, because I feel like I had some things to say, most of which escapes me now.

I watched the first season of the original show and liked it for a while and then hated where it went. I had heard good things about the second season of the American remake to the point that I committed myself to watching both seasons.

For some reason, I could handle the insane plot twists of the first season more the second time around – it’s almost as if, having had the plot ruined for me by the original, my expectations were so low that this time I wasn’t offended or annoyed by where things went. And this makes me think that maybe I was a little hard on the Danish version.

But my big issue with the either version of the show remains and did not disappear in the second season of the American version: this show requires too much suspension of disbelief concerning the central mystery of the first season. I had issues along those lines in the second season as well. Alas, I did not write down notes and I’ve forgotten most of what I was annoyed about by this point.

But, for the most part, this was better than many other critically acclaimed shows on at the time, and I was willing to watch a third season that I believed existed.

7/10

• Based on Broen/Bron by Hans Rosenfeldt, Måns Mårlind, Björn Stein
  Developed by Meredith Stiehm, Elwood Reid
• Starring:
  • Diane Kruger as Det. Sonya Cross: a member of the El Paso Police Department who has undiagnosed Asperger syndrome
  • Demián Bichir as Det. Marco Ruiz: a homicide detective for the Policía Estatal (State Police) of the Mexican state of Chihuahua
  • Ted Levine as Lieutenant Hank Wade
  • Annabeth Gish as Charlotte Millwright
  • Thomas M. Wright as Steven Linder
  • Matthew Lillard as Daniel Frye (season 2; recurring season 1): an El Paso Times reporter
  • Emily Rios as Adriana Mendez (season 2; recurring season 1): a young reporter for the Times
  • Johnny Dowers as Tim Cooper: an El Paso PD detective
  • Eric Lange as Kenneth Hasting
  • Carlos Pratts as Gus Ruiz: Marco’s son
  • Catalina Sandino Moreno as Alma Ruiz: Marco’s wife
  • Ramón Franco as Fausto Galvan: a cartel leader, and the owner of El Rey Storage
  • Alejandro Patino as Cesar
  • Juan Carlos Cantu as Captain Robles: Detective Ruiz’s supervisor in Juárez
  • Diana-Maria Riva as Kitty Conchas: the El Paso PD’s desk clerk
  • Stephanie Sigman as Eva Guerra
  • Alma Martínez as Graciela Rivera
  • Brian Van Holt as Ray
  • Daniel Edward Mora as Obregon
  • Larry Clarke as Manny Stokes
  • Lyle Lovett as Monte P. Flagman: Graciela Rivera’s lawyer
  • Arturo del Puerto as Hector Valdez
  • Don Swayze as Tim
  • Chris Browning as Jackson Childress
  • Franka Potente as Eleanor Nacht
  • Manuel Uriza as Abelardo Pintado
  • Nathan Phillips as Jack Dobbs
  • Abraham Benrubi as Agent Joe Mackenzie
  • Bruno Bichir as Sebastian Cerisola
• Theme music composer: Ryan Bingham
• Opening theme “Until I’m One with You”
• Country of origin: United States
• Original languages: English, Spanish
• No. of seasons: 2
• No. of episodes 26
• Executive producers: Meredith Stiehm, Elwood Reid, Carolyn G. Bernstein, Lars Blomgren
• Production location: El Paso, Texas, Tijuana, Mexico, Los Angeles, California
• Running time: 40–50 minutes
• Production companies: Shorewood, Inc., Elwood Reid, Inc., FX Productions, Filmlance, Shine America
• Distributor: 20th Television
• Original network: FX
• Original release: July 10, 2013 –October 1, 2014