Bridge-ing The Gap Between Neurotypical And Aspie

Two episodes into FX's remake of DR/SVT's The Bridge, I am not entirely on board, though there are elements that interest me enough to keep watching. Demian Bichir's performance as Juarez detective Marco Ruiz is completely magnetic (and pretty much exactly what you'd expect a Mexican version of Kim Bodnia's Danish detective Martin Rohde would be); along related lines, I'm interested in the show's portrayal of the Juarez police department, and the ways Marco has to navigate its inherent corruption in order to get any productive work done. But above all, I realized last night that I was most looking forward to the interactions of El Paso detective Sonya Cross (Diane Kruger) and her boss, Lt. Hank Wade (Ted Levine).

Before I get into it, I have to state some unassailable facts. First, as a friend from El Paso pointed out when the adaptation was announced, it's weird that a detective in that city would not be Latina. (Maybe the casting director for The Bridge noticed that all the city's best known Latina actresses were already going to be on Devious Maids and gave up trying to find anyone else in that cohort.) Second, it's even weirder that a character who's supposed to be an American citizen living in Texas would be played by someone for whom English is not her first language. I mean, whatever -- Diane Kruger's English is better than my German (or French, which Kruger also speaks) -- but she has a very noticeable accent the provenance of which has yet to be accounted for. Third...Kruger is not my favourite.

A fourth fact is that Kruger is playing Sonya as a person with Asperger's, though, as John Elder Robinson (who has Asperger's) pointed out on Vulture last week, characters on the show (including Sonya) don't use the term, and neither will psychiatrists anymore, as the term has been dropped from the DSM. As Saga Noren, Sonya's counterpart in the original series, Sofia Helin always struck me as more eccentric and Vulcan-esque than as someone with a specific brand of non-neurotypical orientation, and knowing that Kruger's interpretation of her character is explicitly Aspergerian has the effect of making the character's quirks read as award-grubbing showiness -- except when Kruger's acting opposite Levine.

The first episode established years of backstory between Hank and Sonya in subtle, elegant ways. When Sonya is preparing to inform a man that his wife has been killed, Hank advises her not to be too harsh with the information, and to make eye contact with him; Hank knows that Sonya doesn't have the instinct to do either of these things, and also that she will appreciate being reminded. Later, Hank has to tell Sonya why it might not be a great idea for her to file a complaint on Ruiz (for letting an ambulance drive through the crime scene) because the two of them have to work together on this case -- she needs to have it explained that it's less important to observe the letter of the law and see that justice is served with regard to Ruiz's transgression than it is to maintain a cordial relationship with him, but she doesn't really seem to understand until Hank tells her he would have done the same thing; Sonya respects Hank's judgment and recognizes that he can teach her things she can't learn from a book.

Hank must go on to tell Sonya that he's getting ready to retire from the police force, and the effect is devastating; she tears up and can barely manage to ask "What about me?" By this point, we've seen lots of evidence not only that Hank has had empathy enough to try to figure out how to deal with Sonya -- and how to help her be a better cop, given her interpersonal shortcomings -- but that he's the only one in the department who has; her other colleagues have apparently long since dismissed her as a weirdo. And when he tries to comfort her with a hand on the shoulder and she flinches a bit, he immediately course-corrects with a gesture he's obviously long since come up with for Sonya's benefit: gently chucking her in the shoulder with his.

Screen: FX

It's a gesture we see him do again in the latest, when Sonya's quietly freaking out about her screw-up, having played Daniel Frye (Matthew Lillard) the terrorist's manifesto and thus being responsible for its being printed in the paper. Any other officer would probably get chewed out in a major way, but knowing that Sonya will keep spinning out until he reassures her that it's okay, he shoulder-checks her again.

Screen: FX

It's such a small thing, but it shows so much about Hank -- that he learned how to meet Sonya at her level because he knows she's an asset, but also because he's kind. It feels like the subtlety of Levine's choices in the role bring Kruger down from the extremes she sometimes evinces -- but more importantly, the gentleness with which Hank treats Sonya and the vulnerability she allows in return make me more tense in their scenes than at any other point in either episode so far. Because what is going to happen to her when Hank leaves? I guess I have to keep watching to find out.