Stream It Or Skip It: ‘The Bridge’ On HBO Max, A Reality Series Where 12 People Build A Bridge to £100k — But Only One Person Wins The Cash

The Bridge, narrated by James McAvoy, is a reality series where a group of 12 people from various backgrounds have to work together to build a bridge from a dock on their campsite in the Welsh hills to an island 850 feet away, using wood stored at the site and mostly hand tools. On that island is a trunk containing £100,000. But only one person can win it. Read on for more.

THE BRIDGE: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: Over views of water and wilderness, we hear a woman say, “To think that, just a few months ago, I could have died… I’ve got a second chance to really embrace my life and make the most of it.”

The Gist: The contestants have 20 days to build the bridge to the £100k, and if they do, they’re job isn’t done yet; they’ll then have to vote on which team member wins the money, based on their contributions to the effort. As the contestants, ranging in age from 20 to 60 (though Tara, a waitress who has recovered from a severe COVID infection, and Sly, a car fabricator, are the only two people over 30) converge on the campsite, they have no idea what they’re there to do. Then they get a flare that discusses their task — the flare tells them to go get a box with the task in it, but they have only 15 minutes to do it or it expires.

They also get a flare telling them to elect a leader. Sly, who has the most experience building things, steps back and Zac, a stripper with an 18-pack, gets elected leader. He spends the first day having people cut wood for the slats of the first bridge section, but not build. Meanwhile, Sly stays back in the galley and grouses. Billie, a 30-year-old publicist who lets it almost immediately slip that she’s the daughter of talk-show host Tricia Goddard, seems to be the only one who vocally fights back at Sly’s complaining.

After day two the group finally gets one six-foot section in the water, but they have only 18 days left and 844 feet to go.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? The Bridge feels like it’s a cross between two CBS reality competitions: Survivor and Tough As Nails.

Our Take: We’re not sure who thought the idea of watching 12 people bumble their way to building a massively-long rudimentary bridge would make for interesting television. The bridge part of The Bridge seems to be the least interesting aspect of the show, but it’s not like the people that are put in the woods to argue with each other are all that interesting, either.

Yes, you want the contestants to be able-bodied, because there are tons of physical challenges that being out there and building that bridge — especially as they get further out into the water — will hold. But the cast is overwhelmingly young and boring, without a whole lot of life experience under their belts. It’s why they all seem to be dismissive of Sly, who is the oldest by 20 years and actually, you know, knows what he’s doing.

Is Sly a little batshit? Maybe. But he’s got life experience: He lost his son to an aneurysm seven years ago and is missing part of a finger… and that’s just what we know from the first episode. He works with his hands. He uses tools. But, from the jump, Zac and the others dismiss him as some crazy old hippie, leaving Sly to bitch and moan throughout the entire episode.

That’s not a good look for the show. Considering how overwhelmingly white the cast is, having one of the few people of color there be the one who is shown complaining smacks of some of the stuff that the early years of Survivor pulled when portraying its BIPOC contestants. There is ultimately more to Sly than what’s being shown, but in the first episode, he’s placed right into the “shit-stirrer” role.

Other than that, though, the actual rules of the game are awfully cumbersome. Why give this whole “Swim out and get the task/clue in 15 minutes or it expires” rule when these people already have to figure out how to build a bridge that’s almost as long as three football fields, in the middle of a lake, no less? And it also seems that people will get added to the camp to take the place of people who will get sent home for one reason or another. It smacks of making things more complex in order to make up for a boring main game.

Then there has to be a vote to see who wins the money… if, of course, they actually build the bridge. So these people work their asses off for 20 days to build this bridge and there’s a good chance they’ll come away with nothing? We get it; people want to challenge themselves. But it feels like a lot of effort for the money, if they get that money.

Sex and Skin: Nothing, though there are two people, Maura and Luke, who seem to be sweet on each other.

Parting Shot: Zac chooses Maura and Luke to take a trip away from the camp in order to get some tools to help the build, according to the instructions he’s given. They canoe away, with some people hoping they’ll get it on and others hoping they’re up to the task.

Sleeper Star: We’re hoping that 22-year-old Rowan, who calls himself a “masterful liar”, becomes the jerk of the group, because this group really needs someone that everyone can hate.

Most Pilot-y Line: McAvoy’s voice over, while mellifluously Scottish, is also used far too often, another indication that the “action” on camera wasn’t sufficiently dramatic.

Our Call: SKIP IT. The gameplay on The Bridge is needlessly complicated, which is a bad sign that the main game — and the cast — aren’t interesting enough to carry the show for an entire season. The scenery is nice, though.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.

Stream The Bridge On HBO Max