2. The Queensboro Bridge

The Queensboro Bridge figures strongly in this first episode – first as a backdrop to where Donovan sits on a bench, and later in the background when officer Sean “Mac” McGrath spots Donovan falling into the East River. McGrath is in the middle of an arrest, which is filmed on the lower level of a sanitation facility along the East River. New Yorkers will recognize the art installation on the top by Alice Aycock, which resembles a roller coaster. You can also see the Roosevelt Island tram, which connects Manhattan to Roosevelt Island.

There’s a little CGI work in this scene however, because there are no buildings that go all the way up to the waterline along the East River at this location, nor is there a little waterfront esplanade park as shown. The Hospital for Special Surgery, which Donovan supposedly jumps off of, is located on the East River but about eleven blocks north.

3. Verrazano Bridge

After a fist fight in the river between Officer McGrath and Donovan, after he is revived, McGrath takes him and the guy he was arresting to Staten Island, his precinct. It’s not explained in the first episode exactly why he arrested someone in Midtown, but you hear the other detainee wonder this as they’re crossing the Verrazano Bridge, the bridge between Brooklyn and Staten Island. In fun news, The Verrazano Bridge recently got back its second “z,” following a decree from Governor Cuomo.