Based mostly on James Patterson’s best-selling novels, the first season of Prime’s “Cross” adopted murder detective Alex Cross (Aldis Hodge), whose insurmountable grief following his spouse’s homicide clashed together with his seek for serial killer Ed Ramsey (Ryan Eggold). With Ramsey now behind bars, and Alex and his household trying to heal from their shared trauma, it looks like their lives have lastly reached a second of peace. However, like we noticed final season, Alex is a protagonist who struggles with separating his work from his residence life, and the looks of a brand new killer threatens to shatter the already rocky basis he and his household stand upon.
This new menace couldn’t be extra completely different than the present’s earlier antagonist, who focused weak folks for the sake of his personal achieve. As a substitute, that is revealed to be extra of a vigilante state of affairs when Alex and his workforce are known as to the house of meals manufacturing CEO Lance Durand (Matthew Lillard), who, after receiving varied threats, is given a present within the type of three severed fingers. These fingers are related to a devoted follower of Luz (Jeanine Mason), who we’re launched to within the season’s opening moments when she frees a gaggle of younger girls from an island the place they’re being trafficked.
Luz wields varied weapons like a military-trained killer, however wears her coronary heart on her sleeve on the subject of the women and men she’s trying to free. It turns into clear that though this season of “Cross” might not be as magnetic as the primary, the sequence’ antagonists will at all times be fascinating to observe. What allowed this present to initially stand out amongst its friends was Eggold’s magnetic efficiency, which was not possible to look away from regardless of the heinous deeds he was doing. Mason is much more staggering to observe, her ruthlessness and want to liberate clashing every time she kills, eyes vast and fascinated by the dedication of the followers she begins to amass.
With the introduction of Luz and her disciples, it’s clear that this season is trying to discover morality and maybe unmask how revenge usually turns folks into monsters. But, within the present political local weather we reside in, by which real-life billionaires are certainly enacting the identical crimes, Luz’s mission by no means appears like one that’s inherently evil. Intertwined in her mission are underage immigrant staff who’re exploited after which despatched to detention camps, abused girls whose company has been stripped from them, and Luz herself, who, after her mom’s dying, was pressured to confront the cruel realities of life too rapidly.
For a aspect character, Luz’s life is given an intensive quantity of interiority. However alternatively, Alex practically disappears from this story solely. Not bodily, as Hodge is on display usually, however the character lacks the identical layered complexity that made him a beforehand participating protagonist. Whereas Alex’s backstory and subsequent journey have been as intriguing because the killer he was searching in season one, “Cross” now feels prefer it doesn’t know what to do with the titular character. The flawed man we have been initially launched to now appears like a patron saint, not as a result of the character himself is attempting to be higher, however as a result of the present’s writers appear too afraid to let Alex be as messy because the folks he’s searching down.
Tv is chock-full of characters who’re too clean-cut, particularly Black characters who aren’t given the area to be as difficult as their white friends. Sadly, this sequence has fallen into the identical entice, devoiding its primary character of the complexity that when aided within the present’s success. For a cat-and-mouse recreation just like the one in season two of “Cross” to stay entertaining, each events want participating inside lives. Hodge nonetheless offers a very good efficiency, but the magnitude he reached beforehand is stifled by the characters round him, all getting far more attention-grabbing narrative threads to work with. Kayla Craig (Alona Tal) particularly turns into the present’s most attention-grabbing character, and when she and Hodge share display time, the actor’s charisma is lastly allowed to bleed out onto the display.
Deserted by the present’s narrative in addition to the sequence’ writers, Alex disappears from view, and the present unspools right into a run-of-the-mill crime thriller. Whereas the primary season might not have been revolutionary tv, it remained enthralling from episode to episode, a feat few reveals on this style can declare. The highs and lows of this second season mirror a spindling rollercoaster, one whose mechanisms slowly falter till the wheels come free, earlier than the entire trip comes crashing down.
Whole season was screened for evaluation. Episodes air weekly on Prime Video.