Cross, Season One (2024)
Like Reacher, I haven’t read any of the novels on which Amazon’s Cross is based. Thus, I can’t say how accurate the series, or Aldis Hodge’s lead performance, is to James Patterson’s thrillers. (Which have been previously adapted into several films, like 1997’s Kiss the Girls with Morgan Freeman.) Hodge’s Alex Cross is a driven detective and psychologist who explores the darkest recesses of human nature. That makes him the perfect man to match wits with a serial killer whose activities are inflaming Washington, D.C.’s already-fraught racial divide. But Cross’ grief over his own wife’s murder threatens to undo him, and even more so when an unknown individual targets his family. There’s a lot going on in Cross’ first season — family melodrama, murder mystery, questions of race and policing — and I’m not sure how well it juggles everything. I was never not entertained, and the cast is solid across the board. (I really enjoyed Isaiah Mustafa, of Old Spice commercial fame, as Cross’ best friend and fellow detective, and Eloise Mumford delivers a stirring performance as the killer’s latest victim.) What’s more, the show’s nuanced depiction of Black families seems like a needed tonic in today’s pop culture landscape. As the season neared its conclusion, however, the constant piling on of twists and revelations began to feel unwieldy, and what first interested me in the show got buried. I still plan on watching the already-announced second season, though, because there’s so much potential here.
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