REVIEW: ‘Cross’ Season 2 Is A Bigger Swing With A Relevant Message

Cross Season 1 offered a level of artistry in its murder-mystery that I hadn’t seen in Hannibal. But with a new season comes a new serial killer. Cross Season 2 leaves the titular character Alex Cross handling the fallout from the events of the first season, but it also introduces a serial killer looking to make more than a statement, they’re looking to bring justice. 

Created by executive producer and showrunner Ben Watkins, Cross showcased in the first season that at its core, it’s about creating a twisted thriller, not entirely pandering to copaganda despite fitting the bill. The series follows Alex Cross (Aldis Hodge), a brilliant homicide detective and forensic psychologist in Washington D.C.

After setting a theatrical tone last season, Cross Season 2 swings bigger than last. Where last season saw delicately designed and executed murders with artistry at the core, this season is about passion and revenge. Every choice has meaning, and as the audience learns more, it’s hard not to root for the killer. This season also expands the cast with Matthew Lillard, Jeanine Mason, Wes Chatham, and Rene Moran, who make up an exciting ensemble cast this season.

Alex Cross returns, and in Season 2, the moral gray area widens.

Cross Season 2 follows Alex Cross as he attempts to track down a serial killer who has put billionaire business titan Lance Durand (Matthew Lillard) in their crosshairs. On the brink of “feeding the world,” everyone in Durand’s circle begins to be murdered, their fingers severed as a part of the penance. When he gets a death threat, Durand calls on the FBI for protection, which puts Alex and Agent Kayla Craig (Alona Tal) as the heads of a new joint mission to protect the billionaire and find the killer. 

But don’t worry, while Kayla steps into the foreground of the story as a new partner for our titular lead (and love interest), Cross’s partner and best friend, John Sampson (Isaiah Mustafa), has to deal with a piece of his past that has come back into his life. Not to mention Kayla’s partnership comes with its own bullseye as a clandestine element of the FBI emerges and threatens her livelihood and her life. 

Where the first season of Cross focused on D.C.’s corruption both inside and outside of the police force, Cross Season 2 turns its narrative sights on immigration. Anyone who grew up in a household with former farmworkers knows how young our parents and grandparents were when working in the field. One of the first things I learned about my grandma’s life was that she was pulled out of kindergarten to pick cucumbers with her parents to bring in extra money so that their family could have enough food.  

But children working in the fields isn’t something of the past. The way that the food industries abuse and harm their immigrant employees in meat packing and processing plants and fields while better today than 50 years ago, still isn’t close to where it needs to be. That’s the focus of Cross Season 2, as it forces viewers to have the real question: who is making sure the world is fed?

Cross Season 2 poses the question that more people should think about: who puts food on your table?

While Lance Durand rakes in the cash and virtue signals how progressive he is, he’s trafficking children to work on his farms. He is going to feed the world, at the cost of the people who are being abused to harvest that food. And while the eccentricities of the story and the overarching revenge plot are out of this world, the reality that the United States does not respect nor think about the people who put food on their tables is the reality that the narrative of this season is dealing in. 

More importantly, however, is how the rage of understanding that reality is channeled into doing something to stop it. Yes, the killer replicating the Aztec myth of the goddess Xochitl is someone to be stopped, but as Alex and Kayla get closer to the truth, the billionaire becomes someone to stop, too.

Balancing sympathy for Luz, the woman who has fashioned herself after the Mesoamerican goddess, with the need to stop her spree is never handled by belittling what she is trying to achieve. Luz will stop the traffickers and take the pound of flesh that the judicial system failed to take from Durand, his company, and his people.  Still, her path is filled with twists as a disciple emerges to help her, and betrayal lies in wait in her own home. 

Jeanine Mason is a complex killer, and one that focuses on heritage and revenge. 

As Luz, Jeanine Mason is phenomenal. The actress formerly starred in Roswell, New Mexico, a sci-fi series that embraced a slice of Latinidad in all of its complexities. Now, she gets to be a woman moved by vengeance and a need to belong. See, the rage that Luz feels is two-fold.

One part of it is because of what she is seeing happening to her people. The second part is taking back a culture that she was denied because of the need to assimilate for safety. Additionally, the men surrounding her, Donnie (Wes Chatham) and Lincoln (Rene Moran), add so much to their small amount of screen time.

That said, the display of Aztec mythology and curanderismo, while simple, is exciting to see on a series as large as Cross. This is because both are never shown as a part of a joke, but rather as something deserving of reverence and intimacy.

While Cross Season 2’s narrative is a tad unwieldy as we balance the primary conflict with Sampson’s and Kayla’s clandestine mistakes, the heart of the series shines through. The world may hate us, but they need our labor, they need our culture, and they need our people. That’s the focus here, and in the current climate, it rings loudly. 

Cross Season 2 is a hell of a season to watch, given the current landscape. While Alex Cross’s status as a cop makes this series a solid entry into the copaganda pantheon, showrunner Ben Watkins is cognizant of balancing the “glory” of solving crimes with the tragedy they bring while also making Luz’s quest to avenge her mother and her people extremely sympathetic. 

Prime Video’s Cross Season 2 makes it hard to root against its primary antagonist.

What do you do when the person you have to protect is responsible for unthinkable crimes? Well, Cross Season 2’s god in the machine is a congressman who actually has a spine. It’s the farthest detached this season gets from reality.

The fault in Cross Season 2 is that it is difficult to not just say “kill them all” as the depravity and abuse come to life, particularly after the opening episode that draws parallels to the Epstein Files. Still, the weight of the subject matter is always carried and never skirted, even if some of the secondary plot elements don’t all come together cohesively. 

All of that said, Cross Season 2 is another success thanks to how charismatic and thoughtful Aldis Hodge’s performance is in the role. His moral compass is unwavering, and yet, he’s not always right. Alex Cross’s ability to empathize while seeking justice allows him to navigate the case in a unique way. It also puts him at constant odds with those around him. However, that’s his strength and what makes for interesting television. 

Cross Season 2 is bigger than the last, with even larger stakes and impacts that will ripple across any new season of the series. And with Aldis Hodge’s charisma and portrayal of one of television’s best detectives, let’s hope there are many more seasons. 

Cross Season 2 is streaming now, exclusively on Prime Video.