Steven Prusakowski
The only thing better than reading a good book is sharing it. Years ago, I remember starting my first of James Patterson’s Alex Cross novels, “Kiss the Girls”, lent to me by a friend eager to have someone to discuss it with. I devoured it, captivated by Alex Cross’s sharp psychological insights, hooked by the bizarre mystery, and eating up the shocking twists that kept me gripped from beginning to end. Soon I found myself passing it on to my own friend who happily continued the chain.
(Full season review, minor spoilers ahead.)
Fast forward to 2024, several Alex Cross novels had found their way onto my bookshelf and years after I read my last one a new Cross series was announced on Prime Video with the detective played by Aldis Hodge). Even though it had been a while since I had visited the Cross universe, I gave it a shot. Soon I learned that this was not the Alex Cross from the 90s films, he was younger, more physically intimidating (sorry Morgan Freeman) and more extensive world building both in Cross’s work and relationships. Like the first time I read a page of ‘Kiss the Girls’ season one had me captivated, turning “pages” as I binged it, but it really had me at “m’r f’r”. (Season one fans will understand).
Now, Cross is back for season 2 and I could get my hands on it soon enough. The mystery of the first season has concluded and the new one draws fresh blood quickly. The series, created by Ben Watkins, while faithful to the spirit of Patterson’s world, is very accessible. You can jump in with season two and not feel lost as a fan of the series, the books or the characters. With this said, I do recommend you watch both seasons, because season one is such dark, crazy fun. Plus it has one of my favorite lines of dialogue in recent memory – mentioned above. The series is ominously welcoming both book fans and fresh viewers.
During a recent interview, Watkins explained how this is not an accident, “We really wanted folks who are Cross fans to get this series and feel like they are seeing the characters they know and love. But we also wanted to create a show that could be seen by people who have never read a Cross book and still be sucked in and still start rooting for these characters and get invested in who they are and what their lives are like.”
Season 2 picks up after the fallout of Season 1’s killer confrontation, plunging Alex Cross into a new case, a vigilante targeting and murdering corrupt elites. Left behind at the scene of the ritualistic murders are symbolic clues including severed fingers and flowers and threats to public figures like well-known agro-tech billionaire who may have secrets of his own. The premiere reveals the killer’s identity right up front, but keeps viewers hooked as we learn about her methods, motives and backstory more naturally as the investigation comes together.
Aldis Hodge returns as the forensic psychologist-detective, still haunted and broken but resilient. His Alex is shrouded in a coolness that blends his intellect and emotion. (Be sure to check out Aldis as my guest on TV Topics podcast where we dissect season one and his TV viewing. Listen here.) This season that presence deepens with some vulnerability, family stakes, and a sexier, more introspective edge as Cross continues to wrestle his personal demons alongside the investigation. As Cross works to stop the serial killer, Lance Durand (Matthew Lillard), the arrogant billionaire in the crosshairs scrambles to protect himself after threats on his life set him into a panic.
Hodge raved about his impact of adding Lillard to the Cross cast, “It was great and needed. We found that as soon as he came in so graciously read for us and it was the energy that we needed, but also it helped to really define the character. What Matt did when he came into the room was he defined and redefined who Lance Durand was.”
Lillard’s transformative energy turns carries with him that certain Lillard spice that makes the character completely recognizable and punchable at the same time. In the age of amoral billionaires running amok, I found myself debating if I wanted Cross to prevail at protecting Durand or getting a little due diligence, even if it was just a few punches to his smug face. In other words, Lillard brings just the right ingredient to this season. A deliciously distinctive flavor, one I tend to enjoy.
On the other side of the spectrum from Durand, one of this season’s standouts is Jeanine Mason as the vigilante killer Rebecca/Luz. Her ruthless and calculated killing spree targets the most vile of people, those evading justice for abuse and trafficking, driven by personal trauma and frustration with broken systems that treat the innocent as fodder for the rich. Sound familiar?
Like a modern siren, she seduces them with her sharp mind, turning their own arrogance and distorted desires against them. Mason incorporates physicality from her dancing background, moving with graceful, hypnotic precision and chameleon-like fluidity to infiltrate and draw targets in before delivering brutal, graphic verdicts by her own hand. But she is not a killing machine; beneath the methodical, assassin-like actions lies a tender humanity, a woman pushed too far, who will no longer tolerate the pain she and others suffer.
Mason is a treat to watch as she brings layers to La Luz: part avenger, part wounded daughter seeking revenge, making her sympathetic yet terrifying. Her performance blurs hero and villain lines, forcing you to question where true justice ends and vengeance begins. Unlike last year’s killer, she exists in a very grey space; just how dark or light a shade of gray will be determined by each viewer.
Mason commented on Luz’s chilling complexity, “I would challenge the fact that she sees herself as a good guy, though. I honestly think she knows she’s being bad and she’s just gotten so fed up. She’s like, I’m going to play their game. I’m going to take the gloves off and I’m going to start scratching people. So at this point, I think she’s past trying to play nice. It hasn’t serviced her and it hasn’t serviced the people she is attempting to protect. And nothing’s getting done. So she’s choosing this very specific, very violent way to look after people. So certainly there’s, you know, a lot of complexity there. It’s a really rich fabric with which to get to play.”
Mason also shares her excitement for the role: “I was jazzed coming off of Roswell, New Mexico and playing a protagonist for a while. I really, I did. I wanted to play bad. Right before this, I did a baddie, not nearly as bad as this on Upload for Prime. And I was so excited to be back in the Prime mix, Prime video. And then I got promoted to a serial killer. What an upgrade.”
Congratulations on the promotion.
This season has definitely made increased use of the supporting ensemble building off some of the seeds planted last season as well as planting new seeds that grow throughout the season. The added layers make the world building more substantive and richer, with supporting characters taking on increasing depth without stealing the focus of the core thread. In my conversation with Watkins, I compared it to dedicating “chapters” to the characters that only make the “book” better off as a whole.
Alona Tal‘s Kayla Craig emerges as the season’s most magnetic and compelling character, a huge beneficiary of these additional “chapters.” She steals scenes, often making her the most interesting character in the room with deeper professional and personal ties to Cross, intriguing off-books connections to the case, and a complex moral landscape to navigate partially driven by career goals that contradict other aspects of her humanity. Tal sell her badass gambles, making her difficult to get a read on, keeping you hooked on her every word or action. Is she in above her head or in control at all times?
When asked about navigating this moral grey area where her character lives, Tal called it “tiring.” “People are complex. They think that they’re one thing, but then they do another that contradicts. We’re a walking contradiction, generally speaking, things we say and the things we do. It’s cool, because as actors, we come in and we embody these characters, but we’re always a little bit removed. It’s also tiring. Honestly, it’s exhausting to have to see this character from that removed perspective, because they’re so multilayered.”
One of the season’s highlights is a new addition, a chaotic and endlessly entertaining dynamic that pairs Kayla with Bobby Trey (Johnny Ray Gill). It is a match made in mayhem with Gill injecting some much welcome levity, dysfunction, and tension to this odd couple. This most unlikely of pairings makes the most of both characters, elevating them both with every unorthodox meeting. Thankfully Watkins does not go back to the well too often and keeps us wanting much, much more of the duo.
Gill reflected on Johnny Ray being added to the mix in a way that defies labeling, “I think far too often, in our storytelling, we oversimplify things. Who decides who’s a hero and a villain? And it’s amazing to be on a show that is not afraid to go there. If you look back in the history of Hollywood, some of these oversimplifications have done us a disservice as a community, as a Hollywood community, as a black community, as people in America.”
Isaiah Mustafa‘s John Sampson and Elle (Samantha Walkes) are back adding emotional texture, that reinforces that Cross is more than a crime solver. His friendships, fatherhood, and damaged past ground him. While both add depth to Cross’s world, their storylines can feel a bit sidelined among the crowded cast and multiple threads, sometimes getting lost in the shuffle despite solid performances and heartfelt moments.
Mustafa discussed Sampson’s loyalty to the flawed Cross, “You don’t just give up on somebody because they’re flawed. If you’re a friend, you’re a friend. That’s just how it works. You take them for what they are and you work within that. Now, if they’re doing something that’s not lawful or, or something that’s morally suspect, that’s where you become a friend, you step in, you say, ‘Listen, what you’re doing is not in line with who you are.’”
Walkes explained how Elle sees deeper into Cross than the surface, “And there’s a level of greatness that I think Elle really sees… watching him as a father, despite the devastation of losing Maria and still showing up for himself and his kids and trying to do what is right. And that tells her that there is so much more to love, that he’s not even aware exists inside of himself yet.”
Season 2 is a bingeable rollercoaster that will keep you invested from beginning to end. Where season 1’s villain was more terrifying, season 2’s is more thought-provoking. La Luz’s “make the world better” vigilantism blurs hero/villain lines with some Thanos vibes of how far do you go to “fix” this broken world. It is a question that is on many people’s minds as we watch life imitating art and vice versa, mirroring the systemic disregard to the poor treatment of the powerless, while the powerful are catered to, completely left untouched. As justice remains absent during the Epstein-era fallout, many will be celebrating the elite being targeted.
Cross season two’s strengths can become some of its weaknesses. Namely, the stakes are not as personal for Cross as they were in season one. This disconnects him emotionally from the central mystery and makes him feel more like the connecting thread than the emotional core. With that said, Hodge is always a blast to watch. His cool level remains high even through some Texas bar line dancing, and that’s not easy.
Any empty space as a result is filled with the work of the supporting cast who take more of the spotlight. Tal, Gill, Mason, Lillard, and Mustafa step up to fill the stage with captivating subplots. But it does become a bit crowded, and their “chapters” create some imbalance, with the focus shifting back and forth. You may be left wanting more of one, only not to get access for a while. For me that was Tal’s Kayla, especially when sharing the screen with Gill’s Bobby Trey. I could not get enough.
Others like Sampson’s, while interesting, felt a bit crowbarred in comparison to last season. Maybe a little less would have been more at times. Then again, it is not a dealbreaker. The proof is that I binged the full season and had a lot of fun doing so. It is a little less crazy but more cerebral, steamier, keeps on world building, and overall retains a similar level of entertainment. It is another Cross book I will gladly be sharing.
You can watch the first few episodes of Cross season 2 exclusively on Prime Video. New episodes of the eight-episode season drop each Wednesday.
Having watched the first 4 eps of season 2, I can’t help but feel the whole series being a bit of a let down compared to the books. They’ve basically based the series very loosely off of book characters but seeing who they’ve chosen to portray those characters, for me, personally, is where it’s all gone wrong becuase physically, Alex Cross has never been an adonis like character and Sampson is a hulk of a man in the books and whilst the actor playing him is a bit bigger than Alex Cross’s character, he’s nowhere near the size of the man described by Patterson in his books. I just feel let down by it. However, as a stand alone type of story and show, forgetting the name of Alex Cross might be the best way to watch it. I’ve told my grown up sons to forget the books, just watch and enjoy it as a series. There’s alot to be said for what a nightmare was made from Tom Cruise being picked to play Jack Reacher and how I consider the actors picked to play characters in this series. Maybe the naem of Alex Cross shouldn’t be allowed to be used and maybe the title changed and something in the bio to say that the characters are loosely based around some characters from the Alex Cross series of books. For me, that would be a better way of doing it which then saves anyone from being too disappointed.
All of thsi is my own opinion and counts for nothing, I do still enjoy the series but just have too forget alot about the characters.