As the second episode of Crossfire begins, Jo (Keeley Hawes) contacts Chinar to tell him about the hotel she found while Jason (Lee Ingleby) cleans up the mess from the party. Amara talks to her about the place briefly before Jo sends her away so she can check her messages. The gunmen sit down by the water and talk about Iker (Guillermo Campra) who is going to have the key. The older brother talks about how he has protected him. If it wasn’t for him, he would have beaten him to death a long time ago. When the younger brother says he misses her, he is told nobody cares about them. They got rid of them like they were trash. Jo and the others check into the resort while Amara takes Jim down to the water. As Amara and Kim go outside, Iker takes the keycard to the young shooter. When they try to go back inside, he unlocks the door for them.

After the intro, Jo yells for the gunman to drop his weapon. He shoots and misses her. She shoots and misses him. He tries to shoot her again, but the gun is empty or jammed. Mateo (Hugo Silva) comes out and tries to shoot him too but also misses. The shooter on the balcony shoots at them while the other gunman flees. Amara manages to flee inside and begins descending the stairs. The young gunman texts his brother to ask what they should do now that they have guns. Mateo scolds Jo for shouting since he thought she knew what she was doing. He is adamant that the only way to stop them is by hunting and killing them. They agree to start getting as many people out of the hotel as possible. The young gunman is told that they’ll carry on and nothing changes. He nervously loads his clip.

Adam and the other kids continue running as their dad told them to. Ben (Daniel Ryan) tries to find Kim and Suni. Jason contemplates leaving the room, but panics and goes back inside. Jo and Mateo knock on doors to see if they can get anyone out. Bea (Alba Brunet) and the others remain hidden in the kitchen. Miriam (Josette Simon) checks on Abhi (Anneika Rose) who says she is not a brave person and never has been. Miriam checks on the others. She notices Iker holding a knife so she goes over and tells him that it is okay to be scared. He says when they asked him about it, he didn’t know. The thing is he likes Pilar. Miriam doesn’t know what he is saying since she doesn’t understand Spanish. Jo is relieved when her son and the other boys come out of the elevator. Mateo reminds them to be quiet. They learn about Chinar being downstairs. They’re going to get the kids out before checking on him.

They take the kids outside in hopes of helping them escape. Everyone manages to stay hidden even when one of the gunmen walks outside on a balcony nearby. Jo tells Adam to get away from the motel and find daddy before going back inside. Amara finds a locked door downstairs. She tries to break the lock using a wrench but can’t. Pilar begins breathing hard so Miriam and the others have to care for her. Miriam believes she has a collapsed lung and will need a decompression. Miriam offers to try so she asks for a thin tube. Bea retrieves what she can get from the other workers. Miriam takes them and tells Pilar to stay very still. Once she gets it done, she says Pilar needs to go to the hospital. Adam and the boys make it to Ben who learns about Chinar and Jo. Jason calls his mother and leaves a message.

He tells her that it is them at the hotel and he is hiding. He thinks they’ll get here soon and help. He asks her not to call back before saying he loves her. Mateo and Jo make it downstairs where they find multiple bodies including Chinar’s body. In a flashback, Jo tells Chinar that they should all go away together. They talk about him getting to see her in a swimsuit. Mateo approaches her and tells her they have to go. He learns that he was the father of those boys and one of their oldest friends. Jo confesses it was complicated. Mateo agrees to give her a minute to collect herself. She used to be a police officer but stopped because she didn’t think she was good enough at the time. When Mateo was young, he wanted to go to Madrid to be in the national police. Island families are tight so he works in hospitality like everyone else.

Jo is surprised to learn that his wife works at the hotel as well. He believes she would’ve run because she is smart. Mateo thinks Jo was a good police officer since she came back into the hotel to help others. Amara ends up going back into the hotel to look around. She hears a woman screaming as she runs by so she ducks into a separate room before hearing a gunshot. When she comes out, she finds the woman on the ground after being shot in the neck. Soon, she notices the young gunman standing nearby. He sits down as Amara admits to seeing him before. She remembers saying hello. Amara insists he doesn’t have to do this. Amara tells him how she feels crazy sometimes before he tells her to be quiet. She says he might feel like he has to keep going, but he doesn’t have to do this. He keeps trying to get her to shut up while she goes on and on.

He finally gets mad enough to scream at her. When Amara looks back, she notices that he is gone. The other gunman goes around pretending to be room service. Jo and Mateo find an older couple and try to get them out of the hotel. Then, Joe finds a young boy named Seth and begins helping him. Jason hears the gunman going around trying to find people in rooms. He opens the door and sees the gunman so he slams the door. The gunman hears and begins approaching his room. Jason rushes onto the balcony and hangs onto the edge. He eventually slips and crashes to the floor below. The gunman looks around and exits the room before finding a woman with a crying baby. He lets them go. Some of the workers in the kitchen begin discussing the possibility of moving elsewhere. Bea tells Miriam what they’re talking about.

The young woman with the baby runs into Mateo and Jo as they lead the others to safety. The young gunman walks outside and sees them trying to escape. Once the others are taken to the gate, Jo returns to Mateo and tells him to lead the way. The workers in the kitchen decide to leave. Bea tells Abhi that they should let them and give others the choice. Iker begins fiddling with his phone. He sends a message to the gunman who is on the verge of finding a person hiding in one of the rooms. Iker wants to know if he can go with the others. When the gunman asks where he is, Iker responds by telling him he is in the kitchen. Mateo and Jo continue leading others out of the hotel. Once they get close to the gate, they hear shooting behind them and someone moaning. Jo goes back and finds that Mateo has been shot. She takes him to a place to lie down as Mateo says he knows him because he used to work here.

Mateo knows his brother well and he describes him as being crazy. They’ll know every exit and hiding place so Jo should get out while she can. The kitchen workers get the door open before stepping into the hallway. The gunman arrives and begins shooting them. He makes the survivors move to the same area. Jo loads the rifle because Amara is still out there. She encourages him to stay away. When they hear a helicopter, Jo says they didn’t get enough people out. They’ll kill as many people as they can now. The gunman hears the helicopter. Amara sees it and questions where her mother is. The other gunman walks outside in time to see Jo yelling for Amara when she sees her nearby. Jo catches up with her before the gunman approaches them so they begin running. The other gunman tells them it isn’t going to be easy for them. Jo and Amara run as the gunman shoots at them before entering a room and climbing the stairs.

In the kitchen, the gunman shoots a man who claims they’re not afraid of him. Jo waits for the gunman to reach the roof so she can shoot him.

 

Crossfire Review

At times, Crossfire legitimately feels like it is going to transform into a genuinely gripping drama with fast-paced action. Unfortunately, those moments are often muddled by something completely unrealistic or the characters doing incredibly stupid things. It seems like they’re screaming every few minutes which would not be a good idea with multiple crazed gunmen running around hunting for you.

Keeley Hawes is doing her best to deliver a great performance as usual, but it only half works here because the character is often cringe-inducing. Few of the characters are easy to sympathize with honestly. It is strange that they even decided to throw the affair into the storyline because it made so many characters unlikeable.

If there is an important message in Crossfire, it is hard to pinpoint because it is a bit all over the place. After two episodes, viewers know very little about the shooters or the survivors besides the affair and Jo’s time as a cop. More time should’ve been dedicated to developing the characters so viewers would’ve had someone to cheer for.

The second episode scores a 5.5 out of 10. Recaps of Crossfire can be found on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support our work by following this link.