You Had Me At Motherfucker – The episode opens in a flashback with young Nana Mama Cross (Kathryn Taylor Smith) giving young Alex a pep talk. He voices concern about losing her after the recent loss of his parents. At present, “Nana Mama” Cross (Juanita Jennings) has a medical emergency. Detective Alex Cross (Aldis Hodge) vows to get him before she is rushed into the emergency room. Janelle Cross (Melody Hurd) and Damon Cross (Caleb Elijah) ask to see Nana Mama. Cross tries to explain that she is undergoing further testing. Miss Nancy (Karen Robinson) takes them to the vending machines. Elle Monteiro (Samantha Walkes) embraces Cross. He claims Peter Lenox (Ryan Allen) is responsible. She offers to let Damon and Janelle stay at her place. Miss Nancy says they can utilize her cabin on Goose Creek but there is no Wi-Fi and cellular is spotty. Accepting the offer, Cross shows them a photo of Peter to be on the lookout for. Peter’s case manager, Kat Meyers (Christina Wren) tells Cross about a lady that Peter referred to as “fairy godmother” who was in jail. At Goose Creek, Janelle finds a Taser hidden in Nancy’s cabin. Damon says they may need it for protection. Elle assures him that they are far away from bad guys.

Detective John Sampson (Isaiah Mustafa) visits Nana Mama in the hospital. He considers calling Alex but decides against it. Later, he, Amielynn Vega (Mercedes de la Zerda), and Shawna De Lackner (Stacie Greenwell) discuss Alex’s circumstances with Peter on the loose. At a diner, Tana Lee (Carla Vega) urges him to talk to Sampson. He calls to check on the kids. Miss Nancy assures him that they are fine. Janelle asks if Nancy is like family. When he says, “You don’t have to be blood to be family,” it triggers a memory. Upon leaving, he encounters Tania Hightower (Siobhan Murphy) who shows him a book from Ed Ramsey (Ryan Eggold). He urges her to not make Ramsey a star. Later, he watches Deirdre Nolan’s (Jessica Clement) interview. She says, “Blood doesn’t make you family. What makes you family is how much people love you.” Damon is playing hide-and-seek with Janelle when he discovers a box of photos. Kat identifies Deirdre as fairy godmother. Damon stares at a photo of Nancy, Peter, and Deirdre at the Early Mozart Institute. She finds him in the basement. He stuffs it in his pocket and tries to act normal over dinner. Alex calls to speak with Elle. Nancy claims Elle is getting the kids ready to go outside. He says it is about Janelle’s medicine. Knowing Janelle doesn’t take medicine, she asks if he knows her true identity. He threatens her if she hurts his kids. She tells Janelle that she wants to show her a special place in the forest. Goose Creek is over 3-1/2 hours away. Damon slips the photo to Elle. Peter is Nancy’s son. Nancy demands Cross be at Goose Creek alone and unarmed within four hours.

Cross apologizes to Sampson and says their family is in danger. Sampson forgives him and they head to Goose Creek. Nancy assures Elle that Cross’ love is worth fighting for. While Nancy pours her a whiskey, Elle spikes her tea. Nancy swallows her tea in one gulp. En route to Goose Creek, Cross and Sampson discuss how Nancy befriended Damon to get close to him. At Goose Creek, Nancy pretends to be asleep. Elle gets the kids and heads toward the door. An armed Nancy steps out and tells Elle that they aren’t her kids. Elle orders her to get out of the way. Nancy directs the Taser toward her but it hits Elle’s bag. They get into a physical struggle. Damon and Janelle run to the car. Nancy gets knocked out. Elle rushes to the car and starts the engine. Peter busts the window and pulls Elle out of the car. A mile away from the cabin, Sampson gets out to walk the rest of the way. Nancy is waiting when Cross arrives. He lifts up his shirt to show he isn’t wearing a gun and walks inside to see Elle and the kids restrained. Nancy throws him a flex cuff. He puts it on. She refuses to let him sit beside his kids. In the forest, Sampson is severely shot. Peter checks him but he doesn’t move. Inside the cabin, Nancy reminds Cross that he told Deirdre that she was crazy and unfixable. He apologizes. Peters arrives and announces Sampson is dead. Handcuffed, Cross races toward him. Peter hits him several times and threatens to shoot him but Nancy intervenes.

Nancy tells Cross to pick one of his children to die and over their clothes with a liquid solvent. He asks her to kill him but she insists he live in agony like her. She threatens to burn them both alive if he doesn’t pick one. In a flashback, a detective is looking for Peter. Nancy convinces Deirdre to confess to save Peter. Back in the present, Cross tells Peter that Nancy is why Deirdre confessed and went to prison for him. Nancy backhands him and admits it is true. Peter insists it should have been him who went to prison and died. She pleads with him to ignore Cross and help her finish what they started. He tells her that Deirdre wouldn’t want the kids there. She manages to get the knife away from him. A large object is thrown through the window and Sampson jumps in after it. Nancy is injured and the kerosene spills out onto the floor. Cross grabs the knife and cuts off his and Elle’s restraints. Peter knocks Sampson on the floor and starts to shoot him when Cross intervenes. The gun skids across the floor. Nancy wakes up and sees it. Cross knocks Peter out with a skillet and grabs the gun before Nancy can reach it. She repeats Maria’s last words and sets herself on fire.

The police, ambulance, and fire truck are at the scene. Sampson and Cross watch as Peter is put into a cruiser. Cross hugs Damon, Janelle, and Elle outside his house. Later, Damon wakes up Janelle while Alex is playing the piano. Elle and Sampson are over as well. Ed Ramsey is marched through the police station. He winks at Chief Anderson. Before long, Cross is brought in to interview Ed. Alex asks why he requested him. Ed can’t think of a better way to put a button on the Fanboy legacy. Ed mentions 11 kills although he’s being charged with one murder, Emir Goodspeed. He’s also being charged with the kidnapping of Shannon Whitmer. Ed is going to confess to all 11. He claims Cross is so used to winning that he can’t bear being his secretary. Ed asks if he’s forgotten about his book. Cross says he only saw Bobby Trey with the book. He claims he just announced at a press conference that Bobby is the Fanboy.

Alex brings up John Sampson on a live stream so they can show Ed the book. John prepares to burn the book. Ed begins screaming and yelling. He begins mentioning the names of people he’s killed. Vega and the others agree that he’s just crazy. Later, Cross meets Chief Anderson who says he’s going to be cleared. The victim took a settlement and dropped all the charges against him. No one wants to see Cross lose his badge. This is her last good deed as chief. Anderson is running for mayor. Sampson finds Malika Goodspeed (Ashley Rios) at the station because she wants to get Emir’s stuff. She also came to thank him. Phineas Carter (Darnell Bartholomew) asks Cross why he did it. It appears Cross is doing an interview with him to tell him why he attacked him. Cross tells him he should resubmit his complaint. Phineas just wants cops to live by the same rules as the rest of them. Next, Damon plays the piano. Shannon is shown recovering in the hospital.

Cross eventually goes to the shrink. She asks what he wants to talk about. Cross says Maria. Kayla meets Bobby and says that Cross plans on using that book to make him America’s most wanted. Cross knows he killed Tavio Lemmons and Vanessa Norris. Bobby wants to hear the offer. Kayla says some of Ramsey’s victims have families still looking for answers. They want Bobby to help them get information that leads to the positive identification and recovery of at least six victims. Bobby will get full immunity with 24 months served. He wants the immunity in writing. She says Ramsey had dirt on people worth having dirt on. Kayla suggests she could pay him for that information.

 

Cross Review

The ending plays out in the utmost unconvincing, dreadful manner. The first 15 to 20 minutes are nothing but filler. When the story finally gets on target, it gradually spins into this ridiculously messy finale. Too many implausible moments to make the series even remotely believable.

Cross is over 3 1/2 hours away from Goose Creek and his family. Instead of rushing to get there or alerting local authorities, he lingers on the phone with Nancy.

Suffering from a gunshot wound, Sampson crawls to a patch of ice that is quickly covered with blood. Not much of a shock factor considering he later smashes out a window, climbs into the house, and fights with Peter only to get knocked out. After losing a lot of blood, he manages to scathe by with a minor injury.

Too many plot holes to mention them all. The soundtrack is hit-and-miss. The series unfairly portrays black people at times. The finale deserves a 4 out of 10.

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