Ride The White Horsey – As this episode of Cross begins, Alex Cross (Aldis Hodge) gets up in the night and checks his house with a handgun. He finds Janelle Cross (Melody Hurd) downstairs getting something to drink. Nana Mama Cross (Juanita Jennings) and Damon (Caleb Elijah) find out what is going on. Alex quickly begins apologizing to his daughter. After the intro, John Sampson (Isaiah Mustafa) hangs out with Janelle and Damon. Alex tells Janelle that what happened last night was not her fault. When they’re alone, Sampson and Cross argue about that. Sampson reveals the morgue called and Tavio didn’t have a phone. Alex admits that phone was their only lead. Ed Ramsey (Ryan Eggold) meets Shannon Whitmer (Eloise Mumford) while calling himself Josh. She believes he catfished her. Ed admits he should’ve been honest. He convinces her to have breakfast with him.

Tania Hightower (Siobhan Murphy) follows Alex and Sampson to a restaurant to ask them about the phone. Alex and Sampson don’t want to tell her anything. Oracene Massey (Sharon Taylor) complains about the protestors gathered because of Tavio’s shooting death. Alex insists Tavio’s murder and Emir’s death are linked. While watching a video of the aftermath of the shooting, Alex notices a woman stealing Tavio’s phone. Vanessa Norris (Kristin Dodson) tells Melanie Norris (Briana Starks) about the phone. Vanessa asks Tavie to play with her tablet. She tells Melanie that she needs to get the phone to someone who can get justice for her baby daddy. Melanie gives her a gun in a children’s meal box. Vanessa promises Tavie he can ride the white horsey later. Bobby Trey (Johnny Ray Gill) meets Ed Ramsey to tell him about Tavio’s girlfriend taking his phone.

He says Cross already suspects a cover-up. Bobby urges him not to grab another one. Ed thinks he needs to learn more about Cross. Bobby tells him not to because he’ll get the phone. Ed knows Vanessa works at the Epheson Beauty Salon. Nana Mama learns that Damon got selected to Early Mozart. He doesn’t want to do it. Janelle is playing nearby and she hears someone talking to her. Nana finds Janelle who says she was looking for the man. Alex takes Elle Monteiro (Samantha Walkes) some glasses. She’ll only accept them if he breaks them in over dinner. Alex returns home where he learns that Nana cut the wires to the camera because she believes the man was using it to talk to Janelle. Alex is convinced the man was there. He notices that the hopscotch board is 1 15 and 1 47. He says that’s the time of Maria’s death. Bobby goes to Vanessa’s workplace to look for her.

Since she’s not at work, he tries to find out where she is. Cross has cops watch his house. Sampson tells him Vanessa’s name so they begin looking for her. Ed hangs out with Shannon. They check out the morbid exhibit. Shannon tells Ed about her dream job. He doesn’t think it’s odd for her to like all of this stuff. Cross visits Melanie who says Vanessa is not there. Tavie complains about his tablet not working. Cross knows the game so he offers to help him with it. Tavie says something about the white horsey because Cross is forced to leave. Outside, Sampson says he better hope Kayla comes to the rescue. Vanessa calls Melanie and Tavie. She suggests she’ll be home tomorrow. Vanessa is warned that everyone is looking for the phone. Bobby Trey has already found Vanessa. Bobby gets high and drunk in his motel room.

Vanessa bangs on her wall to tell him to be quiet. She tries to call Tania Hightower of The Washington Telegram. Vanessa leaves a message saying she has something about Emir Goodspeed. Miss Nancy (Karen Robinson) arrives to teach Damon how to play the piano. Cross watches the video from the camera and hears Ed speaking to Janelle. Damon’s piano lesson continues. Ed meets Shannon at work. She says she got an interview at the Ritz. Ed admits he might’ve made a couple of calls for her. He offers to help her with the interview. Shannon thinks it’s a little early to be going back to his place. Ed learns moments later. Cross tells Sampson he had a psycho threatening his family. Vanessa tells Tania she believes Tavio was killed for a voicemail from Emir on his phone. Cross speaks to Elle about Vanessa and how she likely wouldn’t go too far from her kid.

They end up dancing. They almost have sex until Alex stops. He admits he thought he was ready but isn’t. Alex leaves. Kayla calls Alex to tell him where Tavio’s phone pinged. Bobby is waiting for Vanessa when she returns to her motel room. He asks her to punch in Tavio’s code. She slaps him and tries to flee. Bobby knocks her down and holds her at gunpoint. Cross and Sampson meet Kayla. She says the phone only pinged one tower. She shows them where it’s located. They try to figure out where Vanessa could be hiding. Bobby warns Vanessa that he’ll kill her if she doesn’t give him what he needs. Sampson and Alex find out which motel room Vanessa is in. They decide to check it out while Bobby continues interrogating Vanessa. Bobby hears the police outside and sees them run around outside. He finds out that she forwarded the voicemail to someone named “Bobby Mama”.

He laughs when he finds out that she sent it to herself. Bobby takes the SIM cards. He cuts Vanessa’s throat and tries to flee. Bobby is gone by the time Sampson and Cross reach her room. Later, Massey arrives and suggests the investigation is screwed. Cross thinks Vanessa forwarded the voicemail to herself. Tania arrives and asks what is going on. Cross asks her for two hours before breaking the story. Tania agrees to stay quiet in exchange for the exclusive on any story that comes out of this investigation. Cross admits he believes Emir was good. He also believes Tavio and Vanessa’s deaths are linked to those murders. Tania gives him two hours. Cross visits Tavie and shows him a new trick for his game. He does something else first. Cross warns him that it’s not going to be a good day. He gives him encouragement and tells him he’s a superhero. Melanie comes outside and takes Tavie inside.

In the car, Sampson confirms he got the voicemail. Emir tells Tavio he’s at that guy’s house for a date. He says something isn’t right because he’s messed up and he didn’t do anything. Emir says he’s at 41 Price Street. Shannon is outside the same residence. Ed invites her inside. Shannon admits she’s nervous about the interview. She won’t drink anything. Ed says she’s right to be careful because there are lots of psychos out there. He tells her she should be more concerned about the hand sanitizer. He knows he’s a germophobe. Shannon gets upset. Ed says that’s the fentanyl. Shannon ends up passing out.

 

Cross Review

The second episode of Cross was okay although it’s clear that the story is being stretched as thin as possible. It never needed to be eight episodes because there are many scenes here that could be removed. Some of the performances are okay, but others aren’t really that great.

At this point, the criminals are cornier than frightening. Since the story is modern, the technology also would be. Therefore, the investigators likely wouldn’t need to obtain the physical phone to find out what is on it. Instead, they just get a warrant from the service provider and get whatever they need.

Nevertheless, the close call with Bobby really didn’t ring true. This is another detective show where the entire force is just two guys running around and the investigation is just those guys speaking to people. The personal scenes overwhelm everything else.

If this wasn’t about dates, piano lessons, and so on, this could get to the point and resolve the investigation in four episodes. It’s also a bit silly and cliché for the killer or someone else to be stalking Cross and his family. Although watchable, the series really isn’t that strong and it’s hard to recommend it when there are countless other detective shows available.

There’s also no suspense considering we’ve identified the killers in the first episodes. This episode scores a 5 out of 10 because it’s a slog to get through. All recaps of Cross can be found here. Find out how to support our independent site at this link. Learn more about advertising with us here. Join the discussion here.