The Good Book – As the third episode of Cross begins, we see a woman, Brenda, abusing drugs. She receives a package. When she opens it, she finds a gun and a note asking her to kill Alex Cross. When Alex (Aldis Hodge) comes downstairs, Nana Mama (Juanita Jennings), Damon (Caleb Elijah), and Janelle give him flowers. Nana tells him to talk to her because she’s always been a good listener. Alex meets John Sampson (Isaiah Mustafa) who takes the flowers into the cemetery for him. Shannon Whitmer (Eloise Mumford) wakes up and finds out that she’s tied to a chair. Ed Ramsey (Ryan Eggold) asks her to take a deep breath and hold it. He takes a picture of her. Ed says he’s detoxing her pores. Cross lets Dean listen to the voicemail message. He asks for a wanted to go into the Price Street address. Dean doesn’t want the case to get overturned on appeal.

The woman with the gun joins Cross in the elevator. She almost pulls out the gun but stops when the elevator opens and cops join them. Chris Wu (Jason Rogel) tells Cross he has some information on the Price Street address. It used to be the Egyptian Embassy and the Second National Bank. The current owner is run through a Delaware corporation owned by a trust based in Nevada. The property is listed as a short-term rental. In private, Sampson tells Alex that the DNA results on Maria’s scarf came in. He doesn’t think Alex is managing this very well. Sampson tells him to make the appointment. Alex relents and calls Dr. Adele Finlay’s office. He tells  Marcy that he wants an appointment. Sampson shows him the paperwork and the name. Alex speaks to a woman about that. He tells her that the DNA was hers. Bobby Trey (Johnny Ray Gill) orders some food. He calls Ed and tells him that the judge wouldn’t give Cross a warrant.

Bobby urges him to get out of there and never look back. Ed isn’t going to give up yet. The woman in the wheelchair tries to figure out how they got her hair. She thinks it could be Jerry Cooper since they worked that case together. Jerry also claimed he would ruin Cross’s life. Chief Anderson (Jennifer Wigmore) asks Sampson and Oracene Massey (Sharon Taylor) if they have evidence to change the death to murder. Sampson argues with Shawna De Lackner (Stacie Greenwell). Anderson agrees with Shawna and doesn’t think they should change Emir’s death. Ed begins telling Shannon about Aileen Wuornos. He says she’s going to look terrific as a blonde. Alex meets Sampson and finds out what happened with Anderson and Shawna. Anderson made Shawna write up a report about 41 Price Street being a drug den. Cross says Shawna helped the cause without even knowing it. He takes that information to Dean and says they can go into the property looking for drugs.

Ed finishes with Shannon’s hair. He asks her to eat whatever he puts in front of her. Otherwise, he’ll have to use a feeding tube. Ed finds a rash on her and gets upset. Shannon says she has a condition. Bobby calls Ed to say Cross got the warrant on Price Street. He urges him to get out of there. Ed says he’ll leave the door open for them because they still won’t get to him. Police raid the house moments later. Chenowit tells Cross they haven’t found anything yet. When Shannon begins screaming, Ed goes too because no one can hear them. Shawna enters and laughs at Sampson and Cross for not finding anything. Massey says Anderson is furious. At home, Cross thinks about Maria (Chauntee Schuler Irving). Sampson wakes up Cross later. He says they got a lead on the car he thought was connected to the Kowaleski break-in. It might help them find whoever has been stalking Alex.

Alex and Sampson begin looking for Jerry Cooper. He’s approached by Brenda Leeland (Kiran Friesen) who says Jerry was around here tonight. She says he was back there. Alex goes looking for him. Sampson checks the party while Alex looks around in the back. Brenda ends up following Alex and shooting toward him. When Sampson arrives, he finds Alex okay and Brenda shot. Later, Massey tells Sampson that Cross gave a statement and she sent him home with a uni. He tells her what has been going on. Sampson insists the woman pulled first although he didn’t see it. Damon checks on Alex and tells him he doesn’t smell too good. Damon says he’s been practicing piano so he can be the best. Nana Mama speaks to Alex while Damon plays. Massey visits moments later. She says he’s clear in this one since she got a heads-up from internal affairs.

She shows him the note they found asking Brenda to kill Alex. The bullets from Brenda’s gun were tampered with. They were nothing but misfires. They set Brenda up to be killed by Alex. Cross says he has to find the person responsible and find out who killed Emir. Brenda’s car was found at the wharf. Alex finds out that the car has a map of Glenn Creek Cemetery. They go to the cemetery and find a dress hanging in a tree near Maria’s grave. Cross says he’s seen it before although it’s not Maria’s dress. Ed contacts someone to say the last piece has fallen into place. At the station, Alex and the others wonder why the property is vacant. Chris Wu confirms the property used to be a brothel called Blue Allie’s. Bobby sees Cross outside the house so he tries to call Ed. However, Ed is busy speaking to Senator Caitlin Goldman (Marion Adler) who won’t do Project Yellowstone. Ed warns her that Horace didn’t stop his hobby and Ed has his little trips on video.

Ed believes the oldest boy in the video is 13. Caitlin agrees to get Yellowstone on the agenda. Ed says she’ll make sure it passes it. When she leaves, Ed finds out that Bobby is with Shannon. Ed asks him to get her out of there alive. Cross tells Sampson that Blue Allie’s had a secret exit for its workers in case the place got raided. Shannon pleads with Bobby not to kill her. Sampson and Alex look for the hidden exit. The landlord tries to stop them from breaking a wall. He has a tattoo on his wrist like the one on Ed’s book. Bobby tells Ed he was $2.2 million to get her out of there. Ed offers him one million, but he eventually relents and agrees to pay him. Ed says he wants Aileen and the book. Alex and Sampson enter the hidden room, but Bobby and Shannon are already gone. Bobby has to stop to warn Shannon to be quiet.

When he does, he drops the book. Alex and Sampson don’t catch them, but they find all the evidence in the hidden room. They find the book full of serial killer pictures. The only killer without a match is Aileen Wuornos. Bobby meets Ed to give him the woman. Ed isn’t happy to learn that the book is gone. Bobby tells him to go make another scrapbook. Ed tells him to get the book if he wants the money.

 

Cross Review

The third episode of Cross certainly dipped significantly in quality because it’s become more farfetched and the characters are getting dumber. Alex dealing with the loss of his wife really feels like a waste of time when most viewers are only going to care about the murders. Those scenes can be skipped without missing anything important.

In this episode, Ed and Bobby were written very poorly to the point that both of them were stupid. Ed refused to leave the Price Street property even though he knew the risks involved. It’s just too stupid to believe. Then, Bobby managed to sneak inside and escape with Shannon without issue.

Of course, he had to be an idiot and drop the book. Meanwhile, Alex and Sampson really aren’t doing anything since the killers are just scattering clues around for them. The supporting cast can range from decent to obnoxiously bad. Many of them really aren’t needed and only serve to drag out things even further.

Not to mention, Bobby is likely going back to the scene to get that stupid book. At the very least, the show needed strong antagonists and it really doesn’t have that. Those characters just aren’t written strongly enough so they come off as cartoonish, especially in this episode.

This episode scores a 4.5 out of 10. 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.