The series premiere of Cross, “Hero Complex,” begins in the happiest period of Alex Cross’s (Aldis Hodge) life, when his world revolved around his wife Maria (Chaunteé Schuler Irving). The episode opens with the two of them enjoying a double date with his best friend, John Sampson (Isaiah Mustafa), and his girlfriend, Onika (Jinesea Bianca Lewis), watching the Redskins win a game on TV while relaxing on a restaurant patio.
Maria and John’s girlfriend leave to use the restroom. Gunshots are heard. They run out towards the shots and find Onika screaming and Maria lying on the ground, bleeding. Her eyes are open but she cannot move. Alex gathers her up in his arms, trying to comfort her as she dies.
Cross, Hero Complex
One year later, Cross sits at his desk and fills out paperwork for a voluntary leave of absence. He can hear an interrogation taking place where the detective accuses the suspect, Richard Miller (Jeremy Walmsley), of killing his pregnant wife. Miller calls for a doctor, saying has a “terrible case of Life’s fitful fever.” This catches Cross’s attention. Miller deliberately spews racist comments at the black detective, Detective Akbar (Dwain Murphy) in the room, inciting a violent reaction.
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Akbar’s partner drags him from the interrogation room to the adjacent observation space where Lt. Massey (Sharon Taylor) reminds him that without a confession they’ve got nothing. Cross interrupts from the doorway, stating that Miller’s already confessed but they didn’t hear it.
Free Chicken
Massey invites him to take a shot at Miller. Cross enters with a coffee in hand. He explains to Miller the concept of “free chicken,” a military term for gaining something without working for it. Miller tries to provoke Cross by claiming he’s smarter because of genetics. Cross counters that genetics also determined that his penis is bigger than Miller’s which outrages Miller and disturbs Massey.
Miller tells Cross he isn’t getting a confession but Cross says he’s already confessed. When Miller stated “Life’s fitful fever” was making him sick, he quoted Shakespeare’s Macbeth‘s line referring to the burden of guilt. Cross calls that a confession, made without coercion, and on tape.
Emir Goodspeed
In a laboratory, a man lies moaning, restrained in a chair. Another man enters by descending a winding metal staircase and removes a large book with a sun and moon combined crest on the cover. It is a scrapbook of souvenirs and clippings about various heinous crimes and the people who committed them. He turns to a page with a photograph of a bald black man on the left and a blank page on the right. He places a small photograph of a young black man with long dreadlocks on the right side to compare. Getting up, he puts on gloves and approaches the captive man — the man from the second photograph — picks up scissors, and begins cutting his hair.
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Kids playing on an inner-city basketball court notice a car parked nearby, the driver with his head on the steering wheel, eyes wide open and not moving. Soon afterwards, a protest chanting, “Justice for Emir,” gathers outside a government building. A reporter questions Chief Anderson (Jennifer Wigmore) as she makes her way through the crowd, asking for an update on the Emir Goodspeed (Donovon Brown) case.
Look Pretty… and Black
Cross and Sampson walk into the office. Wu (Jason Rogel) tells them Massey wants to see them and Anderson is with her. He hands Cross a bouquet of flowers. In Massey’s office, she tells them they’re taking over the Goodspeed case. Because Goodspeed was leading the Defund the Police movement locally, the police are suspected of targetting him. Anderson wants Cross at the press conference. He refuses.
Anderson relents but insists he attends the press conference. Vega (Mercedes de la Zerda) and De Lackner (Stacie Greenwell) read Cross and Sampson in on the case to this point. Massey instructs Cross and Sampson to get the family to accept the findings that Emir overdosed on meth.
Cross and Sampson pay Emir’s sister, Malika Goodspeed (Ashley Rios), a visit. She asks why they had to shave Emir’s head as well as kill him. Tavio Lemmons (Damani D. Sease) chimes in from the dining room. He asserts that Emir didn’t relapse. Malika points out Emir had Type 2 diabetes and meth would’ve interacted badly with his meds and put him in a coma.
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Cross speaks with Emir’s mother, Crystal (Kimberly S. Fairbanks), in the kitchen. They commiserate about losing a loved one. She mentions all the turkey bacon in the fridge makes her miss Emir. After prison and his conversion, he stopped eating pork products. She pleads with Cross to find out the truth.
Cross at Home
Cross discusses Emir’s death with his grandmother, Nana Mama (Juanita Jennings), with his kids Janelle (Melody Hurd) and Damon (Caleb Elijah) present. Nana irons a shirt for him and hopes he has fun. Before leaving, he prompts Janelle to finish her dinner so she can participate in track practice. He arrives at a black-tie formal event where Elle (Samantha Walkes) is waiting for him.
Back home, Nana Mama loads Janelle and Caleb into the van to go to practice. After they drive off, someone gets out of a car across the street and sneaks into the house. They go upstairs and inspect Cross’s bedroom. In the closet, they hang a scarf in with Maria’s clothes.
At the event, Ed Ramsey (Ryan Eggold) greets Elle warmly and she introduces him to Cross. He fawns over Alex, gives him his business card, and extends an invitation by way of Elle to his big annual party.
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At the house, the intruder steals a photo of Maria with the kids from their room. As they head down the stairs, a light comes on. Janelle’s forgotten her shoes. Nana Mama sends her upstairs to get them. The intruder hides in Janelle’s closet, a knife at the ready in case they are discovered. Janelle finds her shoes and leaves.
A New Target
Out in a rainy plaza, Shannon (Eloise Mumford) and her mother discuss work while waiting for their order from a coffee truck. The barista (Nick Piacente) is stunned when he sees Shannon. When he hands her the drinks, a round tattoo is glimpsed on his inner wrist. It’s the same symbol as on the cover of the book from the laboratory scene. He takes a picture of Shannon while the next customer is placing his order.
Cross and Sampson go to the morgue and discuss Emir’s autopsy with the medical examiner. He tells them he died shortly after eating a meal of mashed potatoes, pork chops, asparagus, and a chocolate cupcake.
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Bobby Trey (Johnny Ray Gill) walks into a barber shop with a take-out box of fries. While he eats, he gets a photo of a car’s license plate and a text, “SAME CAR. IN FRONT OF MY HOUSE. AGAIN.” He tells the barber he’ll come back later for a haircut and leaves.
It’s Murder
At lunch, Cross informs Anderson that Emir Goodspeed was murdered which ruins her day. To him, it looks like someone force-fed Emir and then killed him. Anderson laughs at his theory. Cross argues that the killer not only killed Emir but needed to kill him in a very specific way. Anderson wants him to call it either an overdose or a suicide. Cross asks if she’s looking to solve a crime or a P.R. problem. She gives him 48 hrs to prove his theory.
In a darkroom, Emir’s killer processes a photograph of Emir and pastes it into the book next to the bald black man. The killer turns back a page to a newspaper headline clipping that reads, “Sandman put to death.” There are articles about Maurice Freeman Jr. and a list of the foods he ate as his final meal before being executed. The menu matches the contents of Emir’s stomach. Turning to the next section of the book, the killer examines a picture of Aileen Wuornos. Going to his computer, he clicks on the photo the barista took of Shannon. There is another blank page in the book opposite Wuornos’s photo.
Working the Case
Sampson finds Cross examining the Emir murder board. There’s another bouquet of flowers on the table with an unsigned card reading, “Thank you for making our world a better place.”
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Vega brings Emir’s phone records in showing his last call was to a burner. Cross plans to ask a favor from Kayla Craig (Alona Tal) to track the burner. Nana Mama calls to tell him the school just called. Cross heads down and finds Damon in the principal’s office wearing a Redskins scarf. The scarf is the one the intruder planted in the closet. Cross recognizes it as the one Maria was wearing when she was shot. It had disappeared.
He takes it off Damon, bags it, and gets it to Sampson. After sharing the theory that Maria’s killer snuck into the house and put it in her closet, Cross tells Sampson to get it to the M.E. to see if there’s DNA on the scarf they can trace. When Sampson asks why he doesn’t do it himself, Cross reminds him that if he makes inquiries, it’ll raise red flags due to Sampson reporting him previously which landed him with a six-month suspension.
Nana Mama arrives home to find Cross overseeing the installation of a surveillance system. They discuss the idea of an intruder. Nana Mama assures him that people love him so they worry.
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Kayla meets Cross at a wine bar. She offers a job with the F.B.I. He declines. He gives her the burner number and asks if she can speed up the trace. She agrees to do it after a little banter.
The killer sets up a fake dating profile to catfish Shannon. The camera turns to his face. It’s Ed Ramsey.
Bobby Trey walks into the precinct and gets Wu to run the license plate of the car he’d been texted. The plate comes up as belonging to Tavio.
Out of Hand
Cross arrives at Elle’s dinner party. He makes a beeline for Sampson to ask about the scarf. Sampson reminds him that the last time he thought they’d had a breakthrough, Cross had nearly put a bullet in an innocent man’s head. That’s what Sampson reported him for and he wants Cross to get counselling.
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Elle interrupts their argument, checking in if everything’s okay. They table the discussion and join the dinner. One of the guests, Jared (Joseph Pierre) is talking about financing. When he learns Cross and Sampson are police, he asks Elle how she can date Cross when she supports the Defund the Police movement. The conversation turns ugly and Cross throws Jared up against the wall. Sampson breaks them up.
After everyone’s gone, Cross cleans up the breakage from the fight. Elle confronts him about why Sampson wants him to get professional help. When he tries to leave, she tells him she wants to know what’s going on with him. Cross tries to explain he has a hero complex, a compulsion to protect. When Maria was murdered, he couldn’t protect or save her. He tells Elle that talking to someone won’t help because he knows they can’t fix him. Elle pleads with him to get help for the sake of his kids.
Damon wakes up to the sound of a piano. Janelle won’t get up so he goes down on his own where Cross is playing. Janelle finally comes down too. Cross speaks quietly with Damon and apologizes for yelling at him about the scarf. The family goes to church where they light candles for Maria.
Tavio
Kayla finds Cross working out at the boxing gym. She tells him that the burner was purchased by Tavio. Cross knows that Tavio will be at Emir’s memorial event. When they try to talk to him, Tavio runs. Sampson and Cross chase him into an apartment building. Tavio grabs a hostage and claims he didn’t kill Emir. They talk him into releasing the hostage and cuff him so they can take him in to talk. As they’re walking him to the car, a sniper kills Tavio with a shot to the head. In a nearby building, Bobby Trey dismantles his rifle.
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At Ben’s Chili Bowl, Massey tells Cross about Anderson’s plan. She wants to tell the press that Tavio was shot in retaliation for killing Emir. Cross is stunned and refuses to endorse the plan.
Inevitable
In a cafe, Ed sits at a laptop and chats with Bobby about Tavio’s death. Bobby figures they’ve tied things up now but warns Ed not to get sloppy again. Ed warns him he doesn’t like being lectured. Shannon walks in and sits by the window. On the dating app, Ed hearts her and she receives a message that they’re a match.
At the house, Sampson’s playing Jenga with Janelle and Damon when Cross gets home. The kids head to the kitchen and Sampson informs Cross there was a long strand of hair knotted to a thread on the scarf. The doorbell rings and Cross opens the door to find another bouquet on his step. He follows the delivery person but he doesn’t know who sent the flowers. When he comes back in, Sampson’s holding the envelope that came with the flowers. Inside is the stolen photograph with Maria’s eyes scratched out. Cross’s phone starts buzzing. The voice on the line asks, “Would you like to know what her last words were?” They taunt him that it’s the one thing about Maria he doesn’t know then hang up.
Cross is currently streaming on Prime Video.
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