Cross review: A timely spin on James Patterson's tragic hero

Amazon’s Prime Video has done quite well for itself with Dad Dramas — those shows based on characters from thriller novels popular with patriarchs. Think Lee Child’s Jack Reacher, Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, and Jack Carr’s The Terminal List series. Generally, these Dad Dramas get positive though not passionate reviews, with critics assuring viewers that the TV adaptations “get the job done.”

The same can be said for Cross, Prime Video’s thriller starring Aldis Hodge (Black Adam) as James Patterson’s well-known fictional detective Alex Cross. When it comes to the aforementioned job — creating a faithful rendition of a popular character and propulsive crime-thriller action — Cross gets it done. But the gripping and ambitious drama (premiering Nov. 14) doesn’t settle for serviceable, instead suffusing its original story with thoughtful and provocative cross-examination of masculinity and what it means to be a Black man in law enforcement today.

Like his literary namesake, Alex Cross is a widower. After his wife, Maria (Chaunteé Schuler Irving), was gunned down at brunch, the Washington D.C.-based detective and forensic psychologist spent the next year throwing himself into his work — perhaps a little too hard. The new series begins with Alex applying to take a voluntary leave of absence, but naturally, he gets sucked in by one last case. When local Black activist Emir Goodspeed (Donovan Brown) turns up dead from an apparent overdose, Alex and his best friend/partner, John Sampson (Isaiah Mustafa), determine that he may be the latest victim of a serial killer.

“Sugar” — as John calls Alex — is also on high alert at home after discovering that a stalker broke into the house he shares with his grandma, “Nana Mama” (Juanita Jennings), and two kids, Damon (Caleb Elijah) and Janelle (Melody Hurd). As the dual mysteries unfold, they introduce a collection of key characters, including Kayla Craig (Alona Tai), a flirtatious FBI agent; Edward Ramsey (Ryan Eggold), a wealthy and charismatic D.C. power player; Bobby Trey (Johnny Ray Gill), a mischievous and menacing criminal enforcer; and Shannon Witmer (Eloise Mumford), an art curator whose blind date goes very wrong.

Created by Ben Watkins (Burn Notice), Cross builds its foundation on the familiar tropes established by Patterson in his novels. Alex nearly didn’t graduate from the police academy because two different psychologists literally diagnosed him as having a “hero complex.” As he laments to Elle (Samantha Walkes), the new woman in his life, “Imagine you have this compulsion to protect... And then one day, your wife’s in danger. She’s the love of your life. She’s the one person above all that you want to protect, and you can’t.”

Cross’ Alex is also always the smartest guy in the room. When a fellow detective (Mercedes de la Zerda) tries to ask Alex a question while he studies a wall of evidence with trance-like focus, John actually shushes her: “He’s doing his thing!” Tortured, brilliant hero with an almost supernatural ability to navigate a mental maze of clues and come out the other side with the answer? Check, check, and check.

What sets Cross apart, though, is that Watkins and his writers treat those tropes as a point of departure rather than home base. Alex may be considered a savant by his colleagues, but many of his Black peers — including Emir’s sister, Malika (Ashley Rios) — view him and Sampson as traitors. Prime Video’s Dad Dramas (and Patterson’s own Alex Cross novels) typically don’t have characters engaging in complex, two-sided debates about the ethical ramifications of working within a system that has a history of abusing one’s own community. Cross makes it an ongoing discussion — beginning with a particularly intense scene in the premiere.

“I don’t understand how a Black man can be a cop these days,” notes Jared (Joseph Pierre), a finance guy attending a dinner party with Alex and John at Elle’s chic brownstone. “I’m sorry, but I would feel like I was selling out my own people.” Alex counters that the job helps him serve that community — but neither side is convinced. The tension Alex and John feel between their jobs and their moral responsibilities as Black men continues without an easy resolution throughout the season. The writers treat the issue with a refreshing frankness, as when John tells Malika that “we sometimes can be our own worst enemies.” She looks at him aghast. “Wow,” she scoffs. “You have been pushed to a whole new level of coonery.”

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Alex is largely consumed by his other internal struggle — all that guilt, rage, and confusion over his wife’s death — but Watkins doesn’t let his impossibly handsome protagonist languish in a swamp of emotional stagnation. The show simultaneously presents Alex and John as two of the manliest guys around (they bicker over their investigation to-do list while pummeling each other at the boxing gym), while defying the protocols of “traditional” masculinity. John, who continually urges Alex to confront his feelings about Maria’s death, eventually gets so frustrated that he refuses to give his partner a crucial piece of evidence until he books a therapy appointment. Therapy! On your dad’s new favorite show! It certainly feels like progress.

At only 8 taut episodes, Cross packs a good amount of plot into each hour. Focus shifts primarily to Alex and John’s hunt for the serial killer, leaving the B-story about Alex’s personal stalker dangling for much of the back half of the season. The final three episodes pack in an almost comical number of cliffhanger twists, and at times the narrative borders on convoluted. (When reviewing Prime Video’s “do not reveal” spoiler list for each episode, I had to keep referring to my notes to confirm how each detail played into the story.) Still, the mystery is concluded, in keeping with Watkins' promise for a "closed chapter" at the end of every season.

Hodge and Mustafa are ideal TV partners, masterfully encompassing their decades-long friendship in all its varied forms: Married-couple bicker-banter, stubborn defiance, effortless shorthand. Their platonic love story is so appealing, it makes Alex Cross’ romance with Elle feel even more listless. Blame the writers, who paint Elle as a little too saintly and all but humorless; Alex needs a woman who can help him lighten up from time to time. One suspects that Alex will face a new crime with the help of a new love interest every season (Amazon has already renewed Cross for season 2), but his relationship with John is the only one that matters. Grade: B+

All eight episodes of Cross premiere Thursday, Nov. 14, on Amazon Prime Video.