Warning! This article contains spoilers for Cross season 1.
Warning! This article contains mentions of murder, abuse, and suicide.
After Alex Cross' wife, Maria, dies in the opening moments of Amazon’sCross, finding the truth behind her murder becomes the titular character’s primary motive. Like most television shows, Amazon’sCrossbegins on a positive note, where the titular character and his wife go out for lunch with two of their friends. However, things suddenly take a grim turn when Alex Cross' wife, Maria, gets murdered by someone in broad daylight.
Blinded by his guilt and anger, Alex Cross ends up attacking an innocent man after finding circumstantial evidence against him. However, he soon realizes he made a grave mistake and sets out to unravel the mystery behind who killed his wife. Towards theend ofCrossseason 1, the closer he gets to solving the mystery, the more he realizes that his wife’s murder has something to do with his past.
Maria Cross Was Killed By Nancy & Peter As Revenge For Alex’s Supposed Role In Deirdre’s Death
Nancy & Peter Blame Alex Cross For Deirdre’s Demise
Crossseason 1’s episode 4 begins with a flashback that shows how a young woman, Dierdre, was sentenced to life for murdering an innocent man. One of the biggest reasons why she was given a life sentence was thatAlex Cross testified against her in court and established that she showed all the signs of a “psychopathic personality.“After Cross suggested she was unfit to reenter society, the judge gave Dierdre a life sentence for the murder, even though she had never committed any other crimes in the past.
InCrossseason 1’s ending arc, it becomes evident that Nancy and Peter plotted Maria’s murder and had been targeting Alex Cross and his family because they held him responsible for Diedre’s death.
After being imprisoned, Diedre was abused by fellow inmates, leading to her dying by suicide. When Alex Cross looks into her case, he learns that a man named Peter often visited her in prison. When he visits Peter’s case manager, he learns that Peter and Diedre often visited the case manager their “street mother.” Although Cross initially struggles to find out who this “street mother” could be in the thrillingAmazon Prime Video detective show, he eventually learns that his son’s new piano teacher, Miss Nancy, is the woman in question.
Cross Season 1: The Fanboy Killer’s Identity & Motivations Fully Explained
In its 8-episode runtime, Cross season 1 gradually unravels the tapestry of who the fanboy killer is and what he intends to achieve with his murders.
InCrossseason 1’s ending arc, it becomes evident that Nancy and Peter plotted Maria’s murder and had been targeting Alex Cross and his family because they held him responsible for Diedre’s death. They believed that if it wasn’t for Alex Cross' testimony, Dierdre would have been alive. However, Alex Cross eventually exposes Nancy by revealing that she manipulated Diedre into taking the blame for a murder Peter had committed. She emotionally blackmailed Diedre and convinced her that she would not be convicted as aggressively as Peter because she was a white woman with a clean record.
How Maria’s Death In Cross Is Different From The James Patterson Books
The Reason Behind Maria’s Death Remains Even More Ambiguous In The Source Material
Maria only gets mentioned in passing in the first elevenbooks of James Patterson’sAlex Crossseries. She ultimately makes a brief appearance in a flashback in the 12th novel, titledCross. Unlike the show’s Maria, the book’s character gets shot by a sniper moments before Alex picks her up from her workplace. The books maintain an air of ambiguity surrounding whether the sniper was targeting Alex or Maria and avoid revealing the killer’s identity for a long time. However, like Amazon’sCross, the books eventually feature a twist that discloses a mob assassin named Jimmy Hats Galati killed her.
Cross
Cross follows the life of Alex Cross, a skilled yet troubled homicide detective balancing his role as a devoted father and relentless crime investigator. Haunted by his wife’s murder, he navigates personal turmoil while persistently pursuing justice in the face of dangerous adversaries.
