{"id":51868,"date":"2026-02-24T22:30:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T03:30:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=51868"},"modified":"2026-02-24T22:30:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T03:30:11","slug":"women-of-color-unite-presents-cross-watch-party","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2026\/02\/24\/women-of-color-unite-presents-cross-watch-party\/","title":{"rendered":"Women of Color Unite Presents: Cross Watch Party"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Women of Color Unite teamed up with Jamul Casino in San Diego to present the first two episodes of the new season of Cross, and yours truly was blessed with an invite. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

First,\u00a0let\u2019s\u00a0address the delay in posting this, to put it simply, health\u00a0has not been ideal, both physical and mental, so writing anything has been difficult, but I\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0want to skip posting, so thank you for your patience.\u00a0Onto the main event!<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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From arrival, the event was themed at every turn from a step and\u00a0repeat\u00a0with the Cross logo to themed drinks at the bar in the entrance room. Then the screening room made up of a conference room or two connected together, 2 screens available to people could see from\u00a0either side of the room, in the back, a theater snack bar at no cost that served popcorn popped on the premises for freshness served in paper evidence bags and boxed candies provided in plastic evidence bags that looked real \u00a0real. (Keeping this aside for the Great Pumpkin giveaway later this year, the bag that is,\u00a0perhaps another\u00a0item or two.) Staff from the casino\u00a0were\u00a0walking around with small bite\u00a0food\u00a0and drinks.\u00a0Once everyone had arrived and most folks had\u00a0some food and had their movie snacks on hand, the event truly started.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The lovely\u00a0Cheryl Bedford\u00a0from Women of Color Unite took the stage, did a quick intro, and the first episode of season started, quickly followed up by episode two. If you watch the show,\u00a0you\u2019ve\u00a0likely already\u00a0seen these, if you\u00a0don\u2019t, get to it as these are\u00a0timely\u00a0as can be,\u00a0something surprising when one finds out it was all written in 2023. The first episode is a bit on the brutal side for those who have survived SA or love someone who has been a victim. The second episode dug\u00a0deeper into what would become a multiple-episodes\u00a0arc for sure. Details are vague on purpose here to avoid giving anything away. The writing here is solid, the direction works, the cast is solid, this one of those shows where the lead is charismatic but also ready to have other folks take center stage when the story can gain from it. The feeling of\u00a0these episodes together\u00a0is more like a thriller with a glossy aspect\u00a0to\u00a0it than an old school police procedural.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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The screening captivated the audience, but the Q&A was clearly the central element of the event.\u00a0This Q&A was conducted by\u00a0Bedford with thoughtful questions directed at each guest so everyone could\u00a0participate. The panel included\u00a0actors\u00a0Johnny Ray Gill, Alona Tal, Ashley Rios,\u00a0writer Marissa Lee,\u00a0and\u00a0Gabrielle Ramirez, each of them giving throughtful answers to the well-researched questions they each got.\u00a0Possibly one\u00a0of the best post screening panels in a long while. Sure, the questions were pre-planned,\u00a0and there were no questions from the public, but it was a well-done discussion with some harder subjects, and lots of\u00a0good information\u00a0given.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Q&A session was followed by a gift bag distribution, then a rooftop party where food from Ben\u2019s Chili Bowl in DC, appetizers from the casino, and a solid bar with staff that didn\u2019t hesitate to create something similar to the themed-drinks in an alcohol-free version when asked. The party was great for mingling, networking,\u00a0and taking photos at the Cross mini set-up. Later in the evening, folks made their way down to the speakeasy at which point, this tired human headed home.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Women of Color Unite teamed up with Jamul Casino in San Diego to present the first two episodes of the new season of Cross, and yours truly was blessed with an invite. \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1284],"tags":[3970,1832],"class_list":["post-51868","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-festivalsevents","tag-event","tag-television"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51868","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51868"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51868\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51869,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51868\/revisions\/51869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}