‘The Crossover’ Recap And Ending, Explained: What Happened To The Bell Brothers?

Disney+ Hotstar sports drama, “The Crossover” puts a strong emphasis on the concept of the ideal family. The series depicts a sports-freak family where there are no limitations on having ambitions or fulfilling them. The protagonists of “Crossover” are twin brothers Josh “Filthy McNasty” Bell (Jalyn Hall) and Jordan Bell (Amir O’Neil), two aspiring basketball players who come from a family where their father Chuck Bell (Derek Luke) encourages them to regard basketball as their ultimate devotion. Principal Crystal Bell (Sabrina Revelle), their mother, might be a little bit tough at times, but she also encourages her sons to follow their hearts and pursue their dreams. Sadly, life claimed many beloved things from this family, continuously breaking them down, but by rising from the ashes, the Bell Brothers illustrated that everything is possible if there is determination toward one’s goal.

Spoilers Ahead


‘The Crossover’ Season 1: Recap

Beginning with a futuristic scenario, “The Crossover” shows one of the Bell brothers winning a match in 2031 while the other is confined to a wheelchair. It was initially hard to figure out which of these brothers had experienced the tragedy. Returning to the present, high school basketball coach Chuck Bell was getting ready for the championship with his boys, Josh and Jordan Bell. As the story unfolds, we learn that these two brothers had many other skills in addition to their love of basketball. Jordan was a talented artist, whereas Josh was a fantastic writer. Nevertheless, Josh was entirely focused on playing basketball and winning the championship, but Jordan wanted to pursue his painting at the same time. Despite being diagnosed with ADHD, Jordan was certain that basketball was merely a part of his life, not his life.

Meanwhile, Beacon, the former champions, and a recognized squad, was the team Josh wanted to play for. Josh and Jordan aspired to play like those team players and eventually join the group, but things didn’t go as planned. Josh got into a fight in a bar with Aniq, a member of the Beacon squad, all because Aniq had disparaged Josh’s father. After the video of their brawl went viral, it caused such a stir at the high school that Josh Bell’s mother, Principal Crystal Bell, had to take severe action against him. She suspended her son from the team, thereby ending Josh’s dream of winning the championship. Will Josh still be able to help his team win though? Let’s look into that.


Did Chuck Survive?

Chuck Bell has asthma that was already present but frequently went untreated. Chuck’s asthma got worse since he was a basketball coach who frequently had to shout at his players. Even worse, he was also found to have diabetes, which was steadily harming the health of his kidneys. The doctor suggested Chuck get a transplant, but because he has an unusual blood type, he didn’t proceed with the treatment. He didn’t want the terrible news to affect his lovely wife or his two boys, who were getting ready for their big match. Yet Crystal knew Chuck was concealing something. She persuaded Chuck to tell her about his condition, and he did. Crystal realized that they needed to change Chuck’s lifestyle and his food habits. As the story progresses, we learn that Chuck has a daughter called Kelli from a previous marriage. But, owing to the loss of custody, Chuck was unable to devote enough time to his daughter, causing a schism between him and Kelli. Crystal begged him to reunite with Kelli now that his health had deteriorated. Because Kelli had a right to know about her father’s present condition, and Chuck deserved to spend time with his loved ones before something terrible happened to him. Despite leading a healthy lifestyle, Chuck’s GFR declined, indicating that he needed a donor as soon as possible. Unfortunately, due to a lack of donors with the same blood type, Chuck gave up hope. He began home dialysis and hoped that one day his daughter would meet him. Eventually, hearing of her father’s health condition, Kelli came to their residence on the day of the championship match, when neither Chuck nor Josh could attend the match. Chuck expressed his love for his daughter with all of his heart. He even said that, without telling Kalli, he had attended her graduation ceremony while still taking good care of the pictures from those days. Kelli could no longer bear her resentment and chose to donate her kidney to her father. Despite the future depicted in “The Crossover” revealing that Chuck had died, we never learned when or how. Rather, we see Chuck becoming the coach at Beacon in 2023, maybe after a successful kidney transplant, and Jordan got to play under his tutelage. On the other hand, we find Josh and his long-time adversary Zuma sharing the same squad and competing against Beacon. Because season 1 of “The Crossover” did not reveal how Chuck died, we may presume that he died of old age. As a result, we were unable to witness Chuck in 2031 with his wife and adult sons.


Who Won The Championship?

The championship was the ultimate goal for the Bell Brothers, but there were too many distractions in the way. First and foremost, Alexis arrived in the midst of these brothers, who had both fallen for her, yet Alexis chose to be with Jordan. Consequently, Josh and Jordan got into fights several times. Out of envy, Josh told Aniq that Jordan and Alexis were not serious, which prompted Aniq to hit on Alexis. As Jordan interfered, Aniq accused Josh of lying to him. Not only that, but Aniq crossed the line by trash-talking Chuck, which angered Josh and prompted him to beat him up. As their viral video caught Crystal’s attention, she was unsure what to do with her son, but seeing that Josh showed no remorse for his actions, Crystal decided to give him a taste of punishment. She suspended him from the squad.

She knew the championship meant a lot to his kid, but ethical behavior comes first. Chuck persuaded his kid that people would not remember how brilliantly he played the championship but that he would rather be known for his humility. All of his role models, like Kobe or LeBron, have faced harsh criticism, but if they had concentrated on that, they would not have gone on to become legendary athletes. Chuck and Crystal both knew that Josh needed to go through detention in order to impart this lesson. Meanwhile, Jordan was compelled to keep playing the game without his brother. He understood that all his father wanted in life was for his boys to be successful basketball champions, so for the time being, Jordan focused on winning the game for the sake of his father. Meanwhile, Josh realized his mistake, but he was determined for his team to win at any cost. Thus, on Championship Day, he couldn’t stay at home and dashed to the school to support his squad. He used his inspiring words to kindle a spark in his teammates, causing them to stay focused on their mission. They won the game and returned home with the trophy. Later that evening, the entire Bell family rejoiced in their championship victory.


‘The Crossover’ Ending Explained: What Happened To The Bell Brothers?

We are shown the Bell Brothers’ future in the year 2031 in addition to their current timeline. They both joined the Lakers as players, where they both rose to fame. Nevertheless, a catastrophe struck their lives and robbed them of their goals. We witnessed Josh Bell lose the use of both of his legs in a vehicle accident, shattering his ambition of being an unbeatable athlete. But no accident could kill the beautiful writer inside him. Jordan, who was quite certain that basketball was never his actual passion, decided to continue the game to uphold his brother’s pride. Josh concentrated on his writing career after he lost his legs and published one of 2031’s best-selling novels. Jordan, who could have simply chosen a different path to pursue his artistic passion, chose to play basketball in order to fulfill his brother’s and his father’s dreams vicariously. Chuck couldn’t have been around to witness his son’s achievements in life, but his family still had memories of him. We see that Josh and his love interest, Maya, couldn’t proceed to further their relationship, and they ultimately remained friends. Maya worked as a sports writer and continued to regard Josh’s family as her second home. Instead of concentrating just on sports, the series draws its conclusion by portraying an ideal family that supports one another at their worst times and cheers for their aspirations.


Final Words

“The Crossover” is the perfect TV show for inspiring viewers and evoking feelings of emotion without overly convoluted narratives. This is a show that we can watch with our family and thoroughly appreciate. It contains just the right combination of humor and emotional highs and lows to help the audience connect with the characters. In particular, Josh Bell’s voiceover underlines that there is no such thing as an ideal hero since everyone cries and becomes weak when the limelight is taken away. This series focuses on the idea that while most of our aspirations in life may not come true, we must still live our lives and find a way to be happy in them. It’s fair to presume that “The Crossover” won’t be renewed for a second season because it’s most likely a limited series based on the single book by Kawme Alexander. Nevertheless, if the show’s creators ever consider renewing it, we could get to watch an entirely fresh storyline featuring perhaps brand-new characters.


Smriti Kannan
Smriti Kannan
Smriti Kannan is a cinema enthusiast, and a part time film blogger. An ex public relations executive, films has been a major part of her life since the day she watched The Godfather – Part 1. If you ask her, cinema is reality. Cinema is an escape route. Cinema is time traveling. Cinema is entertainment. Smriti enjoys reading about cinema, she loves to know about cinema and finding out trivia of films and television shows, and from time to time indulges in fan theories.


 

 

Latest articles