Lioness was created by Taylor Sheridan and has all men directors, but I was in it for the women. The women’s roles may have been written for men and gender flipped at the last minute because the women had names like Joe, Cruz, and Bobby. It’s a thriller from start to finish with a plot about CIA and Marines who work to kill terrorists.
Lioness begins with Joe (Zoe Saldana) giving the order to bomb a house where her asset’s cover was blown, killing the asset and numerous terrorists. She was the head of a special ops team for the CIA. Their mission was to insert undercover people into place next to their target. When said undercover asset (a lioness) managed to kill the target they were taken back out. Or, sometimes, they were killed along with the target when their cover was blown.
A team of tough soldiers worked with Joe. (Jill Wagner, LaMonica Garrett, James Jordan, Austin Hébert, and Jonah Wharton played her team.) When they got in hot water, which was often, they were called into a debriefing with their immediate bosses Kaitlyn (Nicole Kidman) and Byron (Michael Kelly).
As the series began a parallel story about Cruz (Laysla De Oliveira) developed. She was living in an abusive situation flipping burgers for a living. She slammed her man in the face with a frying pan and joined the Marines.
Cruz was an extraordinary Marine. She did everything better than anyone else – men included. She came to Joe’s attention. Joe needed a new asset, Cruz looked like a good fit.
Joe put Cruz through hell making sure she was tough enough for the job. Then she inserted her undercover to befriend Aaliyah (Stephanie Nur). Aaliyah’s father was number one on the CIA kill list. The lioness was to be in place at Aaliyah’s wedding to knock him off. Aaliyah’s father supplied oil to America’s enemies and banked terrorist groups.
Things between Cruz and Aaliyah got complicated quickly because . . . chemistry.
Joe had a home life. Two kids and a husband named Neal (Dave Annable). Kaitlynn had a less wonderful home life with grown daughters and an adversarial relationship with her husband (Martin Donovan).
In 8 episodes, a lot can happen. The messups of the Lioness team finally ended up monitored in the White House situation room where actors like Morgan Freeman, Jennifer Ehle, and Bruce McGill played the characters who kept tabs on what was happening.
There were actions scenes as you’d expect in a series like this. But there were long stretches of character development. It wasn’t as bloody as I expected. Laysla De Oliveira as Cruz dominated the series for me. She was brilliant in this. Zoe Saldana and Stephanie Nur held up their bits admirably, too.
Thematically the series looked at the toll that killing terrorists in this way took on the people involved. There was a “both sides” philosophical motif running through the series. Is it better to rid the world of horrific murdering terrorists, or is it better to leave the status quo in place and not upset the global situation? The last part of this question hinged on oil and money, the two things driving the world order at the moment.
A second season of Lioness has already been made. It’s due to start streaming at the end of October. It’s a Paramount+ original. That’s where you’ll find season 2. However, Prime Video recently started streaming season 1. You can see it in either place.
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I really enjoyed Lioness and was hoping for a second season. DeOliveira was just so terrific in this.
You don’t have long to wait for a look at season 2.
Sounds good. And I have liked many of your efficient introductions!
Your chosen pictures for this particular show are interesting, too.
Why did you leave Nicole Kidman’s name off your list, near the top of the page?
Thank you very much
for informing your readers, about many movies and TV shows;
with your positively prolific writings 🙂
Oops, thanks for mentioning that I missed a name. I fixed it.
I grab photos on IMDb and am at the mercy of whatever is there.