Lioness, season 2 review: going big didn’t work

Zoe Saldana in Lioness

Lioness, season 2, drowned itself in big ambitions and violent overreach. What started out as a story about inserting assets (lionesses) into a situation for an individual assassination turned into a war story that lost itself along the way.

Season 2 of Lioness began with a scheme about wanting to eliminate the head of one of the Mexican cartels.

Nicole Kidman and Michael Kelly in Lioness
We have a plan for you.

The two D.C. bosses, Kaitlyn (Nicole Kidman) and Bryon (Michael Kelly), had a plan and they had picked out the asset for Joe (Zoe Saldana) and her Lioness project in advance.

Joe liked picking her own assets. The woman they picked, Josephina (Genesis Rodriguez), was a helicopter pilot in the U.S. Army and the niece of the cartel boss they wanted killed. They forced her into the job and forced her on Joe.

Genesis Rodriguez and Laysla De Oliveira in Lioness
Cruz helped train Josephina

Joe thought Josephina was unsuited for what they wanted her to do. She called in her asset from season one, Cruz (Laysla De Oliveira), to help train Josephina. I’m all in favor of Laysla De Oliveira being around again, but she seems to be there just to be a honey pot.

In the world of Lioness, that’s an acceptable plotline. But somewhere along the way the team got sent to Iran, Iraq, and Turkey into full on combat where the six or so of them killed hundreds of people and incinerated dozens of trucks and tanks. A strain on credibility, that.

They should have stuck with Josephina doing in her uncle.

In addition to drugs, there was a plotline about human trafficking by the cartels. Special agent Gutierrez (Kirk Acevedo) entered the season for this subplot. That involved full out combat scenes along the Mexican border with the U.S.

Joe’s conflicting emotions over her family, managed by her husband (Dave Annable) in her absence, continued this season. It felt like it was only in the story to make Joe seem loving and show off her bare bottom on multiple occasions. In season one, the relationships were the key to the story and character development was the name of the game. In season two, characters and relationships felt tacked on for looks and sex appeal, squeezed in around the combat scenes.

I do like how tough the women in this series are. Joe is definitely not to be bossed around by any underlings. In addition to the two assets in the plot, there’s also Bobby (Jill Wagner) in the crew. Lots of tough women, which is really the reason I’m watching this Taylor Sheridan creation at all.

Other Lioness crew coming back from season one were played by LaMonica Garrett, James Jordan, Austin Hébert, and Jonah Wharton. The politicians and White House representatives played by Morgan Freeman, Bruce McGill, and Jennifer Ehle were back as well.

I have no news about a season 3, but season 2 didn’t encourage me to want to see another. This series is streaming on Paramount+. If you have seen it, please share what you thought.


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2 thoughts on “Lioness, season 2 review: going big didn’t work”

  1. Season 1 was intense with a defined mission.
    The internal conflict with decision making amongst three Whitehouse political reps against the backdrop of ‘Special exercise’ to coin the phrase: Putin. The CIA black ops team the op controller feed back from her husband affecting the markets. The political consequense of envolvement both on local level and international play once the high financial player & son in law get’s removed leaves for a pleasant viewing.
    Season 2 the story loses itself from dealing with the cartel splitting the team on very thin ice leaving the ops handler isolated dependant on Green beret sniper team and the USAF intervention to save their lives as one by one they fall due to overwhelming numbers.
    I did’nt see the alledged Chinese involvement at any level?

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