Photo: Ryan Green/Paramount+

No matter how insane his booming mix of red- and blue-coded signs of institutional distrust may be – never without a small dose of militant-cowboy-dark Brandon patriotism – lioness is the perverse and splintered imperial drama that our perverse and splintered empire deserves. The second season ends with another bang, arriving like a devilish whimper. “All we did was change oil prices,” Cruz had told Joe at the end of Season 1’s Special Operation. By the end of this year’s finals, the Lioness team has wreaked an even greater trail of carnage on two different continents. And all they actually end up doing is replacing the cartel bosses and improving a sitting president’s re-election prospects. No feeling of victory over the forces of old and evil.

As the episode begins, the Lioness crew returns to Josie’s old base near the Turkey-Iraq-Iran border crossing to get fit for their final excursion. We get a decent look at the terrain and learn how precarious the situation will be for Joe should the mission go south and they leave the base to intervene. We also get a scene where Joe, Cruz, And Josie throws herself at the same base commander that Joe brought to life every inch of his life in the second episode. Nobody masters the fight against terror like a girl boss lioness. Meanwhile, in San Jose, Costa Rica (recognizable by the slightly racist shift in sepia tone from light yellow to reddish-orange sepia), Kaitlyn and Byron are conducting old CIA/cartel business with Pablo Carrillo. It’s a particularly spooky two-hander from Michael Kelly and Nicole Kidman that combines their respective skills House of cards and “anti-everywoman” auras with a chilling effect. It’s almost hard not to see their proposal in front of them – a classic offer to take over an elite empire and rule it under the protection of the US government. Pablo’s brother poses a threat because he had relationships that threatened U.S. intelligence. What they want is a man at the head of Los Tigres who they can trust not to collaborate with their enemies. And let them know when enemies strike. “Work to eliminate their influence wherever you can find it,” Kaitlyn adds.

Pablo is enthusiastic about the idea. Enough to be the one to pull the trigger on his brother shortly after they arrived at his house and arrested the Chinese intelligence agent. Meet the new boss, just like the old boss. A-OK, when the new boss is in America’s pocket “I think the longer you’re gone, the harder it is to watch,” Kaitlyn tells Byron after he throws up in her luxury jet bathroom. “It’s easy to forget how ugly this keeping of peace can be.” I love the cold defeat with which Kidman delivers this line. Makes “keeping the peace” sound like the pathetic code phrase it really is. But it’s not the murder of one cartel boss and the implantation of another that makes Byron sick. “What makes me sick is how little will change,” he replies.

“Change,” at least in the broad altruistic sense that Byron means, certainly does not appear to be on Secretary Mullins’ mind in Washington as he watches the Middle East side of the mission move into full swing. As is typical of any of our U.S. intelligence officials, Mullins pays cursory lip service to the more polite justification for his engagement: Two Chinese nuclear scientists are en route to the Isfahan nuclear base with information or supplies to enrich and activate Iran’s nuclear capabilities. All it takes is the slightest push from Mason to get him to put on his cowboy stripes and admit the real reason for the season: It’s a display of brute strength. If China and Iran want to destroy the US borders, we will respect your border tenfold. Dominance is the only acceptable form of stability for the West’s biggest gun. But hey, at least Mullins is willing to absorb the cost of this whole crazy operation if it goes up in smoke.

And the fate of this mission seems to go up in smoke as we hear, “The bird is down,” and Josie’s helicopter crashes into the undergrowth. Cruz and Josie both survive the accident, but Josie’s leg leaves her with little mobility. Meanwhile, Joe takes the rest of the crew to the crash site in armored trucks, where not even Cody and his sniper can provide adequate cover (again, Taylor Sheridan, who takes out a tank scene in the blink of an eye, is exactly the kind of self-attacker). arrogant indulgences from TV writers for which I have room). Carnage ensues and the “enemy combatants” rally until our entire crew is pinned down from all sides. And then the angels rain down heavy artillery from above – boy, we really have to wait until the last minute to use the full, dramatic force of our military might, don’t we?

Mullins breathes a sigh of relief in Washington lioness The crew returns to base about as battered, bloodied and beaten as we’ve ever seen them. Joe looks around at her team in ruins, and you get the feeling she still hasn’t found them her mythical way out of field operations life, and it won’t be doing so any time soon. “You’ll always have a home to come back to,” Neal tells Joe when she arrives back at the house in the final scene. Given the tough emotional stakes Neal took on in the last episode, this feels a little false and feels like a rushed relationship reset for season three. On the other hand, there’s also something appropriately ominous about Joe coming home unscathed, without any catastrophic pretext that could blow up their family life. Should Joe and the Lioness When the crew graces our television screens for a third special mission, nothing will stand between Joe and their tragic attachment to the job, not the outcome. Mission success, mission failure – everything is gray, baby.