Becoming The Muse

Special Ops: Lioness is a spy thriller television series created by Taylor Sheridan for Paramount+. The show’s cast includes Zoe Saldaña, Laysla De Oliveira, Micheal Kelly with Morgan Freeman and  Nicole Kidman. Zoe Saldaña and Nicole Kidman are part of the Executive Producers of the show which premiered on 23 July 2023.

The show is centred around a Special Ops team called Lioness that infiltrates the female relations and friends of high value targets, to find ways to neutralise them.

The premise of the show is very loosely adapted and inspired from a real-life unit of all-female soldiers that was used to stop the use of local women for smuggling as there were religious and gender challenges in having male US soldiers searching Muslim women during operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Good

Special Ops: Lioness is a gripping, emotionally charged suspenseful watch that is like a blend between Top Gun, but without the planes, Mission Impossible but make the lead female with a hint of Grey’s Anatomy and *insert a TV soap opera*  for the family drama….

Laysla De Oliveira as Cruz a marine and newbie recruit going undercover into the Lioness program is very nearly the heart of the show as she displays a solid acting range, infiltrating her way into your heart. It would be safe to bet that after her role in this series, we are going to be seeing more of her on the screens.

Zoe Saldaña as Joe is the feline force behind the Special Ops, the Alpha Agent who runs the Lioness Program in the field, making the life-altering decisions that either save lives or sacrifice them, but its not without its toll and her domestic situation is turbulent, with a doctor husband and one of her two daughters going through teen angst.

The show raises important questions on whether the ends justify the means, when the strong are mandated to be merciless in their endeavour to protect the weak, as well as the moral and ethical dilemmas of espionage.

“In war, if you ain’t cheatin’, you ain’t tryin’".
-Marine in Special Ops: Lioness

The Bad

The show seems to be pursuing various ideas and cant quite decide what exactly its supposed to be or what the audience is supposed to focus on, over here is a program that uses undercover female agents in suicide missions, over there a military mother who is never home navigating her dysfunctional family, then there’s a marine who had no life until she escaped an abusive partner and enlisted to be a marine…

…then there’s the side missions; hot extractions and terrorists with bombs, drone strikes and all that’s before we have even looked at the politics and power play in the corridors of power….

Morgan Freeman does a guest appearance as the U.S. Secretary of State and although he delivers his Morgan Freeman charm, it felt like that whole part of the plot was simply created so thy could put with Morgan Freeman on the credits.

For a show titled as Special Ops: Lioness I expected to see more of the Lioness operatives in action, similar to Jack Ryan’s shadow recruits but with females who protect the weak the way a lioness protects its cubs, instead, we get an implausible outfit whose mission hinges upon an inexperienced and untrained recruit to basically just wing it…

The Ugly

The show is emotionally manipulative, distracting you from its shortcomings by playing with your feels, oh, some scenes will try their best to break you, along with the characters.

There is graphic violence and torture which is rather gratutious and serving no purpose to the overal plot except maybe bumping up the rating to make the show for a mature audience… incase you thought this was family oriented watch…its not, war is ugly.

One ugly question you will be asking yourself is who decides who the enemy is… morality is blurred in achieving  objectives, what came to mind was a a toast from the Foundation TV Series:

"Here's to those who fight and ask why"🥂 🥂 

Final Thoughts

Special Ops: Lioness isn’t your typical spy thriller show, its more of a military soap opera packaged as counter-espionage, which is either a good thing or a bad thing, depending how you like your TV shows. The series ended on a note that leaves room for a second season, although it is yet to be confirmed if it gets approval for another run.

Fun Fact: According to an interview on The Hollywood Reporter, Zoe Saldaña initially turned down the role of Joe as she did not feel confident she could pull it off. Taylor Sheridan created and wrote the character with her in mind.

Have you watched Special Ops: Lioness is it something you would watch?

~B