After a gripping first season, Lioness is back for more on Paramount+. At the conclusion of Season 1, Lioness operative Cruz (Laysla De Oliveira) successfully took out an Iranian billionaire war profiteer with ties to Middle Eastern terrorist organizations, but it was a risky and soul-wrenching mission. At the start of Season 2, Joe McNamara (Zoe Saldaña), who is in the midst of looking for the program’s next assignment, receives a call from Kaitlyn Meade (Nicole Kidman) and CIA Deputy Director Byron Westfield (Michael Kelly) when a U.S Congresswomanâwho supports deploying U.S soldiers on U.S soil to protect the borderâ is kidnapped from her home by a cartel that has already executed her husband and child.
The U.S government determines China is responsible for the Mexican government’s complicity in the cartel’s attack, and Joe is tasked with facilitating a covert rescue mission and carrying out a plan to insert a new Lioness into the cartel to suss out and eliminate the Chinese agent and collect intel. Before she can recruit and train a new Lioness, Joe is instructed to join a QRF (Quick Reaction Force) team which will go into Mexico, extract the Congresswoman, kill her captors, and bring her back to the U.S.
Awaiting her in Del Rio, Texas, is her frenemy and CIA case officer Kyle McManus (Thad Luckinbill) and the QRF, led by the grizzled military contractor, Cody. Cody is played by none other than series creator Taylor Sheridan, who also wrote and directed the episode. “It’s a long time, Cody,” says Joe upon seeing him. “Getting a little long in the tooth for this, aren’t ya?” Cody expertly checks and assembles his weapons as he responds: “You know what they say, Joe. Beware the old solider. He’s old for a reason.”
Cody introduces his team of “man hunters”âTracer from A Squad and Dean from D Squadâ before loading up the suburban to drive over the border. As they approach the border patrol, Cody Cody tells Joe: “Be my girlfriend for a minute, all right? Just look at me, smile and laugh.” Their convincing subterfuge is enough to get them across the border without setting off any alarms.
Soon, the team intercepts the motor convoy transporting the Congresswoman to a different location. Throughout the mission, Sheridan’s Cody exudes confidence and competency. He is a man who has been a part of many a firefight, and to him, high-pressure missions are clearly routine. He calmly gives the team orders. He’s never rattled. He’s always in control. When their vehicle crashes into the cartel car with the Congresswoman inside, he is undeterred. He smoothly shoots to kill his targets as they send a hail of gunfire back his way.
The strike led by Cody and Joe is successful, and the team safely gets the Congresswoman into their vehicle and starts to make their getaway. However, as they attempt to leave the country pursued by cartel vehicles, they are told via radio by their men back at the eagle’s nest that their route is blocked by the Mexican police. “Find us a road that meets the river, have a BP helo ride us parallel,” Kyle instructs the person on the radio. “Heads up in the back; enemy has eyes on,” Cody grimly tells his team.
As multiple police cars drive toward them, Cody and his men exchange gunfire. They are told by the team in the eagle’s nest to take a dirt road that has a six- or eight-foot drop-off into the river that runs on U.S soil. Not rattled by their new escape plan, Cody keeps his eyes on the road. “We’ve got a lot of fucking heat on,” he tells Joe. Thinking on the fly, he goes for a hail Mary maneuver, telling the team, “Look, we’ve got to do this on the pavement. We get in the dirt those Humvees are gonna flank us.”
In a dazzling display of efficiency, Cody sharply swings the vehicle around and stops so that they are facing the oncoming enemy vehicles head-on. Suddenly, they open fire and eliminate their targets. As Cody, Sheridan is emotionless and proficient, not stopping until the job is done. When they approach the river bank drop-off, Mexican government vehicles move to intercept them. Cody instructs his team to shed excess weight as Joe calls for air support. Without pausing, Cody drives the car over the ledge and nose first into the shallow river bed.
Luckily, air support arrives and scares off the Mexican soldiers threatening the vulnerable team. While the Congresswoman is alive, one of their ownâDeanâdies in the crash. Only in the safety of a makeshift tent does Cody allow himself a moment of reflection and a cigarette. “You weren’t kidding,” says Joe as she comes over to him, “beware the old soldier.” Cody looks at her with a wry half-smile, “yeah, we still have our uses.”
“I’m sorry about Dean,” says Joe. Cody looks at her with a hint of sadness, keeping up a veil of stoicism. “You know, it weren’t no bullet that got him or IED or some fucking helo crash, or any of the other shit, nope.” With a big sigh, Cody says simply: “He just chose to climb into the back of a Suburban. But that’s war, you know? Can’t make no sense of it.”
“Are you sticking around for this deal?” asks Joe, thinking of what still lies ahead for her. “They usually send me in only when the deal gets real fucked up,” says Cody. “If you fuck up the deal, Iâll come a-runnin’.” Nodding, Joe tells him, “be lucky to have you.” With Joe and the Lioness program facing their most high-pressured and critical mission yet, something tells us that we haven’t seen the last of Codyâ¦
New episodes of Lioness drop Sundays on Paramount+
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