After learning that Josephina (Genesis Rodriguez) lied about her relationship with her family, Joe (Zoe Saldana) kicks off Lioness season 2 episode 4 explaining to Kaitlyn (Nicole Kidman) and Byron (Michael Kelly) that she can’t trust her new asset. Byron asks what she expected when she basically coerced Josephina to turn on her family. Joe argues Josephina was forced on her by Kyle and other agencies meddling in the mission.
Kaitlyn offers a solution: treat Josephina as a double agent and have a shadow on her who can monitor her and take her out if she ever flips. Josephina is a free thinker used to being in a leadership position, what they need for the shadow is a blind patriot that can be pointed directly at her if needed.
Lioness fans may have quickly been able to guess who that shadow is going to be, but that’s not the only new team member Joe is forced to add in Lioness season 2 episode 4. Here’s our complete breakdown of the episode.
An unwelcome guest
Joe is driving and on the phone with Kyle (Thad Luckinbill) when she notices she has a tail. With Kyle on his way to assist, they learn that the car belongs to a man who was arrested for money laundering and is currently put away, but with the case brought by the Drug Enforcement Agency they figure that it’s a DEA agent pursuing Joe. Joe is able to maneuver herself behind the DEA agent and when Kyle arrives they box him in, cause a fender bender and come out guns drawn to ask him some questions.
The man is Special Agent Guiterez. He says the DEA is concerned about the CIA operating in Mexico and making it look obvious, warning that if the DEA knows about it so do the cartels. But Guiterez says he wasn’t surveilling Joe, he was providing cover. He stresses how dangerous the cartel is but offers his 20 years of experience to help them in their mission.
Joe can’t help but laugh at how Guiterez thinks they need his help, but still she tells him to be ready to leave with them the next day.
But perhaps Joe shouldn’t be so dismissive of the risks that Guiterez was talking about. As we briefly check in with Neal (Dave Annable), who is pissed after an unsuccessful surgery, he finds a note addressed to “Dr. Neal” lying about. He doesn’t open it, but that can’t be good.
Cruz is back
Again, to likely few people’s surprise, the shadow that Joe wants to add to her team is Cruz (Laysla De Oliveira), the asset Joe worked with in Lioness season 1. Also to no surprise considering how things were left between the two, Cruz isn’t thrilled to see Joe or with the prospect of rejoining her team.
Joe explains she doesn’t trust Josephina, but she knows she can trust Cruz, who puts mission above all else to save lives. Cruz scoffs at the idea Joe is interested in saving lives, but Joe asks her how many mosques have been blown up since their last mission? Cruz then questions if Joe really thinks Josephina will turn on and potentially kill someone in her family? Yes, Joe says, and if she doesn’t, Cruz will, calling her a true believer in the work they do.
Even so, Cruz says no. This isn’t a discussion though. Joe doesn’t have time to train someone else so she already had Cruz reassigned to her unit. Cruz’s one stipulation, she’s not wearing any dresses this time.
A side mission
As Joe’s team prepares for their mission — Bobby (Jill Wagner) is upset at the camera angles they have in Josephina’s parents’ house while Josephina is frustrated that their plan to have her meet her father is delayed — they get tasked with something else.
Meeting again with Kaitlyn and Byron, Joe is informed their new DEA agent ally has a target he wants them to hit just south of the US/Mexico border. Byron explains that every agency wants to have a piece of this mission in order to make themselves look good and push for bigger budgets, so they’re going to have to grease a few wheels or risk the entire mission. Joe dislikes the interference.
Kaitlyn then brings up Cruz, reminding Joe they need her to cooperate because she’s the only thing from exposing the program’s secrets to 60 Minutes (some nice cross promotional work there). But the last thing Joe seems worried about right now is Cruz.
To that fact, Kaitlyn tells Joe to give the DEA agent the whole dog and pony show, but don’t let him get a full sense of what they’re doing. Joe’s annoyed though, pointing out that he’s not a soldier. In fact, she warns he could be a witness against them if something goes wrong.
An unexpected discovery
As Guiterez goes over the mission with Joe’s team, he admits the photos the DEA has are a month old, meaning they don’t know what the situation at the warehouse they're attacking looks like currently. Unacceptable, Joe uses the power of the CIA to get a live feed, showing a large amount of enemies at the location. That’s just one challenge, as they also need the operation to look like it was done by a rival cartel. They get the best bad plan they can and gear up.
Josephina quickly learns this isn’t going to be like her army missions, as Joe tells her there is no radio and the only contact she has is with her. Then after dropping them off outside the warehouse, Joe tells her to hover at 2,500 feet. When Josephia points out the enemies will hear her, Joe says that’s the point, to distract them.
Despite everyone complaining about the mission, they make it look easy on the ground. Even the unexpected arrival of police cars is quickly dispatched by Josephina (though she does need to confirm with Joe multiple times before pulling the trigger). However, the team is surprised by what they find inside the warehouse: hundreds of children being trafficked.
Though they can’t bring these children to safety themselves, Joe appears to put a tracer in a girl’s shoe so that they can be picked up. But the team is definitely shaken by what they saw.
New episodes of Lioness season 2 premiere Sundays on Paramount Plus in the US and Mondays on the stream in the UK.
