The team is still reeling as they arrive back at base at the top of Lioness season 2 episode 5. Leaving those children in the warehouse, waiting to be trafficked across the US border to fates unknown is not sitting well with any of them. First Joe (Zoe Saldana) takes her anger out on Guiterrez (Kirk Acevedo). When Kyle (Thad Luckinbill) tells her to calm down, that all that was a detour and they need to stay on mission, Joe corrects him: those were children, not detours.
Joe calls Kaitlyn (Nicole Kidman) and Byron (Michael Kelly) asking if they can conduct a rescue mission for the kids. They tell her that’s not their job; authorities are pushing their angel that the attack was a rival cartel, so they need to stick with that. It’s time for the next phase of their mission: having Josephina (Genesis Rodriguez) go back home and begin her work as a lioness.
Read on for a full recap of what happens in Lioness season 2 episode 5.
Challenging authority
Joe’s team voices their displeasure about leaving the children behind, then Josephina says she is not going forward with the mission before storming off; Joe sends Cruz (Laysla De Oliveira) after her. Kyle pulls Joe aside and tells her that if she lets her “tools” have opinions, then can start to decide how they want to be used. While she notes that she needs her team to think for themselves (something Kyle hasn’t had to worry about with his grunts), she moves to reassert control. When the team is hesitant to move out on her command, Joe calls Byron and asks who wants to talk to him about their complaints. No one speaks up, so Joe tells them to go pack.
But Joe isn’t just a tool either and has a plan. She tells Bobby (Jill Wagner) she put a tracker on one of the girls. She then ask Guiterrez what he could do if he knew when and where they were crossing the border. He can arrange for a team to intercept. That’s good for Joe, who pulls Bobby, Tucker (LaMonica Garrett), Tracer (Max Martini) and Kyle for the mission while the rest of the team will help imbed Josephina.
Of course Cruz has to convince Josephina to continue with the mission. Cruz gives Josephina some details on about her mission, how she lied to the only women she ever loved and blew her world up, the exact thing that Josephina is worried about doing to her family. But Cruz learned that 5% of people in the world are saints, 5% are evil and 90% are sheep. Is Josephina’s father a saint? No, Josephina admits. Is he a sheep? After the warehouse, she certainly can’t say he is. So he’s evil. That may not make it easier, but their job is to choose whether or not to fight, and not fighting is how you get warehouses full of children. Josephina is still not happy about it, but she stays on.
A way out
As the team flies to Dallas, Joe asks Cruz what she thinks about Josephina? Cruz says it’ll be tough for Joe to trust someone who doesn’t want to be there. Joe admits she doesn’t trust Josephina, so their best bet is to have her believe her father has a chance to escape this situation. Cruz suggests they give him a real chance — offer him immunity in exchange for helping with their mission. Joe notes a cartel operative has never successfully flipped before, but Cruz points out he’s doing this for money, not a cause, and they have his daughter making the case.
Joe pitches the idea to Josephina: if her father cooperates with their mission he'll be placed in witness protection. The alternative is what Josephina fears, her father getting mixed up and set to prison, or being killed. If Josephina wants her father to survive, she needs to make this offer to him. After that, the mission continues on as planned to find her uncle Alvaro and his Chinese contact. Josephina agrees.
After landing, Josephina and the team head out, but Joe stays on so she can head back to Fort Bliss. She gives Kaitlyn a call, giving her an update and saying Cruz is handling things. Kaitlyn notes Joe is putting a lot of trust in Cruz. Joe notes Cruz is better at this than even she was when she was in the same position. And because of that, Joe is beginning to see a way out of her role to spend more time with her family, something she talks about with Neal (Dave Annable) on the phone.
Meet the parents
As Cruz and an anxious Josephina drive to Josephina’s parents’ house. Tex (Jonah Wharton), Two Cups (James Jordan) and Randy (Austin Hėbert) set up their base of operations. Looking at surveillance footage of the Carrillo home, they note that there doesn’t appear to be a lot of security, which raises red flags. But they quickly figure out that the surrounding houses actually are where the security teams are stashed, adding to the complexity of the mission.
When Cruz and Josephina arrive at her parents’ house, they are excitedly greeted by Josephina’s mom, Mario Carrillo (Patricia De Leon). As they get ready for dinner, Josephina admits she doesn’t know how much has changed with her parents since she left home at 18; she wonders what she should talk about? Cruz says she can tell them “most of the truth,” but eventually she has to get her father alone to talk to him and make the offer. Once she does to not let him out of her sight for fear he might inform his brother. Josephina is still nervous, so Cruz asks if she found out her dad was funding terrorists would she hesitate to turn him in? No, she admits, but she has a hard time forgetting the loving memories she has of him. Cruz tells her they’re not changing memories.
After getting notified by the housekeeper about Cruz (who she describes as a soldier), Pablo Carrillo (Demián Castro) joins his family for dinner, but doesn’t say a word when he sits down. He does eventually ask Josephina if she lost her pilot’s license when she was dishonorably discharged, but she says only civilian aviators need licenses, and thinks she could still likely get one. He then asks why she was discharged? With Cruz’s encouragement she tells (most of) the truth: that a state executive drove through enemy territory, causing a fire fight that she provided air support for but was ultimately given the blame despite saving their lives. This sets Pablo off on a rant against the “woke” military and how it is a sign of the American empire beginning to fail. But after it is destroyed a new empire will rise in its place. Josephina realizes that convincing her father to cooperate with the US government may be harder than she thought.
A botched rescue
Joe meets up with her team as they head out to intercept the children being trafficked across the border. They expect the actual escorts crossing the border to be just a couple, but more enemies will already be on the US side waiting to receive them.
When they get to the location, Tucker takes the high ground to scope out the area and provide cover. Joe’s team and Guiterrez’s DEA team split up and begin to engage with the cartel men. But the cartel has more than what they were expecting, including exploding drones. Tucker is able to take out a few, but one kamikazes the DEA team.
Joe and her team continue through, approaching the traffickers and the children. They order for the traffickers to surrender, but one comes forward and opens his vest. As Tucker watches from the hill a white light blinds him (and viewers). It was an explosion. Joe seems OK from the blast, but all of the children appear to be dead.
New episodes of Lioness season 2 premiere Sundays exclusively on Paramount Plus.
