Special Ops: Lioness (Season 1) streaming on Paramount+ has a better outing in episode 5, which is called “Truth is the Shrewdest Lie.” Solid dialogue-writing from Taylor Sheridan, neat and swift action pieces, and a superb Zoe Saldana form the heart of the episode. With three episodes remaining, the slow-burn espionage thriller has started to pick some pace up as it inches towards its season finale. Here is a recap of everything that has happened in this eventful episode.
Special Ops: Lioness (Season 1) Episode 5 Recap:
Joe Visits Kate
The last Episode saw Kate’s (Hannah Love Lanier) entire world getting upended when she met with a car accident. Understandably, this puts her already stressed parents, Joe (Zoe Saldana) and Neal (Dave Annable) absolutely on the edge. Two of Kate’s girlfriends have died already, and Neal has notified all the tragedies to Kate. It is not just her friends’ deaths, the physical injuries that may make her crippled, the trauma of the accident; Kate also learned that she was pregnant. Joe, accompanied by Kaitlyn (Nicole Kidman), finally reaches the hospital. The hitherto formidable Joe finally breaks down, seeing her daughter lying like that. Kate, who probably expected Joe to yell at her, is surprised to see Joe like this. Joe cries and apologizes to Kate for not being there. Joe assumes, and she is probably correct at that, that Kate’s reckless behavior that culminated in lying on the hospital bed is her coping mechanism to tackle her mother’s absence in her life.
Kate confirms this more or less as she says she does not hate her mother. She just misses her. This follows what could be Joe at her most passionately emotional moment. She tells Kate that all of her and Neal’s efforts are just to protect Kate from life as we know it for as long as they can. Kate is going through adult problems, and they wanted her not to go through these in her teenage years. But despite all that effort, life has snuck up on Kate. And there is no going back. All she can do now is cope with it. All Joe and Neal can now do is give her advice. Gone are the days of grounding for rule-breaking and all that. The mother-daughter moment could not last for long as Kaitlyn reminds Joe that they have to return soon. Neal does not look surprised. When he saw Kaitlyn accompanying Joe, he knew that Joe must have other problems as well. Having her daughter going through the aftermath of a car wreck is the most pressing problem of Joe’s life, but it is not the only one that could change her whole life.
The Home-soil Mission
The other problem is the wreck that happened during Kyle’s (Thad Luckinbill) extraction mission. When Kyle pulled an unsanctioned heist, he had used Joe’s three team members. Now, when all this got exposed in the last episode, Kyle’s (and consequently Joe’s) only fallback is the intel that Kyle got from the resource he extracted. The good news is that the intel is something that could really save the situation. Kyle informs Byron Westfield (Michael Kelly), the superior CIA officer of Kyle, Joe, and Kaitlyn, the location of the next terrorist attack. However, since the extraction was unofficial, the intel is unofficial too. As a result, the mission to stop the terrorist attack has to be done tactfully. For this, Joe’s Lioness team would once again be involved, as US Military cannot perform the home-soil mission without getting approval of it from the proper channels.
Special Ops: Lioness (Season 1) Episode 5 Ending Explained:
Did Neal Understand What Joe Did?
Cruz (Laysla De Oliviera), who was drugged and almost raped in the last episode, starts her recovery the next morning. As she is not to communicate with Aaliyah (Stephanie Nur) till she is ready, her responsibilities as an ‘Asset’ is limited. Resultantly, she asks to be part of the Lioness team as a soldier. To help them in the terrorist attack mission in San Antonio. Joe, who was initially reluctant to involve Cruz, relents as they would need extra manpower to complete the mission as covertly as possible. The mission goes as smoothly as possible. The terrorists are cleaned by the Lioness team with their ruthlessly efficient but silent gun work.
The only hiccup was that one of the ISIS terrorists had a suicide vest, but Cruz made the intervention just in time to kill the man before he could detonate it. But the vest is activated, so the Lioness team leaves the scene to the local police and bomb squad to complete the remaining task. As the neighborhood starts to get evacuated, it is ensured that the credit for the neat work does not come back to Joe’s team or the CIA. When Joe reaches the hospital once more, Neal is surprised to see specks of blood on her cheek. It was the blood of one of her kills. Neal assumes the worst, as Joe is not supposed to be involved in any mission on American soil. He wonders if Joe, and her team, have started to become assassins for every other op. But soon, his doubts are cleared as he watches the news of the terrorists in San Antonio.
Is There More to Aaliyah and Cruz’s Friendship?
Aaliyah has been texting Cruz ever since she had to leave the pub with her friends. She told Cruz she was sorry to leave like that, and she sent her people to the pub again but could not find her. Aaliyah clearly does not know about Cruz’s ordeal at the hands of a predator. Cruz does not reply to Aaliyah’s texts immediately. But after the San Antonio mission is over, she calls her.
Aaliyah informs she is still in the Hamptons and asks Cruz, who is known as Zara to Aaliyah, to come back. Aaliyah mentions “Lady and the Tramp,” and she shows her body in a new bikini. Although she adds that this would ‘drive the boys crazy,’ one cannot help but notice the tension between Aaliyah and Cruz during the video call. It seems possible that Aaliyah has fallen for Cruz. If that is the case, then we could expect the dangers of the mission to increase, as homosexuality is a criminal offense where Aaliyah comes from.
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