Paramount’s Special Ops: Lioness, created by Taylor Sheridan, completes its “Lioness” story in a fitting season 1 finale, which has all the poignancy that you can expect from a Sheridan ending. Along with Sheridan’s writing, the show had Zoe Saldana’s superlative performance, some measured yet effectively shot action pieces, and a bittersweet love story captured beautifully by the duo of Laysla De Oliviera and Stephanie Nur. If you have watched the first episode and stayed with the show, then the finale turns out to be exactly what you would expect. Which is not a bad thing in this case. It reaffirms the theme of inevitability-induced pathos that the show carried for the entire season.
Special Ops: Lioness (Season 1 Finale), Episode 8 Recap:
Byron Tries To Convince Mullins
Previously, The US Secretary of State, Edwin Mullins (Morgan Freeman) officially rebuked the CIA about their Lioness operation. The episode starts with Deputy General of CIA, Byron Westfield (Michael Kelly) visiting the emergency meeting room, from where the final stage of the Lioness operation would be observed by the government officials. Mullins once again complains about not getting proper information from the CIA. Byron explains that the operation is already live. They cannot call it off without causing a big scene.
Some of the government officials would not want the Lioness team to kill Amrohi, the oil tycoon. They feel that his removal would destabilize the global oil market. They are also apprehensive of the reaction from Russia and China. They put pressure on Byron to abort the mission altogether.
Cruz Embarks on the Wedding
Cruz (Laysla De Oliviera), who had a momentary crisis of faith, seems to be emboldened on the mission’s purpose once again after Joe (Zoe Saldana) put her through the videos of many terrorist attacks. Joe seems to have done the trick, as Cruz goes for the wedding, with Kyle (Thad Luckinbill) tailing her for protection. Cruz is given two electronic beacon devices, which would help her know where the rest of the team members are when she is ready to be extracted. That should come when she is either able to kill Amrohi or when she gets blown.
The rest of the Lioness team, along with Joe’s CIA superior, Kaitlyn (Nicole Kidman), takes shelter in a yacht. The yacht is anchored as close to the wedding venue as possible, without raising eyebrows. Once Cruz enters the wedding venue, she has no contact with her team, except the beacon. Her team cannot reach her at all, so their only task is to wait for the beacon call. Meanwhile, Kaitlyn gets continuous calls from Byron, who is forced by the government folks to call the mission off. Kaitlyn tells them that there is no way they can retract now.
Cruz Meets the Amrohis
Cruz’s introduction to the wedding party does not go well. Ehsan (Ray Corasani), Aaliyah’s (Stephanie Nur) fiance, seems to be doubtful of the relationship between Cruz and Aaliyah. Aaliyah and Cruz did have sex and spent an emotional night together. Ehsan slaps Cruz, known as Zara to the Amrohi family. He asks her to be out of their life once the wedding is done. Cruz replies with some choice words herself, but Ehsan allows her to stay for the wedding as Aaliyah would not be happy otherwise.
Cruz is met with frostiness from Mrs. Amrohi, Aaliyah’s mother, as well. After showing her room, Aaliyah visits Cruz in the night. Once again, they could not help but listen to their hearts. Their love for each other is palpable. But, Cruz withdraws, knowing fully well what she is about to do would change things forever. She goes to fetch water, and that is where she finally meets her target. Aaliyah’s father, Mr. Amrohi himself.
Special Ops: Lioness (Season 1 Finale), Episode Ending Explained:
How Did Ehsan Find Cruz’s True Identity?
Ehsan is shown to be continually searching for Cruz’s identity. Aaliyah has mentioned that Ehsan is quite shrewd. During the argument where Ehsan slapped Cruz, she, in an angry outburst, mentioned that she could wipe the floor with him in a fight. Her attitude has made Ehsan feel that Cruz, or Zara to him, is not a woman he is accustomed to. That is why he continues her face scan and eventually finds a match. The CIA has erased most of her photos from the Internet but nothing can truly be removed from the Internet.
Ehsan finds a match for Cruz from one of her friend’s social media posts. Within a couple of clicks, he finds Cruz’s photo in her marine uniform.
Why Did Cruz Attack Joe?
Cruz’s meeting with Amrohi starts amicably as the man shows genuine warmth towards her. Mr. Amrohi seems to be the only person, other than Aaliyah herself, who talks to Cruz as an equal. As they are bonding over ice cream, Ehsan comes running in with the information that Cruz is an American marine. All hell breaks loose. Ehsan and Mr. Amrohi try to subdue Cruz, but cannot. Cruz quickly stabs both of them multiple times to ensure they do not take another breath. Then she signals her beacon and runs for the extraction point.
She takes hits but mostly avoids the bullets fired by the Amrohi security personnel. The Lioness team also lands onshore to provide support. The mission is being observed live by Kaitlyn, and thus, all the US government officials in that meeting room back in the USA. After a quickfire gunbattle, the Lioness team extracts Cruz successfully. The first thing Cruz does, however, is to smack Joe. As Kaitlyn confirms the killing of Amrohi to Byron, and Byron relays the same to Mullins and his parties, Cruz tells Joe that she no longer believes she did the right thing.
Cruz honestly feels that killing someone like Amrohi will not stop terrorist attacks, as Joe would have her believe. Instead, she feels that she made Aaliyah truly vindictive and her children will have no problem taking arms against the supposed civilized world. She expresses doubt whether all this happened just to decrease oil prices. She blames Cruz for making her go through this and quits the Lioness team.
Will there be a Special Ops: Lioness Season 2?
Special Ops: Lioness completes its story successfully in the first season itself. The show started with the importance of the “Lioness” operation, in neutralizing high-value targets such as Amrohi. The entire season led to the wedding of Aaliyah. Cruz completes her betrayal of Aaliyah’s trust and kills the target. The US government is not happy, as usual, and global geopolitics continue to roll as they always do. Kaitlyn’s husband, Errol, embodies the cold uncaring world of finance. The show never indicated that Joe’s team could bring any other change than execute their mission. And they did by the end. Now, Joe and Cruz, the two central characters, are left to carry that burden.
As the season ends with Joe breaking down and admitting that this was a hard mission, it seems the natural step for Joe is to rest. Now, Special Ops might still continue even though the Lioness operation seems to have completed its story. The series seems to have the makings of an anthology format. Paramount+ has not renewed it, but creator Taylor Sheridan could return. Maybe with the same characters, or with a completely different set. However, the “Lioness” story ended as poignantly as possible, and knowing Sheridan’s works, he would like to leave that as it is, in my humble opinion.
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