“Lioness” Season 2, Episode 2: “I Love My Country”

Now we're officially back with a bang, the new season of lioness (drop it Special forces (nicknamed this year as a show of confidence in the series' personality) is ready to introduce us to his new… er, lioness. The apparent attempt to move away from espionage plots in the Middle East – even though the region is ravaged by the atrocities of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, in which the full might of US military aid is currently involved and with no apparent end in sight – gets us to the finish line in a plot that's “closer to home” and also doesn't come close to reflecting the modern geopolitical realities it vaguely reflects.

Our new lioness is Captain Josephina Carillo (Genesis Rodriguez), the American-born niece of Alvaro Carillo, the leader of the Los Tigres cartel. As a badass helicopter pilot of Brett “Maverick” Mitchell proportions (“Everyone north of major sits behind a desk,” Kaitlyn says of her new candidate. “She seems to like action.”), Carillo is her best choice when it comes to To infiltrate Los Tigres within the shortened time frame of the mission to achieve their objective. The target is not Alvaro Carillo himself, but a Chinese agent with the Foreign Ministry secretly holding all the strings. The premise is based on the idea that China is Mexico's largest oil buyer – a huge lever for the mysterious Chinese agent's secret conspiracy.

It will come as no surprise to anyone that in real life the good old USA is Mexico's largest oil buyer, putting us on a false continuum of certainly unsavory but all-too-familiar narrative territory on the scale of Hollywood military propaganda. It's as vile in its real-world political obfuscation and unbridled moral ambiguity as any Clancy-style international spy thriller – made all the more so by the violent, feverish socio-political intrigue they effectively portray. But as is often the case with With things like this, the set pieces, the heightened stakes, and the GREAT acting from seasoned, undeniably gaming professionals, make for imperial entertainment that is as captivating as it is perverse, as terrifying as it is thrilling.

Ironically, our new lioness recruitment episode takes us back to Iraq (or a facsimile of Iraq, differing from the faux-Mexico of the first episode only by a slight change in sepia tone saturation), but just long enough to see their anticipated Opportunity to ensure recruitment program. A few days earlier, the Lioness crew gathers at a seedy black place in El Paso, Texas – complete with an open communal shower and latrine room, perfect for Two Cups to take on with a big ol' fucker he can't contain , to clean. Speaking of which And it's great to be back with the full Lioness crew after their absence from episode one. Plus, Taylor Sheridan's “Old Soldier” Cody and Kyle are still in the mix. Kyle has a plan to win back Joe's respect after his cowboy shenanigans nearly got him killed in the last episode. First, he lists all the “bad things” Los Tigres are involved in (fentanyl, human trafficking, kidnapping and extorting lime farmers) in order to justify their greatest crime: selling black market oil to North Korea, Cuba and, of course, China.

The brother of Los Tigres leader Alvaro Carillo, Pablo is an immigration lawyer in Dallas who came to the United States when he was five, joined the army and gained citizenship during the Gulf War. Pablo's daughter is a badass helicopter pilot with two Bronze Stars and a Silver Star and four tours in Afghanistan. Kyle is aware that Joe doesn't like someone choosing her lioness for her – “The skills have to support the mission, not the other way around,” she had told Kaitlyn a few days earlier – but Kaitlyn sees the value in Joesfina Carrillo's courtship . They can get her dishonorably discharged in a way that will be memorable to anyone who looks into it after the fact (at the expense of her military career, of course). She'll go to Mexico to blow off some steam, and of course her coveted pilot skills will get her a job with her uncle. Once she “flies loads” for her uncle’s cartel, they can swap a load with the Lioness team and rush towards their target.

“Think of her as a Trojan horse,” Byron tells Mullins, Mason and Hollar in the advance briefing. “Once we get her location, she can deploy a team, then we'll have a capture-kill option depending on the message POTUS wants to send.” After all, there's an election coming up soon, and everyone in the room knows they're after this operation the requirements of the president's eligibility pressure. Mullins pays lip service to the inciting incident of this operation – the attack on the congresswoman's family – and gives them the American-style green light: “Do it.”

Next thing you know we're in northern Iraq with the Lioness crew and we get hit by a mine on the way to Josephina Carillo's base. A firefight ensues until Carrillo himself comes flying in to save the day. True to her on-the-nose call sign (for a call sign, am I right?), Carillo rains down a massive “thunder” of heavy artillery fire on the Iraqi fighters. A one-woman reign of instant terror, far too sinister in its precision to elicit a punch.

The volatility of the situation is underlined by the emotional banter that breaks out on the base. Rodriguez makes a fierce first impression as Carillo, who immediately slaps Joe in the face for thinking she might secretly fly into an area where Iraqi eyes are directly on the airport. Joe takes this about as well as expected, and things quickly come to blows – Carillo yells, “I'm going to fucking kill you, bitch!” as the fight is broken up. This leads to my favorite moment of the episode when Zoe Saldaña goes full Pacino.heat Anger at the commanding officer – “Where is your office? This is my damn office now!” Absolute shit.

“I was warned about people like you,” Carillo later tells Joe in the confiscated office. She has met many women who have taken part in the Lioness program, but never a woman who has come out. Tellingly, the conversation only gets darker from here, as Joe, behind steely, tired and pained eyes, deals another deal with the devil – knowing that their new “asset” has no choice but to accept.

Carillo is already aware, but not quite ready, to accept her fate as not only a pawn but also the executor of her distant family's demise. She insists that she is already serving her country and that her service only consists of killing from afar. Looking your own prey in the eye is the job of other agents of US military power. “Your country needs more,” Joe replies. “Do you love it?”

Do you love your country? With each refrain of this question, the message behind it becomes louder and more frightening: Your country has chosen you to do its dirty work. Sign here.

• This week's field lesson from Kailtyn Meade: “It kind of defeats the purpose when the secret organization starts advertising the secret organization.” This is so absurd that it feels like it's a real conversation between two real ones Secret organizations of the US secret service can act.

• While we're on this topic, I can't believe how many times in this series they make Nicole Kidman say “secret organization” using her standard American accent. New lioness Drinking game unlocked.

• Joe almost murdering the people walking by her daughter's lemonade stand was hilarious. On the other hand, inviting a child into your suspicious-looking van and closing the door behind them is a crazy thing to do. She probably should have at least kicked both of their asses on principle.

• Jill Wagner's Bobby remains the standout member of the Lioness crew (if I had to choose). one), brought the energy of Bruce Willis to the plot, playing the C-plot “Oh shit, here comes the last cock my gay ass has ever had to endure” with total panache.

• Joe said the quiet part out loud in a conversation with her daughter Kate (Hannah Love Lanier) this week: Long ago, her grandfather told her father that he risked his life in World War II for a nation he barely knew; Her grandfather had said, “I just learned English. I don't plan on learning German or Japanese. Why am I doing this,” Joe adds. “So you don’t have to learn Chinese or Russian. Therefore.” The sunk cost of surrendering your life to the colossal power that dominates the world stage right when fate throws you at it.

• Credit where credit is due: Props to commenter interimbanana for following Martin Donovan's advice from the last episode to “look where Mexico exports most of its oil” and finding the answer in the US. I'm not in the habit of reading comments; So everyone hold back for a moment here (*nervous laughter*). Still, I'm glad I happened to take a look at it this time.