Special Ops: Lioness

Being a Taylor Sheridan fan I've been looking forward to Lioness ever since I first heard about it. Then I saw the trailers and my excitement grew. This is definitely another hit in a long line of hits for Sheridan. It seems like almost everything he does is terrific. This follows the story of Joe (Zoe Saldana) who works for the CIA and their war on terror. As she struggles to balance her personal and professional lives she recruits an undercover operative named Cruz (Laysla De Oliveira) into the Lioness Program to work alongside her in stopping some terrorists, then in season 2 the two of them recruit a new Lioness (Genesis Rodriguez) to stop a bunch of new bad guys. I just finished season 2 and actually liked it more than the first. I'm looking forward to more seasons of this in the near future, especially if they're as good as this second season. Morgan Freeman, Nicole Kidman, Michael Kelly, Jill Wagner, Dave Annable and LaMonica Garrett also star in the terrific series.

I was hooked episode one as the show navigates through the lives of a small few defending their personal lives and upholding the honor to their country. It's conflicting, motivating,painful, beautiful, heartbreaking and more all one episode after another with heart stopping action. It's what Yellowstone is for ranchers, it's the heartbeat to the CIA through a small window. I started initially and wasn't able to really pay attention. Round two 15 min in I knew I made the right decision to come back to it. After serving you get a small understanding of how much you really don't know but makes you proud just still knowing what's being done for you while most sleep. Highly recommend for anyone who loves a great plot, death, amazing acting and fast paced action.

Why, why do they always insist on having one teen character who is continuously angry and acts irrationally? It has *never* done any TV show any good. Zoe Saldana's daughter is full-on stereotype, all the sorry-arse angry teenager tropes bundled in one character. One minute you are watching a show about secret operatives in the Middle East, the next you are subjected to never-ending scenes of family turmoil caused by one selfish teenager that *no one in the world cares about*.

My advice: fast forward all the scenes where she appears. They add absolutely nothing - zip - nada - zilch to the storyline. Skipping them will do wonders for your blood pressure.

This has just enough personal story lines to raise it above the level of the garden variety action picture. I find Zoe Saldana's character a bit one dimensional and the uber macho overcompensation gets old, as does the constant dropping of the f bomb. I'm not a prude, but using it like punctuation gets irritating. Nicole Kidman was an interesting choice and she pulls off the American accent pretty well, although she's clearly struggling with it. And what on earth have the make-up people done with her eyebrows?! It was very distracting. Michael Kelly is always hits it out of the park and this was no exception. Definitely worth a watch both for the adrenalin fueled action and the compelling storyline.

I loved the cast and very entertaining story and plots. I was rather disappointed with so much macho testosterone there was no gay romance, yet there was plenty of contrived lesbian romance. I'm not complaint, just seemed lop sided. I think this show was made for straight dudes with that kind of fantasy. But still I liked it a lot.

I was so glad season 2 had most of the cast come back especially.the character of Cruz. My only critique is that the husband Neal's surgery drama stories although were there, seemed pushed aside in season 2. I don't wanna give spoilers But gotta be honest his situations at the hospital were pretty intense emotionally. Like gut wrenching.