Special Ops: Lioness Is A Thrilling Ride

Girl Power

Taylor Sheridan's Special Ops: Lioness takes the typical thriller trope and turns it into a highly engaging, emotional viewing experience, writes Joshua Muyiwa.

SHOWRUNNER and actor Taylor Sheridan has always been interested in exploring outlaw, outstanding, ornery men. You’ve just got to look at his roster of television shows – Yellowstone, 1883, 1923, Tulsa King and Mayor of Kingstown. On the rare occasions, his shows or movies – he wrote both of the Sicario films – highlight women, they tend to be exemplary, or just one of the boys. Special Ops: Lioness for Paramount+ is Sheridan’s first attempt at a show entirely focussed on its women. Sheridan – or more likely the actors – take a typical thriller trope and turn it into an emotional, engaging and exciting viewing experience; Sheridan does this by placing the women at the centre of the plot.

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COVERT OPERATIONS

Special Ops: Lioness Registers As A Mighty Roar

By Joshua Muyiwa

The formula of Special Ops: Lioness is simple: a female Marine is recruited to make friends with the daughter of a Middle Eastern banker and arms dealer so that the CIA can terminate him. But, things are never simple. This show is very roughly based on a real CIA programme that embeds female undercover agents with the most wanted terrorism targets, forming relationships with the suspected hits’ wives, girlfriends and female family members in order to gather information. The players here: The undercover Marine Cruz Manuelos (Laysla De Oliveira), Agent-in-Charge of the Operations Joe (Zoe Saldaña), a group of Marines led by a short-haired, short-tempered female leader Bobby (Jill Wagner) and the ice-cold CIA boss Kaityln Meade (Nicole Kidman). And there’s Aaliyah Amrohi (Stephanie Nur), the daughter of the target.

Their well-laid plans are unsettled because of two major reasons: the undercover Marine falls in love with the daughter of the banker and arms dealer. And the second, Zoe Saldaña’s character struggles with being a mother and her mission at hand, which adds a moody complexity to the show. While on the surface it seems like Sheridan sex-swapped standard narratives, the actors with their skill bring layers to these lazy plot points. For example, Saldaña isn’t just a bad-ass on the field, she’s able to bring that brassiness back home too. Though not the same intensity thankfully, rather with peaks and valleys. She seems to channel it for her intended results but not always successfully. She doesn’t do that silly, annoying thing that most men in positions of power do, where they replace their children at home with their underlings at the workplace. She’s clear on these distinctions.

The love story between the undercover agent and the trap in Special Ops: Lioness doesn’t feel like a manipulative spy strategy. Rather, it speaks to the untapped, unspoken desires of both of the women. They seem to be reaching for each other because neither has had the joy of being loved. The Marine Cruz joins the Marines while on the run from her abusive boyfriend. Aaliyah’s arranged marriage isn’t personal, it’s just business. Their situation adds an engrossing emotional hurdle to the spy’s task at hand: Will they or won’t they complete their mission of killing her father. But these infusions of complexity seem to be completely the actors’ choices, and they express them with their face and gestures in fleeting but fabulous moments that undercut the overt, declarative dialogues of this show.

On the surface, Special Ops: Lioness is American military propaganda like every single other American action film. It’s strange that even in 2023, there seems to be a lack of care, concern and curiosity for ‘the other’ in the American imagination. It’s strange that America still thinks of itself as a strong nation that must protect the weak around the world. It feels like Taylor Sheridan hasn’t flipped through newspapers or news channels, hasn’t cracked open a book, or even taken a walk outside of his Texas home. (Does he know what is happening in Texas at all? The anti-women and anti-trans legislations!) Each of the female leads drive the show, and as actors bring nuance to their characters. And in this regard, Special Ops: Lioness is still more evidence that women can spin gold from hay.

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