Special Ops: Lioness
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Say what you will of Taylor Sheridan, dude can write a kick-ass pilot.
OurSpecial Ops: Lionesspremiere was a banger, for sure, butnothingwill prepare you for …
But Joes not satisfied.
Shes out to find therealbreaking point and will put Cruz through her own little Guantanamo session to do it.
Like straightpunchingall over the place.
1.Soccer Punch
1.
Starts with a solid hair pull and ends with a full-on cocked-back Indiana Jones punch to the face.
Hes like, What did you call me?!!
Her smug half-smile seems to answer,yeah, maybe I am.
(Kate fucking rules.)
2.Special Ops: Greys Anatomy
2.
JFC, as if the extended torture sequence were all about to sit through wasnt harrowing enough.
A perfunctory upswing to balance the carnage, perhaps?
Hows that for love?
3.Working Overtime
3.
Joe and Neil are boning when they both get calls from work.
But dont worry; they double-check n pop off before they answer the phone.
(*Zoe Saldana pauses, looks directly into the camera: Welcome to the CIA.)
This beating has two rounds: before and after Cruzknowsits a training test.
Now comes the intermission, where Joe comes in for some emotional punches.
Survive, evade, resist, escape.
Can Cruz escape before her interlocutors discover her?
Most cant, says Joe.
Whats more likely is Cruz will be taken and have to survive until shes reached.
I need to know how much time I have to do that before you break.
Shes calling Cruzs parents and telling them a lie about their daughter dying in a training exercise.
Shes on a suicide mission, Joe will say later.
Im just giving her a shot.
Joe sends in this big old bald mustachioed bastard and his gang of ball-busters to wrap this up.
When her focus is on the questions, take her to the ground, Joe instructs.
Thatll be the thing that breaks her.
Shes basically right, but the commanding officer on sight calls it off before Joes satisfied with the results.
Sheridan is clearly invested in physical torture as an emblem of ones position to power.
How you take a beating is always the key to your subsequent fortunes.
4.Now Im a guide for the CIA, Hooray for the USA
4.
Thank God we end the episode on a fun one.
(A fun beating … look what youve brought us to, Sheridan!)
Your typical Imperial yada yada justification.
Bobby aint having it and drops a smoke bomb or something in the room just to break em up.
Jill Wagners bringing the heat this episode, setting herself up nicely as the goddamn Stallone of the crew.
Were CIA now, so we dont fight fair, buddy.
Im all over this bit of team development, man.
The Debrief
The little lunch scene between Joe and Kaitlyn that opens up the episode is top-notch.
When Kates like, Why do you have a gun?
LOL, your moms in the fucking CIA.
Just want to point out that episodes under 45 minutes are Gods gift.
Even when theres filler, these episodes are crisp as hell, man.
