Truth Is The Shrewdest Lie – The episode opens with Cruz Manuelos (Laysla De Oliveria) recovering in the team’s safe house. Removing her IV, she finds Bobby (Jill Wagner) and Tucker (LaMonica Garrett) in the living room where she receives a “pick-me-up” injection from Bobby. An immediate burst of adrenaline animates her just as Two Cups (James Jordan) announces they are moving out. When Bobby heads off to break down Cruz’s room, Tucker assures Cruz there is no need for STD tests because her attacker didn’t get the chance to sexually assault her.

Hospital – Joe (Zoe Saldana), Kaitlyn Meade (Nicole Kidman), and Neal (Dave Annable) learn from Dr. Hammond (Michael Tow) that Kate’s (Hannah Love Lanier) operation was a success. When he begins to give them a more detailed breakdown of the operation, Joe wants to move ahead to the recovery. Hammond informs them that recovery must be looked at from three different perspectives, the bone itself, the soft tissue around the bone, and the incision site. Hammond adds that Kate’s youth will play in her favor.

Neal informs Hammond that Joe has been brought up to speed. Once alone, he tells them about Kate’s body rejecting the pregnancy. Joe expresses her relief. When Joe voices her desire to be there when Kate wakes, Hammond accompanies her to where Kate is recovering.

Neal and Kaitlyn share a quick conversation about her husband, Errol (Martin Donovan) before she encourages him to ask what’s really on his mind. He says he doesn’t see the use since she couldn’t answer him.

Upon waking, Kate’s concern is with her deceased friend. Joe shares her familiarity with the subject. She not only apologizes for Kate’s experience but also for missing so much of her life.

Joe reminds Kate that their sacrificed time together has allowed her to do the job she chose. Like Neal, when they do their jobs well, they save lives. The difference is that Neal gets to come home to her. Joe tells her that she can hate her job, she can even hate her, but punishing herself is a terrible way to show it. Kate says that she only misses her mother. Joe offers her the advice of staying a girl for as long as she can because adult relationships come with hard adult decisions. Joe also reveals that she made a similar mistake of getting pregnant at an early age. Joe responds to Kate’s questions about recovery by telling her that she’ll leave that explanation to Neal. A nurse (Noga Blum) interrupts their conversation with the news of Kate being transferred to a private room. Returning to reception, Joe gets to share a few minutes with Charlie (Celestina Harris) while she updates Neal on Kate’s transfer.

On The Road – Kaitlyn questions how things went with Kate. Joe tells her that she’s happy with Kate taking responsibility for the pregnancy. She adds that she revealed her early pregnancy as well. Kaitlyn moves on to the subject of Joe becoming a London station chief. As Joe claims that would take her further away from her family, Kaitlyn suggests taking them along. Joe doesn’t see that working out because they could be potential targets.

CIA Headquarters Langley, Virginia – Joe warns Kyle (Thad Luckinbill) that his intel better be accurate before they are called in for their meeting. He assures her that the house on the border is wired and San Antonio house has so many hidden cameras it could be a reality TV set. Upon meeting with Byron Westfield (Michael Kelly), he jumps right to their violation of US Code 1835. Kaitlyn warns Kyle to only speak when being spoken to after he mentions that Code 1835 only prohibits the military from operating on US soil.

Byron pushes the meeting forward with announcements that Kyle’s intel is actionable. Although Joe’s team will be raiding the terrorist safe house, it will be Kyle that leads them. San Antonio SWAT has also been dispatched to provide cover. They will get the glory if the mission goes successfully, but will likely arrest Joe and her team if the mission fails. Before sending Kyle on his way, Byron reminds everyone that this will be a capture-only mission. With Kyle gone, Byron warns Joe about using his provided assets for anything other than sanctioned missions. He doesn’t care if she witnesses a hijacking in a church parking lot, no move will be made without first going through him or the office.

San Antonio, Texas Staging Area – Joe immediately berates Bobby when she learns that Cruz has tagged along for the raid mission. Overhearing the complaints, Cruz says she’s kicked down more doors than Joe has. Joe doubts that to be true before Bobby intervenes with the reminder that there are six targets on this mission and Cruz’s presence will give the team an advantage. Joe eventually agrees as long as Cruz is kept at the back of the line.

Kyle shares surveillance photos with the team while revealing the terrorists are expected at the safe house in the next 20 minutes. He adds that they will be operating with a 4-man team at the front and a 4-man team at the rear. Both teams will breach when the power is cut. Two Cups voices his concern when Kyle reminds everyone that the mission is capture-only. He wants to know what they are supposed to do if they start taking fire. Kyle’s response is to lay down suppressive fire, hope you don’t hit anyone, and fall back. From there it will be up to SWAT.

Everything Kyle just announced changes when the safe house’s live feed reveals that the terrorists are not only armed, but they have a bomb on site as well. Kaitlyn makes a phone call to update her superiors before discussing several options with the local authorities. Once all the options are considered, it is decided that Joe and her team will go in, neutralize the targets, let the locals evacuate the neighborhood, and let the bomb squad deal with the bombs.

Arriving on site, the two teams of four take up positions at the front and back doors. Upon receiving word that the power has been cut, both teams breach simultaneously. The mission goes down flawlessly. The neighborhood is then evacuated and a bomb squad is brought in to safely detonate the ordnance.

During their return trip, Cruz asks Joe what she should tell Aaliyah (Stephani Nur). Overhearing from the front seat Kaitlyn answers by suggesting being honest.

Meade Residence – Kaitlyn arrives home to learn that the mission has become national news. When Errol mockingly thanks her for the heads up she tells him to be ready for more. Before going up to shower, she adds that she’ll be inviting their daughters over for dinner and she wants him there.

Hospital –Rushing to get back to her daughter, Joe overlooks a spot of blood on her face. Although Kate is out thanks to the morphine drip, Neal spots Joe’s oversight and wants to know if she is now a hitman or if ISIS has come to Baltimore.

Safe House – Aaliyah reaches out to Cruz with apologies for abandoning her at the club. Cruz tells her that she didn’t feel abandoned. Before extending a return trip to the Hamptons, Aaliyah convinces Cruz to FaceTime. As Aaliyah reveals a new skimpy bathing suit, Cruz turns down her invites by telling her that she doesn’t like her friends. Aaliyah says they’ve left.

 

Lioness Review

Although the entire episode felt like filler, it earns a 5.4 out of 10. The fact that everything was so cut and dry really helped. The only thing questionable was Cruz’s question after the mission. Was she asking what to tell Aaliyah because their relationship is ending or because she had affiliations without someone that killed during the raid? For me, Cruz’s reaction to the injection really highlighted the actresses’ lack of versatility. Although there wasn’t much hand-to-hand in this episode, those scenes flowed smoothly. That probably can be attributed to stunt doubles, which even says more.

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