Too often writers struggle with writing believable female characters in the action genre. Either they are masculinized(GI Jane)which defeats the purpose of their existence or their costumes are just ridiculously tight and it feels like someone dropped a fashion model in the middle of a battlefield(Wonder Woman). So when they get it right, it should be celebrated.
I hesitate to applaud Taylor Sheridan after seeing his previous projects that do nothing more than prop up the Confederacy. However, Lioness is turning out to be believable and exciting to watch. The third season has dropped and aside from the gratuitous nudity it has been as good as the previous two seasons.
Zoe Saldaña is a CIA operative who leads a special program that recruits women to infiltrate and dismantle international criminal enterprises, with a QRT(Quick Response Team) providing operational security that shoots people and blows things up on a weekly basis. This is an action series, to be sure, but it is also filled with the drama and intrigue of a Tom Clancy political thriller.
Saldaña is a tour de force of strength and resolve. This is not something we see everyday. An Afro-Latina woman leading a team with unmatched aggression that lets nothing or no one get in her way. When you’re watching her you don’t think, “This is a great female character.” You just think, “This is a great character.”
The third season doesn’t introduce a new Lioness like in the previous two but focuses on Saldaña and her family coming to terms with her clandestine work. Her covert life comes knocking at her door, literally, when she is believed to be abducted by the Russians. Her captivity is intense and probably employs a body double but I can see where Taylor Sheridan might have thought it was necessary to accentuate her captivity.
There are some confusing flashbacks that are hard to keep track of which, for me, interrupts the mystique of the viewing experience. The lack of superimposed dates to give the audience some bearing is an obvious misstep.
Nicole Kidman is the ranking CIA officer that oversees the Lioness program and provides the political intrigue that keeps you guessing. Morgan Freeman rounds out the cast as the Secretary Of Defense giving us his usual brilliant performance, however brief, reminding us of his prowess in the genre. LaMonica Garrett and Jill Wagner are on Saldaña’s QRT sporting really cool but almost unrecognizable make-overs making us believe they are actually in the CIA. Garret has an Isaac-Hayes-level beard and Wagner chopped her locks. Can I just say, she reminds me of someone I served with in the US Air Force.
It’s too bad these series are getting shorter and shorter like a HIIT workout in a musty, warehouse-converted gym. Then, they make us wait years sometimes between seasons. We’re already up to episode four and I’m beginning to get a little weepy. Here’s hoping there’s a season four or at least a spectacular end to the journey. Either way, Sunday nights are the go-to night for an adrenaline rush on the small screen.
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