X
- 2023
- TV-MA
- Paramount+
- 2023
- TV-MA
- Paramount+
Summary The Taylor Sheridan series inspired by the real-life CIA program centers on Marine Cruz Manuelos (Laysla De Oliveira), who is recruited to join the Lioness Engagement Team to go undercover in a terrorist organization.
Created By: Taylor Sheridan
- 2023
- TV-MA
- Paramount+
- 2023
- TV-MA
- Paramount+
Special Ops: Lioness
Season 1 Premiere: Jul 23, 2023
56
5.3
Where to Watch
Summary The Taylor Sheridan series inspired by the real-life CIA program centers on Marine Cruz Manuelos (Laysla De Oliveira), who is recruited to join the Lioness Engagement Team to go undercover in a terrorist organization.
Created By: Taylor Sheridan
Where to Watch
All Seasons
Top Cast
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 19 Critic Reviews
56
26% Positive
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
68% Mixed
13 Reviews
13 Reviews
5% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 19 Critic Reviews
56
26% Positive
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
68% Mixed
13 Reviews
13 Reviews
5% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
De Oliveira might not be in their [Nicole Kidman and Morgan Freeman's] league yet, but if her performance here is anything to go by, she will be. Her Manuelos is a combination of barely suppressed rage and eagerness to please, and she’s very handy with a frying pan – as a weapon rather than an item of cookware. She also conveys an air of emotional vulnerability. You’re rooting for her within 90 seconds of her introduction.
The first episode serves as a mostly successful setup, but much of what the show will become remains top secret. There's also a question of how this budget will be spread around; is the opening scene with all its helicopters and explosions a sign of what's to come, or just a big show to get viewers instantly hooked? I don't know, but the intel we do have on the rest of the series says it has some promise.
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 58 User Ratings
5.3
47% Positive
27 Ratings
27 Ratings
21% Mixed
12 Ratings
12 Ratings
33% Negative
19 Ratings
19 Ratings
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 58 User Ratings
5.3
47% Positive
27 Ratings
27 Ratings
21% Mixed
12 Ratings
12 Ratings
33% Negative
19 Ratings
19 Ratings
I recently watched the new Paramount+ series Special Ops: Lioness, and I was impressed. The series stars Zoe Saldaña as Joe, a marine who leads an elite unit of female soldiers who are trained to go undercover and befriend the wives, girlfriends, or daughters of high-value terrorist targets.
I was drawn to the series by its strong female characters. Joe is a complex and relatable protagonist, and I found myself rooting for her and her team throughout the series. The supporting characters are also well-developed, and I enjoyed seeing their relationships with each other develop over the course of the season.
The action sequences in the series are also top-notch. The show doesn't shy away from violence, but it never feels gratuitous. The action is always grounded in the characters and their stories, which makes it all the more impactful.
Overall, I thought Special Ops: Lioness was an excellent series. It's a must-watch for fans of military thrillers and strong female characters.
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A show you didn’t know you needed. You’ll be drawn in and wanting more which is unfortunate because the series is only 8 episodes. Interesting plots, fresh writing, and overall good pace although the episode 6 seemed to be a bit slower than the prior episodes. The entire cast is bad a$$ and it’s cool seeing such heavy hitters in the small screen. If it wasn’t for the Hollywood strikes, you would see more promotion of this awesome and entertaining series. Fingers crossed for a second season and beyond.
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The show is good at what it does. The military sequences are well directed, the camaraderie of the team is well drawn, and each episode leaves you keen to see what happens next. It’s an effective action thriller, albeit one that only goes skin deep – there is none of Homeland’s complexity and the dialogue is cheesy in a Top Gun sort of way.
With how the premiere is setting up the season across its eight episodes, there will be plenty of twists and turns along the way with potential room for a riveting thriller that keeps us at the edge of our seats. But as it stands now, more work needs to be done.
This one shrugs off any misgivings about its characters’ mission with the reasoning that “if you ain’t cheating, you ain’t trying.” Which sounds good coming out of a soldier’s mouth, as long as you don’t think too hard about how that line of thinking might play out in practice. But that seems to be par for the course for a series enamored more of impossible ideals than actual human nature or lived experience.
There’s a place for what amounts to meat-and-potatoes TV, even in the prestige-conscious streaming world. Nevertheless, when it comes to training an audience to come back week after week, “Special Ops: Lioness” feels about as basic as it gets.
It is perhaps predictable that the Sheridan take on pop feminism would weaponize women’s liberation in service of the military industrial complex. After all, that rhetorical sleight of hand is as much a cliché as the rest of “Lioness,” which shows the strain of a single writer cranking out scripts for each of his half-dozen shows on air. “Lioness” may be a first for its creator in some respects, but in others, it’s more of the same.
Even though Zoe Saldana and Nicole Kidman are the stars, they play bosses of the woman doing the work (Laysla De Oliveira). She's a new recruit to the special secret ops group and her mission is to befriend the daughter of a wealthy funder for terrorists. Her training and subsequent involvement forms the crux of the story with the other 2 women confronting the political and logistical consequences. Creator Taylor Sheridan has placed the emphasis on female characters with their personal relationships adding an emotional connection, but the thrust is really about the covert ops. There are a few moments of tough physical encounters to maintain the action adjective, but the focus is on the mental challenges these characters face, so there's lots of Sheridan's spicy chatter punctuated by spurts of violence.
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While a bit better than most of the Sheradiverse, it's still ultimately the same reactionary dreck that's made him famous. The entire family subplot is trite and a dull pretext for Dave Anabel's sanctimonious bloviating. I know Sheradin can't make a show without including a daddy for some exposition about the corruption of the modern world or whatever, but the entire thing is so heavy handed it makes it harder to take the ¿critique? of American imperialism seriously. At least Zoe Saldana gives a compelling performance and the action is pretty good.
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What started out promising drifted midway through and then ended very poorly. Zoe was superb. I thought her character was well written and acted. The other star power really pulled their weight too. But ultimately the show devolved into weak story telling, over acted characters, and unbelievable plot points. I knew halfway through it wouldn’t end well. Way too much drama devoted to side characters and backstory that was needless. I actually fast forwarded through most of that to just watch the operational parts. It’s truly sad because this show could have been so much better and really launched a new series. But with how this one played out I wouldn’t bother watching another.
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This show aims itself at the male audience through military, weapons and special forces with a mission to inject feminist agenda that women are victims to sexual harassment/assault propaganda in a simple exchange **** story. If this was real life the main character would have no issue going through any of that.
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Production Company:
- 101 Studios
- Blossom Films
- K Films
- Lightnin' Production Rentals
- MTV Entertainment Studios
- Paramount Network
Initial Release Date: Jul 23, 2023
Number of seasons: 1 Season
Rating: TV-MA
Awards
Gracie Allen Awards
• 2 Wins & 2 Nominations
Critics Choice Super Awards
• 1 Win & 2 Nominations
Image Awards (NAACP)
• 1 Nomination
