REVIEW: ‘Lioness’ Season 2 Is An Unfocused Follow Up

Lioness Season 2 sacrifices its more intimate atmosphere of Season 1 to become more political. As a result, the second season is more scattered in its execution and worldview. While the action creates an engaging viewing experience, it’s more difficult to connect to the characters on the screen.

The Lioness program needs a new asset after Cruz (Laysla De Oliveira) quit at the end of the first season. Enter Josie (Genesis Rodriguez), an army pilot whose father launders money for a drug cartel. This connection means she’s the asset given to Joe (Zoe Saldaña) without Joe’s vetting, creating most of the drama surrounding this season. 

But because of Lioness Season 2’s more sprawling story landscape, Josie’s turn in the Lioness program is secondary to the boring political plotting. Considering Lioness is the name of the show, it’s a missed opportunity to explore what being a part of this program means. Instead, Josie’s character is underdeveloped. She brings a different energy to the team that keeps the show’s premise fresh, but the lack of development makes the season suffer. 

Lioness Season 2 loses sight of its original objective

It especially affects Cruz’s character, who returns in Lioness Season 2 Episode 4 to be Josie’s shadow. Or, in Joe’s words, the person who will take Josie out if need be. But the change in Cruz’s attitude is difficult to track. The last we saw her, she quit the Lioness program after killing her lover’s father, citing that she can’t just shut off her heart for these missions. However, in her return episode, Joe tasks her with getting Josie on board the mission, a mission that requires Josie to turn on the people she loves, just as Cruz did. 

Their connection as former and current Lioness assets leads to an attraction between the two as well, but unlike the first season, there’s less focus on the Lionesses, leaving their relationship severely underdeveloped and lacking. In this, Lioness Season 1 succeeds, whereas Lioness Season 2 doesn’t because it was heavily focused on Cruz being undercover, which led to a more believable intimacy between her and Aaliyah (Stephanie Nur). 

Centering Cruz and her undercover operation more prominently did the show many favors on the political front. By doing so, the conflict was personal, and the gray area of those who work for the CIA and the Lioness program stood more strongly as a critique of the CIA and its operations. But in Lioness Season 2, the show loses that edge and more clearly props up these government agents as heroes despite their overreach and tendency to both sides of global conflicts.

Broadening political horizons muddies the waters

Count the number of righteous speeches about the greater good, and you’ll lose count quickly. While the show seems like it’s trying to purport these men and women as sacrificing their own morals for a larger purpose, by broadening the second season to encompass more global conflicts, it justifies the actions a bit too much. 

And there are many global conflicts that arise in Lioness Season 2. A potential war along the United States-Mexico border, in-country shootouts, drug cartels, human trafficking, and potential nuclear threats from China all occur in this second season. The amount of information dropped with regard to these conflicts flies by without a lot of time to internalize the information before a new one arises. Meanwhile, the undercover operation involving Josie and Cruz is the more interesting plot if only the show focused more of its attention on it. 

The drama surrounding Joe and her family balances the action out a bit. Lioness Season 2 shows Joe struggling between her work and home life, especially now that her older daughter Kate (Hannah Love Lanier) is aware of what her mother does for a living. This personal drama intersects with her duty to her job and the justifications she has to make along the way to do that job. This is the one thread in the entirety of the second season that is thought-out and well-executed. 

While there are many entertaining action sequences, and Joe’s QRF team brings the same fun energy they did in Lioness Season 1, it’s still an unfocused Season 2. 

Lioness Season 2 is available to stream on Paramount+