NOTE: this post contains spoilers for Special Ops: Lioness.
The inaugural season of Special Ops: Lioness is in the book. The initial run of the Taylor Sheridan-produced spy thriller saw CIA operative Joe (Zoe Saldana) recruit a young Marine named Cruz (Laysla De Oliveira) for her Lioness program, designed to have her get close to a family member of a high-value CIA target; in this case, the daughter of the primary financier of terrorism.
For seven episodes we have seen Cruz get close to Aaliyah (Stephanie Nur). In fact, too close, as the two form a tight connection and potential romantic relationship that causes Cruz to have doubts about her mission.
Meanwhile, Joe has been dealing with problems both with her job and at home. She and her boss, Kaitlyn (Nicole Kidman), are under close watch by the Secretary of State (Morgan Freeman) due to unsanctioned actions done on US soil. With her family, Joe's job causes issues with her husband Neal (Dave Annable) and her eldest daughter Kate (Hannah Love Lanier). Can Joe find some kind of balance with her work and her family?
Let's go over what happened in the Special Ops: Lioness finale to figure all that out.
Is Cruz's mission a success or failure in Special Ops: Lioness?
After Cruz slept with Aaliyah in New York, she had serious reservations about whether or not she could complete the mission. Joe helps her to focus once again with the help of visuals of the various terrorist attacks that Aaliyah's father funded. She admits it's going to be complicated for her, but Cruz says she is ready to do her job.
Once at the wedding, Cruz struggles to keep her emotions in check with Aaliyah. When she comes to Cruz's room in the middle of the night, the only way for Cruz to get out of the situation is to go get a glass of water in the kitchen.
There she meets Aaliyah's father, Amrohi (Bassem Youssef). To her surprise, he does not seem like a bad man. He is kind to her, even charming. However, Ehsan (Ray Corasani), whose antennae were raised by his tense interaction with Cruz when she arrived at the wedding, has been digging and is able to find evidence that Cruz is a Marine. He bursts into the kitchen and calls her out.
This causes Cruz to react quickly. She grabs a knife and kills Ehsan, then stabs Amrohi multiple times and cuts his throat. She activates the beacon Joe gave her to escape and runs. Though she is nearly pinned down by the security guards, Joe's team arrives and is able to rescue her, while also clearing the scene of any witnesses.
When they get back on the boat, Cruz punches Joe in frustration, but is quickly pulled off and brought to Kaitlyn, who has her confirm that Amrohi is dead, which is passed along to Westfield (Michael Kelly) to tell Secretary Mullins and the rest of the Situation Room.
While in the strictest of terms means the mission was a success, Mullins and the other members of the administration know that Amrohi's death is going to cause as many problems as it solves. Someone says the CIA's actions have now set Middle East relations back 40 years. Westfield's counter is that if they didn't want Amorhi dead, they shouldn't have kept him on their kill list.
What happens to Joe and Cruz?
Once the team is safely away, Joe brings Cruz back onto the deck of the boat to finish what they started earlier. They fight, but Joe quickly gets the upper hand. She tells Cruz what she did saved lives and altered the course of history. But Cruz doesn't believe that, she thinks all that will change is oil prices and she likely inspired the next generation of terrorists. She quits on the spot.
The next time we see Joe she arrives back at her home in Virginia. It is early in the morning, but Neal is already up. Joe tells him that this was a particularly tough one. He holds her in his arms. Whatever struggles they have gone through, they continue to rely on and love each other.
What else happened in the Special Ops: Lioness finale?
The other big thing to note with the Special Ops: Lioness ending is the scene between Kaitlyn and her husband Errol (Martin Donovan). Arriving back from the mission, Errol is already commenting on how her action has sent the oil market into a frenzy, despite the stock market not even being open yet.
Kaitlyn acts naive about how that all works, which Errol doesn't buy. She says that she is curious about why they need a bell to signal the start and stop of trading if this kind of action takes place. Martin counters by saying the question she should be asking is who rings the bell?
This exchange could be setting up a potential storyline for the as yet unconfirmed Special Ops: Lioness season 2, or it could just be a fun nugget for viewers to ponder.
All episodes of Special Ops: Lioness are now available to stream exclusively in Paramount Plus.
