NOTE: this post contains spoilers for Special Ops: Lioness episode 2, "The Beating."
Episode 2 picks after Cruz's (Laysla De Oliveira) first meeting with Aaliyah (Stephanie Nur). Joe (Zoe Saldana) is back in D.C., updating Kaitlyn Meade (Nicole Kidman). Joe wants to put Cruz through "the grinder," emphasizing again that she's not going to make the same kind of mistakes she did with her last agent.
With shop taken care of, Kaitlyn asks about Neal (Dave Annable) and the girls. Joe says she and Neal are doing the best they can and that the girls are great.
The kids are not all right
On cue, we cut to Kate (Hannah Love Lanier) getting into a fight on the soccer field. She pulls some hair from the other girl and gets a few good punches in before she is pulled off.
Neal is at work as this happens. A pediatric oncologist, he is looking over the scans of a 6-year-old girl with a brain tumor the size of a baseball. He knows this is terminal but insists on presenting all the options to the parents. They understandably take it very hard and when they ask what they should do, Neal is honest and says rather than put her through the pain of radiation and surgery that likely won't save her, they should do nothing and enjoy the time they have left with her. The father reacts by punching Neal, enraged there's nothing he can do for his child. Piling on, Neal then gets the call from Kate's school.
Now it is Neal who is angry, telling Kate there is no excuse for getting into a fight and being suspended. Kate says the other girl called her something and he wouldn't understand because he is white. Neal says he is her father before he is anything else.
When Joe gets home, she talks with Neal. He brings up an old colleague who got out of medicine because he couldn't stand not being able to save all of his patients, who asked Neal how he can deal with knowing half of the kids he sees won't live to be 18? "Because the other half will," is what he tells Joe.
Joe then talks to Kate, telling her what Neal had to do and he needs her to show him how much she loves him. Kate does. But in these interactions, it is clear there is a strong tension between Joe and Kate, on both sides.
The grinder
Joe has put Cruz up in a DC apartment while they wait for the next part of their mission. But Cruz is antsy, so she goes on a run at night through the city. However, she is kidnapped by a group of masked men.
This is all part of Joe's plan to test Cruz, as confirmed by the fact Joe gets a call shortly after, presumably telling her they have Cruz. Neal also gets an emergency call from the hospital, so they have to tell Kate they're both leaving so she can take care of her sister. As Joe is getting ready, Kate notices she has a gun, which surprises her because she thinks her mother works as a translator.
Cruz is tortured, sprayed with a hose, beaten and kept awake with loud music and blinding lights. Soon enough, Joe comes in, revealing to Cruz this was all a test to find out where her breaking point is. Cruz is defiant, saying she won't break, but Joe assures her everyone does and she needs to know how much Cruz can take so she knows how long she has to rescue her. Drilling home that she is vulnerable, Joe talks about Cruz's past, which clearly gets to her. Then Joe says it's time for round two.
The soldier (Matt Gerald) is brought in to work on Cruz, beating her and eventually getting on top of her, holding her down as she screams. An army officer there to supervise so things don't go so far as to lead to a Congressional hearing puts a stop to it. Joe is frustrated. She reminds him that Cruz is going on a suicide mission and that what she is doing is meant to give her a shot at survival.
"Suicide missions don't have a shot, Joe," says the officer. "Hence the name."
New roomies
Joe drives Cruz to Fort Bragg, where she is now going to live with the rest of Joe's team. Joe explains again why she put Cruz through all that and gives her more information on their target. The man they are after isn't a terrorist fighting for his religion, but a greedy prince trying to hold onto his wealth from his subjects. But he is still dangerous. If Cruz is captured, he'll try and break her. Cruz says if that happens Joe should just send a missile because she won't go through that again. Joe warns it won't be the same, what they'll do is much worse.
After Cruz rests up, the team asks what happened to her. She says it was an unsanctioned exercise and describes the soldier who pinned her down. They know the guy and Bobby (Jill Wagner) rallies everyone to head to the bar on the base and fight him. Even though the soldier says Joe ordered the exercise, the team defends Cruz, with Two Cups (James Jordan) tasering him and the rest fighting his friends (though a number of people just let it happen, like it's a typical Tuesday).
While the soldier is on the ground, Cruz gets on top of him and starts to choke him. She is getting close to killing him until someone pulls her off.
In a horrible bit of timing, Cruz gets a call from Aaliyah. She invites Cruz to go to Chesapeake Beach. Cruz accepts, but first, she'll have to go buy a bathing suit.
New episodes of Special Ops: Lioness release Sundays exclusively on Paramount Plus.
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