A quick take on Special Ops: Lioness

and admitting a guilty pleasure

I read most of Tom Clancy’s novels in my impressionable thirties, and absorbed his dark view of the world, in which brave special ops soldiers and the CIA work behind the scenes to keep the world safe for Americans.

I also read everything Gregg Hurwitz writes about his clandestine agent turned super-hero called “Orphan X”, even though I truly wish that no one like him actually exists.

This kind of fiction falls into the “thriller” genre, often characterized by uncomplicated plotting, shallow characterization, and over the top, non-stop action.

When I read or watch this stuff I figure I know what I’m getting into, and do not expect to be surprised, or emotionally touched. I turn off parts of my brain, and just let it unfold, without getting deeply engaged.

When I noticed promos for Special Ops: Lioness, I anticipated a mini-series I could have on in the background while I cleaned my office, taped up Amazon returns, and re-packed (for the 3rd or 4th time) the back-pack suitcase that needs to hold everything for my upcoming trip to Israel.

But… (and this turned out to be a big but) Special Ops: Lioness boasted a cast that includes Morgan Freeman, Nicole Kidman and Zoe Saldana (these last two are also credited as executive producers). I frankly wondered why Freeman or Kidman would sign on for a project like this- I think of them both as having reached a point in their careers at which they can choose to do “good stuff”, and they usually do.

I know about Zoe Saldana mostly from her role in Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, so it did not surprise that she’d take on an earth-bound shoot ‘em up and save the day kind of story.

It turned out that there was a lot of shoot ‘em up in the story, but not a heck of a lot of save the day. Instead, writer/producer Taylor Sheridan, the guy behind all the iterations of Paramount’s Yellowstone franchise, created complex characters who live and operate in a complicated world.

Zoe Saldana plays “Joe”, a hard-edged CIA operative who recruits and handles the Force Recon Marine who becomes the lastest “Lioness”. The Lioness is a female operative tasked to pose as a young and naive Muslim women, befriend the daughter of the target, and get close enough to assasinate her father.

The big villain, and the one targetted to be taken out by the top-secret super-commando turned out to be a likeable grandfather type, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff who covertly run the operation are more concerned with politics and the price of oil than they are with either waging war or keeping the peace.

The Lioness, played by a Canadian actress named Laysla de Oliveira, joined the Marines because she inadvertently ran into a recruiting office while fleeing her abusive boyfriend. The military becomes the substitute for all the trustworthy family and friends she lacked while growing up.

When offered a chance to put to use all the survival skills she learned in the incredibly traumatic first 20 years of her life, the Lioness leaps, and proves herself to be quite adept. She succeeds in going undercover, connecting with and befriending the pampered daughter of the evil multi-billionaire who we are told has been using his fortune to fund Islamic terrorist groups for a generation.

So far, this is all predictable fare, and does not take a lot of effort to digest. It starts to get a little more interesting when the Lioness finds she actually cares for the oil princess, and they become each other’s first true friends.

I won’t say any more about the plot, because that could spoil it for those who want to watch all 8 episodes of the first season. I will say I quite enjoyed seeing Morgan Freeman and Nicole Kidman play genuinely soulless, and basically evil characters, and also watching the Lioness and her handler finding themselves incresasingly hampered by conscience and moral questions.