Special Ops: Lioness

Special Ops: Lioness had me hooked from the very first episode. This is another great series by the mastermind that is Taylor Sheridan (Yellowstone, 1923, 1883, Mayor of Kingstown, Tulsa King, Landman, etc). I would watch this series if I knew nothing more than Sheridan created it. Then add in the fact of all the star power starring in it...Zoe Saldana, Morgan Freeman, Nicole Kidman, Michael Kelly, Genesis Rodriguez, etc. While this isn't the best show from Sheridan, it's still very entertaining and worth watching. Yes, some of it's unbelievable but if you can just turn your brain off and enjoy it for what it is you'll have a good time watching this. The only negative so far is that you have to wait a week between episodes, I like it better when they release the whole season at one time so you can binge it.

Being a Taylor Sheridan fan I've been looking forward to Lioness ever since I first heard about it. Then I saw the trailers and my excitement grew. This is definitely another hit in a long line of hits for Sheridan. It seems like almost everything he does is terrific. This follows the story of Joe (Zoe Saldana) who works for the CIA and their war on terror. As she struggles to balance her personal and professional lives she recruits an undercover operative named Cruz (Laysla De Oliveira) into the Lioness Program to work alongside her in stopping some terrorists, then in season 2 the two of them recruit a new Lioness (Genesis Rodriguez) to stop a bunch of new bad guys. I just finished season 2 and actually liked it more than the first. I'm looking forward to more seasons of this in the near future, especially if they're as good as this second season. Morgan Freeman, Nicole Kidman, Michael Kelly, Jill Wagner, Dave Annable and LaMonica Garrett also star in the terrific series.

I've put off watching this for a while and after finally catching up it's been utterly brilliant. Seems that some are not so keen which I don't understand. A powerful group of woman doing an incredibly difficult job at great personal expense. Can't wait to watch Season 2 which seems to have had much better reviews. Zoe Saldana as ever is outstanding especially when balancing her work and personal life but the big reveal is Oliveira. Her rage seeps through the entire show making her such a captivating character. I can't wait to see what she does next. Hopefully this will be renewed for Season 3!

This has just enough personal story lines to raise it above the level of the garden variety action picture. I find Zoe Saldana's character a bit one dimensional and the uber macho overcompensation gets old, as does the constant dropping of the f bomb. I'm not a prude, but using it like punctuation gets irritating. Nicole Kidman was an interesting choice and she pulls off the American accent pretty well, although she's clearly struggling with it. And what on earth have the make-up people done with her eyebrows?! It was very distracting. Michael Kelly is always hits it out of the park and this was no exception. Definitely worth a watch both for the adrenalin fueled action and the compelling storyline.

Why, why do they always insist on having one teen character who is continuously angry and acts irrationally? It has *never* done any TV show any good. Zoe Saldana's daughter is full-on stereotype, all the sorry-arse angry teenager tropes bundled in one character. One minute you are watching a show about secret operatives in the Middle East, the next you are subjected to never-ending scenes of family turmoil caused by one selfish teenager that *no one in the world cares about*.

My advice: fast forward all the scenes where she appears. They add absolutely nothing - zip - nada - zilch to the storyline. Skipping them will do wonders for your blood pressure.