Summary
The final scenes alone make this one of the best episodes of Lioness.
No word of a lie, up until this point, Lioness Season 2, Episode 2, “I Love My Country,” is my favorite chapter of the series. Zoe Saldana transforms her character at the end by passionately questioning Captain Josefina Carrillo, repeatedly asking her, “DO YOU LOVE YOUR COUNTRY?” I nearly shouted “Yes!” myself.
But before we get into that, I have broken down other key moments.
Season 2, Episode 2, opens up with the US Navy coming up with Lioness candidates, and they attempt to present them to Joe and Kaitlyn, which is almost comedy, seeing the women’s faces as the General tries to do their job. Joe is not only angry but confused. She makes it very clear that she wants to pick her own asset.
In the second episode of Season 4, Joe does not hold back at all. She is ruthless and eats people alive at various moments.
Joe Has To Give Her Daughter A Reason For The Job She Does
There’s a reason the episode is titled “I Love My Country.” It’s a strong, patriotic installment of US ideals. But it’s more than just patriotism; Joe has to give her daughter, Charlie, a reason for choosing a dangerous job that keeps her away from her family. She must accept that her natural inclination to be a mother is suppressed.
It doesn’t help that Charlie saw Joe on TV helping rescue Congresswoman Hernandez in the previous episode. So, Joe tells her daughter a story about her grandfather, an immigrant who came to the USA and was involved in Pearl Harbour. She ties her grandfather’s experiences to hers, saying that she does her job so she does not have to learn Chinese or Russian—“I love my country.”
One has to question whether this is her true justification or whether she does her job because she’s far too accustomed to it. But, it’s a strong, patriotic statement, suggesting that she’s fighting for “America to remain America” and to protect her grandfather’s legacy, who was an immigrant, giving the second-generation angle.
Fort Bliss Offers Joe An Interesting Lioness Candidate
Kaitlyn and Joe head to Fort Bliss, and Joe, as always, is irritated that Kyle is there (this is becoming a thing).
But Kyle is helpful for the audience at Fort Bliss. He breaks down the problem pretty well, linking the kidnapping to China and the Mexican Cartels in the premiere episode.
There are four main cartels in Mexico, and they deal with black market oil sold to China. Mexico is the largest exporter of oil.
Cartel Los Tigres is closest to the Chinese, and its leader is Alvaro Carrillo. His brother is Pablo Carrillo. Pablo is an immigration attorney in Dallas, Texas. He has a daughter named Josefina Carrillo, who serves in the army as a Captain; she’s toured Afghanistan. Pablo Carrillo’s mansion does not match his finances, which is a red flag, suggesting his brother, Alvaro Carillo, paid for it for him.
Kyle suggests that Josefina Carrillo can be the Lioness. He makes Joe aware that she’s also a helicopter pilot. The target is not the cartel leader; it’s the Chinese agent working with the Ministry of Security, pulling the strings.
Despite plenty of hesitation over this plan, Byron accepts the asset after Kaitlyn’s consultation. But then, Kyle reveals that Josefina has been deployed in Iraq. Byron presents the asset to the US Secretary of State Edwin Mullins. The plan is to have her discharged over something disgraceful that will give her a good cover when she is a Lioness. However, cruelly, her military will not recover once she becomes a Lioness.
The ultimate plan is to send Josefina back home to Mexico with her family, which will connect her with the cartel leader. She is likely to be used for work, dropping off human cargo. Essentially, she’s a Trojan horse. The Secretary of State is worried about the DEA being involved, and Byron lays out the full risks of the operation as it is an election year.
The Secretary of State approves the mission. However, he makes it very clear that all responsibility stops with Byron.
As always, the shallowness of politics is rife in Lioness. But the entire detail of picking an asset and the intel surrounding it was fascinating. There is never a dull moment in episode 2.
The moment when Joe asks Josefina if she loves her country in ‘Lioness’ Season 2, Episode 2 (Credit – Paramount+)
The Ending Of Lioness Season 2, Episode 2 Gives Explosive Drama Between Joe and Captain Josefina Carrillo
To establish contact with Josefina, Joer heads to Northern Iraq via convoy. But, an explosive mine soon hits her convoy, and she is hurt, finding herself in combat with Iraqi soldiers. Eventually, military helicopters appear to assist.
When Joe reaches the base, she is furious at the mission’s recklessness and finds herself in a heated argument with Captain Josefina Carrillo. Joe loses her cool even more and reminds everyone at their base that she is the highest-ranking officer and expects a good response.
But then, the best part of Episode 2 comes at the end. Joe invites Josefina Carrillo into an office and asks her about her uncle, Alvaro Carrillo. Josefina knows nothing about him, which suggests she’s wholly disconnected from that side of her family, which poses a problem to the mission.
Joe informs Josefina that her father, Pablo Carillo, makes $100 grand a year but manages to buy a $3.5 million house, implying that there’s been some dodgy business in the family.
And that’s when the line of questioning begins, and Joe delivers a chilling performance. She asks Josefina a straightforward question:
“Do you love your country?”
Of course, Josefina is confused by the question, so Joe clarifies that they have been tasked to find the men who kidnapped Congresswoman Hernandez and raises the subject of the Lioness programme.
It suddenly dawns on Josefina what is happening. She is being asked to be a Lioness, and based on the horror on her face, she does not want to be one, nor does she feel like she has the ability to be a coveted agent.
Let’s agree on something here; this scene alone makes Joe a more complicated and nuanced character than we thought. Joe leans in aggressively, looking down on an emotionally rattled Josefina, and asks her repeatedly, “Do you love your country?” until she caves.
Eventually, Josefina sobs and admits she loves her country—and you have to feel sorry for her. Joe then asks her if she has any tattoos and asks her to prove that she doesn’t.
But what made Joe so aggressive and cruel at this moment? Was it the pressure of the job? Was it the adrenaline rush after her convoy got attacked? Or maybe her justification to her daughter, Charlie, for doing this job purely because of her patriotism has taken its toll? It’s possible that, at this moment, Joe has projected her standards onto Josefina, a standard that makes her woefully miss out on her family life. She is tortured by the void from the lack of motherhood and the craving for it. And that is tragic.
Read More: Lioness Season 2, Episode 3 Recap
