For an episode clocking in at 70 minutes, Lioness Season 3 Episode 8 sure made the most of every minute, leaving us with a tantalizing tease for a potential fourth season.
And the actual hell? Aaliyah is back, and she’s out for blood.
Aaliyah was a massive part of Lioness Season 1, and after Cruz and the team completely and utterly destroyed her life, it was inevitable she would resurface.
Honestly, I’m surprised it took this long. Credit where credit’s due, though: even though I knew where that final scene was going before the reveal, I was waiting with bated breath to see it come to fruition.
Aaliyah is out for vengeance, and I don’t really blame her. She has got to feel some type of way about Cruz after Lioness Season 1 Episode 8.
Launching a revenge plot straight away would have raised too many red flags, so I understand why Aaliyah sat out all of Lioness Season 2 and all but one episode of Lioness Season 3.
The only real issue I have is that nobody even entertained the possibility that Aaliyah could be behind this.
Perhaps that’s exactly why she waited so long. She knew nobody would suspect the woman whose life Cruz and the team had destroyed was still plotting her revenge.
Her admission that she wanted the entire team before her to get revenge was chilling. If she went this far to get Joe, what does she have planned for Cruz?
It’s terrifying to think about what could be in the cards, and I’m trying not to, because this really could be the undoing of the team.
Then there’s Cruz herself. She struggled with her devotion to the Lioness program initially and the fact that it meant she was essentially starting a relationship with Aaliyah only to betray her.
Lioness Season 3 Ends With a Wild Twist
There were genuine feelings between them, and I shudder to think how Cruz will feel when she learns that Aaliyah is the mastermind here.
All the way through Lioness Season 3, I figured there would be a dramatic shift that would change the dynamic of the show.
I even entertained the possibility that Joe would perish and that the team would have to pivot in her absence.
So, I was happy that she lived to see a potential Lioness Season 4, which promises to be a drastically different story for her.
Joe is undoubtedly still trying to process everything that happened to her, including her escape on Lioness Season 3 Episode 7, but her actions throughout the finale were reckless.
Her decision to go straight back into the field to end the mystery is admirable, given what happened to her, but she really should have chosen a break first.
How is she expected to think rationally when she’s desperate for revenge?
And boy, did she make some grave errors in judgment when she told the team to engage while Renat and Sokolov were in the restaurant.
The Lioness team always seems to get a pass when they do something that doesn’t align with the CIA’s values, but the aftermath of that restaurant mistake will come back to haunt everyone.
One thing already coming back to haunt Joe is that she never returned home when she could have.
Neal spent the majority of Lioness Season 3 worried sick about his wife, so the fact that she chose to continue the mission instead of returning home seems unforgivable to him.
I knew he had reached his breaking point, but it was still devastating to see Joe return to the house up for sale, with her husband’s and daughters’ belongings all gone.
Even though we didn’t get to read the letter’s contents, it’s obvious Neal has reached his limit. The pressure of worrying whether Joe would return home has clearly worn him down.
The deadly situations have also reached their home, forcing him to upend his life, so I believe he’s choosing peace at this point.
I don’t know what the future holds for Joe and Neal.
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Neal has been adamant that Joe get a desk job and stop putting herself in harm’s way. But he also doesn’t want her to give up a career that fulfills her.
After watching Joe over three seasons, I don’t think she’s cut out for a desk job. She’d be bored before long and would probably get herself suspended or worse, fired, because she’d say something that offends the entire department.
Now that this mission has cost Joe her relationship with her husband, I expect her to be even more vengeful.
If she doesn’t have her family to return home to, she’s going to go full guns blazing into this next mission.
Joe is already unpredictable at the best of times, but something has shifted in her now. It should give Zoe Saldaña even more fantastic material to work with.
Oleksandra Deserved Better
One thing that irked me about Lioness Season 3 Episode 8 was how they handled Oleksandra’s arc.
Oleksandra’s motivations have been unclear ever since the deep dive into who she is on Lioness Season 3 Episode 4.
But she did put her neck on the line to help the team on multiple occasions. The notion that she was the traitor, seemingly without any evidence, was hard to accept.
There had to be a better way to use her going forward than simply killing her. Then again, her usefulness to the U.S. government was done.
Even so, would it have hurt the show to give her a somewhat happy conclusion? I get that she was no longer necessary to the plot, but still, that was a rough way to go.
I’m surprised Lioness Season 4 hasn’t been officially confirmed yet. The show has been one of the most talked-about of the year, so what’s the hold-up?
It’s probably because the cast and creatives are in demand, so we may get confirmation in the coming months.
I believe a fourth season is a foregone conclusion at this point, especially with Aaliyah’s return setting up such a fascinating new chapter for Joe and Cruz.
Over to you, Lioness Fanatics! What are your thoughts on Aaliyah’s return? What do you think Joe will do now that Neal has left her?
Let’s keep the conversation going — it’s the only way the good stuff survives.
Say something in the comments, share if you’re moved to, and keep reading. Independent voices need readers like you.
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