Special Ops: Lioness took us inside the perilous world of human intelligence and showed us how the agents risk their lives, put everything at stake, and conduct these covert operations. With the final episode of the season coming on 3rd September 2023 on Paramount+, we would get to know if the CIA is able to execute their mission successfully or not.
Spoiler Alert
For Cruz Manuelos, the battle was personal, as, from the very beginning, she wanted to prove her worth. Life had been hard on Cruz, but she was resilient in the face of the storm, and she knew she had what it took. She was abused by her own partner, and at one point, life had become a living hell for her. She used to work multiple shifts, only to be ridiculed and abused by her own partner in front of everybody. Cruz knew that she was better than this, and nobody should have ever put her in that kind of misery, but it happens sometimes in a person’s life that they get stuck in a loop and are not able to get out of it. But one day, Cruz decided to take her destiny into her own hands and literally pulled the odds in her favor. She left her past life and started afresh, and soon, she met Joe, who enlisted her in a CIA undercover program that she was heading. Joe was not sure if Cruz would be able to pull off the mission, so she decided to test her limits.
Cruz went through hell when she was abducted by Joe’s men and given third-degree torture. Cruz was infuriated when she got to know that it was Joe who was apparently training her for the upcoming battle. Joe tried telling her that the people she would be dealing with would put her through even more pain if her cover got busted, but Cruz still didn’t think that what Joe did was justified. Joe and Cruz had a lot of conflicts, and the former always felt that Cruz acted very impulsively at times, which was not a good attribute to have for an undercover agent. Cruz might have been immature and might not have known the intricacies of the spy world, but she was determined and not scared to put everything at stake.
Something unexpected happened to Cruz when she came into contact with Aaliyah Amrohi, the daughter of the terrorist who was the target of the CIA. Not even in her wildest dreams had Cruz imagined that she would fall in love with the person she was asked to spy on. When Cruz met Aaliyah, the latter was in a very vulnerable phase of her life, and probably that had an impact on the relationship they developed at a later stage. Aaliyah was extremely nice to Cruz, and she pampered her in a way that nobody else had ever done. Aaliyah knew that her life was going to change after her marriage and that her freedom was going to be curbed, which is why she wanted to take full advantage of the time she had on her hands. The way Aaliyah looked at Cruz, we knew that something was brewing inside her mind.
Cruz was in denial for a long time until one day, her emotions overpowered her prudence, and she finally gave in. Both ladies indulged in an intimate moment, which made things even more complex for everybody involved. Cruz didn’t want to talk about it and made herself believe that it was all just one big mistake. Cruz was way too scared to face her own feelings and accept the fact that she likes spending time with Aaliyah. Cruz stood at a juncture where she no longer wanted to go ahead with the mission, as she didn’t feel right killing the father of a person with whom she shared such a close bond. That’s when Joe talked to Cruz and told her that she should not second-guess her actions, as she was doing the right thing. She told her that by killing Amrohi, she would be saving the lives of hundreds of people, and that’s when Cruz agreed to carry on with her mission and go with Aaliyah to her wedding that was supposed to happen in Mallorca.
Now, obviously, Secretary of State Edwin Mullins would be more concerned about how Cruz will take down Amrohi in Special Ops: Lioness Episode 8, but little does everyone associated with Operation Yellow Jacket know that the lioness has been facing a very different kind of conflict of late. Nobody apart from Kyle and Joe knew about what had happened between Cruz and Aaliyah and how Cruz’s conscience was getting in the way of their mission. It was a huge risk that Joe was taking, but the fact was that she had no other option. Either she could abort the mission and waste all the resources and months of progress that they had made, or she could take the chance and hope that Cruz’s feelings didn’t make her do something stupid.
Joe had given Cruz a pep talk, and as seen in the promo for Special Ops: Lioness episode 8, Cruz will reach the wedding as they had planned, but whether she will be able to get over her dilemma and take down one of the most dangerous terrorists operating from that region is something that we will have to wait and watch. One more thing that is to be taken into account is that Joe wouldn’t have any sort of weapon on her as the security was way too tight, and there was also a probability that Amrohi might not even arrive at the wedding. Aaliyah had told her that, generally, her father refrained from going to such places because of security reasons, and if that happened, then the lioness and the CIA team would probably have to wait to get another chance. But Joe, Byron, and Kaitlyn were pretty sure that he wouldn’t miss his daughter’s wedding for the world. There could be a possibility that Cruz might not make it out of there alive.
There was an extraction plan in place, but still, for that to happen, Cruz had to do the job and reach a specified location, as CIA choppers couldn’t infiltrate the area where the wedding was happening. Joe always knew that she was sending Cruz to her own doom, but she probably never addressed the issue in front of Cruz and gave her the impression that it was not a suicide mission. But in the meeting that Joe had with the secretary of state, it became quite clear that the probability of Cruz not making it out alive was far greater than her being extracted. But then again, before all else, we would have to see what decision Cruz finally takes in the Special Ops: Lioness season finale, i.e., if she chooses to go with the orders or listens to her heart and jeopardizes the mission in order to save Aaliyah.
