Paramount+ has put Taylor Sheridan’s brand of military espionage Lioness back on the air in all its high-octane glory. Season 3 premiere of his latest thriller is evidence enough that the creative team has no intention of dialing things back. In “The Spider and the Fly” one gets a narrative scope that goes well past the old cartel fare of yesteryear, with an opening cinematic collision so breathless it redefines the rules of engagement before making a beeline for the mechanised brutality of today’s front line in Ukraine.
A Brief Respite Before the Storm
There is a flash-forward to set the scene, then a smooth jump six months in the past to put a predatory edge on the proceedings from the get go. Zoe Saldaña is as fine as ever in the role of Joe McNamara; at first she seems to have found some balance. With the rigours of her physical conditioning and a desk job at the CIA to occupy her time during the transition, she can put in a few moments of domesticity with Neal and the girls.
But do not be fooled into thinking this is any kind of lasting peace; Sheridan won’t allow that. The sense of dread is palpable for both Joe and the audience, a tacit acknowledgement that the world of an operative does not permit much in the way of stepping away. One gets the distinct impression at the dinner table that she is bracing for the other shoe to fall; the writing does a fine job of conveying the strain of such a double life.
Ukraine and the Front Lines of Modern Warfare
Then comes the fatal compromising of an intelligence asset and the Lioness program deploys on a clandestine and harrowing mission in Donetsk. What follows is as ambitious and technically accomplished as any set piece the show has put forward, and just as frightening. There is a World War I quality of claustrophobia to the battle but also the 21st-century terror of the latest technology: explosive drones in swarms above and K9s going in hard through the morning fog.
Sheridan’s direction has no time for romanticising the horrors of mechanised combat. It is a chaotic fight for survival and the human cost to those on the ground is made plain. Visceral and unrelenting, the action puts you right in the mud of a geopolitical theatre where reflexes are pitted against the automation of destruction.
When the Danger Comes Home
For all the scale and cinema of the Ukrainian deployment, the premiere’s emotional heft is in how it makes a connection between a foreign battlefield and home. Joe may make it back to the safety of her suburb after the carnage, but any notion of being secure is gone. An encounter at the door is deeply disturbing, breaking down the wall of fortification, both in mind and body, that has separated her family from her covert duties over the years. The hour ends with a burst of violence in the living room that is as shocking as it is inevitable. It underscores Sheridan’s core ethos: the enemy isn’t always half a world away—sometimes they’re right on your doorstep.
The Ensemble and Season 3
“The Spider and the Fly” is a masterclass in tension, marrying the personal with the geopolitical. Saldaña holds it all together, of course, but the ensemble is key here. Laysla De Oliveira and Genesis Rodriguez add their own sharpness to the mix and Nicole Kidman exudes a quiet authority from the top of the command chain.
In refusing to let its people bask in what they have achieved, Lioness has become something more than a run of the mill military thriller, a psychological look at the sacrifices and paranoia inherent in the business. With the Ukraine conflict and the violence at Joe’s door, Season 3 begins with authority, showing that Sheridan can up the ante while keeping hold of the story’s heart.