Let’s get this out of the way right now: we love Zoe Saldana. From her work earlier this year in the delightfully sweet love story From Scratch to her well-known work playing blue people and green people in everyone’s favorite billion-dollar franchises, we enjoy every moment she’s on screen, and her face is absolutely the first reason to take notice of Special Ops: Lioness.
The second reason to watch is the creative force behind the show: Taylor Sheridan. That’s a name you might know if you’ve seen the incredible films Wind River and Sicario, or the series Yellowstone and its spin-offs (both of which were created by Sheridan).
Well, Does It Deliver?
Zoe Saldana and Taylor Sheridan are enough of a sell to make the show worth checking out – and with four episodes released so far, the series is off to a strong start. Special Ops: Lioness does something that much of modern media utterly misses the mark on: it tells a story of female strength with an interesting setup in a way that feels believable.
It’s all too common these days to see moments shoved into a story by Hollywood executives trying to force diversity without considering an effective way to honor diverse characters and what makes them special, but in Special Ops: Lioness, we get a believable setup for why a female-focused special ops team is being used, and exactly what their mission is. Other writers should take notes from Sheridan – this is how it’s done. However, the best part of the show is the performance of a new face.
Meet Laysla De Oliveira
While Zoe Saldana receives top billing for her role as the mission commander, the real main character is Cruz, played by the relatively unknown Laysla De Oliveira. From the beginning, we see that Cruz is a woman who’s being abused, but isn’t one to just sit down and take it. When she decides to run from her boyfriend’s abusive attacks, she runs outside and right into a marine recruitment center, stumbling, quite literally, into her new life.
Over the next few episodes, we get plenty of opportunities to see the strength and endurance of Cruz, and De Oliveira brings her A-game to the table, creating a character that it’s incredibly easy to empathize with, cheer for, and, for many, relate to. That trio is what really makes her performance effective, and we eagerly look forward to enthusiastically cheering for Cruz as she overcomes another struggle with gritted teeth and a warrior spirit.
Special Ops: Lioness is an unexpected surprise, but a welcome one. We can’t wait to see how the story of Cruz and her team unravels over the coming weeks.
Special Ops: Lioness is streaming now on Paramount+.
