2 out of 5

Created by: Tyler Sheridan

covers season 1

Morbid curiosity keeps me watching these Tyler Sheridan shows, which – setting aside granddaddy Yellowstone, which I’ve yet to see – are by and large not that good. It’s not exactly that I’m curious why they have a following, as their artsy-adjacent stylings and easily accessible commentary plus retrograde “grit” are a way of threading a needle from dad TV to HBO prestige; it’s more that I’m curious how far this mentality / approach can extend. Because despite some of these shows spinning off of one another, they’re not exactly CSI clones, and they keep bringing in pretty big name stars. Now, fair, a paycheck’s a paycheck, but not all of these featured actors (seem to) follow that mentality in their other projects, so one assumes there’s value in there for them, whether it’s the experience or the opportunity or both.

But still, just as the Marvel bubble, while not burst yet has begun to blister for some, I suppose I stick around waiting to either be convinced of why Paramount keeps tossing shows to Sheridan (their financial incentive is a bit easier to guess at, of course), or to see when the line is crossed and the Sheridan-verse hits its limit.

I would’ve voted on it being this show, which I believe isn’t pulling great numbers, but I’m also still seeing ads for other upcoming Sheridan series, so who knows. Regardless, even though this is more intriguing than, say, Tulsa King, and maybe avoids the out-and-out nihilism of Mayor of Kingstown of by dint of its obsession with (and thus screentime devoted to) naming people and places and playing at vague Terrorists Suck politics, Lioness is the first of these shows that… I can’t really figure out what it’s about.

I mean, there’s the pitch – the CIA’s Lioness program which inserts female undercovers into tangential relationships with insurgents, and the not-trained-for-UC-work operative (Cruz, played by Laysla De Oliveira) who’s recruited in a pinch to help track down a time-sensitive target – but… what is the arc of the series? What is the hurry? (Terrorism! Weapons deals!) What differentiates the Lioness program, exactly, or the tuff crew that runs it and is manned by officer Joe (Zoe Saldaña)?

It’s not that I don’t have answers to these questions, necessarily, more that I don’t think the show cares about these questions, so much as it does finding a reason for specific moments to exist. In other words, while other Sheridan shows are of a certain time and place, and then center around a character or two, Lioness feels like all concept, with the characters brought in after the fact, and as needed, to support whatever bit of commentary exposition Sheridan sweatily scripted. There are some moments where the identity of the show seems to sharpen, and it’s during these types of dialogue exchanges, where thoughts on government and the nature of Cruz’s / the CIA’s work are questioned or examined. After five episodes, I otherwise had no read on this series – not bored, but without any feeling towards any aspect of its plot or characters – and legitimately only during the sixth episode of the season, where one such exchange as described occurred (working for the greater good; managing guilt) that I finally felt, like, oh, that’s what this show has been about.

Saldaña is quite excellent; Kidman – playing Joe’s boss – doesn’t have enough room to really find her role, but when she’s given longer screentime, she lands it; and De Oliveira very effectively juggles swinging from abused housewife to CIA recruit to Special Operative, though finally succumbing to feeling in-over-her-head in that last role. However, all of these characters are also fairly unlikable, beyond the way that most Sheridan types are written “realistically” to be moderate degrees of asshole, and I’d again cite that as being due to the series being concept first, and the rest a distant second.

From afar, though, the procedural aspects of getting the central operation up and running are interesting, plucking away at how ramshackle such things likely truly are, in the sense that planning has to happen in an instant and you’re going in with best available info and a plan to backwards justify things as needed. The world as an inhospitable place and humans reflecting that tenfold finds new degrees of inhumanity in Sheridan’s take on government, which is planning to make everyone expendable so that they can “save lives,” which looks an awful lot like accruing power.

But again, up close, there’s a sloppiness to the way episodes are scripted, where it feels like there’s never quite a justification for things to occur, especially when Sheridan steeps into his shortcuts to “strong female protagonist”ism via delving out violence to women, and then let’s also toy with some lazy male gazey stuff later on as well, just to remind each other of our erections. This also continues a trend from Sheridan’s last few shows of not giving a fig about making sure each episode has a peak, or any conclusion; more eventful things happen at odd intervals, and episodes just end – this is not written to be serialized in this format.

I dunno.

I mentioned Tulsa King and Kingstown, and the former was obnoxious and the latter was almost hilariously doom-laden, and Lioness feels more watchable than those, and engaging enough, but I at least walked away from those shows identifying some story and character arcs that are kinda chicken scratch here. But perhaps that sixth episode spark will sharpen up to happen more in its second season.