Lioness

Taylor Sheridan’s military thriller avoids the clean lines of morality to thrive in the gray zones of modern warfare. Led by a ferocious Zoe Saldaña as Joe, the CIA’s Lioness program deploys female operatives deep behind enemy lines, trading intimacy for intelligence. The tension here is suffocating: every coffee date or casual conversation carries the weight of a drone strike. Unlike standard procedurals, the show interrogates the psychological toll on the handlers as much as the assets, with Nicole Kidman providing icy bureaucratic oversight. With season 2 having concluded on December 8, 2024, the narrative has only deepened its exploration of the cost of patriotism. This is surveillance cinema at its most anxious, where the loudest explosions are often the emotional ones.