By: Mariah Thomas
We see Joe (Zoe Saldaña) being tortured in an abandoned house. She is stripped naked as men are in search of a tracking chip they know is implanted in her. She plays coy and pretends not to know what they are talking about. Only when it is clear these men will stop at nothing to find it, she confesses where it is. They cut open her big toe and remove the chip. Her attempt to stall the discovery was to give her team a chance to hopefully locate her before they move her to another location. Unfortunately, they don’t get to her in time.
In the next scene the Lioness team is suited up in pursuit of rescuing Joe. Josephina (Genesis Rodriquez) speeds off to the location Joe’s chip is being tracked to. Bobby (Jill Wagner) rides shotgun and receives second by second updates on the tracker. In the back Cruz (Laysla De Oliveira), Tucker (LaMonica Garrett), Two Cups (James Jordan) and other agents prepare their guns to jump out of the van to rescue Joe. A random concerned woman is told to go back inside her house and lock the door as this van filled with Soldiers pulls up next to her home. The team storms the abandoned house and sweeps each room until they find the final room. They expect to find Joe but are at a loss when they only find her tracking chip in a puddle of blood. This lets them know this is only the beginning of the fight to bring her home.
Kaitlyn (Nicole Kidman) has an incredible talent of remaining calm under immense pressure. She navigates the crash scene while on the phone with Westfield (Michael Kelly). There is no good news to give and time is ticking. Kaitlyn is well aware that everyone has a breaking point, even Joe. Once they get her to start talking, so many government secrets could be unveiled to their enemies. Kaitlyn wants to jump full force and hopefully rescue Joe before she gets to that breaking point. Westfield hesitantly agrees. In the midst of this, Neal (Dave Annable), Kate (Hannah Love Lanier) and Charlie (Celestina Harris) are completely unaware of Joe’s kidnapping. Neal prepares to take the girls to school and upon pulling the car out of the driveway sees Kaitlyn and Joe’s smashed car. Thankfully the girls are distracted by phones so he is able to pull back into the driveway and feign a reason to run back inside. Once inside, he sneaks out the front door to get a briefing from Kaitlyn. He is immediately angry and scared not having been immediately informed of Joe’s kidnapping. Joe promises to keep him updated and attempts to give him hope that she will be okay. Neal’s main concern is his daughters seeing their mother’s car smashed in the middle of the road and tells her she has a minute to get rid of it. Neal heads back inside and pulls out of the driveway once more to take the girls to school. Though he drives the other way this time, Kaitlyn had Joe’s car hidden by other SUVs pulled in front of it to shield the girls.
Josephina and Cruz get a rare moment of intimacy in a flashback to six months prior. Both being so committed to their jobs, it seems one is working while the other is at home and then the other is immediately called. This time, Cruz returns home and the two share a romantic bath and make out sessions before Josephina’s phone goes off signaling her back to work. The women both grow frustrated at this. The call ended up being to Joe’s house after the shooting seen at the end of episode one. Men attempted to ambush Joe and she immediately caught onto the act and shot the two men before they could harm her. Since she lives in a residential area, many people became aware of the commotion and police were called. Of course Kaitlyn is on top of things and running the operation to pivot neighbor curiosity of Joe’s job.
The big guns have a meeting at dinner. This is attended by Westfield, Holler (Bruce McGill), Congressman Midvale (Toby Bornhauser) and more. The men discuss the rising tension between the US and Russia as they pretend to be cordial over this government dinner. Westfield approaches Maxim Petrov (Lev Gorn) in a way meant to intimidate, but Westfield is quickly shutdown. They discreetly threaten Joe by making it clear they know what she did on the previous mission seen in episode one. There is no longer a line to cross and they intend to retaliate. Westfield though gets the upper hand once again by pivoting the conversation.
Joe’s main concern is that her cover is blown. This puts her family in immediate danger. Her family has always been kept in a safe location unknown to many related to her work for their safety. Kaitlyn remains neutral that her cover isn’t blown and this was an individual fluke. Joe’s status in the CIA puts her ranking very high. If someone were to attack and further put her in danger, that means everyone in lower ranks would be in danger and that would start a war. To attack Joe means something else is in the works and Kaitlyn is determined to get to the bottom of it. Before she can join them in the safe house, Joe must go through an official debriefing with Director Mullins (Morgan Freeman). He has a deeper understanding of Joe and approaches the debrief with a more calm demeanor than expected. He politely tells her of the approaching danger from not knowing who blew her cover. Even if it is not on a big scale, someone still knew where to find her. They don’t know who she is, just that she is with the government. Soon Westfield and Chief of Staff Mason (Jennifer Ehle) join the debriefing. Mullins encourages the conversation to stay focused on the present and not fears of the future. Westfield gives a breakdown of what happened prior to leading them to the events of the night. Joe seems distraught hearing this information back. After a long night, she is eventually given the green light to join her family.
The Lioness team is tasked with guarding the family as they process the trauma of the night. Josephina sits in a chair in the girls room and Kate is woken up by her presence. Though she has a light understanding of her mother’s job, both girls are mostly kept in the dark about the reality of it. She has a bonding moment with Josephina as she asks her questions that she gets honest answers to. It ends with her feeling safer with Josephina’s presence in the room. The episode comes to a conclusion after Joe has an emotional reunion with Neal as the two embrace.