By: Mariah Thomas
The episode opens in the past timeline with Joe (Zoe Saldana) and Neal (Dace Annable) watching the news in their safe house. Neal is in shock over a recent FBI takedown and Joe reminds him of an analogy she once said. “The news is a boat fire. What do rats do when a boat is on fire?” The answer? They jump ship. Pushing certain information to the center of the news helps Joe and those she works with uncover needed information. Neal is appalled to learn and realize how much the news can easily twist things. Joe tells him to read the New York Times version of The Battle of Gettysburg compared to a local paper in Atalanta. It wouldn’t seem like the same battle. Neal then asks her if they are close to this nightmare being over for their family and she hesitantly tells him they are. Joe then goes to check in on her girls. She tells them they will be able to go home soon and while Charlie (Celestina Harris) is overjoyed by the news, Kate (Hannah Love Lanier) is more on the fence. Joe assures her she wouldn’t take them home if she didn’t know it was safe.
Joe meets with Kaitlyn (Nicole Kidman), Westfield (Michael Kelly) and Mullins (Morgan Freeman) in a highly secure government saloon for breakfast. Mullins lists former presidents who once dined there. He implies he is ready for retirement. Mullins says he will start the group off and then will let them explain the “lack of options” for their counter party. Their counter party ends up being Senator Ryan Olson (Joe Nemmers). He plays coy to their line of questioning but slips up when he refers to the Russian spy as “she” despite never being told a gender. Olson quickly goes quiet when he sees he fell right into their trap. Kaitlyn lays their cards on the table with a money trail they have linked back to him. Westfield gives him two options; Resign tomorrow or face public backlash from everything going public. Once Mullins leaves, Joe tells him there’s a third option. That option is taking his own life. She tells him that one gets her vote before walking off.
Outside of the establishment, Senator Olson looks around nervously. This is when audiences see Tucker (LaMonica Garrett) and Cruz (Laysla De Oliveria) tracking the senator as he leaves. Olson sees them and Tucker says they want him to know where he goes. He speeds up in traffic trying to dodge them. He eventually speeds up even more actively trying to lose them. Tucker phones Joe and she notes they’re gonna have to do it the hard way. Tucker puts on his police lights and tries to stop Olson. Olson swings his car into oncoming traffic into a semi truck.
Joe returns “home” and Neal says “I guess the rats jumped ships.” Kate comes into the room asking Joe what’s going on and says she’s watching the news on tiktok. Joe laughs and says “There’s no news on TikTok.” After some fun mother/daughter banter, Joe reveals they are able to return home. All of the people bent out to hurt her were captured and sent back to Russia. Neal and Joe also partake in fun banter and have a sweet moment their girls witness from the other room.
In the present timeline, Joe appears to be being held in a random house in a sunburn neighborhood. Alyssa (Elizaveta Neretin) now appears to be living under an alias in Oklahoma. She is frightened to return home and see Kyle (Thad Luckinbill) was able to locate her. Up until now, we have only seen her working alongside the team in the past timeline. Now she is being informed of Joe’s kidnapping. She asks questions to gain more information to attempt to be helpful. She tells him Russian intelligence works differently, so they won’t be going on an undisclosed flight plan. All of their safe houses are still open to all officers. She points out this operation would cost millions. By asking questions, she is able to piece things together with questions Kyle won’t answer. She tells him Iran would be out for revenge if she ever burned them in the past. After checking in with her, they discover Joe is most likely in Texas and they race back to the safe house.
On the jet, the team discovers there are at least 100 safe house options to comb through. They also have 54 jets to look into once they land. Unknown to the team, they end up finding the neighborhood she is being held in. However, they don’t know how to go into that particular house. The Lioness team have had a long day searching for Joe and prepare for a bigger battle as their search narrows down. Bobby (Jill Wagner) tells Cruz she’s worked with Joe for over 15 years and will do anything to get her back safely.