By: Mariah Thomas
We are in Ukraine as the camera follows a car driving. There two men enter a building and storm an apartment with an elderly woman and her young daughter living in it. The women are surprised to find out the men are American. The men threaten the women and tell them not to speak unless spoken to before opening a laptop. Back in Maryland Kyle (Thad Luckinbill) and Cruz (Laysla De Oliveria) interrogate Russian spy, Oleksandra (Elizaveta Balakin). She later tells them she goes by Alyssa. The kidnapping of Joe (Zoe Saldana) lines up with her entry into their lives. Kyle pulls out another laptop and faces it to Alyssa to confirm they found the right family. She looks distraught as the American team in fact have found the home of her mother and little sister. Kyle tells her he knows the intense training she’s gone through to withhold information while being tortured but her family has not. After her initial meeting with Joe, the two contract Russian agents were at her front door. She attempts to remain clueless on how this could have happened so they begin to torture her mother. She immediately folds and gives information under the phrasing “I think” instead of “I know.” She’s a double agent but not for them. She is angered by today’s Russia and says Kyle is just like them. In her anger she tells him to kill her mother and sister and rips open her shirt telling them to shoot her. He gets under her skin by constantly calling her a “Russian”. Cruz pulls her off when she begins to attack him.
Kyle tells her the logical answer is that she is the mole who gave up Joe’s location. She then asks him what happened to the agents who showed up to Joe’s home and Kyle tells her they were killed on the scene. She simply replies he is starting to understand how Russia works. They didn’t know who she was but suspected it. They sacrificed two agents to make her prove it by killing them and having the FBI cover the scene. Alyssa says if they wanted to take her, they would.
Back in the past timeline Joe joins her family for breakfast. Now being in a safe house, the girls would have an hour and a half commute to school. In order to keep things as normal as possible for the girls, they decide to send them with a security team. Neal (Dave Annable) begins to nitpick at Joe’s choice to refer to the school as a “location” and Charlie (Celestina Harris) asks the two to stop fighting. Kate (Hannah Love Lanier) then calls a family meeting. The girls have grown more confident in communicating with their parents. The girls have decided they want their mom to quit. If she quits, there is no reason for someone to hurt her. She tells them it sadly doesn’t work like that. She is brutally honest with the girls on her job and why she does it. She tells them for the first time straight out that she’s a soldier. She reminds them the sacrifices she makes are for their way of living. She excuses herself from the room and tells Neal she has something for him. She tries to give him a gun for protection and he isn’t interested or safe with it. Bobby (Jill Wagner) and Cruz escort Joe back to the office while the others stay behind as protection for her family.
Joe enters a meeting room where Kaitlyn (Nicole Kidman) and Westfield (Michael Kelly) are already waiting. Kaitlyn asks how Joe is doing and she replies she’s “pretty f*cking pissed off” and Kaitlyn replies “that’s my girl.” She knows Joe does her best work leading with her anger. Soon Kyle and Cruz join them in the meeting. They provide a briefing on the information they were able to get from Alyssa. Kyle makes a guess that they knew they had the “package” long after the operation and sent agents to the US in retaliation months after. Whatever they know, they didn’t learn from the double agent. She asks Cruz for her opinion. Cruz states what happened in that room wasn’t fake. Joe wants to talk to her herself and to make that happen, Westfield wants a full plan.
Two Cups (James Jordan) and Tex (Jonah Wharton) escort Kate and Charlie to school. Though the men remain tight lipped on answering directly how closely they work with Joe, Two Cups makes a comment about Kate’s sass reminding him of someone he knows. Soon the men become stuck in traffic and grow worried for the girls and turn on their sirens to get out of it. They tell the scared girls it was probably nothing but continue to speed to get them out of the area.
Alyssa is brought to a secure location to have her face to face meeting with Joe. Cruz, Kyle and Joe discreetly enter a bank and head to the highest floor. A random man jokes he’s never been on 24 and asks the soldiers what’s on the floor. Kyle shuts down his questions. The trio strut through a vacant office until they reach the room where Alyssa is being held.
Joe immediately lets her anger guide the conversation. When Alyssa tries to divert her involvement with the Russian government for being a double agent, Joe gives her a harsh wake up. Regardless of it being a cover, they’re still her people. Joe slaps her once she brings up her family and sits in front of her to question further. Alyssa finally gives them information that could be helpful. Joe instructs Kyle to take her home and let her get cleaned up.
Kaitlyn returns home to her husband Errol (Martin Donovan) to gather information. He watches stateside while she internationally tracks military intelligence. When she begins to judge his work he reminds her she plays the same game in a different way.
Back at headquarters the Lioness team works alongside Alyssa. She tells her team they are similar to her but have different objectives. She focuses on extracting information while they take out their targets. She tells the team they’re valid to be suspicious and weary of working with her. She tells them other countries are very aware of who they all are and what they do. However, since it doesn’t happen in their country, they leave them be. She breaks down further how the Russian operation works to get people to infiltrate systems. Joe explains to the team the importance of working with Alyssa for her intelligence. The team bickers like siblings over specific terminology and Joe just lets it happen before they settle down. Suddenly, Kyle and Joe leave the room. They uncover Alyssa has big assets under belt that keep her safe from being killed. Joe tells Bobby to keep Alyssa unofficially in their custody while she meets with Westfield and Kaitlyn. Joe presents an idea to have the press put out that they captured a Russian spy. This will prompt Alyssa’s contacts to reach out to her and give them a way in.
In the present day, we see a quick glimpse of Joe as she continues to be tortured. She is bound to a bed while singular drops of water trickle down.