This article contains spoilers from “Special Ops: Lioness” episode 8.
The “Special Ops: Lioness” finale aired Sunday, and it was the best thing Taylor Sheridan has ever written.
He might publicly deny any political interest, but “Special Ops: Lioness” creator Taylor Sheridan left everything on the table in the explosive final episode of this fantastic series. Every other line paralleled heavily with real life. So much so, you could write a damn thesis on Sheridan’s not-so-subtle feelings on America’s political status quo.
My interpretation was Sheridan has a total respect and reverence for our military personnel, and nothing but disgust for the globalists who use them to enrich themselves and play power just because they can.
The finale centered on Aaliyah’s (Stephanie Nur) wedding to her repulsively abusive fiancée (if you can call him that). Cruz (Laysla De Oliveira) landed at the venue having just sat through eight hours of horrific footage of her father’s funded terrorism.
She was on her mission. And she knew her target …
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— KAY SMYTHE (@KaySmythe) November 11, 2022
Still, the love between these two women, the raw emotion leapt through the screen. It was agony, which only made Cruz’s bloody (but absolutely jaw-dropping) assassination of both Aaliyah’s father and her fiancée that much more complicated. But no less cool to watch.
In true Sheridan fashion, the entire show went off with a bang. Gun fights, adrenaline, fast boats, screaming matches between grown ass men. Some of it was even kind of funny.
As for Zoe Saldana, she’s cemented herself as a great actor. I doubt we’ll see her dressed up in super hero gear for quite some time. She gave us power and she gave us pain, in equal measure. And we felt it.
But the biggest thing was the politics. (RELATED: REPORT: Taliban Kills More Than 100 Former Afghan Officials And Troops Since Biden Withdrawal)
“All we did was make the next generation [of Aaliyah’s] hate us,” Cruz spits at Joe (Saldana) in their parting scene. And she’s right. Thanks to Sheridan’s huge dig at Biden’s botched Afghanistan withdrawal, it’s clear he understands that all we did after 20 years in-country was hand the entire place over to a far angrier, more knowledgeable Taliban. And while we were there, we created multiple generations of young men who hate America.
How can that be good for anyone?
To me, it seems like Sheridan’s view on globalist politics is understandably bleak. “The world doesn’t have the leaders to navigate the Devil we don’t know,” was another line that felt like a cruel slap to the cheek. Again, he’s right.
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Taylor Sheridan is the greatest writer of all time and I’ll die on this hill @paramountplus https://t.co/6DJrq9M4G0
— KAY SMYTHE (@KaySmythe) August 9, 2023
There are no global leaders, nor even local leaders, who actually lead. Most politicians sit in their towers, making money from the things we buy, sell, earn. They control a whole world most of us don’t realize exists. They certainly can’t lead us against the Devils who exist in our world today.
I often feel like the Devil already controls them, and I’m probably not alone in that sense.
Possibly the most chilling line in the whole episode came from Kaitlyn’s (Nicole Kidman) husband, Errol (Martin Donovan). When asked about after-hours trading, Kaitlyn plays dumb, asking who trades before the bell rings and the stock market opens in the morning.
But really, we should be asking, “who rings the bell?” Because he who controls the purse strings, controls us all. (RELATED: Sheridan Delivers A Verbal Curb-Stomp To Climate Activists In ‘Special Ops: Lioness’ Episode 7)
There were no good guys and no bad guys in this epic limited series from Sheridan. Rumors suggest there won’t be another season of “Lioness,” but perhaps another branch of “Special Ops.”
I’ve been lucky enough to spend a lot of quality time with Army Rangers and Green Berets. The things these men do to protect our country, protect our freedoms, and alter the course of history, defies the imagination. But Sheridan did an incredible job of translating it to the screen. I’m excited to see him do it again.