Lioness Episode 15: The Devil Has Aces

Joe is still recovering from the injuries she suffered in the previous episode, but the crisis around her team keeps escalating, and the operation is pushed forward anyway. The episode centers on the CIA and its partners trying to respond to the border attack, which they believe was tied to Iranian counterintelligence acting through a proxy and serving Chinese intelligence interests.

Westfield and Mullins meet to discuss the fallout, including the fact that the attack on U.S. soil is already beyond containment. Westfield explains that the strike was meant to distract from a separate Chinese-Iranian nuclear arrangement, involving two Chinese nuclear scientists who are in Hakkâri, Turkey and are expected to be moved toward Tehran. In response, Mullins proposes a covert retaliation to send a message that Iran’s own borders can be penetrated.

Westfield then orders a black operation against the Chinese scientists while they are transported on Iranian soil. To reduce the risk of Joe being captured inside Iran, he has her coordinate the mission from Sulaymaniyah instead of accompanying the team into the country. The decision effectively puts the team back into the field despite Joe’s physical condition.

Back home, Joe’s recovery is complicated by her personal life, and she argues with Neal over her not prioritizing their daughters and still taking dangerous risks while injured. The episode also continues to show the strain Joe’s work places on her family responsibilities.

Elsewhere in the episode, Kyle questions Gutierrez and concludes that he is innocent of the accusations against him. Kyle learns that Gutierrez’s only real crime was killing a corrupt colleague who tried to recruit him for the cartel. Meade persuades him to stay loyal and keep going rather than expose what happened during the questioning.

The episode also checks in on other mission threads and characters tied to the larger operation, including Carrillo staying with Cruz at Fort Liberty, where the two grow closer and sleep together, while Pablo is moved to a black site in Costa Rica. The focus remains on the broader intelligence and military maneuvering rather than a single action sequence, and the episode ends with the operation poised to continue into its next phase.