Lioness Episode 23: Kiss the Girls

Joe survives the border attack and wakes up in the hospital in a rage, fighting the staff until she is sedated and calmed down. The episode then shifts to the fallout from the border operation: officials meet to discuss what went wrong, who may have been behind the attack, and how the situation now points toward a larger foreign plot involving China and Iran.

Byron is visited by Secretary of State Mullins, who pushes him to stop waiting for official approval and to go on the offensive. They agree that the attack on U.S. soil has moved beyond containment, and Mullins signals that he is willing to take responsibility if the plan backfires.

At the same time, the team regroups with the man they had been protecting, while also dealing with the aftermath of the failed border mission. Their working theory is that the suicide bombing was not simply about the border crisis itself, but part of a broader effort to distract U.S. intelligence and cover a separate operation involving Chinese nuclear scientists being moved toward Iran.

Joe later meets with Byron after waking up, and she explains that the border ambush felt less like a random strike and more like an effort to protect a foreign asset. Byron tells her they are moving into an active mission and that she will help direct it from Langley rather than going into the field herself.

The episode then reveals the new target: two Chinese nuclear scientists who, according to intelligence from Jordan and Mossad, are being transported through Turkey on their way to Tehran. Byron lays out the plan to hit their transport in Iran and make clear how far the United States can reach. Joe’s team is assigned to carry out the operation, with Josephina flying them in.

The episode also shows the team handling the detained cartel-linked man they have been holding in Dallas. He is kept at the safe house while the group decides what to do with him, and the mission focus quickly shifts to the much larger international strike being prepared.

By the end of the episode, the pieces are in place for the next operation: Joe is recovering, the leadership is angry and mobilizing, and the team is being sent toward a new mission centered on the scientists and the route into Iran.