Special Ops: Lioness season 2 episode 3 ending explained - Did Josephina pass the simulation test during her Lioness training?

Special Ops: Lioness season 2 episode 3 dropped on Sunday, November 3, 2024, only on Paramount+ as part of the show's weekly release after its two-episode premiere last Sunday. The Taylor Sheridan spy-thriller series will follow the Lioness as they train their new Lioness member just in time for a new mission.

The second episode of season 2 saw Joe recruiting a new Lioness, Captain Josephina Carrillo. The possibility that she has insider knowledge about the cartel makes her an asset for the job.

However, she's a pilot, and flying the bird is just about the only thing she knows how to do.

Her lack of training and experience in covert operations sets up the plot and ending of Special Ops: Lioness season 2 episode 3, where Josephina fails the simulation test.

As she adjusts to her new life as a Lioness in the Paramount+ show, it's become more obvious that Josephina is out of her element. Plus, she's hiding something from Joe that makes the latter edgy about trusting her.

Disclaimer: This article contains major spoilers for Special Ops: Lioness season 2 episode 3. Reader's discretion is advised.

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Did Captain Josephina pass or fail the simulation in Special Ops: Lioness season 2 episode 3?

Special Ops: Lioness season 2 episode 3 follows the events of Lioness season 2 episode 2 after Josephina is recruited to be a new Lioness. She joins the special ops team at the base in episode 3, but her welcome is less than warm.

The rest of the Lioness almost makes her feel like she doesn't exist, and she's having difficulty with the co-ed setup.

At one point, some of the members are belittling her abilities, with Kyle caught saying that he needs to know what she can do beyond flying. With her lack of covert operative training and experience, the team tries to get her up to speed, including shooting enemies in rapid succession.

However, Joe is skeptical about having Josephina in their upcoming mission, saying that she still needs at least a month to train her.

While her only background is being a helicopter pilot, she can stay cool under pressure, take direction fast, and execute what she's told without many questions, which Joe thinks is a good place to start.

In other words, Josephina has some promise in her to become a new Lioness member, so Joe puts her in a simulation test.

However, Josephina doesn't know what to do without any instruction about her mission in the sim. She starts shooting men who appear suspicious until she sees a man holding a girl hostage at gunpoint.

Instead of shooting the man, she keeps telling him to "Let her go," and in the end, the man shoots Josephina instead. Her character dying in the simulation means she failed the test, which Joe criticizes her for.

At the end of the espionage thriller show, Joe lectures her that they are not cop officers or a hostage rescue team—they are a kill team. Their only mission is to eliminate the target, and they have to kill any obstacle in their way, even if that includes killing the teenage girl.

Josephina doesn't agree, calling it murder, but Joe counters that it's called survival.

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Was Josephina hiding something from Joe?

Early in Special Ops: Lioness season 2 episode 3, Joe makes it known that she doesn't trust the new Lioness recruit. She tells Kaitlyn about it, which prompts the leader to remind her of an important lesson—never trust anybody, and it appears Kaitlyn means that includes her special ops team.

It turns out that Joe is right to be wary of Josephina, but not because she is a spy. At the end of Special Ops: Lioness season 2 episode 3, Joe confronts Josephina about her family and her previous claim that she doesn't know what her father and uncle are doing.

It leads to a tense back-and-forth between both women, where the teary-eyed Josephina confesses that she didn't tell the truth about her family because she didn't want to be part of that like.

She said that she didn't want to see or want to know about her father and uncle's dealings, but she does know about it. She reasons that she has put that behind her and now focuses on being a dedicated soldier because she loves her country. Unsurprisingly, her revelation doesn't ease a morsel of Joe's mistrust.

She implies that Josephina is a spy and pressures her to reveal everything she knows about her father and uncle.

In a slip of the tongue, Josephina speaks Spanish, which she previously said that she couldn't. It further reveals that she lied to Joe when they first met, only adding to Joe's distrust towards her.

At the end of Special Ops: Lioness season 2 episode 3, Joe asks Josephina to prove that she's not a spy and that she will do anything to protect the country she claims she loves.

Joe calls her father, crying and pretending that the news about her being court marshaled upsets her. She's likely selling his father out, putting him behind bars to prove that she will do right by the country.

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Joe is still tense about her family's safety in Special Ops: Lioness season 2 episode 3

Joe is edgy after she realizes that her future missions will be more dangerous than she initially thought after the kidnapping of Congresswoman Hernandez in episode 1.

She's especially tense about her family's safety, which is evident early in Special Ops: Lioness season 2 episode 3.

Joe with her family in Special Ops: Lioness season 2 episode 3 (Image via Paramount+)

When Joe goes home to find the downstairs of her home empty, she looks tense. And when she tries to call Neal and the girls, no one answers. She then resorts to calling Neal's phone, but he doesn't pick up, which makes her instantly panic.

Joe searches the entire room, trying to look for everybody or clues until she happens to see Neal in the bathtub. It turns out that Neal is enjoying a bath with headphones on.

Joe is visibly sweating and panting, all tense because she thinks something happened to her family, which also concerns Neal. Like she usually does, Joe downplays her panic, saying that it was because of lack of sleep.

That said, she also reveals to Neal that her job deals with people, and kidnapping is one of their modus operandi.

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Catch Special Ops: Lioness season 2 episode 3 streaming on Paramount+. Previous episodes of the series can also be watched on the platform with a subscription, with new episodes released every week on Sundays.