'Lioness' Season 3 Episode 4 Recap & Ending Explained: Did Byron Issue An Order To Kill Joe?

The fourth episode of Lioness season 3, titled “Murder Hornets” (the nickname given by North Americans to the Asian giant hornet, found in Eastern Russia) quietly prepares us for the worst that could happen to Joe, who has been abducted by the Russians in the present timeline, though much like everyone else, I am also hoping that nothing bad happens to her, and she returns home safely. In the present timeline, her team is racing against the clock to locate her, but unfortunately, all their efforts are in vain, as they fail to stop the Russians from putting her on a plane headed out of the country. And I know this timeline hopping in season 3 can be a bit confusing for some viewers, so I am gonna simplify it for you by mentioning which of the events in the episode are happening in the present timeline, and which belong to the past (that is, around six months ago, when Joe returned from Ukraine after the snatch operation). So without any further ado, allow me to dive deeper into the episode.

Spoiler Alert

The CIA Misses Joe By 10 Minutes [Present]

After abducting Joe from a neighbourhood in Fairfax, Virginia, the Russian elite unit brought her to an abandoned house, where they removed her tracker, and then moved her to one of their black sites, an airplane hangar in Baltimore, Maryland. And to transfer Joe from one location to another, the SVR agents had been using cars owned by or assigned to Russian diplomats in America, which could explain how they had been able to stay under the radar for so long. You could spot four of these vehicles, including the vehicles that rammed Joe’s car outside her house, and the truck in which she was moved from one location to another. However, Byron already knew that the Russians were gonna pull off something like that, which was why he had put all the vehicles entering and exiting the Russian embassy under surveillance. Shortly after Joe’s kidnapping, the Russians had assigned a senior-level case officer (with diplomatic immunity), most likely the bald guy, Renat, to oversee Joe’s movements and extract her out of the States. Renat was the same guy who had removed Joe’s tracker and had been lecturing her on how America had grown weak without a fair and powerful leader, but Joe didn’t buy any of it, and refused to flip or share any intel with him. But as it turned out, Renat likely didn’t want to hurt her, not as long as they were still in America, and was saving his skills for the right opportunity. He told Joe that he was an expert in his line of work (likely torture and extracting information), but he would show her his monstrous side once they reach Russia. You can already imagine what he’s going to do to Joe, considering we have already seen a glimpse of it: the way he removed Joe’s tracker, and how he installed a birdbath water drip above her head to break her.

Nevertheless, the surveillance system had possibly flagged Renat’s car entering the hangar in Baltimore, after which the QRF hit the hangar to rescue Joe, but unfortunately, by the time they reached the location, Renat and his team had already left on a private jet (Challenger 300) with the tail number N565KJ. But here’s an interesting detail in case you missed it: the Russians didn’t hurt Joe in the cell they were holding her in, because spilling her blood would have left evidence, and they possibly didn’t want to expose their black site or confirm to the authorities that they had Joe in their custody. However, Joe was aware that her team would come looking for her, and therefore left a “blood trail” so they would know that they were on the right path. Moments before Renat’s men removed Joe from the bed, she cut herself with the leather strap on her forehead, and as soon as the men removed the straps from her head and hands, she shook her head hysterically, spilling blood all over the floor. Renat’s men might have tried their best to clean the room, but they still left a spot, so when the QRF searched the location, they spotted the blood stain in the secret room and took a sample (to match it with Joe’s DNA). The bloodstain convinced Kyle and the rest of the team that Joe had been locked up there, and therefore he shot one of the captured agents to extract information about the plane’s tail number. Also, you may have noticed that the room that Joe was held in was fully soundproof, so I guess it’s the usual spot for the SVR agents to illegally hold prisoners, or they might have meticulously planned Joe’s abduction so that they could get her out of the country without a fuss.

Kyle’s Wilding As Always [Present]

During the rescue operation, Kyle and Bobby got into a heated argument because, as per the Rules of Engagement (ROE), the QRF wasn’t supposed to shoot someone until the unit was fired upon or a credible threat presented itself, but Kyle executed a Russian intelligence officer while he was immobilized, therefore breaking said rules. Kyle tried to justify his actions to Kaitlyn, Bobby, and the rest of the team with another lecture (I’ll come to this in a bit, because the same dialogue was repeated thrice by three different characters, so I’m going to save your time as well as mine). Kaitlyn understood the urgency of the situation, which was why she quickly buried the subject, as a dead Russian intelligence officer wasn’t as important to the government as a missing senior CIA agent, and she ordered Bobby to focus all her energy on finding their “gal” (Joe).

Meanwhile, Kaitlyn asked Kyle to contact the double agent, Oleksandra Balakin (in witness protection now), and question her about all the safe houses and supply routes that the Russians had been using to cross the US border. Kaitlyn believed that the Russians might have laid down these travel routes a long time ago, so it’s possible Oleksandra could know where the Russians were taking Joe. And as far as adhering to ROEs was concerned, Kaitlyn told Kyle that she was already working on getting him the people who are trained to play outside the lines. I am sure she’s talking about Cody Spears (Taylor Sheridan) and his unit, as we have already seen the havoc they wreaked in Mexico last season. Honestly, I think Cody and Kyle are a perfect match for each other, and they may be the ones who’ll bring Joe home.

The CIA Wants Joe Back, Dead Or Alive [Present]

Amber Whalen searched for the Russian’s private jet (carrying Joe), using its tail number to track its location, but as it turned out, they had already disabled the locator (and why wouldn’t they?). She told Kaitlyn that she couldn’t trace the plane, but as per her calculations, it could be bound for Cuba, Mexico, or Venezuela. Amber had informed the Air Force authorities, and they had been searching for the jet, but they needed mission clarity if the Russians engaged with the American air assets. Hearing this, Kaitlyn made a phone call, as it wasn’t her decision to make, and I think she possibly called Byron, who told her to get her hands on that jet by any means possible. Kaitlyn issued the same order to Amber, telling her that if the Russian’s plane was located in US airspace, then their jets should maneuver to force a landing, but if they found it outside the U.S., then they were free to engage, which meant blowing up the jet (and killing Joe) to stop them from reaching their destination. And you may be wondering how Kaitlyn, Byron, and everyone above them in the hierarchy came to the conclusion; it all comes down to the same lecture Byron, Kaitlyn, and Kyle have been screaming throughout the episode, that Joe was a liability that they couldn’t afford to lose.

However, for the CIA, it would be impossible to figure out their enemy’s real objectives until Joe reached Russia and the Russians finally made demands, but in the meantime, Byron had a few assumptions to prepare the higher-ups for the worst-case scenarios. Firstly, the enemy could reach out to negotiate a trade for Aleksi Yurimov, which might still be acceptable to the CIA, considering Yurimov hadn’t given them any useful information in the past six months. Second, the SVR already had some limited information about the Lioness program (as confirmed by Oleksandra in the previous episode), and Joe could fill in those blanks, giving them proof that America conducted espionage operations on foreign soil to fulfill their objectives. And if that information was released publicly, it could have severe diplomatic consequences for the US, from compromising their political relationships with various strategic partners in the Middle East to causing political damage domestically, with citizens losing their faith in the administration. However, the worst-case scenario would be that the Russians wouldn’t release the information about the Lioness ops. Instead they’d hand over Joe to Iran, and it would be Iran who would release the information, therefore putting Joe on trial and finding her guilty of targeting people of importance in the Middle East. This would do the same damage as Byron mentioned in his second possibility, but in this case, they wouldn’t be able to pin the blame on the Russians, and would be forced to accept their defeat in the Middle East. And Byron feared that the Russians might go for maximum damage because they no longer wanted Yurimov back, or had any desire to start a dialogue with the US, but wanted to embarrass the Americans, the same way the CIA embarrassed them by abducting Yurimov from Russian-controlled territory, and then by exposing their honeypot network with the help of a double agent. So the Russians would like to make a show of Joe and the CIA before finally giving her back. In simple words, as Byron speculated, the Russians might not be looking for information, but revenge. And this might be the reason why Byron issued such an order, to spot the plane, and “deal” with it, because if Joe reached Russia, then the fallout would be potentially limitless.

Yurimov’s A Failed Endeavour [Present]

I guess at this stage, and judging by Byron’s own words, it’s safe to assume that the Yurimov operation was nothing but a failed endeavor, because it almost looks like the CIA has been played. In episode 4, Byron told Mullins that in six months, Putin’s hammer, Yurimov, hadn’t given them anything useful. Most of the intel he shared with their officers turned out to be information planted for the purpose of being offered, and any valuable intel that Yurimov held, the Russians had already altered so it wouldn’t be of any use to the CIA. I guess we can also entertain the theory that Joe came up with in the second episode: that the person in their custody might not be Yurimov at all, but an actor from the Russian theater circuit, planted there to play the part. And if that’s true, then it all points towards one thing: Oleksandra, the woman with a large “honey pot,” laid a trap for the Americans, and the CIA fell straight into it, thereby starting a war that was never theirs to begin with. And you see what the SVR got in return for a fake Yurimov? The US’ snatch operation gave the Russians an excuse to abduct one of the CIA’s top case officers, Joe “the Lioness.” This could also be the reason why the Russians had been so chill about the whole incident and, for the past six months, never accused the US of having Yurimov (at least not directly). Either they knew that the CIA had a fake one in their custody, or the SVR was certain that their head wouldn’t share any important information with the enemy. And I think Oleksandra was aware of it too (that Yurimov wouldn’t break), yet she shared his whereabouts with the CIA (to bait the Americans), thereby once again bringing us back to the same question: why was she acting so generously? She never made any demands, nor asked for anything in return, so why was she helping the Americans for free? I mean, if Oleksandra played the CIA (for any reason), then the SVR might already be winning this intelligence war by a fair margin. And I know that Oleksandra gave the CIA the information about the US senators and other important assets that the Russians have turned, but it could all just be part of her plan to gain the CIA’s trust, so she (being a Russian agent) could operate on American soil without suspicion. What I am trying to say here is that the Russians may have sacrificed a few expendable assets because they have always had their eye on the bigger target (and as Oleksandra confirmed, that’s how the Russians like to play, “dirty”).

Nevertheless, six months after Yurimov’s abduction, Byron realized that Putin’s hammer wasn’t as precious as he believed him to be, and therefore he was ready to trade him for Joe, but I don’t think the Russians are ready for any such conversation. So the Americans may or may not admit to having Yurimov, but I guess it won’t help Joe in any way, and in the end, it will be Cody and his team who will extract her out of the enemy territory. In the meantime, Mullins heard Byron’s plan to return Yurimov to Russia to get Joe back, but Mullins knew that it wasn’t a solution to the problem, but more damage control, so that the Russians wouldn’t hand Joe to a proxy (like Iran), which would do more damage to their country than anyone could imagine. But before owning up to the fact that the CIA picked up Yurimov, Mullins had to first inform the President that they ran a capture mission in Russia without his permission.

The Murder Hornets [Past]

In the past timeline, the CIA had initiated their operation to catch the SVR handlers who had been manipulating and blackmailing American citizens to do their bidding. In the previous episode, Joe asked Byron to issue a press release informing the public that they had captured a Russian intelligence officer operating on U.S. soil, which Joe believed would rattle the undercover SVR agents and their assets. Now, in episode 4, they started the operation to identify those SVR officers and sleeper agents and bring them in. But it wasn’t as easy as it sounded to begin with. To understand the conflict here, you first need to understand how this Russian honeypot network works. A Russian intelligence officer (an undercover agent who is setting the trap) makes contact with a source (the target) and then develops that source into an asset; and by “develops,” I mean manipulates or blackmails them into working for them. After the turnover, the asset’s identity is shared with SVR handlers (like Oleksandra) in order to prevent multiple handlers from working with the same person. But the problem here is that Oleksandra would only know the identity of the person who was being recruited in her network, but she didn’t know who recruited her, that is, the point of contact or the undercover intelligence officer operating on the ground level. So Joe started a covert operation, codenamed “Treasure,” where their Ukrainian asset, Oleksandra, was named Badger; their covert team, Hornet; SVR officers are named Gold, and their assets are Silver. The objective of the mission was to plant a Lioness in close proximity to the assets (honeypotting them again) and offer them a way out in exchange for identifying the handler controlling them. This would help the CIA and other intelligence agencies identify those undercover agents operating on US soil and bring them in. Though Byron made it clear that these officers would most likely have diplomatic immunity, so they wouldn’t be able to do anything except detain and deport. I think that was Joe’s clue that they had to terminate the undercover agents, instead of arresting them, or maybe I am reading too much into it.

Later, we saw this operation in action as Amber, under the guise of a consultant, approached a man named Charles Robbins, working at Northrop Corporation (an asset exposed by Oleksandra), while Joe and her team visited a nightclub, where Cruz and Josephine attracted the attention of a Virginia man named Cade McWeaver. As mentioned earlier, the sole purpose of this covert operation is to get to the handler controlling these assets, and possibly in the next episode, we will find out how this mission pans out, and what eventually happens to these intelligence officers.

Byron and Kaitlyn Meet Maxim Petrov  [Past]

After the press release (about the arrest of a Russian Intelligence officer) came out, the Russian deputy ambassador, Maxim Petrov, reached out to Byron to find out what he was up to. But Byron didn’t go alone; instead, he took a whole bunch of people with him. Amber walked in first, pretending to be Charlie, a consultant; then came Oleksandra, who helped Amber identify the assets inside the restaurant; and moments later, Grady and Cody J walked into the bar to keep an eye on the Russian agent that Maxim had brought with him. And finally, Byron entered with Kaitlyn, who sat with Maxim, asking him what he wanted to talk about. Basically, Maxim wanted to know if the Americans had actually arrested one of their intelligence officers (as revealed in the news broadcast), or if they were just spreading fake news to defame Russia and create a panic in their agency. Well, Kaitlyn told him the truth: an SVR agent (Oleksandra) had contacted them, offering information regarding SVR sources, but Maxim saw it as a lie (or maybe not), as he couldn’t imagine why a “Russian” agent would betray her country. But guess what, Oleksandra’s not Russian, but Ukrainian, so she has her motives. Nevertheless, the entire conversation between Maxim and Byron didn’t give us anything new, except for Maxim’s subtle warning to Byron. Maxim told him that they had lost something very valuable (Yurimov) to their president. They think “it” was stolen from them, and now they would want something in return (possibly Joe). So at this point, Maxim only suspected that the Americans had taken Yurimov, which was why they didn’t kidnap Joe immediately, but started investigating and gathering evidence so that they could be certain of the CIA’s covert operation. He told Byron that he couldn’t ask for the favor (possibly because of the embarrassment that the head of the SVR was kidnapped from their own territory). And it’s possible that, in the present timeline, Byron remembered  this conversation and got the idea that the Russians had picked up Joe because they wanted to trade Yurimov in exchange for the CIA agent. I think what Maxim probably meant here was that they couldn’t ask for Yurimov back, so it’s on them (the Americans) to have to return him (on their own). He might have suggested that his country would put the Americans in a position where they had no other option but to return Yurimov by themselves, and kidnapping Joe was indeed one way to put that kind of pressure on them. Because you see, the CIA failed to break Yurimov, but everyone was confident that Joe would break sooner or later, and that was what the Russians had been betting on. And surprisingly, in the present timeline, you can see their plan coming to fruitation, as Byron himself decided to make it public that they have Yurimov, so that they could initiate trade negotiations with the Russians as quickly as possible.

Kaitlyn Asks Neal To Be Ready For The Worst [Present]

Episode 4’s ending sequence once again jumped back to the present timeline, where Kaitlyn visited Joe’s house to prepare her husband, Neal, for the worst. It’s possible that after Kaitlyn received the orders to engage with the jet carrying Joe, Kaitlyn likely realized that Joe might not make it back alive, and this was why she paid Neal a visit, as he deserved to know. She told him that there were three possible outcomes to this situation. Firstly, their unit beat the clock (locating the plane before it leaves US airspace) and bring Joe home safely in a few days. Secondly, the clock wins (the plane reaches Russia), which means they have to start trade negotiations with the Russian government to bring Joe back, and this may take months or longer. And thirdly, Joe never returns (either she dies on her way to Russia, or Russia hands her off to a proxy, who puts Joe on trial and executes her). Kaitlyn asked Neal to be prepared for the worst-case scenario, because that way, if it didn’t come true, then relief would be their reward. Neal wasn’t sure how he was going to deliver this news to his children, but being a father, he had to inform them. But, as I said earlier, I am still convinced that things won’t escalate to that point, as Cody and his team are possibly on their way, and with the President’s permission, they may conduct another rescue operation (similar to the one in season 3, episode 1) to bring Joe back safely. Well, I am keeping my fingers crossed for Joe’s safety, but do let me know what you think about the episode. Will Joe’s unit be able to bring her home or will she die?

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