'Lioness' Season 3 Episode 7 Recap & Ending Explained: Is Oleksandra The Mole?

Praise the lord (or Taylor Sheridan, if you want) because we finally have a Lioness episode that has a linear narrative from beginning to end. The penultimate episode of season 3 primarily centers around the rescue operation to save Joe from her captors. In the previous episode, the Russian SVR agent, Renat, who abducted Joe (probably without his government’s knowledge or permission) handed her to a mercenary named Babat (probably hired by Iran), whose job was to get the CIA’s senior case officer out of the country alive. The reason I said “alive” was because in episode 7, Babat and his men got numerous chances to shoot Joe down and kill her, but they didn’t, which suggests their directive was to extract Joe alive. And even though the main motive behind the operation wasn’t clearly revealed in the episode, it did throw a lot of theories on screen, so without any further ado, allow me to dig deeper.

Spoiler Alert

Babat And His Men Are Dead

In the last episode, Kyle, Cody J, and Grady located the kidnapper’s exit route and seized the aircraft (after shooting down the flight crew), which meant Babat and his men had to look out for an alternative way to carry Joe out of the country. Kaitlyn’s guess was they would try to move Joe into Mexico by air, but they wouldn’t be going through a public airport, as every agency had been keeping an eye on flights leaving the country, which was why Kaitlyn assumed that Joe’s captors would likely fly her out using a private airstrip (either owned by ranchers, or controlled by cartels) in a rural area. The episode didn’t disclose where exactly Babat and his men were headed, but it seemed like they were moving Joe (by vehicle) into one of the rural areas in a hundred mile radius or more, as the city streets were flooded with law enforcement officers, who had been rigorously inspecting all suspected vehicles. However, on the street, Babat’s minivan ran a red light and was instantly spotted by a local patrol car. The PD officer gave the plate number to the control room, only to find out that the suspicious vehicle already had active warrants (for armed robbery and grand theft auto) out for it. Well how stupid was Babat to rent vehicles with active warrants? I mean, even a fool knows such vehicles would instantly be flagged by the surveillance system, and the cherry on top was that they ran a red light to come directly on the radar when they knew that the streets were flooded with cops. I think, at this point, it’s safe to assume that Renat had planned an effective exfil operation, but Babat and his arrogance (or his inexperience) ruined it all. Fortunate for Joe though, as Babat’s stupidity helped the CIA and the FBI rescue Joe before it was too late.

Nevertheless, as soon as the patrol car officer reported the suspicious vehicle, Joe’s entire team (including Tex and Randy on the road, and Cruz and others in the chopper) heard the dispatch and left for the location to bring their girl back. Meanwhile, on the street, Babat threatened Joe to keep her mouth shut, but the moment the police officers approached the minivan, Joe screamed at the top of her lungs, alerting the four officers on the street. Babat’s vehicle tried to flee but Joe, showing immense courage, kicked the driver in the head (or neck), making him ram the minivan into another car parked on the street. Due to the impact, Babat (or someone else) dropped his gun on the floor, and Joe quickly picked it up and shot Babat in the face, along with another armed assailant. Simultaneously, Babat’s men in the SUV opened fire on the cops on the street and dropped three of them, while the fourth one was saved by Tex and Randy, who arrived on the scene and fired back, forcing three of Babat’s men to run after Joe, who was running towards the football field. Well, a strange thing you might have noticed here, these three armed terrorists had every chance to shoot Joe down, but they didn’t, which makes me believe that whoever hired them might have ordered them to bring Joe back alive. Or maybe Joe had great plot armor in this scene. So, while Joe was running away from her armed kidnappers, Tex and Randy followed them from behind, though it was Cruz, Bobby, Tucker and Two Cups who shot the men down and saved the day (well, night).

Joe Is Safe

As soon as the threat was neutralized, Bobby and Cruz jumped out of the bird and ran to secure Joe, and finally seeing a familiar face, she broke down in Bobby’s arms, as the entire past week had been nothing less than a nightmare for her. Joe told Cruz that it was she who owed her now. This exchange is likely a callback to season 1 where Joe extracted Cruz out of Aaliyah’s wedding venue and saved her life. Now in season 3, it is Cruz who saved Joe’s lives which was why Joe told Cruz that she owed her, to which Cruz replied back that Joe owed her nothing, mostly because if it wasn’t for Joe, Cruz would never have been able to find a way to serve her country, and more importantly, if Joe hadn’t brought her back into the team, Cruz would have never met the love of her life, Josie. In short, it’s Cruz who still owes Joe everything in life.

It Wasn’t Iran Or Russia

Finally, theory time, and I think this is the most confusing part of the entire episode, as we still don’t know who’s behind Joe’s kidnapping. So, after Joe was rescued, Kaitlyn’s husband, Errol told his wife that the State Department had tasked his firm with finding out the most likely responsible party. I think Errol here was referring to Joe’s abduction, which means after Joe was taken away, the State Department hired his firm to find out who was most likely to benefit from Joe’s kidnapping. This information also implies that Errol knew about Joe from the very beginning, or was aware that one of Kaitlyn’s senior case officers had gone missing. This was why he decided to “share some direct information” with his wife, (even though they don’t generally do that) so it will help Kaitlyn find the culprits in time. 

According to Errol and his firm’s assessment, neither China nor Russia was behind the exfil operation. I know Renat was actively involved in Joe’s kidnapping, but as I mentioned earlier, he was in it for the money, which means he was likely acting without his government’s knowledge or permission. But the thing is, whoever hired Renat wanted the Americans to think it was the Russians, the same way Renat’s employer (or the one who paid him) hired Babat, a mercenary from an Islamic State, to trick the Americans into thinking it was Iran who funded the operation. But as Errol’s report suggested, it wasn’t Iran either. And the independent factions of other terrorist organizations or the cartel couldn’t fund or execute such a large-scale operation on their own. This leaves them with only two names, Ukraine and Israel, who would benefit the most if the US were to strike deeply into Iran, Syria, Russia, or China (America’s most hyped adversaries).

Errol further theorized that none of these countries could execute such an operation without inside information, thereby suggesting there was a mole in the agency, who might be guiding or misdirecting the CIA to help their country achieve its objective. Because, you see, it was most likely a mole inside the agency who gathered intel on where Joe lived and disclosed that information with the Belarusian contract agents who showed up at Joe’s doorstep the same night she returned to America with Yurimov. Someone wanted it to be viewed as a retaliation from Russia, but the truth was, there was another mastermind behind the attack. I guess by now we can safely assume that Joe’s hunch was correct from the very beginning, as she was the only who suspected there was a mole in the agency, and all fingers pointed at none other than Oleksandra, who might have purposely handed them Yurimov to drag the Americans into a war which wasn’t theirs to begin with. And sadly, the CIA fell straight into her trap. She deceived the CIA by playing innocent. At the beginning of season 3, Joe mentioned the philosophy of Occam’s razor, suggesting the simplest answer (Oleksandra being the mole) is usually the correct one. Joe’s argument was that she gave them to Yurimov without demanding anything in return, making the transaction a massive red flag.

Coming back to Errol, it seemed like he read Kaitlyn’s mind, or what exactly she was thinking about, when he asked Kaitlyn if her agency had flipped any foreign agents recently, or if anyone had offered themselves up and provided intel that checked out. Well, Errol’s assumption was right on the money, as Oleksandra was the one who’d approached Kyle at a bar in Kyiv, which meant she (or her country) had already designed this intricate plan and was ready to execute it. Next, she handed the CIA Putin’s hammer, not just to weaken Russia, but also bring the Americans in direct conflict with Moscow. And last but not least, she gave up the information on Russia’s spy network in America, which helped their intelligence agencies conduct the biggest espionage sting in decades. And once again, she handed all this information over for free, but if you see the larger picture, then you can reckon who benefited the most from this sting operation: Oleksandra and her nation, as it weakened their enemies’ hold on American soil, and reminded the Americans that Russia was still their sworn enemy, which means they need to keep funding Oleksandra’s country so it can defend itself against its neighbours.

However, after hearing Errol’s entire assessment, Kaitlyn said that it would really benefit her (her agency and the entire country) if he could come to a different conclusion in his report. The exact reason behind such a request was explained later in the episode, where Byron told Mullins that the US couldn’t afford to let Oleksandra’s country fall to its neighbors, as it would give the Russian Navy access to strategic sea routes and increase their power beyond imagination. This means the CIA had to deal with the mole crisis carefully so as to not empower Russia in any way, or give them the green light to attack whoever they want.

Oleksandra Could Be The Mole

In episode 7’s ending, Kaitlyn and Byron visited Mullins’ office, to brief him about the rescue operation and their efforts to cover up the mess that Babat and his men had left on the streets of Houston. Byron told the Secretary of State that they were pushing the narrative to the news channels and the public that whatever happened on the streets was a joint operation conducted by the FBI and the DEA, where they shot down a few men to stop the perpetrators carrying narcotics. And as far as the three dead officers were concerned, Byron assured Mullins that the CIA had the authority to freeze all police reports, local, state, and federal, so none of it would ever come out. In short, Byron covered up the mess in a single conversation so that the viewers wouldn’t ask too many questions or try to find  any loopholes in the CIA’s investigation. 

However, coming to the part that matters, Byron informed Mullins that the double agent, Oleksandra, who gave them Yurimov and the information about Russian’s assets in America, might have played them. During this conversation, Byron told Mullins exactly what Errol’s firm had deduced, that a mole inside the agency orchestrated Joe’s kidnapping in order to instigate the Americans to attack Russia or Iran. And Byron believed that Oleksandra’s motives were politically motivated, since she wanted to pull America into a war which they didn’t start, which, coincidentally, sounds like the same conversation Joe and Cruz had, after they abducted Yurimov (in season 3, episode 1). Mullins, though, had one doubt (which I am wondering about as well): if Oleksandra was the mastermind of this operation, then why did she help the CIA rescue Joe (referring to the information Oleksandra shared with Kyle regarding Russian safe houses and their exit routes)? Byron believed she gave up this information to win the CIA’s confidence, as she didn’t expect them to act as quickly as they did and underestimated their surveillance infrastructure. But I don’t think that’s a reasonable explanation. My theory is, the show is setting Oleksandra up as a red herring, and it will eventually be revealed that the real mole is someone else. I am not sure who, but we will find out in the finale.

Byron Wants To Kill Oleksandra

Byron told Mullins that Oleksandra being the mole was his best guess, not a fact, as the CIA didn’t have any direct evidence to link her or her nation to Joe’s kidnapping. However, they didn’t have time to investigate her involvement, as they needed to act fast and eliminate the threat before Errol submitted his report to the State Department. The reason being the CIA couldn’t kill the report, or stop it from coming out in any way, and once those findings were released to the Senate or leaked to the press, POTUS would be forced to take a decision that would indirectly favor the Russians, which, as Byron said, America couldn’t allow to happen. So even though they couldn’t stop the report, they could kill the foundation on which the report was built, that is, the double agent who tricked the CIA; and the agency didn’t need POTUS’ approval to conduct such an operation. However, they still needed Mullins’ permission to make their move, but Mullins told them he needed some time to consider authorizing this murder. I think the reason Mullins called it a murder is because, as mentioned earlier, Byron and Kaitlyn wanted to execute Oleksandra based on nothing more than a theory. So from Mullins’ point of view, their hunch could be wrong, and he might be authorizing an unjustifiable killing. Mullins was aware that Oleksandra needed to be executed to protect their nation, but it was a murder nonetheless. 

Yurimov May Go Home

In the end, Byron sought Mullins’ permission to return Yurimov to the Russians, the reason being that Yurimov hadn’t given them any credible intel in six months, and they had no reason to keep him a prisoner, as Yurimov had taken no direct or indirect action against the United States. Remember back in season 3, episode 2, when Byron called Yurimov a war criminal who had committed crimes against American citizens? Now, both Byron and Kaitlyn are contradicting themselves because they’ve found out that they had been “honeypotted” by a double agent, though they are too proud to own up to their mistake. The thing is, Byron and Kaitlyn are greedy for intel and trade secrets, which is why it’s so easy to trick them. In their case, the trap wasn’t anything sensual or ideological, but information about their rival nations that pulled them straight into Oleksandra’s trap.

Nevertheless, the Americans believed that Russia still had no knowledge that they were holding Yurimov, or maybe they assumed incorrectly, and Russia knew exactly where Yurimov was, but as Maxim Petrov had told Byron, Putin would never ask for what was stolen from them, and it was they who had to give “it” back if they ever found “it.” I guess this was why Byron wanted to give Yurimov back without asking for anything in return, as it would help the US thaw its relationship with Moscow. Also, the final trailer for Lioness season 3 shows Joe, Cruz, and Josie visiting Yurimov in a detention camp, most likely Gitmo. So it seems that Byron and Kaitlyn ordered Joe to oversee the operation to hand Yurimov back to the Russians, as it was Joe and her team that brought him to America in the first place. Or maybe Joe decided to command the mission herself, as she is eager to find answers about her kidnapping, and Yurimov might lead her straight to the real culprit, because as the running theme of the season says, “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.” I guess you got the clue.

Joe Will Likely Hunt Renat

After the rescue operation, Joe’s team brought her to an aircraft headed home, where she was taken straight to surgery to treat her pinky toe, which had been amputated by Babat in the previous episode. In the meantime, Kaitlyn visited Joe’s house to inform her husband, Neal, that they’d found her, and she was safe and in good health. Her team was bringing her home, and she might come back in the afternoon. However, in episode 7’s ending, when Bobby finally drove Joe to her house, she couldn’t go in and asked Bobby to drive her to the office. The reason being, Joe still had unfinished business, and she refused to meet her family until it’s all over. She had already put her family’s lives at risk by bringing an unwanted war home, which was also the reason she didn’t want to return to them before she had dealt with that crisis once and for all. However, in the end, Joe did give Neal a call to let him know that she was okay and would return home soon. She didn’t say when, but she promised she would, but before that, she had things to deal with. Before hanging up, she asked him to “kiss the girls” for her, which is also the title of the episode.

In episode 7’s ending, Joe told Bobby and Cruz that she was going to find who was behind her kidnapping, and she was going to kill them for it. And even though it sounds like Joe would be going after Oleksandra directly, I don’t think that’s going to be the case. The reason being, as explained earlier, the CIA don’t have any proof to hold Oleksandra responsible for the kidnapping, so Joe would try to gather evidence against her before confronting her in the finale. And with Babat already dead, my best guess is, Joe will go after Renat, the man who abducted her, and bring him in to fill in the gaps. Renat could give Joe the name of his employer, or the  person who paid him to kidnap her, and that information might help Joe and the CIA to connect the dots and lead them directly to the mole in the agency. Also, when Kaitlyn met Neal earlier, she promised him that there was a desk job for Joe in the future, so it could be possible that once the mole in the agency had been dealt with, Kaitlyn and Byron would pull Joe out of the field, and in the next season, we might see Joe overseeing the operation from Langley, instead of jumping into the battlefield and risking her life.

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