‘Lioness’ Season 3 May Be Taylor Sheridan’s Best Ever, But This Would Screw It Up

There was a quiet moment from Season 3, Episode 3 of Lioness that scares me as a fan of Taylor Sheridan TV shows.

So far, this season has over-delivered. In fact, I'd argue it's on track to become the best of Sheridan's many seasons of drama on Paramount+. He broke the formula before it needed to be broken and decided to make the action so much more personal.

Add in some simply terrific acting by the show's stars and few important side characters (Kaitlyn Meade's husband Errol deserves his flowers), and you've got the ingredients for an all-timer.

Can it last?

As long as one of the teenage daughters doesn't grab a gun and shoot a wolf or a mountain lion, we should be good, but E3 opened a door to just that kind of thing.

• New episodes of Lioness drop every Sunday on Paramount+
• Zoe Saldaña, Nicole Kidman and Michael Kelly lead a star-studded cast of Hollywood A-listers and Sheridan universe regulars.
• This is your SPOILER ALERT warning. Key plot points from the first three episodes of Season 3 will be revealed.

Taylor Sheridan's Best Seasons From Yellowstone, Landman + More

Prior to Season 3 of Lioness, here's how I'd rank the Top 3 Sheridan seasons:

1. Season 1 (the only season) of 1883.
2. Season 1 of 1923.
3. Season 2 of Yellowstone.

Season 3 of Yellowstone was also very good, and both seasons of Landman have been very entertaining. Seasons 1 and 2 of Lioness are also prime cut television.

Some may argue a season of Mayor of Kingstown deserves to be up there and that may be true. I've not watched that show (life got in the way), but I've watched all the rest, including Tulsa King, Dutton Ranch, The Madison and Lawmen: Bass Reeves.

As a series, Lioness has been the most consistent and it's not even close.

Lauren Lo Smith/Paramount+

Lioness Season 3, Mid-Season Review:

The only criticism I have of Special Ops: Lioness is that sometimes, it's too smart. There are a lot of foreign names and three-letter government agencies that are hard to keep track of, and everything moves so fast.

It takes a rewatch to understand important, granular details, like who exactly Joe's team kidnapped in Ep. 1.

The man is a very important Russian military leader named Aleksi Yurimov, and his kidnapping triggers a series of events, including an attack on Joe's home and — six months later — her kidnapping.

Or does it?

Right now, it's still not clear how the events are connected. The show's most important new character is a double agent named Oleksandra Balakin, who no one from the U.S. knows for sure if they can trust.

Emerson Miller/Paramount+

The consistent level of suspense is literally breathtaking. Every episode seems to include one or two new satellite missions, but Sheridan doesn't release his grip on the audience between gun fights.

During Ep. 3, Two Cups and Tex are tasked with driving Joe's daughters to school, but they sense a threat and turn around in dramatic fashion.

Was that just a car accident up ahead, or were the Russians planning something nefarious? We don't know yet.

This scene is an example of why Season 3 is better than the show's first two. It's much more personal.

READ MORE: Landman Season 3 — Everything We Know

Joe's husband Neal (actor Dave Annable) and her two daughters Kate and Charlie now know what she does for a living, and they're asked to live with it in no uncertain terms.

Elsewhere, Cruz and Josie's relationship adds humanity to the otherwise robotic nature of the QRF. Kaitlyn Meade's (Kidman) occasional conversations with Errol (Martin Donovan) do too. Their love is so cold it's almost romantic, but his perspective is a stroke of genius by Sheridan.

Through him, we are able to tie TV events to real life events. It makes what's happening feel so much more real.

Could Lioness Season 3 Be Taylor Sheridan's Best Ever Television Season?

At this point, Sheridan hasn't given in to the obvious trope: A daughter hasn't been kidnapped and held for ransom.

Every show succumbs to that plot line at some point, but here's to hoping he can avoid that temptress.

He's more inclined to arm young, female characters and put them in danger they have to shoot their way out of (see Elizabeth Strafford in 1923), and that's why I'm worried.

Just before leaving for work, Joe slips a gun into husband Neal's briefcase. In theater, TV and film, whenever a loaded gun is hidden away it's destined to go off during the second act.

Kate killing a bad guy wouldn't ruin the season, but it would be the sort of predictable plot point this show has avoided so far.