Special Ops: Lioness Season 2 Episode 3 recap - What happened in the simulation test?

Special Ops: The Lioness Season 2, Episode 3 released on November 3, 2024, on Paramount+. The episode mainly focused on the new recruit, Captain Josephina Carrilo, and her lack of training in covert operations.

Joe recruited Josephina with the hope that her insider knowledge about the cartel would make her a great asset for the job.

When the time comes for the simulation test, Josephina fails and this sets up the major plotline of the third episode of the second season of Special Ops: The Lioness.

Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers.

What happened in the simulation test in Special Ops: Lioness Season 2 Episode 3?

After Joe recruits Josephina, she joins the base. However, she is not welcomed very warmly.

The rest of the team members treat her like a non-existent entity. At one point, the other team members even start belittling.

Due to her lack of covert training, the team does try to get her up to speed. However, Joe remains skeptical about Josephina and reckons they would need at least a month to get her properly trained.

Since Josephina does have certain qualities, like remaining cool under pressure and following instructions, Joe is still hopeful.

She is thus put into a simulation program by Joe. However, due to a lack of clear instructions, Josephina shoots random people in the simulation until she comes across a man holding a gun to a teenager’s head.

Instead of shooting that man, she keeps asking him to let that girl go, which leads to the man shooting her. Since Josephina is dead in the simulation, she fails the test.

Joe then tells her that they are not a team of hostage rescuers, instead they are a kill team. She tells her that if needed she would have to shoot the teenager and then kill the man who was holding a gun to her head.

While Josephina says she thinks that’s murder, Joe counters by saying that it’s simply survival.

Also Read: Who is Edwin Mullins in Special Ops: Lioness? Character explored in depth

Is Josephina hiding something from the team?

After Josephina fails her simulation test, Kyle tells Joe that they cannot have Josephina get more time to prepare and they should start getting tough with her.

Josephina is informed that her next assignment would be to visit her home and meet her parents. However, she refuses to do that, saying she does not have a close bond with her family.

However, Joe does not believe it and says she must be aware of her father’s cartel business and does not want to talk about it. Joe also pressurizes Josephina into telling her more about her family.

Kyle and the rest of the team also joins Joe to further intimidate Josephina. When the team members start speaking in Spanish to her, she breaks down, revealing that she can indeed speak Spanish, which she had previously said that she couldn’t.

The team claims that Josephina might actually be a mole and thus should be taken by the military police. This makes Josephina rest her case and say that she stayed away from her family particularly because she did not want to know anything about their business.

However, Joe does not believe her and says she might know something and is actually protecting them. Josephina says she joined the Lioness team especially because she is loyal to her country and would do anything for its safety.

Joe then asks her if her love for her country is enough to put her father and other family members in jail. To prove herself, Joe gives Josephina one chance by putting her phone in front of her.

Josephina is seen to make a call to her father through tears. It is likely that she will be giving him up to prove herself to the team.

Special Ops: The Lioness can be streamed on Paramount+.