Darkness of Man is a 2024 action thriller centered around Russell Hatch, portrayed by Jean Claude Van Damme. Hatch, an Interpol operative, steps into the role of a father figure to Jayden, whose informant father was slain in a botched raid. As the plot thickens, Hatch becomes the guardian of Jayden and his grandfather, shielding them from ruthless gangs embroiled in a ferocious turf battle. Hatch’s unwavering resolve to safeguard Jayden leads to a series of exhilarating and gripping confrontations.
Slowly but surely I’m almost done with Special Ops Lioness, I got so use to watch content on VR that either sometimes I’m too tired to put on the headset when I have time to watch series or I’m lazy and just don’t but watching at my computer is not the same anymore besides a very long time I stop using Tv’s I just don’t anymore, probably should buy a big ass TV this year and get use more to it.
Special Ops Lioness is a little under cover agent/army drama series that will most likely will get a second season, haven’t seen any news saying that it has been cancel or there wont be a season two although the mission does complete from what I have seen on IMDB episodes descriptions, anyways it should get a season two after such good performance through rating sites but it could also be a one season deal, that would sux but that just how it is with the industry, never get to attach to series although some times its inevitable.
Second episode pick up some action towards the end but for the most part its just fun to see Joe mad for the most episode, she is mad because how her team got heat on their ass because of the ops at the south on top Cruz gets into a mess situation at a bar, other than that it was a very girly episode, btw Joe’s daughter broke her deal of top off only.
I can see how the girly scenes between Cruz and Aaliyah can ruin the episode but lucky it doesn’t repeat that often and its the only way the series can represent how Cruz takes information from her, for the most part the entertaining side of the episode is when Joe, her team members and Kaitlyn her boss jump into the scene, so far Joe had now clue who Aaliyah was getting marry with but since Cruz is getting closer to the group they have manage to get some intel on the guy although the are been extra careful since she already experience how fast Cruz can fuck things up and this was not the exception, on previous episodes Aaliyah would prefer to chose who to marry with but that’s just a cliche of this kind of story, not saying its fair or not but you know what I mean, again the boring side of the episode.
Special Ops: Lioness – The Choice of Failure – Season 1 – Episode 4 – RECAP – www.skiptvads.blog
Even Joe and her crew felt the same way about them monitoring the marker, “spying on spring break”, Aaliyah had everything she could dream about except “freedom”, many would think different since there are levels of money that can buy you happiness but we are still human and at the end its the simple things that matter the most, this scene was the ramp up of the shit storm that was coming to Joe, not only the one she knows about this is with the shitty work Kyle pull with her team on the south. I like the tough attitude of Joe but some times Zoe Saldana exaggerate a bit and goes over board making it look force, some might consider this show silly or waste of time because of the girly scenes and its a cliche to see undercover operations happen overseas when it comes to Arabic characters, IMO I think it does make it more entertain, watching a totally different culture and not the American way makes it more interesting.
Special Ops: Lioness – The Choice of Failure – Season 1 – Episode 4 – RECAP – www.skiptvads.blog
Exactly as Tex describe it to Joe, the job at the south was a shit show and I got a problem with this, I still don’t know why the hell Joe accept to lend Kyle part of her crew, been a special ops team already working on a mission, so far they haven’t give any background between Kyle and Joe, they both are special agents who met at a restaurant, well Kyle was following her and she agree to give him a few men for his unplanned suicide mission?? makes complete no sense, Kyle almost pull the job but the EMP bomb was not big enough to shut down cameras around him so how his ass is on the line and by consequence he sets Joe ass on fire too, it seems like the asset had some good intel on terrorist but until that’s proven they both Kyle and Joe are deep on this, if the media gets the footage.
Special Ops: Lioness – The Choice of Failure – Season 1 – Episode 4 – RECAP – www.skiptvads.blog
Liar Liar Pants on Fire, since when the fuck that’s a good advice, top off is fine just keep your pants on when dry humping?? does that really work now days?? for sure never work with any of the women when I was young that’s just how a young human brain works, selfish ass Kate got into a car wreck badly, not her fault but my mom always told me at the end the truth comes to the light, always. Sadly for her his dad not only finds out she is pregnant and she is very very fucked up, but she also betray his trust that’s probably that hurts the most when you are a father but he was very naive too, Kate been pregnant is on him, he knew who Joe was when they got together and her work line so Joe not been at home is not the excuse, that’s the problem with anyone who works with that kind of confidential information for security agencies.
Special Ops: Lioness – The Choice of Failure – Season 1 – Episode 4 – RECAP – www.skiptvads.blog
Remember how I said Joe knows Cruz can fuck up things any moment, well she did again, this is becoming a thing, Cruz getting in trouble during the mission for any random reason and I feel its not the last time it will happen, although Joe did got her once on a tough situation at Aalyah house the first visit, this time Cruz went to bar with Aalyah and her friends, there she meet a guy who drug her and almost rape her if it was not for Joe who thought it would be good idea to keep close to Cruz, I wanted to put the scene when Joe caught the guy, Cruz was laying on the floor in the woods, think about it Joe was already pissed at Kyle and her daughter Kate got into a bad car wreck, she busted the guy badly, went all savage mode destroying the guy balls, then brought Cruz back to the hotel where she is still trying to fight the drug effect to wake up and Kailtlyn just arrive to talk to Joe about the Extraction Ops at the South between Kyle and her team, this episode was a total shit storm for Joe.
I’m still on Episode four with another four to go, this are not very long episodes so probably I will just keep charge my VR headset with my headphones and burn down four hours of Special Ops next week since this weekend is Xmas, for far a series that I have really enjoy, I hope all episodes were like the first one but its kind of a good contrast and I hope one or two episodes get to that level of dopamine, if not it will feel like they burn all their gunpowder on the first episode, yeah the girly scenes kill the excitement but it also feels nice that not much character introduction has happen, they cut it out on the first two episodes and that gives more room for the rest of the story to spread its wings, you get more for your time invested on watching the series, others are slower at first a good example this year was Wheel of Time Season two was extremely slow at first to then blow your brains out with the last three episodes, Special Ops Lioness seem to be a more leveled series in terms of pace of the story, really enjoy this episode.
Same as it happen to me I’m sure most people will be HOOKED on the first ten minutes and will be asking for more gunpowder for the rest of the episode, Special Ops: Lioness packs a fucking ton of it plus tough to the nails women in action, between Joe and Cruz you will love to see them kicking ass left and right, on first episode we still don’t see any of the too in action yet.
This is a series I have been wanting to watch for some time now, as usual a bit skeptical if it would be good or not scoring 7s and 8s on sites so it obviously has to be good, I’m a sucker for war theme anything from movies to TV series, plus the undercover agent part that is very exciting.
Special Ops: Lioness as you guess is about women who go to war but not exactly to just shoot, it is a special operations program for women to get involve with female related to male targets, say they are after a man but know his daughter or wife are usually in contact then they send out a female agent to infiltrate them, become friends with them until they get enough information and if possible kill the target. This program is lead by Joe who recruit the members, it all sound easy like get dress well, become friends, gain their trust but the dirty and savage part is when their cover is blown and now Joe has to take the decision, will the agent get safe so it can be extract or is it time to cut loose ends meaning pull the trigger if necessary to not compromise the program.
Special Ops: Lioness – Sacrificial Soldiers – Season 1 – Episode 1 – RECAP – www.skiptvads.blog
The episodes starts with an attack to a CIA post, it was a very large amount of guys attacking but it almost didn’t make sense, not that they don’t explain the reason for the attack but how they were running forward and then to the sides I don’t know, once the shooting stops, adrenaline goes down and you re watch the scene you find it empty, but I have to say it was a great opening, in five minutes you had massive shooting, ak47 screaming all over the place, a FUCKING HAWG one of the most badass aircraft in movies and irl clearing the field and even a drone strike hitting the target. Once the music was over the story starts to unfold, even though it was a great opening I doubt this is how the series will be, I don’t think we are going to have this massive shooting on every episode.
Special Ops: Lioness – Sacrificial Soldiers – Season 1 – Episode 1 – RECAP – www.skiptvads.blog
First episode, time to meet main characters and their motives, basically what the hell is this story about, on the picture above is Joe women in charge of calling the shots on the field, I don’t think she is in charge as usually there is some one back at home moving the pieces but on the field she decides if you stay or go, on the first episode her undercover agent gets identified, Joe never check her for tattoos and seems she had a cross with a name on her side and it was seen by one of the women on the village, depending on where you at it can be a big NO NO since they are in middle east. Joe tried to extract her from the location but it was already too late for her, extremist found her and were about to cut of her head but Joe authorize drop a missile from a drone to safe her the pain and keep things secret as possible, desperate move for a desperate situation.
Special Ops: Lioness – Sacrificial Soldiers – Season 1 – Episode 1 – RECAP – www.skiptvads.blog
Next on the startup we got Cruz Manuelos, a women who is trying to make her life straight after making a lot of bad decisions, lives with her boyfriend who plays been gangster but she is over with that life, now works a honest job and is not into any of her bad habits, this creates a conflict been them and after an argument because she hits a girl inside the house, Cruz’s boyfriend hit her with a jab straight to her face.
Special Ops: Lioness – Sacrificial Soldiers – Season 1 – Episode 1 – RECAP – www.skiptvads.blog
Cruz wants to be over with her boyfriend and his old life so next morning she took vengeance, pack her things and wait for him to wake up to hit him twice in the face with a pan, the chase starts until they arrive to a US Marine recruiting center, she enters screaming for help until a big ass Marine steps in between her and her boyfriend. She felt safe with the Marine, she realize if she didn’t wanted to be abuse anymore one of her options was to become tougher, US Marines training will do that for her so she enrolls, top of her class, tougher than male recruits, faster, smarter, she was the full package, perfect asset to join the Lioness.
Special Ops: Lioness – Sacrificial Soldiers – Season 1 – Episode 1 – RECAP – www.skiptvads.blog
After a lot of reports, debriefs, interviews, Joe comes back home with two things in mind, first is go home spend some time with her family although is not that easy because she spends most of her time out of the country on classified missions meaning no contact with her family, comes back home and between her two kids her son is more sensible to not seen her for so long, her husband holds the fort while she is out.
Special Ops: Lioness – Sacrificial Soldiers – Season 1 – Episode 1 – RECAP – www.skiptvads.blog
Joe ended up recruiting Cruz, after all she is at the top of her class and Joe had to move fast, she needed another undercover agent, Cruz and Joe are not best friends, actually Joe doesn’t seem to like her that much, Cruz is now in my opinion over confident, been a Marine make her feel she has a lot of power and can conquer everything life throws at her but when your neck is at risk that’s when true stars shine, for her first task she did panic a bit.
Different than most common undercover agents that already know everything about their target all Cruz knows is her face, undercover name Zara Adid but she forgot the moment Aaliyah Amrohi ask for her name, the moment Cruz got into the car to get ready and meet the target she starts panicking and Joe had to calm her down, the hole idea of knowing nothing about the target is to lower the risks of getting caught and make the experience as real as possible, become friends, create a bond but with always in mind that this is just another job.
This series so far is exactly as what the tittle says, a Special Operations team that work with Lioness, top of the class Female Marines who are fearless, tough and can still be a perfect lady, Cruz is not the most girly girly but she knows her way around. Cruz story feels a bit crunch but I guess the series is not about that, after all this is another Army theme TV series bringing in something different, its the first time I see this type of series based on a group of female Special Ops Marines, usually is the other way around and that’s interesting also how they are thrown into the water without knowing much about the target, the end goal is the same locate and get/kill the bad guy.
I wonder if this series will be big enough to get several season something like SEAL Team currently on its sixth season or something shorter like Six only got two seasons, I don’t see how a series with very few characters and no side stories could make it into a more than two or three seasons, I’m also curious of how much action we will get on each episode because it was five minutes of gunpowder and then the rest was a few japs, kicks, arguing and that was it, less than forty five minutes per episodes.
I give this first episode a solid 7.5 just because of what I mention, I think they try to buy the audience with all the shooting at the beginning but after that the action starts to soften little by little.
For a short season Citadel does pack a lot of action in a Mission Impossible style, not the greatest actors and at times jokes from Stanley are not the best but still entertaining, the series is still in the phase of developing and knowing all the characters and their story before the train accident where Nadia and Mason lost their memory, in the previous episode we find out Abby who is currently Mason’s wife was one under cover and probably in love with Anders Silje who was developing a device that could hijack and entire nation systems but after her mission failed Mason decided to erase her memories and put her on a protection plan although everyone keep saying Nadia is the one who turn her back on Citadel and lead Manticore to take every one down with only a few left out like Carter who was force to keep moving looking for a place to hide, there is more to Abby’s mission failure its not that simple and it involves Nadia, in the present Mason is about to discover this since she got her memories back but he couldn’t as the injection that contain them broke and he is re learning to be Mason Kane again and find out what really happen to Citadel and if Nadia was the mole.
Citadel is one of those series I fall behind although its a very short one with the first season only with six episodes so I’m only two to go, I think this series has to be short in amount of chapter because will all this effects and places where the story happen it does feel like each chapter is part of a James Bond movie or Mission Impossible and I guess that’s not cheap also considering the first season is an experiment for a lot of TV series to figure out if it continues or stops, Citadel didn’t get much love from viewers with a low score of 6.1 on IMDB and each episode around that score too, I think its because how fake the story is, does feel at times like a GI Joe movie although people may score a GI Joe TV series higher just because of the brand, on this series there are a known actors like Richard Madden, Stanley Tucci, Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Roland Møller, they all have done mid tier films nothing spectacular and that’s Citadel too a TV Series with good if not very good action scenes and I think people fail to understand that.
Nadia and Mason goes to Morocco to a Manticore Black Site, a fancy name for a place where they run operations, they think Carter is there, we can tell Nadia is back on full spy mode while Mason is lagging behind, he is brave and is recovering that muscle memory but still not at Nadia’s level and this him in disadvantage as she can take down enemies like a fucking ninja he still figuring out how not to panic during a shooting, there is a scene where she cuts a guy arm and then when the knife is falling she kicks it Ibrahimović Zlatan style and stab the guys partner on the neck with the knife she kick in the middle of the air, this are some of the things people might find too big of a lie but that’s the charm of the series, come up with this fight scenes that are close to impossible but can happen, that’s why I mention Zlatan, have you see one of this high kick near impossible goals, the guy is a beast so is Nadia.
They were right, Carter was held in that location but right when he sees Mason and Nadia ask them to stay away, Mason look confuse and ask what did he do but then Carter clear things up on the same scene at the end of the episode, “Not you….Her” , there still to be explain if Nadia did all this to keep Citadel alive or it was at a personal interest level, depending on a situation a strategy could be to let the enemy think everything is over and keep the organization alive close to eradicated but with the right agents to rebuild it, they were probably out number and in disadvantage and she was the only who saw it, I still don’t think she betrayed Mason.
Nadia brings in Abby to work with Citadel on a new mission, the mission is to go undercover, find out where is the Oz Key and stole it from the Silje brothers. Mason starts to explain Abby a true spy tells the truth since she needs to get in the role and believe it, believe she is the person she is looking at the mirror in this case Anders Silje girl friend, fall in love with him but just to get close enough to the Oz Key he is working on, stole it and be gone, this is where Mason separates from Nadia, he seem to be the spy that goes by the book and doesn’t trust anyone always living a lie but it looks like at the end between them it doesn’t matter since Nadia out play him bringing down Citadel or at least that’s the side of the story its known until this episode, so Abby was brought in by Nadia then fall in love with Anders Silje to stole the Oz Key and is now Mason’s wife, talk about going in circles.
Abby did everything well, she got Anders to fall in love with her enough to get close to the Oz Key, steal it and replace it with a fake one but Anders brother Davik saw her, follow her and beat her up but Mason already send an Ops team to track her down and figure out what was going on since she went offline for a few weeks and the deal was to keep communication every few weeks with Mason to keep him on the loop of what was going on.
When the Ops team arrive captures Davik and brings Abby back, the most obvious thing happen, they couldn’t find the Oz Key only a fake that was on Abby’s bag, Mason doesn’t trust Abby for her behavior prior as she remain without communication but Nadia keeps saying they can trust Abby, Mason has a higher position within Citadel than Nadia and decides to erase Abby’s memories with they excuse they putting her on a protection plan but he avoid the erase memories part from Nadia, he asks for Bernard help on this, at the time it was a new procedure untested.
Probably the only one with the time and access level to figure out what really happen with the Oz Key and also why he is still alive even though he was capture by Manticore, Carter figure out that the real reason why they couldn’t get the Oz Key when the Ops team came back is because Nadia gave the order to deliver it to her directly, on Citadel they have this encrypted chat where the one receiving the message doesn’t know who is sending, that’s sounds stupid but that’s how it looks on Mason phone, he got a message “CONFIDENTIAL she took the case” probably meaning Nadia took the case, also why Carter either knew this or assume it was Nadia and Mason knew it, Mason is playing double agent here but his heart is with Nadia, he also thinks he got everything under control but we already know at the end he didn’t.
Despite of what the internet says about this series I really enjoy watching it but there are a few actors I didn’t like their performance for example Dahlia as Lesley, worst villain and there are times I cant stand Bernard jokes and how Stanley perform the character, everything else looks good to me, I love series where you have to pause, read the characters computer screen or phone to figure out whats going on those details that you cant let pass by, this episode I would give it a solid 7+ since it was pure action for the most part even when it slow down during Abby’s interrogation it was intense when Mason was about to kill her brother to get her to talk and better toward the end when Carter join the dots and assume Nadia is behind the missing Oz Key.
