Lioness season 3 is Taylor Sheridan's most scathing, brutal, and AI-wary outing yet — but the new Paramount+ series is still making sure that the Yellowstone creator is the action hero of the hour

As far as Taylor Sheridan shows are concerned, nothing is topping Landman. We all know that the Yellowstone creator is most at home in the Western genre, and we seem to want that from him just as much as he yearns to give it.

But Lioness season 3 is an outlier, and with new episodes dropping from August 2, I can't help but feel it remains that way. Closer in tone to the likes of Tulsa King and Mayor of Kingstown, viewers are thrown into the governmental deep end, following an off-the-books special operative group of the titular name, which is led by hot-headed Joe (Zoe Saldaña).

In season 3, Joe's working life has gone from bad to worse. By the end of season 2, she looked to jack her perilous and secretive lifestyle in for the sake of her husband Neal (Dave Annable) and their two daughters, but a leopard can't change its spots.

Credit where credit is due: without giving anything away, the stakes have been raised fatally high as season 3 takes off. The emotion feels a lot more genuine, and now that there are finally no new team members to contend with, we've got the space and breadth to fully invest in everyone present.

But as always, the bombardment of military jargon and circumstances that a civilian will never understand — and will hopefully never have to — feels incredibly alienating.

I'm also often taken out of the moment when Cody, a character played by Sheridan, is featured in episodes. Does this entire IP exist purely to indulge his fantasies of playing soldier? The answer frequently feels like yes.

Lioness season 3 raises the dramatic stakes — and takes aim at AI along the way

But let's get back to the action. Unlike seasons 1-2, which involved different Middle Eastern conflicts at their centre, Lioness season 3 pushes the focus to the brooding tension between Russian operatives and domestic US forces.

Interestingly, Sheridan wastes no time at all addressing real-life crises, including Gaza-Israel and Ukraine-Russia. It's the latter that gets the most expansion,…