The mystery of who kidnapped Joe McNamara (Zoe Saldaña) — and on behalf of which country — continues in Lioness‘ latest episode. And while we don’t exactly get all of the answers, some key suspects emerge. To unpack the events of Sunday’s (August 9) new episode of the action-drama, TV Insider caught up with key members of the cast, so read on to find out their thoughts. Warning: Spoilers for Lioness Season 3 Episode 2, “No Sorrow Like the Survivor,” ahead!

The episode first picks up after Joe has been “blackjacked.” Naturally, our heroine fights her captors as much as possible, but they overpower and humiliate her by stripping her naked. As they search her mouth for the locator they know is embedded on her somewhere, she insists the CIA doesn’t use them. When they threaten to rip her in half to find it, though, she relents, telling them it’s buried in the bottom of her left big toe. With a pair of pliers, her best shot at being rescued swiftly is brutally extracted.

Two Cups (James Jordan), Bobby (Jill Wagner), and Cruz (Laysla De Oliveira) are too late tracking her down and find only the beacon. Kaitlyn Meade (Nicole Kidman) tells boss Byron Westfield (Michael Kelly) that they need to employ a quick-reaction task as a result, promising, “Everybody breaks.”

With his wife missing and his family’s safety in question again, Neal (Dave Annable) demands that Kaitlyn’s team conceal Joe’s bashed-up car before they leave the driveway so that the kids don’t see it … as if that’ll do any good to protect them from the horrible truth they’re all facing now.

Dave Annable agrees that it’s an “incredibly naive” move on his part. “He’s still a father, and he does want to protect his … daughter from seeing their mom’s car half smashed down the street, and the fact that he is very direct with Kaitlyn and tells her exactly what’s on his mind showed a little bit of Neal for me,” he told TV Insider. “Like, ‘This is real life. This is my family. And you don’t mess with that.’ And I thought that was very cool and interesting.”

This fiery confrontation brought the two characters back together for just the second time, which was a treat for the actor. “We had a little scene in the first season where she basically tells me to stick by Joe, and I listened … Obviously, as an actor, to read the scene where I get to be with Nicole, another Oscar winner besides Zoe, who plays my wife, has been a tremendous gift.”

As one family is broken apart by tragedy, there’s a reunion for the new lovebirds as Cruz comes home and jokes about the lack of supper waiting for her after a hard day’s work. She soon learns there’s a treat waiting for her, all right, as Josie Carillo (Genesis Rodriguez) greets her in her birthday suit.

When asked what makes these two, who’d gotten together near the end of Season 2, so right for one another, Laysla De Oliveira explained, “They went through the same experience [in the Lioness program]. I think they really connect on that… This relationship differs from Cruz’s first relationship that we see on the show because she’s able to be herself and be truthful, and so we have these beautiful moments of vulnerability that we see [in this episode], beautiful moments of comfort that we haven’t seen Cruz explore before.”

Back at Joe’s house, in response to the premiere’s shooting (that is, before the kidnapping), Joe’s crew suits up as FBI agents amid the search of her property. While the real G-men scope things out on the ground, they spot someone else snooping on the response from a nearby rooftop and go after them.

Joe, quarantined with the kids in a bedroom amid all the ruckus, explains that she was targeted to die — and would have if she had taken her usual post-return shower instead of having a drink. Kaitlyn thinks she’s untouchable, but Joe isn’t so sure.

Later, Byron dines in D.C. and is shocked to see a Russian operative there, too. He quickly joins him at his table and tells his new nemesis that he has apprehended two of his people and threatens, “What you need to decide now is who from your embassy we’re deporting tomorrow,” adding, “You targeted a state department official on U.S. soil, you motherf**ker, you’re about to learn how long our fingers are.” He then indicated that it’s open season on home turf abductions, promising, “It’s a two-way street.”

For Michael Kelly, this rare showing of intimidation from Byron was a treat to portray — even if it might’ve been a bit of an exaggerated response.

“That scene was so much fun to do because, on one hand, you see Byron get more emotional than he should in that situation, but given the circumstances that have played out, it’s warranted,” Kelly told us. “But I think if you laid down in the bed next to Byron that night, you would see Byron probably like, ‘Dammit, I should have held my cool a little bit more than I did.’”

As for whether he’ll follow through on it, Kelly teased, “Any time any country is messing with essentially the leaders of another country, anytime you’re making a threat, you’ve got to be able to follow through. And as a deputy director of the CIA, you have power. But you have limited power because there is someone else above you … He probably said a couple more things that he shouldn’t have said. Maybe that night said, ‘Probably shouldn’t have gone that far.’”
Joe suspects it’s the Ukrainian double agent she met before who’s responsible for her almost-home invasion, so Kyle (Thad Luckinbill) returns the favor and snatches her right off the streets. Ruh roh.

The episode ends with Joe returning home to apologize to Neal and share her new theory about the case: By killing her would-be attackers, she inadvertently confirmed exactly who she is to their bosses.

Lioness, Sundays, Paramount+