Queen of the South

Queen of the south Season 1 (2016)

Cast: Alice Braga, Jon-Michael Ecker, Veronica Falcon, Justina Machado, Joaquim De Almeida, Peter Gadiot

After a long awaited time & countless people telling me to watch The Queen of the south, I finally did and I am amazed. Before getting into my honest opinion and review about the first season, I want to give you all a quick recap without of course spoiling it to the ones who still haven't watched,

Recap of the season:

We start off meeting Teresa in Mexico, who is working as a street money trader. To clarify, she traders US Dollars with Mexico pesos to american tourists. There she meets Guero, who defends her honor against her boss who at the time is asking her to flirt less and work more all while feeling on her. Some time pass after that encounter & we see them in a relationship.

Now here's where the story or should I say season really starts. Guero is in trouble with the people he works with in the Cartel. He shows Teresa a diary where all the secrets and the cartel payments are all written in, a phone & a safe house address. He tells her, if the phone rings it means he is dead and that she should take that diary to Don Epifanio in exchange for her life. A little time pass & we see that Guero has been killed. Teresa grabs the book, her belongings and warns her best friend Brenda that Guero is dead and that the same very men might be on their way to ge to her husband Chino.

Chino is Guero cousin/best friend/partner. To put it short, Teresa, Brenda and her son Tony are separated due to the escape from Pote & Gato who are epifanios men. Teresita meets Epifanio to give him the book in exchange for her life. Epifanio then takes Teresa with him to safety, but shortly in the car on their way, she starts seeing her future self that warns her something is not right. Long story short, she is saved by Camila Vargas, Don Epifanios wife. Camila runs her own cartel business in Dallas, Texas and there is where she takes Teresa.

Teresa then realises where Camilla took her and how her drug business works. Not where she wants to be, Teresita tries to escape but with no luck. From there we see her comply, do as she is told (most of the time) until she figures out a way to get to Brenda and Tony. Eventually find a way out of the Cartel. As Teresa gets Camilla's trust and is now asked to do more jobs with James. Eventually they let her do drug deliveries to clients and that is where she meets a successful immigration lawyer who agrees to help get papers for Teresa, Brenda & Tony.

Things then Shift, when Teresa and Brenda try to sell the diary to one of Camilla's enemies with no success. With no other choice left, they go back to Mexico, in the hopes for selling the book to El limpiador. Things turn left and Teresa is caught by Epifanio one last time. She is able to escape him with the help of Pote who sides with her. Teresa then calls Camilla regarding the book to negotiate with her and the season ends with a shocking discovery that someone who we thought was dead is very well alive and working with the DEA.

Review:

What a season! All though, I had to actually watch the episodes twice to fully understand them but I was honestly not expecting it to be this great. The episodes are fast paced, sometimes the things that happened were expected. What I like most of the season was the fact that, we would see Teresa future self coming to her at her rough times. You can see that it was what made her strong & smart reflexes. Without it, Teresa's character is naturally really smart but the future depiction made her even smarter. Some of her actions where questionable however it was her quick thinking and in the moment decisions that made her survive this long. Brenda on the other hand is a little slower but you can see is street smart. The things she did to survive is the result of her street smart ways. I can also see a lot of Camilla in Teresa, they are similar in a lot of ways. You can also sense that Teresa is watching Camilla closely and learning her ways. Something that even Don Epifanio remarked about Teresita when she caught her again by the end of the season.

Overall, I give this seasons a good 7/10. Like I said earlier, I wasn't expecting it to be this great but I also would love to see it improve in the seasons to come.

I will be starting season 2 and will be reviewing it as well. Stay tuned for more to come!