Queen of the South 5x04 Debrief

Well, we're seeing a different Queenpin than I expected, and sooner. This isn't the white queen of earlier Teresa's visions. That queen was calm, assured, powerful, but almost nurturing. This, now, is a queen who is edgy, defensive, struggling, scared. I am curious about this. Obviously the earlier queenpin visions were just that--visions; they were Teresa's inner leader stepping out of the shadows and taking charge. So, are we (and she, hopefully?) meant to now begin to understand that the white queen isn't possible? That she can't exist because this business won't actually allow for her to "have it all"? That calmness and assuredness and power can't be achieved while keeping her integrity intact?

Or, will we in fact eventually see the white queen of her visions manifest? Will Teresa find her way to that powerful, nurturing version of herself, and what will she have to do to get there? Certainly it's not what she thinks it is, because what she's currently doing--closing herself off to love, compromising her integrity, and making harsher decisions (and more quickly) than ever before--is not getting her anywhere closer to being the white queen. It's almost doing the opposite. It's getting her closer to being Camila, who, in season 1, was in many ways diametrically opposed to the white queen. Camila's advice to Teresa was always self-serving and competitive. The white queen's mirrored Teresa's own inner voice, emphasizing strength and integrity.

The black/white clothing choices in every episode so far this season seem to me to support either one of these theories about the white queen (that she either isn't going to be possible to attain, or that she will only be possible to attain--in a different way than Teresa expects--if Teresa comes back around to her values in the end). She hasn't yet gone full white and that duel between her old self and the self she's striving for manifests in every part of her character development right now.

Episode 4 Teresa wasn't evil. She still met Marcel in the eye when he called her a rat and knew that he was right; she didn't get defensive about that. She's still trying to figure out how to get him out because she promised him she would and because she knows it's the right thing to do. She isn't wrong about the importance of exposing the corruption of the judge and his cronies (and remember that Gamble was a villain just last episode, so, I mean, do we really feel THAT bad that he's dead? especially since the whole justification for killing him was to get that ledger which she so desperately wants in order to clear Marcel *and killing Gamble wasn't the first thing she tried; she first tried to accomplish a peaceful exchange until it turned out the feds were on them*?) and the sheer evil they've committed. She's still able to hold understanding for Kelly Anne and Pote as they confess the pregnancy, and confess that she too is scared about the future.

But at the same time, that fear and self-protectiveness is causing her to lash out in unpredictable and hurtful ways. Not just hurtful to her people (James, Kelly Anne) but to US! I don't know the first thing about writing for TV shows but I have to confess that I don't love the direction the show has taken in her character in the last two episodes; it's just not very entertaining. It's suspenseful but it's painful. It's not TV I want to re-watch. I think that diminishes my confidence in the writers and show runners just a bit (though I'm trying to hold on since I also KNOW that on some level a journey into darkness and back out again is part of her story). I want to look forward to the next episode, not dread it. I want to root for the main character, not start to hate her.

Still, though, there are glimmers of hope for me. Each episode has had some sort of (or more than one) Jeresa callback, whether subtle or heavy-handed. The pre-episode "previously ons." The Marcel/James convo in 5x03. And in this last episode the CIA reminder (because, duh, we all know that James only went to Devon to protect her in the first place) and the distress on Teresa's face when she's trying to tell James that Gamble's death is a good thing. They haven't stopped reminding us that there's a complicated love story there. If they're dangling that carrot just to remind us how much we want it and then snatch it away at the end in a big GOTCHA move, then they're even worse writers than I thought. Like that's not good TV.

And several of the show runners, and Ryan, and Alice herself have talked about her struggle this season as being related to love -- that love can't survive in this business. That she is going to have to grapple both with Tony's loss and with James's return. Both of those things are clearly at least partly at the root of what's causing her to be so on edge. The CIA comment: Teresa hasn't accepted yet, hasn't been able to accept, that James has changed because of her, that she made him who he is now, and that he now expects her to be the same person he was a year ago when he left. She has to adjust to the fact that he left to protect her -- that all along that's all it was -- while meanwhile she had long ago integrated his departure as yet another painful casualty of her rise to power and the mistakes she'd made along the way. She thought he'd left because of her. How is she supposed to come to terms with the fact that that story was never true when she hasn't even begun to let herself grieve Tony yet? Instead, she's snorting coke and lashing out, because it's safer. Season 3 Teresa told James, "I don't know how to trust people." She's known that about herself and has owned up to it.

Can we trust the writers and show-runners to give us a Teresa who ultimately decides to lean in to trust and love? I don't know. But I hope so. I sure friggin' hope so. Let's see a white queen transformation that takes place because she chooses love over fear. And a white queen who, in the end, surprises us because she--the one of Teresa's visions--is actually the one who was going to decide to leave the business all along.

Other thoughts:

I would like to see more of a story line for James, and right-quick, than standing in a pantry for an entire episode. LOL. I don't want things to deteriorate to such an extent that I just want him to walk away rather than lose more self-respect, and we're dangerously close to that point.

Pote is really not doing it for me this season. From his bad advice, to the triteness of his trying to control Kelly Anne in her pregnancy, to his talking down to James. It all feels a little stilted.

I did REALLY enjoy the Teresa/Kelly Anne sit-down with the FBI agent. That was a fun girl power tag-team, for one thing, but for another, it was really in line with the Teresa I know and love--the one who is two steps ahead of everyone else and knows how to get out of a tight spot.

PLUS the fact that she got to two-time Lucien who, you know, is the one REALLY to blame for Marcel being in prison. Like I said in my 5x02 debrief, why is the Teresa the one who always gets blamed for problems OTHER PEOPLE CAUSE? Not only did Lucien turn in Marcel to the NOLA police, he also exposed Teresa to the feds, which kept the pressure on her big-time and made it even harder for her to try to help Marcel.

Marcel/Alimi Ballard is on fire this season. He is just so good. Crackles whenever he's on screen. He and Boaz so far are perfection.

Speaking of Boaz, looks like we'll get to go to Miami next episode, eh? Seems like maybe he's causing some problems there?

I really want to know what else is in Teresa and James's text history. I guess living in the same house they probably don't need to text much... but... c'mon, can't we get a little flirting up in here?

All the mirror referencessssssss! I do love the symbolism this season. The white/black clothing, the mirrors and mirror references, the earlier season callbacks.

"You're going to be a great father." So, I know I said I wanted to avoid speculating about how things would end up, but it's hard to avoid it. [BOOK SPOILER COMING] In the book, Pote dies at the end, and I've always sort of hoped the show would do the same thing. Not because I like, want Pote to die, but because that ending really worked for me. A huge, hard-hitting loss, and one that doesn't let Teresa's ending be totally "happily ever after," but still allows her not to die herself (which, IMO, would be a terrible way to end). Frankly, it IS hard to imagine Pote as a father, and trying to figure out how to balance that new responsibility against the only life he's ever known as a sicario. So I wonder whether this story-line is one that will set us up for that particular ending to be sad, and again, allow Teresa to get out.