can i really be the only person watching LA REINA DEL SUR?

i mean flashbacks

so (as many know but perhaps not non-mexican speaking ILX):

kate del castillo, the actress who plays teresa mendoza la reina del sur, was who putting sean penn in the same room as EL CHAPO, hence semi-responsible for EC's subsequent capture

inadvertently: she seems to approve of what she sees as EC's robin-hood-like ways (penn she now rather despises, she says his rolling stone piece is full of fibs abt her)

el chapo apparently took to kate del castillo
(a) bcz she tweeted something approving (see above) and
(b) bcz he greatly enjoyed la reina del sur (the correct response) and
(c) felt he could trust the character KdC was playing, hence the actress too (flawed critical praxis IMO, will never commission a TV column from him)

meanwhile lRdS itself is currently exploring the ethics (and otherwise) of people-trafficking and generally looking more closely at the dynamics of migrancy in the med than a great deal of much fancier TV

putting s/b put

been compulsively watching this with my niece for a few weeks and it's at once amazing and sometimes silly. thx for rec! have abt 10 more eps to go and shit is getting really real. and i keep falling in love. first it was Soraya, then Veronica. (so many great characters, too - Batman, Pote, Oleg, Fati)

I liked the sound of this and thought I was downloading a torrent of it. Boo! It turned out to be the poxy American remake. Another series that doesn't get mentioned on here is Gomorrah, which is an ultra-violent trashy crime series, with a cast of some impeccably dressed thugs amongst the ruin pron of the crumbling housing projects in Naples. And the death count is ridiculously high - between S1 and s2 more than half the cast are already in the ground. It is good fun though.

episode 19 plot summary: "teresa loses again"

her boyfs are all gorgeous, also dicks

some eps set in a women's prison: assuming dickish and/or dead boys not an issue for a while

"Lieut.O'Farrell is pure oligarchy, honey"

(also not a lieut., i didn't get that bit)

it is more o/g cell block h than orange is the new, that's for sure

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHnemDkHvgA

actually a better version, fond as i am etc:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ng-eYklcmEM

paty: "where i walk the grass stops growing"

(self-hate rather than threat)

I wish someone would upload an English subtitles rip of this in t0rrentland, it sounds awesome.

tbh the subtitles on netflix are intermittent AND wayward

lol, there's more time displacement in this soap than in inland empire

i predict paty too will die :{

http://68.media.tumblr.com/a92ef861f1c2056ae6a16aa7e8adc7ec/tumblr_inline_mlxzsjMhxw1qz4rgp.gif

we regret to inform you i am back on my* bullshit

*actually kate del castillo's obv

lol she just had her michael corleone MASS-REVENGE moment: "la mexicana says HI"

^^^this ended p badly (tho we are not yet half way thru the 63 eps of the first series)

love the way the only person who actually gets the depth of her UNSPOKEN SOULFULNESS is the top russian gangster

the full name of this character -- usually referred too as pote or el pote -- is POTEMKINE GALVEZ

"if blood has to rain from the sky, we will open our umbrellas"

"it's the beginning of the end for teresa mendoza"

we are on ep 38 of 63, so i guess "… but perhaps the end of the beginning" applies here

pati getting very meta in her jealousy: "what shall we call this telenovella? love in the time of narcotraffic?"

(wd watch, obviously) (am watching)

"you're as mad as a goat, tesa!"

oleg pleased that teresa is happy (for once) but also worried

lots of TV crime dramas and policiers are about migrancy peripherally -- its "problems" as significant plot-driving element etc -- but i've never watched one that centres it the way lRdS does

lol at me being taken aback when the chief russian gangster turns out to have beef with communists -- i'm like "i like him, how can he be a czarist?"

he is in fact a murderous drug smuggler albeit one who likes and more importantly understands teresa mendoza (also a gangster)

every three or four eps someone is sure to say "it's the beginning of the end for teresa mendoza"

s1 still has 18 eps to go

"my aztec version of the count of monte cristo"

paty is drunk and sad at a party

"gentlemen, the end of teresa mendoza has started"

lol ambushed by unexpected disappointment every time oleg* disses soviet socialism

*why, bcz he is a GANGSTER

repeat plot point: that a character is desperately in lust w/someone merely bcz they resemble teresa mendoza physically

"you're a victim of cocaine!"
"i'm a victim of YOU and your LIES!"

"i had to pretend i was in love with you but i fell into my own trap!"

from now on all all scenes of angrily recrimination between loves must take place in a sportscar being driven at high wild speed along a cliff-top road by someone coked out of her head and weeping uncontrollably

i hadn't really paid it much mind as i don't listen to songwords much even when they're not in spanish (which i don't speak) but several times an episode los tigres del norte break in with the sung refrain "la reina del sur! traficante muy famosa" (= "the queen of the south! very famous drug dealer!" )

i love this show with my life

ramiro is very much not my favourite character but i do like actor salvador zerboni's commitment to seeming to be on ALL the drugs ALL the time

ALL THE DRUGS

http://www.telemundo.com/sites/nbcutelemundo/files/styles/promotional_content_4_3/public/sites/nbcutelemundo/files/images/gallery/2014/02/19/reina_rataseductora01_130514439041_2_0.jpg?itok=GqEw1Mzj

trying to think of presidential candidates more obviously evil-looking than epifanio vargas

Series 2 just started

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0mZg6xd9uE

lol i completely missed this (or maybe it only just started on uk netflix)

s2 has 60 eps!! oh my!

https://media.giphy.com/media/BNaETsu7Jqz6I91ZwR/giphy.gif

MUCH higher production values

melodrama index: unchanged based on e1

hadn't noticed this thread all year and had no idea there was going to be a S2. i'm excited, thx! kinda have mixed feelings since Pote is no longer around, but will check it nonetheless

e2 is even more exciting and ridiculous

(i am watching slowly in case my constitution can't take it)

she still has catastrophically bad taste in men lol

i mean they're hot obv but never have her best interests at heart

her daughter is terrific

is it ok to describe her as spunky

wondering where these lawned wooded mexican mini-pyramids are -- is it a deeply meaningful site for her return to mexico (or just a nice fancy backdrop)

lol i have no idea who this young angry grieving goth lady is any more, there is a downside to my very punctuated bingeing style

"sit near the river and you will see your enemy's body float by"

this is also my motto

my enemy is ned raggett

a funny thing abt this show is that they present the DEA as a kind of more focused CIA, all plots and plans and overthrowing the rightful mexican government (a gangster)

teresa has a low opinion of gringos

literally no one is ever dead in this show

i see from five yrs ago i was commenting on the unending interwoven flashbacks, that hasn't slowed down at all

lee harvey batman

this ep has an escape from jail by helicopter as a mere passing element for some minor characters

(i mean i'm sure they'll have a role shortly but in any other show an escape from jail by helicopter would be climactic for a bigwig)

(just checked and s3 of his marvellous show is all ready to run)

o fuk that's eric roberts (as the corrupt and murderous head of the DEA)

season three begun broadcasting 1 x week ago: 6 eps so far tho i have not found them anywhere yet

i keep reading that it's on netflix but it's not on netflix uk yet 😔

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7yh9KOrQpE

https://68.media.tumblr.com/a92ef861f1c2056ae6a16aa7e8adc7ec/tumblr_inline_mlxzsjMhxw1qz4rgp.gif

loooool amazing gif

ok i am SO BACK on my bullshit (= s3 of this marvel), only 32 months late!!

🎵 traficante muy famosa! 🎶

we open very much otherwhere than we closed s2, with teresa IN JAIL IN THE USA

in solitary and losing her mind 😞

tho actually we start with an INSANE credit sequence featuring eagles and mountains and LoTR-music* (apparently a lot of it is set in bolivia and peru, which have mystical resonance to mexicans also, it looks like -- anyway a wild castaneda vibe promises much) (to me, an idiot who learned everything i know abt the andes from tintin and chariots of the gods)

*not los tigres del norte (sadly) but orchestral motion-picture slop, sorry if this offends, it's garbage (but p funny garbage in context)

ps all tv shd happen as fast as this and also be a telenovela, as the story fast-cuts between locations in mexico, spain, bolivia, colombia and the US

mother & daughter both already in unrelated new life-threatening pickles just 2 eps in, they will be out of them by e3 but into others

best repeat characters assemble:

sofia, rocio and paloma, the fake oleg (now a widower and an alcoholic), batman and sheila, plus president epifanio vargas!

(sofia is a young adult now, everyone else looks older, except epifanio who looks the same if not younger lol) (also his power-horny sex life is as relentless as ever, no one does it like him)

isabella sierra (sofia) is such fun as an actress — there is tons of evident affection on this set among the returning cast, with everyone older trying to get her to laugh more than she was quite meant to in the script (and often succeeding)

plot notes so far

teresa mendoza: “so what’s the escape plan?
guy she’s never met: *hands TM a copy of THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO*
(plan is indeed a version of TCOMC, well sorta kinda anyway, not that she actually reads it at any point)

I enjoy the low regard this show has for americans (mostly cops & prison guards).
always bracing also how much more corruptly gangsterish pols and police are than teresa the honourable retired crimelord

obviously sofia was going to run into her mum sooner rather than later, why is it in an ethnic colombian theme village (with panpipes and manicured lawns and such)?

deeper peruvian mysticism keeps being hinted at, I want it to involve eagles, aliens or an eclipse (ideally all three) — a real tintin-esque flight 718 shift from political gangsterism into full-on crystal skull stuff

the version of google they use in this show is called TLIMP, is this an irl thing? (google not helping, maybe I need to use TLIMP)

flashback scene in LONDON, where the DEA are apparently allowed to swarm armed: also i have never seen a less English-looking interior, it looks more like something out of naked lunch

the DEA agent they have to track down in la paz is called THE BLACK RIDER so maybe the LoTR callbacks in the credits are already paying off (nice lampshade hanging from epifanio, who says an agent being called the black rider is goofy bullshit)

plus a character called FATHER GONZO has just been referenced, very much hoping to meet him (“teresa mendoza did NOT die”)

translation notes

president of mexico to henchman: “no, compadre!”
subtitle: “no mate”

👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽

a grizzled & dodgy villain ending a phone call to similar: “hugs!”
the other villain, replying: “hugs!” (translating “a gracio” I think?)

lol

this is like reading LRB - no need to actually watch the show with reviews like this!

watch the show tracer!

i started this season but didn't finish it for some reason. was having trouble deciding if i thought it was great or just too silly

https://i.imgur.com/WWYqacp.png

back on the very best bullshit after a few weeks pause

to report that we are back in some kind of london for reasons not yet clear -- might be more oleg backstory? -- and there's a gang of london thugs with ATTEMPTED COCKNEY ACCENTS

meanwhile teresa, oleg et al are scoping out bolivia & peru supposedly to meet up with the so-called "black rider", by pretending to be mexican documentary-makers -- tho so far sadly they are kind of dancing round the wild made-up folkloric feast real documentarians wd surely be making a bee line for (needs more nazca lines, traces of aliens etc) but i have HIGH HOPES (tbf they have been dwelling on women's wrestling, in historical costumes)

contempt for US shenanigans in mexico is as intense as ever -- they will not leave the lizard alone -- while president epifanio vargas remains the greatest ever to do it (have sex non-stop every ep with difft beautiful young women), he is such a complete bastard god i love this show

a nice thing (if perhaps unstartling in long-running melodramas) is that her nemesis as first mentioned in post 3 back in July 2017 (jesus) aka the implausibly named sheila (she's spanish), is now her inseparable wise buddy, in trouble last ep for filming herself and her boyf (the legendary batman, see also upthread tho not so far) having extremely talkative sex atop the official documentary van on the official documentary tapes which the colombian police just examined (bcz official van turned out to be stolen, tho not by anyone in the story)

ok ppl we got there, teresa is now a prisoner of the sun (= the "black rider", who smuggles girls and also tin ! and plus runs the lady wrestling shows)

https://cdn001.tintin.com/public/tintin/img/static/prisoners-of-the-sun/C13_Temple-p45-c3-color.png

they teased it but we haven't had more than a couple of sentences yet: i *think* the worst attempted london accent in the history of television (that ive watched anyway)

i need to update this: all but one person -- a very favourite character 😔 -- have escaped from every scrape so far

well every scrape except the andean panpipe outfit active in every single boiuvian cafe, none of us are escaping that it seems

question two: what was the last action thriller you watched based round the purchase of TIN (in spanish: estaño)

rereading this thread last night i clicked on the youtube for the original themetune -- which flashes us through scenes from the first half of s1 -- and despite what i say above epifanio also looks much younger than then (he has a boyish indie mop of black hair)

these days he looks more like an animated aztec mummy (despite which he has more onscreen sex than any two other characters put together) (in the most recent instance delivered over 2 x eps w/2 x hot young ladies none of them his wife)

otherwise the update is p much:
i) tesa is interested in a hot grizzled someone who does not have her interests at heart
ii) the gang has lost one of their number and everyone is sad (so am i)
iii) not quite in keeping with the theme (mexican tourism brochure for the andes) this is the first time i've even seen altitude sickness as a side-story in a glamorous crime-based TV show (as they drive high among the mountain sheila makes batman stop the car so she can vomit) (were there plot reasons to do this? NOT REALLY)
iv) colombian outer decor is like 20 gingerbread houses in every street (is this factual or are they selecting their camera set-ups to amplify this) (this show loves its locationwork!)

epic 2-ep gunfight set in bolivia's train cemetery in salar de uyuni, the world's largest salt flat

this looks as striking as you might imagine (tho the actual exchange of fire was confused: are the senior gang the BLACK RIDER or killing him?) (this may be my fault: the mission has taken so long that i've forgotten what was originally expected of them). the bolivian folkoric element swerves between deep brujo magic and panpipes shit

meanwhile the palace intrigue round epifanio remains vastly boring, even tho he's as saltily disgusting and fun as ever

(junior gang currently hiding out licking their wounds after a complicated sidequest to keep them busy without achieving much)

https://imageio.forbes.com/specials-images/dam/imageserve/177859499/0x0.jpg