Reine du Sud

Warning, you can't just watch one show, you will continue watching more and more. The show is absolutely brilliant.

Ok. Now, for the bad part. Every performance except for one is exceptional. Unfortunately, the one-dimensional performance by Veronica Falcon diminishes the whole series because she is the co-star. She plays Camila, head of her own cartel. The hype says she's on of Latin America's best actresses. Hell no! She has no depth of character whatsoever. Zero personality with every line delivered it the same way. Can't blame it all on her. Didn't the Director and producers sit down with her and get her to commit to a more rounded villain. God, she's just terrible. I have seldom disliked the performance of a leading character in a series I liked. When she's off screen, the series is a 10.

The lead female characters of the series are definitely embodying Pallas Athene archetypes, that is interesting for Mexican culture, as I understand the women are still behind in the social roles they can aspire to there. In this series Alice Braga, (Brazilian not Mexican) and actual niece of Sonia Braga is given low level crud errands and kept hostage in the cartel of the Number one drug lord in Mexico, only it is his wife's division of the cartel. His wife wants to go solo and run the drug empire her way or the highway and severe rivalry develops with this husband and wife. I guess the series illustrates the severity of the narco drug trafficking culture, shades of Breaking Bad maybe, but coming from the Mexican angle of things. Worth watching, Alice Braga does a good job, characters not bad, and plot keeps you interested to where this will all lead.

Queen of the South is an incredible action and suspense thriller about the rise of a Cartel Queen. It's not a true story so they can do anything they go anywhere they want with the story and there are plenty of twists and turns to keep you captivated. It's a violent, fun drama with great performances by the cast. It's one of the rare drug cartels shows based of a strong female lead. It's a familiar story that's told in a fresh way and will keep you entertained throughout the entire series. It's a show where you shouldn't underestimate anyone and where anything can happen so it will keep you at the edge of your seat. I have to say that this show is so much better than I thought it would be and has only gotten better throughout the seasons.

I found "Queen of the South" (2016) to be very similar to "La Reina del Sur" (2011) with both portraying Teresa Mendoza's life story surrounded by corrupted cops, politicians, drug traffickers and dealers wrestling for power and control of Colombia's cocaine import business to Mexico and the United States but the story line and events ave very different. I enjoyed them both very much but am partial to the earlier version which is more colorful and authentic in my opinion even though it is in Spanish with subtitles. Both are currently available on Netflix.