TV Week

Queen of the South saga of drug cartel in Texas

Alice Braga has the lead role in the USA series "Queen of the South." It’s based on the book "La Reina Del Sur" by Spanish author Arturo Perez-Reverte.
Alice Braga has the lead role in the USA series "Queen of the South." It’s based on the book "La Reina Del Sur" by Spanish author Arturo Perez-Reverte.

"I've been poor. And I've been rich. Rich is better."

Those are the words of drug "queenpin" Teresa Mendosa in USA's sprawling new rags-to-riches drama, Queen of the South, which debuts at 9 p.m. Thursday.

Based on the 2002 novel La Reina Del Sur by Spanish author and journalist Arturo Perez-Reverte, Queen of the South tells the gripping tale of a woman who is forced to seek refuge in the United States after her drug-dealing boyfriend is murdered in Mexico.

Plenty of tense action and sanguinary adventure ensue as Teresa reinvents herself, creates her own cartel and becomes one of the wealthiest women in the world.

If all this sounds familiar, Perez-Reverte's best-seller was also the source for the immensely popular telenovela for USA's Spanish-language sister network, Telemundo. That series ran for 63 episodes in 2011 (encore in 2013) and starred Kate del Castillo as Teresa.

The "South" in the novel and telenovela is the south of Spain. In this adaptation, it's Texas.

The USA series features 33-year-old Brazilian actress Alice Braga in the title role of Teresa, a poor woman from the "barrio" of Jalisco, Mexico. Viewers may remember Braga from City of God and her role opposite Will Smith in I Am Legend.

In an interview with USA, Braga sums things up, saying,"Queen of the South is about a woman and her journey to becoming the head of a drug empire. She's a very strong person who was thrown into very poor circumstances in Mexico and meets a man and falls in love with him. He's a drug dealer."

After Teresa's [pronounced tair-RAY-sa] boyfriend, Guero, is killed, "from that point on, she starts running for her life."

Braga adds, "She is being hunted by the Mexican cartel, which is trying to kill her because she knows too much about the business.

"Teresa is a very interesting character to play because she's thrown into this violent world and she had to become a different person to survive. It's really interesting to play two roles at the same time. I've never really done that before and it's fun. When you change outfits, you change everything.

"Because of the circumstances, Teresa had to become a different person who was always trying to find the right way to survive. When she becomes the queen, she's never the typical gangster. It's a human person who had this power and became good at it.

"I believe Queen of the South has a very interesting quality. It's a show that has the conflict of trying to survive, violence and drug lords. I do believe that it will engage people."

Engaging, sure. But if you haven't figured it out, Queen of the South is violent, frequently graphically so. Hide the kiddies while it's on.

There are plenty of characters to keep straight in the series. Here's a handy scorecard thanks to USA.

Don Epifanio (Joaquim de Almeida). This wealthy, dashing man seems to be the consummate Mexican politician and benevolent father figure to Teresa and Guero. But beneath his smooth veneer beats the heart of a determined and ambitious man who won't let anything or anyone get in his way.

Once Guero is killed, Teresa flees to Texas and ends up in the operation of Epifanio's wife, Camila, who is building her own drug cartel to rival her husband's business.

Camila Vargas (Veronica Falcon). Ruthless Dallas drug lord Camila emigrated from Mexico to Texas and would love nothing more than to ruin Epifanio's duplicitous game.

At first, Camila dismisses Teresa as just another one of Guero's girls, but comes to see that the young woman's drive, fearlessness and intelligence make Teresa a valuable player as long as she can keep her from being captured or killed by Epifanio.

Cesar "Batman" Guemes (Gerardo Taracena). The oily No. 2 of the Mexican cartel and Epifanio's right hand, Cesar is known as "Batman" because he's always dressed in black. When Camila approaches Batman with a lucrative offer, he finds himself questioning where his loyalties lie.

James Valdez (Peter Gadiot). James is a good guy who had to do bad things. He works as a drug-runner for Camila's cartel and she has grown to trust him.

Brenda Parra (Justina Machado). Brenda and her husband, Chino, befriend Teresa when she starts dating Guero. When Guero and Chino go down, Brenda and her young son, Tony, make a run for it with Teresa.

Strong-willed and independent, Brenda remains loyal to Teresa and the two best friends help each other out when needed.

Pote Galvez (Hemky Madera) is Teresa's enforcer. He's "a killer with a heart."

Style on 06/19/2016

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