From the beginning we’re captivated! We find a docile, yet street smart, hopelessly in love, but never too gullible, Teresa Mendoza. She’s somewhere in between running for her life, finding out there is no one left in her world that she can trust, and reminiscing through the early years of her relationship with boyfriend and narco, El Guero. He teaches her how to shoot a gun, who and what to fear, and exactly what to do in case she gets that dreaded call telling her that he’s been killed.
Basically, RUN FOR YOUR LIFE AS FAST AS YOU CAN!!
And we find out from Teresa that her life before Guero really has been no picnic, as she explains to him in one scene. All the men in her life before him have only mistreated and abused her…so absolutely she’s willing to go in al todo por el todo with her new narcotraficante boyfriend who treats her like a Reina. Only despite all of his warnings she seems not to have truly grasped the seriousness of their lifestyle until he’s dead and she’s jumping over buildings to avoid getting shot herself. Definitely no Reina del Sur at this point, Teresa seems more a common rancherilla from Culiacan. Yet the beauty of Kate del Castillo’s acting prowess is that even in Mendoza’s ingenuity we can see that fiera who will later steal the show…as La Reina del Sur, of course.
Del Castillo is excellent as Teresa Mendoza, all at once sweet, innocent, brave and unrelenting. A perfect match to her tosco but real lovable, and loving Guero of a boyfriend, played impeccably well by Rafael Amaya. Maybe it’s their undeniably Mexican accents and slang, or just the way the pair make ojitos at each other, but their chemistry is definitely on fire. Towards the end of the first episode veteran actor Humberto Zurita makes his appearance as El Guero’s only trusted ally and padrino, Epifanio Vargas. The cliffhanger, whether or not he will betray Teresa’s trust by killing her or having her killed by one of his men?
Therein lies my only true complaint about the new Telemundo series. Can we avoid the obvious cliffhangers? We all know she’s going to survive, just show us how she does it and give us all the action!
Kudos to Telemundo for snagging La Primera Actriz Kate del Castillo, as well as an all-star cast, including Zurita, Amaya and Camila Sodi. You can definitely tell this is the network’s most costly original program and their investment seems slated for quite the success. Univision even added an extra hour of their Triunfo del Amor, starring Cuban heartthrob William Levy, to compete par to par with La Reina del Sur’s Monday night premiere. Like always, it’s all about the ratings for the networks…but I for one am coming back for more Reina and less Levy running around shirtless for no apparent reason. ¿Apoco no?
15 thoughts on “Telemundo Lands a Hit with del Castillo in ‘La Reina del Sur’”
Si me encanto la novela
La novela esta super buenisima le doy 5 estrellas y nadie mas la pudo aver echo mejor que Kate
Ana,
At the beginning I was doubtful if someone as petite and cute as Kate could pull off such a bad girl role, but I can tell from just the first episode that she is going to be kicking some serious behind! This is the best premiere in a while for me 🙂
Pues yo me la perdi…Aunque no soy novelera, pero ya me sembrarón la curiosidad, aparte telemundo si, trae muy benas producciones…Kate es una contemporanea…
Maria, you definitely should watch at least one episode. Kate sí es toda una actriz estelar y me da mucho gusto que precisamente sea ella quien esta protagonizando esta serie 🙂
Tracy, you are no help on this one :-/ LOL! Lo que pasa es que el ultimo hook estbaa buenisimo (donde iban arrestar a Fatima por ser ilegal, etc) y yo estbaa bien curioso por saber lo que paso
Sounds like a good novela. “Tambien Las Mujeres Pueden!!” 😉
Sounds like a good novela! “Tambien Las Mujeres Pueden!!!” 😀
Clarin que pueden! Son más carajas que nosotros los hombres a veces 🙂
Ufff, this is one of my favorite books Juan! I think I told u this before: if I didn´t care have any ethics and morals I´d want to be La Reina del Sur when I grow up! LOL!
I agree with you. The challenge will be writing each episode in an engaging and original way since most of the viewers (maybe?) have read the book and know what´s going to happen.
Estoy super celosa que tu lo puedes ver y yo no! No Telemundo en Mexicalpán caray. I´ll definitely be asking you for my weekly update! Y bien por Kate!
Ya me convensiste, Sue! This is the next book I’m reading en español…cause if the novela is that good, I can only imagine how much better the book is! Oye, and ya quedamos para el weekly update. Otra excusa mas para ver y escribir sobre este programa 🙂 A ver cuando pasan la novelo en Mexicolandia!!
You are making me regret not watching this. I really want to, but like I told you on FB – I will feel awful about spending 2 straight hours in front of the TV since I’m already addicted to Herederos. Ojalá I can get my hands on a DVD of the episodes back-to-back and watch them over a few weekends one day. Great review. I may have to tune in now and then.
Or dare I ask, Tracy…when does Herederos end? Digo, only so you can switch your hour of television viewing to La Reina time, lol…I know that would be devastating. Pero en serio, if you happen to catch an episode let me know what you think. Would like to hear your fellow novelera analysis 🙂
All this novela talk got me wanting to read…so just started this book and already loving it,
Keep me posted on the progress of the book, Marcela! I am really interested in reading that book very soon.