¡Se nos acabo La Reina Del Sur! I for one am entering withdrawals already. Not in a long time had a telenovela connected with me in such a way as Telemundo’s megahit about the narco legend Teresa Mendoza did. The reasons for loving the novela and our Teresa are many, and I could go on for days explaining them, but instead let me just share these 10 very personal reasons why I fell in love with La Reina Del Sur from the very beginning and as the television hit progressed.
10. Teresa was strong. ¡Indomable! The kind of woman that makes you pay attention, that you can’t help but gravitate towards, because she possesses so many admirable attributes, least of which are the ganas to seguir luchando and never give up. How can we ever forget those scenes where she was running for her life at the beginning of the novela?
9. She took the bad things people said about her and used them to her advantage. Teresa was a sudaca and La Mexicana, both meant in disparaging forms many a times, but she never let other people’s discrimination prevent her from demanding the respect she felt she deserved.
8. La Reina Del Sur was never afraid to kick some ass to defend herself. Hasta con las puras garras she was willing to fight against those who tried to take advantage of her. Teresa was fierce! Just ask La Makoki or Sheila, two of the first to experience the wrath of Teresa Mendoza. Era mujer de pocas palabras y pantalones bien puestos.
7. Mexicans were the center of attention for once, and not in a negative way. Contrary to so many other internationally set movies and shows that always portray us Mexicans as a people of ignorance and little imagination, La Reina Del Sur cast Teresa Mendoza as a humble, but determined woman who was neither dumb nor helpless. “Me veo mensa, pero no lo soy”.
6. The Cast. Oh, the cast! From Kate del Castillo herself, to Cristina Urgel, Humberto Zurita, Rafael Amaya, Ivan Sanchez, Alberto Jimenez, Gabriel Porras, Dagoberto Gama, and so many others, everyone was excellent in this novela. My vote is already cast! Best novela of the year, and best cast ever!5. Friendships. There was more than one occasion when I got all choked up because of the realness in the friendships that we saw unravel before our eyes on the novela. To name just a few, Fatima risking her life and her livelihood for Teresa, Ole being such a gentleman all of the time, el distinguido Sr. Pote, Patricia and Conejo, and of course the last scene between Patty and Teresa – that was the hardest one for me to keep a straight face through.
4. Teresa’s ability to love. Despite losing everything and everyone she loved along the way, somehow Teresa always managed to believe in love again. It was almost her demise, yes, but it was also what made her so human. That despite being such a rich and powerful woman, cold almost, she could still manage to open her arms and heart to love over and over again… even at the end with her baby bump, she was in love.
3. The Action. Wow! We definitely got to see a lot more than we usually do in a telenovela. My favorite scenes are two: 1) when Teresa gets to whip Ratas in the face with the back of her hand, and 2) the shoot out scene at the end. That was awesome! But in between there were also quite a few slaughters, the gun battles across multiple continents, and even the hanging of the snitch, Driss.
2. The moral of the story. As cheesy as it sounds, the ultimate message of the novela to me was that good always triumphs over evil. Sure Teresa was doing a bad thing, trafficking drugs and ordering people in her way to be eliminated, but she wasn’t the one who started the war. In a way, it was self defense. If she hadn’t finished her enemies off they would have finished her off. When we leave our mexicana in the final scene of La Reina Del Sur she is tranquil and happy for the first time in a long time. Good triumphing over evil once again, LOL!
1. The bad ass production by Telemundo of such a worthy story! Not only did they tell Univision and the rest of the television networks out there that they are a force to be reckoned with, but they also told us, their audience, that they are willing to raise the stakes in quality productions to win over our viewership. I for one am paying more attention to their future lineups.
La Reina Del Sur was my favorite novela in years, and to make up for her absence in my nightly programming I will likely be picking up the book by the same name. Hopefully it will be as good as the show.
Share your reasons for loving our Teresa Mendoza.