#qots 4x02

[northcountry39]

James disobeying orders and sparing someone for Teresa for @mymostimaginaryfriend (Based on THIS post)

[la-ermitana]

Teresa Mendoza in Un Asunto de Familia [4x02]

[qotsgifs]

[mymostimaginaryfriend]

Maybe that’s the point though. James is part of Teresa’s current life and her old life doesn’t cross with it? So Tony and him were never supposed to meet? And maybe when they had decided on the new s4 storyline when James wasn’t a part of it then Tony was included.

Hey anon! This made me think and dang. Crazy how technically in s4 it was Tony who was Teresa’s current life and James as her past - 😓

But I do actually think a lot of the season was about Teresa’s past life clashing with her new one - Tony’s arrival, Pote killing Tony’s dad, Teresa’s intentions with Tony and Brenda, the godmother retcon, Kelly Anne, Teresa thinking she could leave her S3 life behind and become a legit businesswoman etc. IMO, James being faced with his past decisions in regards to Tony/Gameboy and sparing Kelly Anne could have fit in pretty well!

I do see what you mean though...and even if James had been in s4 there was no guarantee he’d even get to interact w/ Tony anyway lol. One of these days I’ll quit trying to rewrite the season 🤣

[northcountry39]

I’m only telling you this because you’re my best friend, but don’t let it get to your head. (Teresa and Brenda in 4x02 flashbacks)

[northcountry39]

Javier Jimenez in QOTS 4x02 (requested)

[northcountry39]

QOTS Parallels: Teresa and Pote in 2x10, 3x01, and 4x02

[northcountry39]

George and Birdie in QOTS 4x02

[northcountry39]

Marcel Dumas in Season 4 of Queen of the South

[northcountry39]

I am SO CONFUSED by this ep!! Can you help?? I don't really understand what's going on with Kellyann James and Tony plus all the shipment stuff.

Hey anon! There was definitely a lot to process this ep and for sure a few things that left me looking a bit like George and Javier. Lots of great stuff, too! But let’s see what we can do for you:

OK let’s start with KA. Surprise, she’s alive! And as much as that’s a bit of a head-scratcher, I’m down with it? I love KA, her dynamic with Teresa, her cute moments with Pote, I am 100% on board with more of that! And she adds some much needed levity to a show that can get pretty dark.

Bu yeah, all we know from this ep is that James didn’t kill her and she doesn’t know why - hopefully they’ll give us more of an explanation when James resurfaces. 

Not sure what KA’s been up to since her “death”, but apparently she had a system worked out with Tony where he can ping her on an app if he’s in trouble. (I guess Teresa never told him she was dead?) So she boots it over to his school from wherever she was (which is within driving distance) when Tony’s roommate gets shot.

By sicarios sent by Cortez, apparently! Cortez paid them for the hit before he died, and they’ve been searching ever since, I guess? Seems a bit odd that it would take so long, especially if Tony is THAT open with his social media presence (and that they wouldn’t just scarper off with the money), but we’ll roll with it!  

Pote gave KA an out to disappear again, but it looks like she’s going to stick around and face the music, whatever that means. I’m rooting for you, girl!

In terms of the more plotty business plot points from this week, this is how it shook out:

- Javier hands off a truckload of “tequila” to El Gordo’s men (one of whom is El Gordo’s nephew)

- Marcel’s men hijack the shipment and take the nephew hostage. El Gordo is not pleased and thinks Teresa is messing with him. 

- One of Marcel’s men was shot, and Marcel gives him a bottle from the shipment to take the edge off. (“Well man it ain’t bourbon, but that sh*t’s gonna help.”) Or not? Because it’s actually Teresa’s liquid coke, and the hapless minion who’s been happily chugging it is toast. Marcel puts two and two together. 

- El Gordo comes charging into the bar and takes Birdie hostage. Teresa gets a ransom call from Marcel, who has her goods and the nephew. 

- Teresa goes to Marcel’s club and they negotiate. Teresa doesn’t want to sell locally, but that’s the price she has to pay to get El Gordo’s nephew back. So Teresa is now back in business with El Gordo and selling to Dumas. Things are getting complicated!

Hope that helps! I know there was a lot to keep track of. :) 

[qotsgifs]

[qotsgifs]

So you know it’s not just me you’re going to have to answer to?

[mymostimaginaryfriend]

Do you think James will be in 402?

Hello, hello anon!  I’ll probably go into the ep assuming he won’t be just because I’d rather be pleasantly surprised than disappointed BUT…from what we know about 4x02, there are some openings for a James return or at the very least, a James mention.

First off, (I’ll be vague for spoilers) there might be a surprising character return in 4x02 and I don’t mean Tony or James.  We don’t know HOW the show will explain this character’s return but there’s a good chance James could be involved somehow in the explanation…so?  Maybe a mention at least?

Secondly, if the promo after 4x01 is mostly 4x02 footage, there will be a Teresa and Eddie love scene–I know, I know! But remember what’s happened in the past when Teresa connected with or slept with someone new?  A man from her past almost immediately showed up.  James and Teresa hug? Guero comes back from the dead.  Teresa hooks up with the waiter in Malta? Don’t look now, here comes James.  Teresa and James finally sleep together? Surprise! A wild Guero appears!  Again…Maybe?There’s a lot of story to cover in 4x02 though. The promo pics show Marcel getting into the mix, a flashback with Brenda, whatever is going on with Tony and don’t forget, Teresa also has to get El Gordo’s coke to Miami AND pay off the Judge within 48 hours.  Sounds like a jammed packed episode but IMO there are still reasons to hope for a sign of James. Thanks for the ask!

[mymostimaginaryfriend]

I‘m so excited what season 5 of qots will bring and I have so many questions like will the james spared KA be addressed and how? Where if he stays and I assume yes will James live with teresa or in an own apartment?

Oh I hope so, anon!  Molly has been on set for 5x01 so I am crossing my fingers the whole James and Kelly Anne development at the very least gets a mention!  Back when 4x02 aired I wondered about this too:

Part of me is like by the time James shows up, KA being alive will be such old news we’ll be lucky if the show remembers she was ever dead. My best case scenario is a high stakes speed walk Jeresa couples therapy session like 3x02 where they cover the bases at least?  

But if we get a redo of 2x07 with like Kelly Anne hugging James, thanking him for sparing her life and James uncomfortable with Emotions™ being all “are you trying to make me regret that?” I might just call us even, show!

So I dunno but I hope so!  As for James’ living situation, funnily enough I was just talking about this the other day with @lirio-de-los-desiertos  wondering if they’d repurpose Javier’s apartment set...but just James and Teresa alone in her penthouse is a nice thought isn’t it?  Will James get to stay with Teresa’s crew or will the plot take him elsewhere?  Either way I hope we get to see plenty of Teresa & James interactions, no matter how complicated the circumstances or story may get!  

[mymostimaginaryfriend]

QOTS 4x07 Reaction Post

Plot progression? What plot progression? Bueller? Bueller?  

Guys.  To think they cut all those scenes from previous eps and we got this Less Plot More Filler speed bump of an episode this week. You would hardly miss anything important if you only watched the episode preview!  Nearly every character ends the episode right where they started.  Other than the body of Rene being discovered, every “plot point” could have been taken care of with about five minutes of screen time sprinkled across other eps.

Think I’m lying?  Have the sicario die in 4x02 (no new info provided by him this ep, it’s still Cortez sending sicarios from the grave!), have Teresa break up with Eddie last week because of the war with Marcel, have Tony pointing a gun at a napping Pote in any other ep and VOILA.  Time for stories that actually move the plot along!

I saw the Teresa x Eddie romantic getaway writing on the wall last week and mostly came to terms with my James sicario scenario being a pipe dream BUT--  Why go to all this trouble and have Eddie STILL NOT FIND OUT ABOUT TERESA’S REAL LIFE?!  

Like...Teresa manages to survive a brutal attack and MURDERS a guy FIFTEEN FEET away from Eddie and he doesn’t even notice b/c the 25 fans that showed up for his performance wanted an encore. Musicians I swear.

They went to the trouble to set up that parallel between Teresa x Eddie and Javier x Emilia last episode and ...totally dropped it this week.  I don’t get what they are doing with Eddie’s storyline.  By keeping him out of the loop, it keeps him from contributing to the plot at all, grinds the story to a standstill when he’s on screen, and prevents Teresa from being able to fully open up to him preventing any possible audience investment in the relationship at all. 

The writers say they wanted Teresa to think she could still have a “normal” relationship with someone outside of the cartel life.  If they were determined to do the Eddie storyline--why not have it contribute more to the main plot? 

I wish they’d have gone full on Guero/Teresa reversal and had Teresa “rescue” Eddie from a bad situation, either by giving him an opportunity or financial support. They could have made Eddie a recovering addict (maybe his friend overdosed and it scared him straight) and have Teresa feeling an almost personal responsibility with being tied to the drug trade performing a sort of penance by funding his church restoration. Feelings could become involved and it get messy when he finds out just how she got that money she’s giving him.  Just spitballing but seems like that could have been another great opportunity for Teresa to Look in the Mirror™ on her journey to Queenpin.  HIRE ME QOTS.

Anyway that’s enough Eddie talk.  What else?

Poor, poor Emilia.  Maybe the TxE and JxE parallel really is the Fooling Yourself for Love.  Still love how Javier and Emilia only speak to each other in Spanish.  I love realistic details like that.

Nice callback to the pilot with the Tony video game scene just like the one before his dad got killed.

Teresa is small yet MIGHTY.  Our girl is a fighter.  I was screaming at my TV: FINISH HIMMMMMM.  There’s no one on this show I’d want in my corner more than Teresa Mendoza.

I laughed out loud at Javier’s face when he realized just who Rene was related to.  That one bad decision has basically turned into the Indiana Jones boulder of doom running down Javier (and by proxy Teresa) this entire season.  That body count is up to six now? Rene, his pal, the bird watcher, Bobby, (shit, sorta Birdie too!), the tow yard worker and the cop?  Yikes.

And for as much as I complained that nothing actually happened with the Tony/Pote screentime, I LOVE that Pote was really awake at the end.... 

Just in time for next week...Secrets & Lies!   Which I am speaking into existence will have nothing to do with Eddie!  I stg if his screentime increases AFTER being dumped I don’t know what I’ll do.  Any guesses who the FBI informant is?  

[mymostimaginaryfriend]

Ahhh Tumblr ate this ask response like FIVE times, but JUST FOR YOU ANON: QOTS Trailer Breakdown Breakdown is back---

Okay first thing I noticed was Teresa wears this outfit in quite a few significant scenes:

She’s wearing it when she tells Tony this life is dangerous, when she tells Pote who she needs to be scares her (from old trailer), her hookup with Eddie and the scene shown above about “sending a message”.  Putting this all together my speculation is that Teresa’s war with Marcel escalates to some pretty scary places and the decisions Teresa finds herself making might preview the Queenpin to come.  I feel like Teresa might search out Eddie afterwards to try to escape the feeling of what she had to do--hence hookup.

Next--Javier in jail (?!?!?!):

Is it a ruse? A mission? Or is Javier facing the consequences of oh, I dunno--NOT TELLING TERESA HE KILLED RENE AND THAT HIS CORPSE IS CURRENTLY BEING TOWED TO POSSIBLY A CITY OWNED (READ: IN JUDGE’S POCKET) TOW YARD? Sorry, just watched the sneak peek for 4x05 and um, have some thoughts to share with Javi.  BTS set pics tell us this is probably 4x08.

As for James...

Well, as I see it, after this latest trailer, here’s how the next few episodes are shaking out:

Teresa attempts to make a deal with El Gordo and Oksana (4x05) which might be complicated by El Gordo getting raided by DEA; Marcel and Teresa’s war escalates (4x05-4x06) with bloody consequences; Javier goes to jail (4x08); Teresa runs for her life at abandoned Six Flags (probably 4x10 per BTS pics).

What’s missing from that list? 4x07!  And I know, I know.  I agree the sicario is most likely the same one from 4x02 resurfacing to make Teresa’s life hell but that doesn’t mean that James won’t show up too?

As for other possibilities...Jorge Reyes, renown writer of Jeresa classic eps, wrote 4x06 and 4x10 this season so put a James pin in those episodes perhaps?  

And of course: 4x11 (entitled While You Were Sleeping).  If it’s anything like the movie of the same name (and BTS pics do tell us it was filmed in a hospital) then what if Teresa is in a coma? Seems like perfect timing for our annual Teresa/James hallucination if you ask me.  

What do you guys think?  To be fair the only guesses I’ve gotten right lately were jokes so who knows if any of this will be true but can’t wait to find out!