#*mqotsm

[junostjames]

Teresa in season two: comes back to work with Camila as a partner but isn’t treated as one despite often being responsible for the cartel’s survival, tries to do things ethically, develops a relationship with James, Guero comes back and everything goes to hell, finds out from Kelly Anne that she’s being set up, everything goes to hell again, ultimately decides she can’t run from her enemies.

James in season three: comes back to work with Teresa as a partner but isn’t one despite often being responsible for the cartel’s survival, tries to do things ethically, develops a relationship with Teresa, Guero comes back and everything goes to hell, finds out that he’s being set up by Kelly Anne, everything goes to hell again, ultimately decides he can’t run from his enemies.

[junostjames]

So when trying to anticipate what would happen between James and Teresa I realize I made two mistakes. 

The first was assuming that because they spent the season building Teresa’s love for James, we would get a confession by season’s end. The flaw with this is that while their relationship has always had season-long arcs, those arcs are of course part of a bigger plan for their relationship. The season arcs have always determined whose side they are on, their trust, even their location (separating them or bringing them back together), etc. The emotional beats to their relationship, however, (when one started to like the other, fell in love with the other, etc.) have always been exempt from them and when those happen are determined by the larger, long-term plan. Teresa telling James that she loves him isn’t an episode 1 thing or an episode 13 thing. It’s determined by the moment. 

The second was not taking all the moving parts of this season into consideration. I was so busy looking to Camila and James and Teresa’s fallout that I never once, I admit, stopped to consider Devon Finch. Finch, naturally, was not going to give up after Bolivia. Not once he realized his plan to nail Teresa failed and his mole was killed. After Kelly Anne was taken out, James went back to being Finch’s only real line to Teresa. And of course, as we’ve known since early season two, James will not let himself be used against her; he’ll surrender, he’ll put himself between her and whoever is trying to hurt her. So he gave himself up.

I think this was such a shock to me because it wasn’t even an option being considered or theorized, by anyone. The closest we got was suggesting he might leave to go to work for Camila again or just plain leave. Forfeiting his freedom to protect Teresa from the CIA (which absolutely will not work in the long run) was not on the table.

Now that I’ve had time to think about this, and possible directions that it might go in, I’m more intrigued by it. I am still disappointed that we didn’t get James and Teresa together; they both deserve a break and happiness even if it’s short-lived. But I can see the value of this story line, I love what this says about his feelings for her (no one loves or will ever love Teresa like James does), and I love the opportunities it presents- especially for Teresa when she inevitably finds out what James has done. 

I’ve really enjoyed reading everyone’s theories about where this might go.

[junostjames]

James is not the snitch, Kelly Anne is. Devon recognized her immediately in 3x05 and knew she was on the run. When he met with the CIA agent at the end of the episode he called James a piece of shit and said he had another way to get to El Santo. Kelly Anne began acting squirrely and using shortly after - maybe because of the waterboarding, maybe because she’s being blackmailed to snitch. She went into Teresa’s room in 3x09 and mae a point of saying she didn’t want to know anything above her pay grade (a weird comment for a women who’s been involved in almost every stage of establishing the operation in Phoenix, it was to make her look innocent) and the camera zoomed in on Guero’s necklace laying on the table. Teresa left without it and Kelly Anne was still in the house.

Secondly, James knows where El Santo’s compound is. If your goal is to get El Santo’s location you don’t need Teresa if you have James.

It’s Kelly Anne, likely being blackmailed.

And not for nothing has this show had James deflect every time the tracker in Tony’s toy is brought up. Looks like we’re finally gonna get to see Jeresa hash that out.

[junostjames]

Earlier someone asked me what if James is ordered by Finch to kill Teresa and that’s what we saw in the series opener? And to that I say: ah, so it’s definitely going to be a faked death scenario. He “kills her” to finally square his debt to the CIA and that gains him his freedom and Teresa gets to walk from the cartel and they disappear together. Voila.

(Also I have a suspicion the writers know they’re only getting one or two more seasons out of this show - and apparently when the rights were bought to make this show the deal was for five seasons - so timeline-wise it could work.)

[junostjames]

How do you think Kelly Ann knew about Jeresas relationship? and since when? In 3x11 she said “I know you have feelings for him“ and she asked Teresa if she looked so sad because sth between her and James happened “woman’s intuition“. And what do you think, did everyone in their crew know about them like Charger, Javier, Camila, Devon at the end?

Hey, anon! I think it was probably a combination of observation (especially since she would’ve been snooping around to plant the bugs) and being informed by Devon so she could use the information. Because of the bugs Finch would have found out about Jeresa pretty quickly, if he hadn’t already assumed they were involved after 3x05.

I don’t know if Camila actually knew about them prior to taking Teresa captive so much as she was just making a logical assumption that Teresa’s reaction confirmed. Javier guessed the same way Camila had, knowing James well enough to suss out his motivations and then just observing reactions.

So basically everyone actively observing them, looking for information, realized they were involved. I doubt the rest of her crew, like Charger or Lil T, knew anything. Probably still don’t, lol.

[junostjames]

From the time her parents were murdered til she meant Guero her life was shit. Her boyfriends mistreated her, her boss abused her and put her in the hospital, she was out on the street money changing at 15. Then she met Guero and he beat up her boss and she gained a new family in one night. She ended up living in a big house and she was safe and secure. Overall that is probably the happiest, easiest time in her life since her childhood.

Just before he died she was on the precipice of becoming truly happy again. With someone else. James. Who she had feelings for even when she was still with Guero- which Guero knew and was jealous about. James, who Guero was afraid would “steal his woman.” James makes her laugh and smile, they joke and tease and flirt together. She relies on him, as she relied on him during some of the hardest moments in her life. He helped her heal. She understands him and he understands her in a way that almost no one else does. Teresa knows what she can have with James. James is about commitment, the future, making a life together. And when I rewatch that scene of her the morning after they slept together, light and happy, I think she knows all of that and it makes her peaceful and hopeful. Content.

Now? I think she may have some fear about it. What does it mean if she can move on? Or, indeed, if she already was moving on? What if she does embrace this new life but James is tortured and murdered, too? Can she survive having this happen again? In order to be happy again she has to become vulnerable, which must be so frightening. Not to mention, new relationships have a way of re-contextualizing old ones in a way that isn’t always flattering. Her memories of her time with Guero have been a refuge. But Queen, future Teresa, once said of Guero, “a man can make you smart or he can make you stupid. *disapproving face* I hope those green eyes are worth it.” That suggests that with time Teresa might come to feel differently about her relationship with Guero.

This is just me musing, btw, I don’t really have a point.

[junostjames]

What’s your favorite season of Queen of the south so far? I think mine is season 1. I feel like season 1 was more character driven.

Hey, anon! I liked season one, too, a lot more than many fans. I think it had fewer issues with logic and continuity than the subsequent seasons. It wasn’t without its flaws, of course. Overall, I’d say season two is still my favorite - even though that’s when the show started to develop some major problems - and not just because of Jeresa. Tho obviously, lmao, Jeresa is the primary reason why. Just watching their relationship deepen even though Teresa’s trying to bury her feelings, all the times they saved each other, watching them be so in sync as partners, etc. I feel like if I were to do a highlights reel for them the bulk of the moments would come from season two. 

But I also like that season best because Teresa finally felt like the lead character, which she hadn’t in season one. She was finally the one driving the action and not stuck just reacting to others and that’s very important to me.

[junostjames]

There’s a theory that’s been around since last season that James will be the one to kill Teresa because she’s gone so far to the dark side he sees it as his responsibility or something. I dislike that theory so much, tbh. James went down a dark path, spent years killing people, was swayed by Teresa to show more compassion and mercy, took the time to sort out what he wanted in life, and now he’s getting the chance to find a new way and work toward redemption. But if Teresa goes down that same dark path all she gets is a bullet? That’s suggesting that it’s worse for Teresa to become a killer than it was for James to do so. She’s no less deserving of redemption and a chance to start again. No. Absolutely not.