“Queen of the South” ran for five seasons on USA Network and never quite became the show its premise promised. Developed by M.A. Fortin and Joshua John Miller, it premiered on June 23, 2016, and closed on June 9, 2021, with 62 episodes. It is an adaptation of the Telemundo telenovela “La Reina del Sur,” and both trace back to the novel by Spanish author Arturo Pérez-Reverte. The bones are strong. The execution is uneven.
- Premiere: June 23, 2016
- Finale: June 9, 2021
- Seasons: 5
- Episodes: 62
- Network: USA Network
- Metacritic: 59/100
- Score: 5.9 of 10
Trailer, via TV Promos.
Teresa Mendoza Leaves Culiacán
The series opens in Culiacán, Sinaloa, Mexico. Teresa Mendoza is poor, and she falls in love with a member of a drug cartel. When she is told her boyfriend has been murdered, she flees. She crosses the border into the United States and ends up inside the criminal organization of the wife of the cartel boss who is hunting her.
That setup does a lot of work. It gives the show a hunted woman, a foreign land and a debt of revenge all at once. Alice Braga plays Teresa. Hemky Madera plays Pote Galvez. Peter Gadiot plays James Valdez. Jamie Hector plays Devon Finch. Ryan O’Nan plays King George.
Teresa Settles in Dallas
What separates Teresa from the men around her is method. She has a different vision of the drug distribution business. The source describes her as building a vast drug empire, and Dallas is where she does it. Where the cartel runs on force, she runs on charisma, and it attracts associates. She starts her own drug distributing organization. She becomes very successful.
Success does not simplify her life. It presents her with more problems, forces her to endure sacrifices and draws the attention of covert government forces. That is the engine of the back half of the series: the bigger Teresa gets, the more eyes land on her.
The Telenovela Underneath
“Queen of the South” is an adaptation of a telenovela, and it shows. The plot moves in surges rather than arcs. Alliances flip and loyalties are tested. That pace can be a virtue. It keeps the machinery turning.
It also means the show leans on incident. The associates gather because she is charismatic, and the empire grows. The source gives the show a large cast of operators around Teresa, and the series uses them.
Five Seasons and a Shutdown
The production history is part of the story. USA Network renewed the series for a fifth season on August 29, 2019. Production of that season was suspended indefinitely on March 14, 2020, because of COVID-19. It resumed in fall 2020.
On March 8, 2021, the network announced the fifth season would premiere on April 7, 2021, and would serve as the series’ final season. That is a strange way to end a show that had already been renewed. The final chapter arrived after a pandemic shutdown.
Where the Show Lands
A 5.9 out of 10 is a fair number, and it matches the published critical score: Metacritic sits at 59 out of 100. That is a middling grade for a show with a genuinely good lead and a genuinely good idea.
The ranking of what works is not close.
- Alice Braga as Teresa Mendoza. The role carries the series, and the series knows it.
- The move to Dallas. The city is where the empire gets built.
- The drug-distribution method. Teresa’s business sense is the most interesting thing on screen.
- The revenge thread. It gives the first seasons a spine.
- The supporting cast. Pote, James, Devon and King George fill out the world.
The Case Against the Middle Seasons
The middle of the run is where “Queen of the South” loses its grip. The cartel politics repeat across episodes. The betrayals stack up. Teresa survives, the empire grows, and the show resets.
Compare it to what it is adapting. “La Reina del Sur” is the telenovela it comes from, and “Queen of the South” keeps the plot turns. It is a crime drama that is often competent and rarely surprising.
What Holds Up
Two things hold up. The first is Braga. She plays Teresa as a woman doing arithmetic behind her eyes at all times, and the performance never tips into posturing. The second is the premise itself: a poor Mexican woman builds a drug empire, and the cost is everything she had before she started.
That is a real story, and “Queen of the South” tells it across 62 episodes. It is watchable. It is not essential.
What the Run Adds Up To
“Queen of the South” is a show that had a lead, a setting and a source novel good enough to carry five seasons. The COVID-19 shutdown delayed the ending. The fifth season was announced as the final one, and that is how it closed.
Worth starting. Hard to finish. Score: 5.9 of 10.
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