Caray, Caray!

reina3

I'm not able to do a recap, but I can say something to get the conversation started. A lot of tonight's episode involved The Black Horseman. I'm not sure who the woman is who overheard Epifanio talking on the phone (is she Epi's current sex toy?), but she heard him mention both Teresa Mendoza and the Black Horseman. She then arranges to meet Antonio Alcalá at a shoestore in what looks like a shopping mall. She tells him that Epifanio talked about needing documents and about Teresa Mendoza, and she also heard him mention The Black Horseman. Antonio then phones Senator Kozar to pass the informant's info along. He asks Kozar why she cares so much about the Black Horseman. She simply replies that it's a very delicate matter, and that if all goes well, Antonio will be well rewarded.

We see Sofia, Faustino, Paloma, and Rocio at what I assume is Faustino's home (or one of them), hidden away in the woods. Ernie, Charlie, an Interpol guy, and about a dozen other men are approaching the house. Ernie calls Kozar to report that they are about to capture Sofia and the others. To his astonishment, she orders him to abort the operation. She tells him that Teresa Mendoza knows about the Black Horseman. Ernie tells Charlie to abort. He's astonished and reluctant. Ernie makes his request a bit stronger: "Charlie, get the fuck out! Abort now!" All three teams of men (including an Interpol contingent) immediately leave. (I'm surprised that Faustino doesn't hear a dozen or so men moving quickly away.) Once they're away from the house, Charlie again questions Ernie about the sudden abort order. Ernie explains that the order came from Kozar, and that The Horseman can do a lot of damage to her. Charlie asks, "Didn't the death of her predecessor settle that?" Ernie explains "that death helped end the blackmail, but we don't have any proof. We don't even know who helped." (I am totally in the dark about all this. I'm not sure whether this refers to things that happened in season 2 that I don't remember, or whether it is new but as yet unexplained.)

A short time later, we see Kozar talking on the phone to Ernie. She tells him she's been trying unsuccessfully all night to figure out how Teresa Mendoza ended up looking for the Black Horseman. Ernie says that apparently Epifanio Vargas knows more than they thought. "Well, then maybe Vargas is doing us a favor without even knowing it," Kozar says. Ernie replies, "And the daughter is still our best bet to find Teresa Mendoza's whereabouts." Kozar agrees: "And that's why you have to follow her every move, who she talks to, friends, everything. She has to know where her mother is." Ernie tells her he still needs Interpol's support, and they're not very happy with us. Kozar assures him that she's already taken care of that. "Interpol is willing to work with us, but they're only giving us one week. After that, they're going to detain Sanchez Godoy." Ernie tells her that's not enough time to find Mendoza. But Kozar has already ended the call.
 

reina3

There's one other thing I want to mention about last night's episode. At the very end, Oleg and Anton have been filming Tajeda as part of their "documentary." They persuade him to let them do a quick segment in his office. Oleg surreptitiously places a pen that transmits speech in with a bunch of pens on Tejeda's desk. They then thank Tejeda for his participation in the documentary and leave. As soon as they're gone, Tejeda seems to spot the pen, which has a blinking red light (not the wisest thing to try to hide!) and mutters a sarcastic "Thank you" in Russian. Oops. I don't recall Oleg and Anton saying anything revealing in Russian during the film shoot, but Tajeda's "Thank you" suggests that he may understand remarks they have said or may say in the future. (Unless, like me, Tejeda knows just 4 or 5 common Russian words.)
 

Reina 3

Thanks so much, Juanita! Reads like a recap to me.

We thought Danilo might be Alcalá’s mole, but it’s Epi’s sidepiece. Nice.

Looked like Faustino had a sense something was going on out there in the brush. But then he shrugged it off.

They are building up suspense around this Black Horseman. A lot of characters have a strong reaction to hearing that name. I can’t remember any reference to him in season 2. But perhaps it could be someone coming back from a previous season. And we don’t know if we know who Kozar’s predecessor was. Very mysterious.

About the interview with Tejada: Interesting about that piece Oleg picked up and Tejada’s explanation. I think he called it una Virgencita de Estaño. He mentioned something about tin being a curse for some but he and the Bolivian people consider it a blessing. Then he mentioned a book about tin, “El Metal de Diablo”. I hope I heard that correctly. I don’t have time to go back to look.

It seemed Tejada noticed the pen Oleg planted. Oleg said to Tejada in Russian “thank you very much” and then in Spanish, “as we say in my land”. Tejada repeated in Russian, “thank you very much”. Could he know Russian? Has worked with Russians? I didn’t hear Oleg and Anton saying anything revealing in Russian either, Juanita.

 

reina3

Thanks so much, Juanita! I really needed your descriptive comments because I was tired and frustrated by last night's teasing episode.

Jane Kozar's stark terror at the mention of the Black Horseman was telling. Could she have had the senator she replaced bumped off? Could she have somehow inherited the position after that? In California, one of our Senators was appointed by the Governor after Kamala Harris became the Vice President. He's now running for his term. But this mention of her predecessor sounded much more sinister than that.

I completely missed Tejada being aware of the pen placed in that mug AND the fact that there was a blinking light. My TV HAS to fit in my much-loved pine entertainment center so I haven't upgraded to any huge set.

I thought Charlie was going to blow a gasket after losing his chance to a) rough some people up or b) kill some people or c) get his hands on Sofia. Talk about police brutality! If Charlie applied for a job in a decent police department he'd never pass the psych test. We don't have it any more, but the town I live in used to have a citizens review board that got to interview prospective hires. The thinking was that regular people might pick up on something that would disqualify someone.

I also found it very odd that Faustino and/or his family didn't notice anything. It seemed like the place was so quiet, except for dinner conversation, that one could have heard something. And they lit a huge bonfire on the beach! Oh well. Dramatic license, I guess. I do NOT want Faustino, one of my favorites in all three seasons, in prison!
 

reina3

Juanita, thanks a bunch.

I couldn't believe Oleg's planted pen would be spotted by Tejada right away. We know how sharp Oleg is, so maybe that was intentional.

That was an awful lot of manpower to surround Godoy and three weaponless women. The local officer seems ticked with the Americans so I'm hoping he'll give pushback to Ernie and Charlie.

Glad to see Epi's side piece is Antonio's spie. She sure deserves hazard pay.
 

reina3

Many thanks, dondi356, novelera, and Niecie in MD, for your very helpful and interesting comments.

Dondi, I appreciated your confirming that Alcalá's mole is not Danilo but rather Epi's current mistress. I thought that's who the woman was, but I wasn't sure. And yes, Faustino did hear something when Ernie, Charlie, et al arrived; indeed, Sofia too heard the sound. But when there were no more sounds, Faustino decided nothing was wrong. I was much relieved that the operation was aborted. It's true that we've seen Our Heroes prevail in gun fights when they were outnumbered, but the situation last night was quite different. There was apparently just one person (Faustino) with a gun versus probably a dozen armed men, including at least several who were quite proficient in combat. Faustino and the others wouldn't have stood a chance.

Novelera, I too found it almost unbelievable that no one heard the men retreat. A dozen men running through the woods would surely have stepped on twigs or other things that would have made noise. But I was glad Faustino and the others did not hear the men retreat. As I said above, the good guys would have been ludicrously outnumbered and outarmed. As for the pen, there were several shots of its red light blinking. It seemed hard to believe that Jonathan and the others would include a blinking feature like that in something that's supposed to be unseen. I don't understand why the writers would include the very visible bonfire on the beach and the much smaller but also visible blinking red light on the pen. Oh well....

Niecie, I was just about to post the above message when I saw your comment. You raise an interesting point about the pen perhaps being deliberately visible. I find it hard to believe that they'd want to call attention to it, but I also find it hard to believe that the writers would have Jonathan create a pen with such a visible feature if it's supposed to transmit what is being said without the speaker knowing that this is happening. As for the local Interpol guy's unhappiness with Ernie and Charlie, Jane Kozar assures Ernie that she has smoothed things over. I guess we'll see.
 

reina3

I'll put something up tonight after my Zoom. Probably not lengthy.
 

This will be brief.
Fedor appears to have a gambling debt and some London thugs waterboard him as encouragement to repay 55K euros.

In Potosí, Bolivia Teresa and Pablo visit a bar called La Baronessa. They buy some guy a drink to milk him for information. I notice he speaks to the wait person in, I think, Quechua. After they leave with no information, the wait person grills the guy. He says that they asked who owned the bar and mentioned Abel.

Bebita gets her agenda from Susana. On the agenda is her child, Güicho. [Odd nickname. My dictionary says it means someone missing teeth or maybe a stupid person.] Bebita pretends to be visiting a girlfriend, who comes to the door, but it’s a trick. Nacho is inside. However, outside, Susana sees a car with Nacho’s press pass in plain sight.

Pablo’s fingerprints are taking forever to run through the Mexican data base. Oleg and Jonathan listen to Tejada’s call. From what Tejada said, I’m not so sure he was aware of the pen/listening device on his desk. He’s speaking to Abel and tells him he’s going to get the girls out of Santa Cruz; he’ll move them in the morning. Don’t think if they keep mining, they’ll notice. If they look at the books, they may catch on and close the mine. We could charge $300 per bag (?). I hope the boy is like the father. Maita is trustworthy. [Rather confusing conversation.]

Bebita tells Nacho about meeting Epi while interviewing him in prison. He was charismatic, and they were happy until he became president. Nacho gives her a brief kiss, but she gets nervous and leaves.

Teresa and Pablo are sharing a room for some reason. They start joking about who’s going to sleep on the sofa. She tells him he needs to have a tracker device in him like the one she has.

Mateo asks Padre Gonzo for money to take Sofia on a picnic at the beach. He gets a lecture and then the money.

The Evil Twins (Ernie and Charlie) look up Mateo online. They find out about his being in juvie and having been an addict. They also look up Padre Gonzo and decide “this could be useful”.

Faustina, Rocío and Paloma tease Sofia about Mateo. Faustino asks if it will be her “first time”, and Sofia laughs and says you never ask something like that. It sort of seems like she does plan to have sex with Mateo.

Teresa is reading about illegal mining and cancer on her tablet when there’s a knock at the door. A bellboy comes in, but he’s followed up by the usual guy with the chloroform rag and Teresa is grabbed up.

We see a looooong journey of Pablo through the red-light district. Quite boring actually. He ends up paying some barman for information on places that feature underage girls.

Fedor calls Oleg for money. Oleg doesn’t have the amount he wants, and Fedor hangs up on him. Oleg first warns him not to go back to the hostel.

Teresa has her arms secured over her head in a cave. There’s a creepy looking devil figure. A woman seems kind and gives her first water and then mate to drink.

Epi chews out Susana about letting Bebita enter the room alone. The way he talks to her I’m starting to agree with dondi. She may switch sides.

A man shows up and sort of worships the devil statue. He turns out to be Abel. And, yes, Juanita, he’s NOT a good guy. He’s cruel as can be. He tells the woman he’d beat her if they weren’t in the presence of El Tío (the devil thing, I assume). He goes on to beat a young man who threw liquor on the fire. Abel goes on to grill Teresa. She says her friend is interested in his estaño (tin charm). Abel is fed up and tells some guys “You know where to throw her.” Teresa seems to be about to be thrown into a hole in a mine.
 

reina3

Muchas gracias, novelera, for this short but very helpful recap.

When the episode started, I had no idea that the young man who owed money was Fedor. I suppose I should have suspected, since the setting was London and Oleg had said that Fedor was in London. Anyway, I think Fedor owed the guy £35,000. When the guy finally agrees to give him three days to come up with the money, the guy also tells him that the sum he now owes is £60,000. When, later in the episode, Fedor calls Oleg, Oleg tells him he doesn't have that kind of money, but he does give him good advice, both that he should definitely not go back to the hostel and that he should instead go to Jeff, who will put him up. He should tell Jeff that Oleg will take care of Jeff.

I noticed that in the scene where Pablo and Teresa are walking through the streets in Bolivia, most or all of the people on the street (except for the musicians) are wearing masks. I assume that's because they were filming the novela while Covid was rampant.

Bebita did her best to try to get Susana to stop following her every move, but Susana keeps insisting she has no other option. At one point, Bebita tells her no, I'm the one who has no other option. When they arrive at Lina's apartment, Bebita makes a gutsy move--with some annoyance, she offers Susana the chance to check out the apartment. Susana decides she'll wait out on the street. Had Susana taken up Bebita's offer, she might well have found that Duarte was there.

In the previous episode, it seemed pretty clear that Tejeda had spotted the pen with the flashing red dot. I was thus surprised that in tonight's episode he spoke on the phone as he did, while Jonathan listened. I assumed for a while that Tejeda was deliberately supplying misleading information. I'm still not sure.

Novelera, I'm glad that you mentioned Teresa's telling Pablo that he needed one of the annoying tracker devices, like the ones he insisted everyone else have implanted. My guess is that Teresa's tracking device may be how the good guys find her in the gruesome cave where she's being held. She certainly looked and sounded terrified at the end of the episode.
 

"REINA 3":

Dondi356: Is the scumbag still wreaking havoc as Mexico's President 🤔 ?

Steve Boudreaux
 

reina3

Thanks, Novelera. All I needed to know. This made me laugh: “A bellboy comes in, but he’s followed up by the usual guy with the chloroform rag…”

Maybe the pen flashing was a mistake in editing?

Just what Oleg needs, his son calling for help to get out of an urgent mess when he (Oleg) has his own emergency with Teresa.

Teresa bound in the cave with that devil statue reminded me of ancient virgin sacrifice. Yep, Abel is evil and seems crazy to boot.

Juanita, I sure hope that tracking device saves the day.
 

reina3

A little later tonight, I'll put up a short account of some of what happened in tonight's episode.
 

reina 3 Ep. # 12 p. 1 of 2

Tonight's episode begins as Teresa is being dragged to a deep hole in the cave. Abel orders his men to toss her into the hole. She resists and screams and finally yells "Maita." Abel asks, "What did you say?" She tells him she said "Señor Maita, your buyer. He gave me your name." Abel says that's impossible. Teresa tells him, "Days before he died, I talked to him." She tells Abel that she doesn't know what Maita paid him, but her people can pay him $600 per load. "You win and I win," she tells him. He asks how much they're talking about. Teresa replies, "2000 loads per year. About one million dollars. $1.32 million, to be exact" (even in season 1, Teresa was shown to be very talented in math).

Oleg prepares to go to London to be with his son, Fedor. We see Fedor encounter Jeff, as his father suggested. Jeff wants nothing to do with him. Fedor said his father told him to look for Jeff. "My father will pay you back for everything, including this," Fedor tells him. At Sheila's suggestion, Jonathan tries to break into the landlord's safe to get money for Oleg, but the safe is empty.

Pablo returns and finds Teresa is missing. He looks on his phone, presumably trying to see where her tracker locates her. Apparently, he's not successful. The tracker doesn't work if someone is underground. Then Pablo gets a call from Teresa. She tells him "I'm here with Señor Abel. In spite of almost killing me, he has agreed to deal with us." Abel then gets on the phone. He wants to deal with the Russian (I'm not sure why). He tells Pablo, "The meeting is in 4 hours. If the Russian isn't back, you can forget about your partner."

Epifanio asks Bebita for details of her visit with Lina. He then leaves and tells his henchman, "I want Bebita followed everywhere. And when she meets with Lina, I'll have a little job for you." (From the look on the henchman's face, I suspect that the "little job" may be to kill Nacho Duarte.)

Pablo calls Oleg and tells him that he's urgently needed. Oleg puts his visit to London on hold and goes to be with Pablo et al.

Father Gonzo questions Sofia about her feelings for Mateo. The priest is worried that she'll soon be gone. Mateo arrives as the priest and Sofia are talking. Mateo and Sofia gaze at each other with love and delight.

Mateo and Sofia go off on the motor scooter. Charlie [hiss here] follows in his car. Ernie appears, flashes his DEA card at Father Gonzo, and orders him to come with him. The matter is confidential and can't be discussed here. Father Gonzo says he wants to change his clothes. (I was hoping he'd leave, or at least leave a note, but apparently he didn't.)

Mateo and Sofia go off in a motor boat. Charlie quickly rents a boat and follows.

Teresa is now released from the chains in the cave. A woman brings her food. She tells Teresa she has been with Abel for more than 15 years. She also advises Teresa not to call the strange statue a monster. "He's the spirit who rules here. Don't say he's ugly to Don Abel. He has killed for less."

Two of Abel's men come for Pablo and Oleg. They search them, blindfold them, and put them in the van. Pablo and Oleg are worried what might happen if Tejeda tells Abel about a woman and a Russian making a documentary.

Bebita meets with a psychiatrist. She's worried that he thinks she's unfit to care for her son. He assures her that he thinks just the opposite. I think he asks her whether she remembers anything about the "suicide" attempt. She doesn't. He suggests that perhaps hypnosis may help.
 

reina3 Ep. #12 p.2 of 2

Oleg and Pablo arrive. The blindfolds come off. Oleg tries to shake hands with Abel, but Abel says it's too early to shake hands.

Ernie tells Padre Gonzo a lot about Sofia and her infamous mother, Teresa Mendoza, "the Queen of the South." Padre Gonzo is stunned--Sofia's sister and her husband ate dinner at his house. Ernie then takes out the mug shots of ex-narco Faustino. Padre Gonzo at first assumes that Sofia doesn't know about her family's past. Ernie disabuses him of his belief in her innocent ignorance. The padre then tries to phone Mateo, but Mateo has other things on his mind and doesn't answer. Soon, we see Sofia and Mateo lying next to each other, happy and relaxed. Apparently Sofia is no longer a virgin.

Meanwhile, Don Abel is quite suspicious of Pablo, Oleg, and Teresa. Oleg tries to speak, and Abel cuts him off, saying "Here, the owner of the house speaks first." Oleg replies, "In my country, the customer is always right." Abel says, "If what I think is so, you'll leave here--in body bags." He continues to question Oleg. Oleg comes up with a $1.5 million offer. Teresa points out that it's even more generous than she had said earlier. Abel says he doesn't believe in generosity. He again asks who they're representing. He's told something vague about the military. He then asks when Oleg spoke with Maita. Oleg pauses, then replies, "20 days ago or so...perhaps more." There's clear discomfort among Oleg, Pablo, and Teresa. Abel then asks about Oleg's dealings with Maita. Oleg replies that he never actually met Maita, they always talked on the phone. Abel then demands to see his phone. On that ominous note, the episode ends.
 

reina3

Gracias, Juanita.

I don't remember hearing "Maita" before last night, but if that saved the day for Teresa, so be it. No idea how the mines connect with Epifanio's plans and the DEA.

Nice to see Teresa using her legendary math skills.

I'm counting on Sofia to have brought protection for her first time. How creepy for Charlie to be watching.

Padre Gonzo is street savvy so I'm hoping he's not buying everything that Ernie is selling.
 

reina3

Thanks SO much, Juanita, for getting us started with your excellent comments (recap?).

Well it's clear these writers went to the Cliffhanger Screenplay classes at Telemundo. I'm starting to feel a bit jerked around.

It looked like we saw a shred of decency in Charlie. He saw our young lovebirds were ready to have sex and lowered his binoculars.

I have lost hope we'll have an episode without Ernie messing with someone. And, once again, the, to me, complete idiocy of a DEA officer being able to push people around in every country in the world is getting on my nerves. I would have liked to see Padre Gonzo tell him that he has committed no crimes and won't spend a minute of his very valuable time with the pushy Ernie.

I am very confused about what's going on here with the estaño. I can't remember if someone else here wrote it or if I did, but I thought the word was referring to some kind of trinket belonging to Abel. It now appears to me that what is involved is mining for tin. Mr. Google tells me tin has been extracted since the bronze age.

It looks like Teresa, Oleg, and Pablo are offering a lot of money for the tin, $600 per bolsa. I think something was mentioned earlier about $100 as what he and/or Tejada are getting. My Spanish dictionary also says that the word bolsa means pocket and an example is a pocket of oil. According to Mr. Google Bolivia does indeed export tin, but only about 40% of what Peru does. The largest producer is China.

So how does a complete nutcase like Abel have the ability to sell tin. It looked to me like there was legit mining going on. And Tejada said something about "they" continuing to mine and, if they stopped, their dark deeds would be discovered. And what does any of this have to do with the cholito shows and/or prostitution of the indigenous girls?
 

reina3

Thanks very much, Niecie andnovelera, for your interesting and helpful comments.

Niecie, I'm not sure whether I heard anyone speak about Maita before last night's episode. A distressing amount of what's said goes right by me. But, as you say, it was the magic word that worked for Teresa, at least for a while. Whether Teresa, Oleg, and Pablo can get their stories together to allay Atrocious Abel's suspicions remains to be seen. And like you, I have no idea how the mines connect with Epifanio's plans and the DEA.

Novelera, yes, last night's "comment" was intended as a short recap, since it tried to mention most of the more important things that took place (in contrast to the comment I offered a couple of days ago that looked almost exclusively at how so much of the episode focused on The Black Horseman). I loved your "Cliffhanger Screenplay classes"! And I'm reassured to know that you, too, are unsure how the estaño mining is connected to other aspects of the plot. I guess everything seems to relate to Abel Quispo, who apparently is The Black Horseman (at least, I think so). We saw in a previous episode how almost everyone (Epifanio, Antonio, Senator Kozar, Ernie, and perhaps others) gasped when "The Black Horseman" was mentioned, especially when it seemed that Teresa had located him. But, as Niecie asked, how do the mines connect with Epifanio's plans and the DEA? Also, are the cholito shows included just for local color? (Actually, since I guess they really exist, I'm glad they're included.)
 

OT

I want to say thank to all the Recappers who help fill in the jumbled Spanish I have a hard time catching.

and

Happy New Year
 

I would also like to thank everyone for their comments and recaps. I stumbled accross this blogspot by accident when I was trying to find out who Maita was. I also don't remember the name being mentioned before.
I am struggling to unravel or even keep up with this plot. Getting a bit frustrated, to be honest.
Your recaps and comments have helped enormously.
One thing I don't understand (and maybe I missed something? Or maybe it's not important?) I thought Anton was supposed to attend, as Oleg's bodyguard? They made a big point of giving him a gun before they got in the truck to meet Abel's guys. What happened to Anton? He didn't seem to attend the meeting?