Queen of the South - Episodes 5.07 to 5.09 - Review and Finale Advance Preview

With the finale tomorrow night let us do a quick rundown of the last three episodes, PLUS a small preview of what’s in store for the show’s curtain call.

5.07 – El Zorro En La Gallinera

As Teresa thinks she has finally established her legitimacy, she is on the lookout to properly replace Boaz (if you ask me stupidly vetting one of Boaz’s guys in Sinaloa, Osvaldo). However Castel avoiding her at every turn does put her a bit on edge. She also tries once again to extent an olive branch to a now free Marcel, who (justifiably) not at all graciously declines her offer once again, much to the charging of his own crew. Realising he doesn’t want to get lost in the world any further he decides he wants out.
Meanwhile Boaz makes his moves to take over the business, starting from hitting the operation at Phoenix (RIP Taza. You deserved better than an off screen death mention) and even taking a shot at the Queen herself. When James and Teresa do get out of the altercation without a scratch, Teresa tries to gather her own to safety, and refuses to flee without her family even as the girl from Culiacan, in a reverse “Queen Ghost” mirage reminds her that survival is the most important thing. As she fails to get hold of George she calls Boaz. The aspiring jefe always happy to rub salt in a wound is all too gleeful about George’s fate, and declares the Jimenez will be turning their attention to Pote and Kelly Anne. They successfully kidnapping the later while the happy parents-to-be are at the OBGYN for an ultrasound.

5.08 – Todo Lo Que Toco

The opening of the episode paints a rather bleak picture of a dead body being covered at Teresa’s mansion before the show’s timeline rewinds 18 hours earlier and we find James and Pote trying to catch up with the kidnapers. When they can’t seem to be able to track them down cornering Osvaldo seems like the smart move and Teresa and Co. catch up with him before he flies off to Mexico. As they try to confirm if Boaz has Kelly Anne Osvaldo warns him, and even though Teresa is willing to trade the business for Kelly Anne, that doesn’t seem to be of interest to Boaz. Teresa deduces that the way to stop him is to cut off his supply. Reaching out to Castel is fruitless though and Teresa is not only once again given the roundabout but also gets confirmation that the Colombians less than interested in cutting Boaz off. In fact they’ll gladly ship directly to him. This is when James finally discloses Castel’s connection to Devon, which forces team Reina to have to reach out to Finch directly. But even that option doesn’t seem to lead anywhere. Meanwhile Boaz sates his terms: Kelly Anne for Teresa, and as much as Pote protests Teresa agrees to the meet... but not without a plan. Alas things go a bit sideways and in the end Boaz flees with Kelly Anne now fully intent on trafficking her, and thankfully Pote hot on their trail. He does a pretty good job of tracking her down, and gets rid of Angel in the process, but it’s Kelly Anne who saves herself in the end.
When Teresa and James show up at the bar Devon is waiting on them and clears things up. Teresa’s dealing with Kostya are the reason her being pushed out is being accommodated. However if she’s willing to get rid of Kostya for the CIA, by enlisting Oksana’s help they Devon and Co. might reconsider. Teresa seeing this as an out to the business reaches out to Oksana who reluctantly agrees to help with the promise of getting Teresa’s operations at the end of it all. Kostya however gets to her first and we finally catch up with the episode’s opening moments where a poisoned Oksana lies dead in the mansion. After seeing how shook up the ordeal made Kelly Anne, Teresa sends her and Pote away, just as Kostya makes his first in person appearance and his final threat.

5.09 – A Prueba De Balas

As Kelly Anne and Pote try to adjust to life in the suburbs, Teresa and James try to find the best way to get to Kostya with starting with taking Oksana’s secret daughter Samara to safety and try to extract as much information about Kostya they can with the promise of protection. This is where they learn that the reason Kostya is untouchable is because he is a Russian diplomat. Teresa and James relay the information to Devon who seems unphased by the situation and still expects them to do the dirty work. Teresa and James weigh their options from sniper attacks, to James sneaking in the embacy but every option feels worse than the last one.
In the end Teresa decides to hit him directly at his operations to weed him out and reaches out to the Dominicans for help. Alas Boaz for his part reaches out to Kostya offering his services and his product, and intercepts the Dominican attack. Chicho seeing things getting more dire on their end calls Pote for help, who refuses to come as he seems to be starting to settle into retirement.

In the end Teresa realises that killing Kostya herself is her only choice, and calls to set the meet. James unhappy by the fact that Teresa is putting herself in harm’s way attempts to talk her out of it and the two finally after 5 long seasons confess their love.
At the meet with Kostya, Teresa manages to trick and poison him just as he did with Oksana. As Kostya’s goons are set for revenge James and Pote show up to help their Queen escape and all 3 flee the scene safe. As Devon declares Teresa the last woman standing, she announces to her crew that Devon is not to be trusted and as such they are getting out of the business anyway and going to Belize. Chicho is handed the keys to bar and the distillery, Samara and Pote escort Teresa to Belize and James is left behind to finish closing up their lose ends in NOLA. This is where Devon finds him and orders him to kill Teresa. James torn realises he has no option and the episode end with the show’s opening scene: Teresa arriving in her mansion and getting shot with the reveal of James being on the other end of the scope.

Which leads us to...

5.10 – EL FINAL

Pote gets into far too much trouble as he makes it his mission to avenge Teresa, sacrificing time with his family in the process and Kelly Anne finds herself alone in the suburbs as her past life begins to catch up with her. Meanwhile James tries to break free from Devon for good, and also picks up an odd hobby along the way. Chicho proves his loyalty. Marcel is back and much to his disappointment - and Devon’s frustration - Boaz, who frankly is enjoying himself a little too much, is now the official Jefe, with the appropriate Kingpin attire to match.

For the show setting Teresa up to establishing her legitimacy I feel they rushed through the resolution of that plot point quite fast. However there certainly was value refocusing Teresa’s priorities to her people in this the last stretch of the show. Personally Kostya’s demise felt a little underwhelming, especially for an antagonist that had been build up so much throughout the last two seasons. But considering Devon was involved I shouldn’t have been surprised. Finch has always been a character that (re)acts the way that’s narrativelly convenient, than consistent. Boaz on the other hand has been a revelation this season and I'm very impressed this off shoot character we met at the tail end of S1 was the one to look out for.
Regardless of any misgivings of the show’s last two seasons at large, I think long term fans of the show will be satisfied by the finale as it feels every character got what they deserved.

That’s it for the show! Tune in for the last episode of Queen of the South, on tomorrow on the USA Network and a proper review of the series finale sometime next week!