Is the fight to gain control over Pheonix worth it?

That’s what Kelly Anne asked Teresa after struggling to get past being tortured by Devon’s crew.

Whether a war is worth it usually depends upon who wins and after Queen of the South Season 3 Episode 9, it appears the victor is Teresa Mendoza.

What Devon did to you at the winery was terrible. I’m in this business to stop people like him from deciding how I live, or if I live.
Teresa

Permalink: What Devon did to you at the winery was terrible. I’m in this business to stop people like...

Teresa knows what it’s like to have someone else decide whether she lives or dies. Epifanio wanted her dead because he didn’t feel she was any use to him. Camila used her as a drug mule. She let her live but thought of her as a stray dog who should be content with her scraps.

Teresa will never go back to being someone’s bitch. She’s in control, and she’s not about to give it up, even if it means making a deal with the devil to stay there. But this time the devil learned that payback is also a bitch.

Everybody has their price. I guess yours is Phoenix.
Sheriff Mayo

Permalink: Everybody has their price. I guess yours is Phoenix.

It felt as though Sheriff Mayo was taunting Teresa, daring her to be better. Little did he realize that she had no intention of being in business with him for long.

Whatever she paid him appears to have been worth it. He helped her set up Bedayo and the rest of La Commission, and then he delivered Pecas to her, while still taking a payday from him.

Pecas: Mayo, you motherless snake. You set me up.
Mayo: What can I say, she pays better. I never liked you much anyway. Ain’t nobody going to trust a red-headed Mexican.

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Pecas attempts at humor fell flat, they always do, and then he tried to cut a deal with Teresa, who was quick to point out that they already had a deal and he broke it.

You only get to do that to Teresa once.

Little does Teresa know that one of her most loyal partners is locked in an asylum and getting tortured by General Cortez.

King George might have been able to play Camila but General Cortez only believes information is correct if he’s tortured it out of somebody. Or maybe he just enjoys his job. He certainly seemed to take a perverse pleasure in killing Kique Jimenez.

I have to believe that what Cortez did to Bilal will come back to haunt him. As much as I was ready for Cochi to kill Cortez, I knew it wasn’t going to go well.

And now, wouldn’t it be so much more satisfying to have King George deliver the final, vicious, blow to Cortez?

Your death’s going to be dark General, pitch black if I have anything to say about it.
King George

Permalink: Your death’s going to be dark General, pitch black if I have anything to say about it.

For now, General Cortez has more control than ever. He’s played Isabela against her mother, but perhaps that wasn’t all that difficult.

I believe Isabela has her mother’s heart and it beats for power and revenge. She’s young, and not quite ready, but it wouldn’t surprise me if she used Cortez to start her own base of power. Certainly, Cortez plans to use her to do the same.

I was surprised to see Camila on the run. I don’t know that she’s cut out for that. I would hope that given her line of work she has a plan in place for this type of thing, but there's no way to be sure.

From what we know, Camila has never had to deal with a world without some sort of power base, but now Cortez, her people, and even her daughter have turned against her. There’s an order for her arrest, and there is no one loyal to Camila. I can’t figure out who she can turn to for help.

That is what happens when you breed fear instead of loyalty and respect.

Back in Phoenix, Teresa, James, and Pote toasted their success.

Teresa has turned a current District Attorney and soon to be Senator into an ally.

Teresa: Good luck in next week’s election.
Carson: Who needs luck when you have good friends.

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The icing on the proverbial cake was finally using Sheriff Mayo’s actions against him. Teresa used the law to take down the corrupt lawman, and then used the inmates he once abused to take him out permanently.

After surviving a bullet earlier in Queen of the South Season 3, I can’t imagine that he survives that beat down.

Teresa has waged war and the spoils are the Phoenix territory … and a continuing relationship with James.

Hopefully, she’ll be able to assure that Kelly Anne will stay clean, and rescue King George and Bilal because I want to see her team intact, especially after what happened to Little T.

Tell me TV Fanatics, do you have any idea what Camila will do next? What’s Isabela’s plan? And will King George and Bilal survive and remain loyal to Teresa?

Check back next week for my review of Queen of the South Season 3 Episode 10, and until then, you can watch Queen of the South online here at TV Fanatic.