Queen of the South Episode 2.10 Que Manden los Payasos (Send in the Clowns)

When Teresa competes with James for Camila's trust, she begins to question everything; Epifanio plans to leave the cartel world for good.

Now that Camila is in jail, Teresa and James visit her to discuss how they'll run the business without her. For their boss, they are the ones to take over, and the priority is to assure their associates everything is fine. However, James tells Camila that Teresa is not ready to run the business, but she disagrees and doesn't even bother to discuss the subject. She has more urgent problems now. There are dangerous people in jail that could hurt Camila. Teresa knows that well, so she makes arrangements to keep her safe.

The sale is official

It's official: Epifanio is selling his business. He meets with Boaz Jimenez, Cortez and Don Reinaldo to announce Boaz will have total control over the cartel and Cortez will remain as his operational partner, while Reinaldo keeps the pipeline with the product coming from Colombia. Epifanio emphasizes that as governor he won't interfere in Boaz's business, as cocaine traffic is too profitable for Sinaloa. He knows Cortez was behind Camila's arrest, so he congratulates him for helping take her business down and following his orders to keep her alive. In fact, Cortez's intentions were to kill her but Epifanio ignores this... for now.

Furious George

Teresa's first mission is meeting with King George to pick up a shipment that came in one of his boats. James and Pote are with her to complete the transaction, but something unexpected happens. George checks his boat and finds many of his men have been killed. The shipment is gone. The King is really angry, but Teresa promises him everything will be fine and whomever did that will pay for it. Pote understands immediately what happened. This attack is Jimenez's retaliation for him killing Boaz's hit man, El Puño, some weeks ago. James knows they have no resources to fight a war. It's time to negotiate with Jimenez and find a truce while Camila remains in jail.

Camila's way out

Later, Camila's lawyer, Cole Van Awken, visits her to discuss her options to get out of jail. He knows the D.E.A. planted the evidence in her car and they have no case to convict her. But they are getting close, and Camila needs to disappear any evidence of her illegal business. He already has a plan to do it, but little does Cole know his own wife is helping the D.E.A. Kelly Ann meets agent Loya to tell him she confronted Camila Vargas about her affair with her husband. "You made a mistake," he says. Camila could kill her for something like that, and if she wants Loya's protection she has to help him one more time. The D.E.A. is looking for the smoking gun to incriminate Camila, and it must be hidden in her house among the documents her husband keeps there. She must find it.

So, when Kelly Ann gets home she searches the entire house looking desperately for some kind of evidence. Finally, she finds something but before contacting Loya, she must tell Teresa about this shocking discovery.

Time for deals

Teresa knows business must go on and she decides to meet with Devon Finch. She definitely has a gift for convincing anyone to follow her. So, while Finch sees Camila's arrest as a risk, Teresa sees it as an opportunity. They can take advantage of the situation to seize some of Boaz's territory in Arizona without firing a single bullet. Teresa claims she has the resources to succeed. The plan sounds crazy, but Finch gladly agrees to it. "Camila underestimates you," he says. And he's probably right.

Meanwhile, James crosses the border to see Boaz and propose an agreement to avoid an open war. If Jimenez and Epifanio stop harassing Camila, James and his people promise not to touch Jimenez's territory in West Texas. Furthermore, James will let him deal El Santo's cocaine, and he guarantees people will pay a higher, more profitable price for such an outstanding product. If everything goes well, they can renegotiate the deal after 60 days. Jimenez agrees, so for now a truce has been declared.

Don't mess with Camila

As expected, Camila finds trouble in jail. Two inmates try to intimidate and extort her. She fearlessly refuses, and the ladies proceed to beat her up. Bad decision. Camila fights back and hurts them so badly they finally leave her alone. She didn't even need the help from the inmates Teresa paid to protect her.

Later, Teresa and James visit Camila again to tell her about the deals they've made in her absence. She is pleased with Teresa's initiative, but not so much with James' approach to Boaz, because she thinks that sends a message of weakness to her enemies. When James and Teresa leave jail, he finally tells her he's not really happy with her business moves, and warns her Camila is just taking advantage of her loyalty. Suddenly, Teresa gets a phone call that interrupts the discussion. It's Kelly Ann, saying they must meet immediately.

Camila's secret plan

Teresa arrives at Kelly Ann's house as soon as she could. Cole's wife shows her a contract she found in a file labeled "Camila Vargas" that Cole Van Awken kept in a safe. The papers prove Camila bought a shipping company that would link her directly to drug trafficking. The only problem is that, according to that contract, Teresa Mendoza is the only buyer, and her signature is everywhere even though she didn't sign a single paper. It's clear: Camila is setting her up.

Suddenly, Cole Van Awken arrives. Teresa must hide immediately while a nervous Kelly Ann receives her husband. When he notices she's been in his office, he grabs her furiously by the neck asking what she was doing in there. Kelly Ann is speechless and in panic, so Teresa shows up pointing a gun at Cole and demanding to let her go. He does, but warns her there's nothing she can do against Camila. All of a sudden, Kelly Ann shoots him from behind and kills him. Crying and out of control, she knows there's no way back from murder, but Teresa promises to help her. It's the least she can do after what Kelly Ann did for her.

Cortez must pay

Epifanio is at his house looking for Isabella. When he finds her, she is unconscious and intoxicated with drugs. He puts her in bed and consoles her, because he understands his daughter is trying to cope with the sad reality of being the daughter of a criminal. Epifanio tells her he's retiring from the drug business to be only a governor and a father. But, although that's good news, Isabella lets him know she can't stop thinking of the moment Cortez caught her mother to kill her, right before the D.E.A. arrived to save her life. It seems Cortez disobeyed Epifanio's order to leave Camila alone yet again. Something has to be done.

The next day, the governor and Cortez are at a party in Boaz's house, and after a few drinks the governor sits with the colonel to chat. Epifanio explains he's retiring to take her of his family. Camila is his weakness, he admits while some dwarf clowns enter the room laughing out loud. Epifanio steps out to light up a cigar, but instead of smoking it he throws it inside the room the clowns have covered in gasoline. The governor closes the door with a smile, while the dwarfs shoot several times at Cortez, who falls badly wounded and surrounded by fire.

Teresa vs. Camila

Teresa visits Camila again in prison. She tells her about the contract Kelly Ann found in her house, but instead of confronting her she claims Van Awken put everything under Camila's name, and she must be careful with him. Camila pretends to know nothing about those papers and even wonders why her lawyer would do that -- and why Kelly Ann is helping Teresa. She explains Kelly Ann thinks Camila is having an affair with her husband, and needs an ally. So Teresa asks a straight question: Is it true? Camila looks at her eyes and says no. The question (and the whole conversation, for that matter) was an honesty test for Camila. And she failed.

Meanwhile, somewhere in Mexico, some kids find what seems to be a dirty and bloody zombie walking in drags. It's none other than Cortez, a really hard man to kill.