#qots s4 e8

[mymostimaginaryfriend]

QOTS 4x08 Reaction Post

The Good News: This episode bounced back.  The Bad News: Teresa shared one line and 10 seconds of screen time with another female character.  

First things first, this episode was at least 10 times better than last week so WHEW.  In fact, other than the RIDICULOUS UNFORGIVABLE stat I mentioned in the intro, there was even some positive action taken addressing my list of mid-season concerns:  

Teresa finally got involved with the Tony and Pote drama and it resulted in a powerful scene between Teresa and Tony.  (Gonna ignore the general ickiness of “your dad got himself killed with his choices” to focus on Teresa’s blaming Guero breakthrough.  Love that for her.)

There were some moral quandaries introduced for Teresa to start pushing the boundaries of her Queenpin line in the sand.  She was able to avoid innocent collateral damage this episode, but for how much longer?

There was even a Jeresa parallel with Pote telling Kelly Anne he didn’t deserve her love (!!!!) and this great exchange:

Pote: I’m also a murderer. Kelly Anne: Well, so am I. Me: *chin hands* ROMANCE.

Like Teresa, Pote had a lot more to work with than usual this episode and Hemky freaking ran with it.  Just think what it could be like if they didn’t turn Pote into Cartel Yoda every week?  He was hilarious and badass with Ishmael---who I literally typed, “dammit I actually like this dude?” less than five minutes before his death so....still got it, baby!  

[Sidenote: whoever chooses the mid-commercial preview clips at the network stays picking the WORST spoilers available every episode!  When James does return I feel like we’ll learn about it in a commercial break first lmao.] 

Speaking of commercial breaks I was seriously ticking them by with: 10 minutes without two women sharing a scene.  20 minutes.  30 minutes?  40 MINUTES?!  We have ten minutes left are you freaking kidding----Oh wait.  10:57pm Teresa says one line to Kelly Anne to which KA doesn’t even verbally respond.  DO BETTER, SHOW.

Which brings us to Javier.  You sure are cute but WOW you are a spectacular failure.  Has he done anything successfully this season besides bet on the right rooster in 4x01?  Remember how irritating last week was when Eddie inexplicably made it through the entire episode without discovering any of Teresa’s secrets? This week it’s Javier SOMEHOW making it through the hour without fessing up about Rene. There’s drawing shit out and then drawing shit OUT.  (An issue across the board this season TBH--can we get some forward movement please?)

It is maddening to have a character who has witnessed Teresa using her beautiful brain to get out of worse scenarios, acknowledge that Teresa could figure something out if she had all the pertinent info he’s been withholding, PLAN to tell her and somehow manage to squander multiple opportunities to come clean. It gets even worse when Javier fails his redemption assassination attempt (lol only this show) and puts Teresa in even worse danger!  IMO the reveal is well past it’s “good by” date and, like with Eddie, I cannot enjoy Teresa "bonding" with Javier while there’s this huge lie between them. 

I did like Javier and Detective Greene playing off each other though.  I thought it was great that Javier refused to blame an innocent man for his crime only for the man to die anyway making the point moot (foreshadowing for Teresa next week perhaps?).  I mean, yay for your morals in this highly specific inconvenient instance I guess.  Never mind that the body count for Javier’s Rene mistake is now at EIGHT haha.  

During hiatus I speculated we could have a play on the Camila/James/Teresa split loyalty dynamic with Teresa/Javier/Boaz and I wish they’d focus more on that rather than a half-assed parallel between Eddie and Emilia.  IMO Javier’s scenes are strongest with Boaz so I’m hopeful it’s something they will explore even if the setup hasn’t been as strong as it could have been. 

As for Boaz, I swear one of the highlights of the episode for me was the loud as hell tinkling noise of all Boaz’s jewelry shifting when he sat up mid-massage lol.  The man loves his crystals okay?  I wonder if  he will surprise us all and rescue his familia and if that means Javier, Emilia or both.

Finally, I loved Teresa putting the Judge to work, Marcel proving Teresa wasn’t the only one who had learned a lesson from their war, and a special repeat mention to Teresa and her legendary empathy talking to Tony by the pool.  I’ve missed scenes like that so much this season.  Now if only Teresa and Kelly Anne could have a few cathartic conversations too.  Kinda hard for them to  reconcile with no lines, writers---and NO that is not a challenge.

Looks like Teresa and Tony get their cardio in next week as several vengeful chickens come home to roost.  Hopefully El Gallo finally proves himself useful too.