Here are some of the stats Telemundo is citing for the show:
- Shot in eight countries and 14 cities
- More than 300 different locations used
- Filming included 187 actors from multiple nationalities and more than 7,000 extras
- More than 860 hours of raw material shot
- Filmed with cinema optics and post-produced in 4K
- Production team of more than 700 crew members
- 89 action scenes filmed utilizing all modes of transportation, including cars, trains, planes, motorcycles and more than 40 hours on civil and military helicopters
I was thinking about whether there is any similarity between the character Teresa Mendoza on LRDS and Hannah B. on the Bachelorette. It's a stretch.
Teresa began as a money-changer on the streets of Culiacan in Sinaloa with a knack for numbers. It's her ability to calculate and memorize numbers that propels her into becoming the largest cocaine distributor in Europe. She doesn't use, buy or sell the drug. She creates the shipping and distribution routes from Mexico to Europe and with her talent for numbers and dollar counting, makes a fortune, all parlayed into legitmate companies. Her closest allies are her friends from prison and the brothel/bar she worked at when she first ran for her life from Mexico to Spain. She is fearless and independent. I wrote after season one that she was a terrific role model for women.
Hannah too, for all her awkwardness on last year's season the Bachelor, turned into a role model of sorts on this season of the Bachelorette -- she fought back against being slut-shamed. When she was a contestant last year, she could't put 10 words together. This season, she was able to express her feelings and thoughts pretty coherently (other than her over-use of the word "clarity"). You could see her growing in self-esteem each week, although she was always held back somewhat by her lousy instincts in men.
Hannah had some iconic lines this season -- "Yes I've had sex and Jesus still loves me". And her disclosure to one overly arrogant and controlling contestant that she had sex in a windmill with another contestant, not once, but twice, in the same night. (Amazingly, the sex partner's parents were in the audience as she disclosed last night it was four times not twice, and they cheered.) Her whole being resonates "you don't own me" and "even if we get married, you never will". Good for her.
Teresa also has lousy judgment when it comes to romantic partners (after her first love, who unbeknownst to her until after he was killed was a DEA informant while working for a cartel.) She is prone to keeping the good ones at bay (like Santiago in season one) and letting the conniving ones in (Like Teo last season and Lupo this season).
Teresa has self-confidence that only comes with life experience and Hannah is not there yet. Teresa is comfortable balancing her hell-bent, risk-taking nature with a softer side that endears her to friends and allies, and even competitors. She is fiercely protective of her inncer circle. She loves who she wants when she wants. It is this combination that earns her the lifelong dedication of the biggest Russian mafioso in Europe.
Hannah is still teetering on a see-saw trying to balance her self-confidence and independence on the one hand with her need for a man to unconditionally profess his love and promise to protect her on the other.
When it's all said and done, I could never watch 60 episodes of Hannah B or any Bachelor/ette, while La Reina del Sur, after watching 60 episodes five nights a week for three months straight, leaves me wanting more.
And that's what I have been watching. This is an open thread, all topics welcome, TV or not.
