Queen of the South Episode 2.07 El Precio de la Fe (The Price of Faith)

With their payment deadline looming, Teresa and Camila need to find a new distributor, but their plans become threatened.

Something's wrong with Isabella

Epifanio knows there's something wrong with his daughter. He just found her sleeping on the sofa, and her cellphone reveals she is in constant communication with Kique Jimenez, son of the late drug lord Manuel Jiménez. Even worse, he finds a charm necklace with El Santo's logo on it.

Immediately, he calls Camila to ask her if she knows anything about that. She does, of course. Camila tells Epifanio about her new deal with El Santo, the ton of cocaine she bought from him, and the three million dollars she owes him now. Afraid that the charm is a threat against Isabella in case her mother misses that payment, Epifanio offers to cancel the debt himself. For him, dealing with a religious lunatic is way too dangerous, so he tells his estranged wife her career as a drug dealer is over. She is immune to intimidation, though.

Meet the Korean

The trip to Bolivia didn't go as Camila planned it. First, she can't believe James didn't kill Güero as she ordered. And, most importantly, she does not understand why Teresa bought so much cocaine from El Santo as distributing a ton of drugs won't be easy. However, she has a plan -- getting in contact with the biggest distributor in the Southwest, a guy from the Korean mob. His name is Kim-Un, and he can deal 400 kilos per week.

Later, Camila and Teresa are with Kim-Un talking business. He is willing to become Camila's distributor, but that would mean cutting ties with his current provider, Epifanio Vargas. But Camila and Teresa make him an offer he can't refuse: better cocaine at a lower price. Kim-Un agrees and gives a toast to the new alliance.

Family issues

Epifanio has been trying to talk to his daughter Isabella, but she won't answer his calls. However, that's not his most urgent problem. Coronel Cortez shows up to tell him Camila is about to close a deal with the Korean drug distributor Kim-Un. It's time to kill her, Cortez suggests, but the drug lord orders him not to touch Camila at all.

When he finally finds Isabella, he takes her for a ride to a small farm in the Culiacan countryside, where Epifanio grew up. He knows his daughter is disappointed at him, so he tries to explain his choices in life by telling his daughter the story of his parents. When he was a kid, there was a local gangster, el Cocodrilo, who used to extort all local farmers like his father. When he had no more money to pay, the gangster killed him and his wife. Epifanio tells his daughter about the moment he found her grandparents hanging from a tree. With this story, Epifanio tries to explain how he became a powerful drug trafficker so Isabella would never find her parents hanging from a tree. When he decided to become a criminal, he says, he had no choice, but he doesn’t want her to repeat his mistakes. Epifanio does not like her relationship with Kique Jimenez, but it's pointless: he can't convince her to stop seeing him.

The Van Awkens

Cole Van Awken is way too involved in Camila's business. As her lawyer, he has D.E.A. agents all the time sniffing around him, and his romantic encounters with Camila are getting serious. Cole's wife, Kelly Ann, suspects her husband is more than just Camila's lawyer, so she invites Teresa to a party at her house to find out more about the affair. Teresa, of course, says her boss is incapable of such a thing.

Cole's adventures are not the only thing Kelly Ann worries about. The D.E.A. made an appointment with her to ask her if she can provide any information about Camila Vargas' criminal operation. Kelly Ann is in shock after the agent shows her pictures of Camila's victims, but she can honestly say she knows nothing.

Dangerous liaisons

Catching Camila Vargas has proven to be a tremendously hard task for the D.E.A. Now she's planning to close a new deal with yet another distributor, Michelangelo, and there seems to be nothing they can do to stop her. Actually, Epifanio has been much more effective in dealing with Camila. Shortly after he heard about her new agreement with Kim-Un, he ended the alliance simply by killing the Korean distributor and his associates. Once again, Camila has lost an important partner.

So, in a desperate move, the D.E.A. closes a deal with governor Epifanio Vargas. The agency knows he is also involved in drug trafficking, but stopping a common enemy is more important. That's why the D.E.A. and Epifanio create, together, the Texas-Sinaloa Drug Task Force to fight narcotics across the border.

Güero must die

Camila still wants Güero dead. James had his reasons to keep him alive in Bolivia, but now he has no excuses. Besides, Guero puts the operation in danger. The D.E.A. is looking for him and the police almost caught him while buying some electronic devices on the street. But the greatest risk for Camila is that Güero is a snitch. He was an informant for the D.E.A. and she can't forgive that.

Güero and Teresa know Camila wants him dead, but he doesn't want to escape. However, his fate will change unexpectedly. When Camila and Teresa meet with Octavio Rentas, a Michelangelo's associate, Teresa shakes his hand and feels the guy is not who he says he is. And she is right. Rentas is actually a hit man for coronel Cortez, who gave him the mission to kill Camila. Aware of this, both women escape miraculously. Now Camila owes Teresa her life. Does she want something in return? Yes, she wants Camila to quit her plans to kill Güero. Camila agrees on the condition that Guero leaves Dallas as soon as possible.

Their last hope

Cole Van Awken has arranged a meeting between Camila and someone who could help her with her business. His name is Devon Finch, a millionaire investor that could provide the planes she needs to bring her drugs from Bolivia. So Camila and Teresa meet him and offer to buy his fleet of jets. He understands immediately he's talking to drug dealers and refuses to make deals with them.

All Camila's options are closing down. Her only relief for now is that Epifanio already paid the three million dollars she owed El Santo. Isabella is finally safe, but actually she was never in danger. Camila was the one who sent her the charm necklace that compelled Epifanio to cancel his estranged wife's enormous debt with the Bolivian lunatic. Family is Epifanio's weakness, and Camila played him like a fiddle.