El Engaño Como La Regla

death of a PoC

Joshua John Miller

David T. Friendly

Scott Rosenbaum

**El Engaño Como La Regla** is the 6th episode in the series. It translates to "Deception as the Rule."

## Summary

In debt and short on supply, Camila grows desperate; Brenda's burgeoning drug enterprise creates a rift between her and Tony.

## Netflix Summary

After Epifanio tips off the DEA about Camila's incoming shipment from Colombia, she considers an idea involving Teresa that would cover the huge loss.

## Plot

##### **Warehouse, Dallas, Texas**

Another mule, Paula, asks Teresa Mendoza to help her with her necklace. Teresa points out that Paula has been there for a while and asks why she hasn't unpacked yet. Paula responds that *this is just temporary* and that she's going to go to California soon, because her grandma always said she looks like an actress. The Queen of the South appears, leaning on Teresa's bed frame, and asks Teresa if the girl knows she's lying to herself, or if she actually still believes it. The mule smokes something out of a pipe and tin foil, likely meth, as The Queen comments that *sometimes we need lies to survive.* Teresa leaves the mule pen and gets the drugs she is to deliver that day.

##### **Camila's club , Dallas**

One of Camila Vargas' customers is complaining that he needs their product on time, and Camila tells him not to worry. He tells her that Eric Watson has reached out and offered to help him just this one time. Camila reminds him that the Jimenez cartel isn't authorized to sell them shit and of their past relationship. She tells him that he'll get what he needs and that her shipment is moments away.

   Camila calls Cesar "Batman" Guemes, who is in Culiacán, and asks him when her shipment will be there. He lies and tells her that it should be on its way, and that Epifaño Vargas is having problems with the Federales. She asks him if he's nervous because he told her husband what she revealed to him when they captured him. He replies that her husband would do a lot worse if he knew what she was doing. She tells him to tell her husband to call her and hangs up; the camera pans left to reveal that Epifaño was in the passenger seat the whole time.

##### **Dallas**

Teresa is in the car when she receives a call from Brenda Parra. Teresa is irritated that Brenda took so long to call her back and Brenda is irritated because Teresa answered the phone without saying hello. Brenda tells her that she's got her own plan to get them out. Two men sit at the table in Brenda's hotel room, measuring out cocaine and putting it into bags. Ricardo interrupts her phone call to ask if she really wants all it bagged up for that night. She replies that yeah, she does, because otherwise they can't sell it. Teresa asks who she's talking to and Brenda tells him that that's Ricardo, who is like her number two. Teresa is confused because she hasn't been told about Brenda meeting Ricardo and selling out of cocaine at a fancy bar . Brenda tells Teresa that she has something in the works and asks Teresa if she can please pick up Tony from the Y. Teresa tells her that she's working and that she can't before hanging up. Teresa passes the woman holding a cardboard sign in front of the church again, but this time the sign says "hope."

Teresa parks and presses a button on the intercom of a fence surrounding a building. She is prompted by Russell to turn around and face the camera. She does, and he allows her entry. Russell greets her at the door to his home. He has her set her stuff down on his table as Teresa looks nervously at a man in a cowboy hat sitting on a chair in the living room. Russell snorts some and says *man, that's coffee* before offering some to Teresa. She replies that she doesn't mix work and play. Russell tells her that the other girl, who may have been Aveline, did -- that she did lots of things. Russell pulls out a wad of cash and tells her that he will give her *this,* meaning the cash, as a "no strings bonus," before laughing and saying that there are strings, but they're strings that she can live with. He will give her this monetary bonus as long as he is the first to receive his cocaine in case of a supply shortage. He tells her that in the state of Texas, a verbal contract is binding, and that he's a lawyer so he knows. Teresa asks him what kind of lawyer he is and he tells her that he's an immigration lawyer. She asks if he can get immigration papers, and he tells her that that's basically what he does day to day. She asks about getting papers with different names on them. He replies that anything can be arranged, but it's expensive and depends on how far you want to outrun your past.

##### **Camila's office in the club, Dallas**

James tells Camila that his phone has been ringing nonstop because no one has received their shipments. Camila says that she is waiting for Reynaldo Fieto in Columbia to confirm the shipment that is scheduled for that day. James reveals to Camila that their people are talking and wondering if change is coming due to Epifaño's campaign for governor and their low product. He places the blame on Eric for starting this and offers to get rid of him. Camila receives a text from the Columbians confirming her shipment. She tells him that she wants James to receive it personally and instructs him to go get ready. Camila calls Teresa and tells her to come to the club instead of her next delivery.

Teresa arrives at the club and Camila meets her out front, telling her that she did a good job the other day and that she is to go with James to pick up a shipment.

    The two are still upset with each other after what happened at Eric's and have not mended their relationship after the fight they had in the car, in which Teresa told him to use someone else on his runs .

##### **James' car, Texas**

He turns up the music, she blasts it, then he shuts it off. They address the issue and he tells her that it's just a part of the life. James offers her a metaphor about being trapped in a cave and wondering what's going to happen when the light goes off, saying that you must learn to live in the darkness. Teresa tells him that you should use the time that you can see to get yourself out of the cave. He tells her that you can't get out of the cave and she asks why. He tells her that it's because you're in it every time you close your eyes, that's why, and she knows what he's talking about.

##### **Parking garage**

The pair arrive at their location. James tells her the three roads that she can use to escape if she needs to and that this is one of the usual spots so he knows every inch of it, and that soon she will too. He places the keys to the car in the sunglasses holder.

##### **Camila's office**

Camila receives a call from Epifaño. She tells him that he's causing her severe problems and that it's not just that the shipment is late -- Eric is walking all over her, and that people are starting to talk. She asks for permission to do what she needs to do to deal with this problem. Epifaño tells her that that would be a long, long conversation with the Jimenez cartel and he would like to avoid that. Camila tries to convince him that they think he's weak, but he knows that what she really means is that they think that she's weak and she hates that. He tells her that that's her biggest flaw -- that she can't let that shit go. He again asks about Teresa, and she tells him that she's heard nothing about her. Batman laughs and says that she has her confidence back because the Columbian shipment is coming in. Epifaño responds that yes, but the DEA has been tipped off about it.

##### **Parking garage**

James and Teresa ascend to the third floor. James receives a text that simply says "On time." Three white unmarked vans arrive, tires squealing. We hear Teresa's heart begin thumping as she notices someone in the background, through a mirror. The man that had met them at the entrance of the parking garage presses his finger to his lips in a shushing motion and discreetly hands her a revolver. Several cars come around the corner of the lot, just as Teresa looks up from the gun that has been pressed into her hand. The deliverymen engage the intruders with gunfire. Teresa takes cover behind a car. The man that had given Teresa the gun tells her to *go go go* before leaping off the side of the parking garage. James joins her behind the car and tells her to give him her gun. He empties his gun before telling her to *jump or die*. Teresa follows him over the edge of the building. A single white van begins to escape the parking lot, before being killed by gunfire. The DEA agents kill everyone inside of the van.

Teresa follows James as he runs through the plaza until he tells her to split up. A police car is patrolling the area; the scanner tells them to be looking for a Hispanic woman last seen wearing a green army-style jacket.

Teresa runs around a corner and removes her jacket, throwing it away and putting her hair up as she joins a group of tourists crossing the street just as a police car goes by. The police scanner reports that they're looking for a "Caucasian or possibly Hispanic male that is approximately 5'10" as we follow James running down an empty hallway at full speed, entering a parking lot. Teresa kneels down to pet a dog as a police car passes her, with the radio giving the description of the man that met them at the parking garage.

Teresa gets back in the car and retrieves the key. James jumps onto a passing trolley car. Teresa calls James and asks him where he is as she drives around looking for him. He tells her where he is and asks where she is. Teresa tells him that she's coming back to get him. He tells her not to because there's cops everywhere, and that she is to get on the ramp he mentioned earlier and get back to the warehouse. She hangs up on him.

Teresa passes a group of policemen crowded around the dead body of the man from the parking lot. She reaches the on ramp to get back to the warehouse, but decides to make a u-turn when the light turns green and heads back for James. She honks as she passes the trolley, causing James to throw up his hood and get off the bus. As he enters the car, he tells her that that was stupid and that he told her to go. They take a left and get onto the freeway.

##### **Phone call: Dallas Center vs Longhorn Motel**

Tony is sitting on the steps of the Dallas Center when Brenda calls him, telling him that he'll have to find another way to get home that day. She tells him that she's working and he complains because she was supposed to pick him up. She turns as Ricardo brings in a woman wearing a short skirt, and tells him that she can't wear that when she sells for them so she has to go change. Brenda tells Tony to take the bus back home.

##### **Side of the freeway**

Teresa pulls over in front of a liquor store. They both get out. James asks her why she turned around. Teresa tells him that she used the time she could see to get him out of the cave. This exchange is interrupted by a call from Camila, who has heard of what happened from the news. James has to tell her that all of it is gone. James asks Teresa where she's going and she tells him that she's walking back. He gets into the car.

##### **Epifaño's office, Sinaloa**

Batman tells Epifaño that the DEA took all of the Columbian coke and that they said thank you.

##### **The Church**

On the walk back to the warehouse, Teresa walks past the church that she has noticed twice before. She goes inside and is intercepted by a member of the church, who asks if she's hungry. She says no thank you, but that she wanted to ask him about these people -- are they bringing them from Mexico? He tells her that he doesn't know what she's talking about and that they are church members returning from a spiritual retreat. She tells him that she needs to get some people across the border and that she left something very important in Mexico, but he continues to say that he cannot help her with that. Teresa thanks him and leaves. As she exits the building, she receives a text from Brenda: Tony is missing!

##### **Camila's car**

Camila calls a man named Allen and tells him that there's been another delay. He tells Camila that he will have to take a shipment from Eric just this once, but Camila is his supplier, not Eric.

##### **Café, Dallas**

James meets Kim at a cafe and tells her that he's packed some of her stuff and that she needs to go to the trailer for a few days. She is upset because she used up all her sick days the last time this happened. He moves around the table to sit next to her and reminds her of how much she loves the view from the lake. She tells him that she meant when they build a home on it, not hiding in some rusty old trailer. James promises that it's not always going to be like this. They leave the cafe so he can get her set up, because he has to go back to Camila's.

##### **Camila's club**

Camila is pacing when James comes in, demanding to know what the hell happened. James says that the feds were waiting for them and that they must have been tipped off. They are now five million dollars in debt to the Columbians. Camila tries to reassure herself with the knowledge that Epifaño is supposed to send a shipment that night, but James points out that he hasn't been very reliable lately and is the reason that they're in this mess. The Charger suggests that they sell Teresa to Epifaño for five million so that they can pay back the Columbians and be back in business.

##### **Longhorn Motel**

Brenda instructs Ricardo to cut the cocaine again. He tells her that it's stepped so much, they shouldn't even call it cocaine. Teresa asks when she last heard from Tony. Brenda replies that it's been an hour or maybe two, and that she's walked back to that bus stop three times.

Tony angrily bursts in the door and immediately goes to Teresa, who hugs him. Brenda asks him why he hasn't answered his texts and he yells that he didn't feel like it. Brenda is hurt and says that she was worried about him. He yells again and Ricardo tells him to take it easy and show his mom some respect. Tony tells him to stay out of it. *Just leave me alone and go with your stupid boyfriend. I hate you, you're an embarrassment! I wish you were dead!* Tony slams the door as he enters the bathroom. Brenda yells back that she's not dead, she's the one that's here. Ricardo exits the room and Brenda tells Teresa to talk to Tony.

Teresa softly tells Tony to come out and talk to his mom. Tony comes out crying. Brenda wipes away a tear and gets eye-level with Tony, telling him that she misses Chino but they can't change what happened, so whatever they're feeling, they need to push down really deep. She tells him that there's gonna be some things in life, that if you let yourself care about, you're not going to be able to forget -- almost directly quoting what James said in the car ride to the parking garage earlier -- so you've got to keep it down. She tells him that she's making money, and that she needs him to be strong and tough so that they can get out of this. They exchange apologies and share a hug.

## Appearances

* Teresa Mendoza
* Camila Vargas
* Cesar "Batman" Guemes
* Epifaño Vargas
* Brenda Parra
* Ricardo
* Russell
* James Valdez
* Tony Parra
* The Charger
* Tonto
* Reynaldo Fieto (mentioned)
* The Queen of the South

## Quotes

* *Sometimes we need lies to survive.* -The Queen of the South
* *You know it's Eric who started this shit, right? I mean, you know that better than anyone. Birdbrain. I'm ready to make that problem go away. You just say the word. He's gone. I'll eat his goddamn birds one at a time.*  -James to Camila
* *Aren't you lucky? You get to ride with me again.* -James to Teresa
* *Look, there are gonna be some things you're gonna see that if you allow yourself to care about, you won't be able to forget. It's an occupational hazard.* -James to Teresa
* James: Now, say you're trapped in a cave, right? And you think, "What happens when the light goes out?" You're gonna be terrified, sure. The light won't last, that it'll go out. But you know what happens when it does go out? You learn to live in the dark, because you've got no choice.
	+ Teresa: They should use the time they can see to get out of the cave.
* *I'm coming back to get you.* -Teresa to James
* James: You turned around. Why'd you turn around?
	+ Teresa: I used the time I could see to get you out of the cave.

## Songs

* Love/Idleness by Wardwell
* In My House by Mary Jane Girls
* No Cargo Metal by DJ Morphiziz, Godsent, & Mesianico
* Money in my Pocket by Envy feat. U-Sity

## Notes & trivia

* When James asks Teresa why she turned around, she responds that she "used the time [she] could see to get [him] out of the cave," referencing a question that he had posed about being trapped in the cave and what will happen when the light goes out.
* James looks sad when the man suggests that they sell Teresa to Epifaño to pay off their debt to the Columbians.

## Gallery

* Russell snorting coke. el engano como la regla. qotsgifs.gif
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