The Dead Girls, the 6-part Mexican series on Netflix, derives its inspiration from certain real-life events that took place in Mexico in the mid-nineties. The series introduced us to a number of characters, some entirely fictional and some based on real-life people, who were responsible for causing a furore in the media and becoming the talk of the town. So let’s get to know these characters who played a curious role in the life of the Baladro sisters and impacted the way things ended up for them.
Spoiler Alert
Arcangela Baladro
Arcangela was the one who started the first brothel, as she wanted to make a living, and she was sick and tired of living off the mercy of others. She used to give loans at high rates, and her intent was similar to that of a modern-day loan shark. When one of her debtors wasn’t able to repay her, she took over her bar/restaurant. She started her first brothel there itself and then slowly created her own monopoly. Arcangela was a really good businesswoman, but at times she really threw her girls in the pit and allowed the men who came to her brothel to do whatever they wanted to. I believe, as a madam of sex workers, she should have given them a bit more protection and not exploited them in that manner. Yes, she fed them, and she didn’t kill them intentionally, but that didn’t mean that she didn’t take advantage of them and make sure that they could never really start a life of their own. Money was Arcangela’s first priority, and she felt that she could buy her way out of any situation. I guess she realized at the end that she was wrong, as in a treacherous world, one needs much more than money to buy somebody’s allegiance.
Serafina Baladro
Serafina was Arcangela’s younger sister, and though she too was an astute businesswoman, her heart melted the moment she fell in love with somebody. I guess Serafina committed the biggest mistake of her life by trying to buy love. When her partner, Simon, abandoned her, she should have let him go. But instead, she made sure that he was put behind bars and not left with any choice but to return back to her. I believe she should have known better. Had she left Simon, things wouldn’t have turned out so bad for both the sisters. But she paid the cost of loving unconditionally and madly, and at the end, she had nobody but herself to blame for it.
Captain Hermengildo Bedoya
For the first half of the series I felt that Captain Bedoya was just taking advantage of both the sisters, but then I felt that he probably had real feelings for Serafina. We saw him taking commissions behind the sisters’ backs and misleading them whenever they wanted to make a business deal pertaining to property or any other thing. But I believe he was the kind of man who could compartmentalize things; probably for him, his feelings were independent of other financial business he conducted. He stood alongside the sisters till the very end, and he too got sentenced to 25 years. In prison too he was able to establish his dominance and probably help his beloved Serafina in whatever way he could.
Juana Cornejo, aka Skeleton
Juana Comejo, aka Skeleton, was a pious and extremely loyal woman who worked for the Baladro sisters. She was the one who allotted rooms to the clients and took care of the accounts. Another fascinating thing about her was that she was not as cold-hearted or business-minded as Arcangela. She cared for the girls who stayed at the brothel, and she got really worried when something happened to them. She stood by the the Baladro sisters till the very end and was also sentenced to 20 years for her part in the crime committed on the orders of Arcangela and Serafina.
Teofilo Pinto and Eulalia
Eulalia was Serafina and Arcangela’s sister, and she always kept her distance from the sex trafficking business. She was married to a guy named Teofilo, and until they ran short on money, they made it very clear that they didn’t have anything to do with Arcangela’s illegitimate activities. But then, to serve their interests, they decided to look after the farm that Arcangela had bought. Both of them were quite selfish, and even during the trial, they tried their level best to pin all the blame on Arcangela and Serafina. But obviously they weren’t able to succeed. It was Teofilo who shot two girls when they tried to escape from the farm. For the crimes committed by Teofilo and Eulalia, they were sentenced to 20 and 15 years, respectively.
Beto Paredes
Beto was Arcangela’s son, and I believe he was a victim of his circumstances. He was bullied when he was in school, as his mother ran a brothel. In fact, he had to leave school, and that’s when he entered the criminal underworld. Arcangela felt that it would be best for him to leave the country and go to the States, but that didn’t help his cause either. He started selling heroin once he came back to Mexico, and eventually a warrant was issued against him. Before Beto could be caught by the police, he was killed by the family members of a girl he wanted to get married to. I believe those guys who killed him didn’t want him to get married to their sister (I presume they were her brothers), and for obvious reasons.
Licenciado Sanabria
Sanabria didn’t have a very big role, but he tried his level best to create as many obstacles as he could in the path of the sisters. He was, from what I could tell, the secretary to the governor, and if he would have wanted, he could have done something about the Morality Bill. If not officially, he could have let the sisters carry on with their business, but he didn’t do that because, once, during the opening of their brothel, he felt insulted by their guests. Sanabria was gay, and the other guests, who were there for the casino/brothel opening, found out. He held the sisters responsible for it, and so he made sure that all their outlets were shut down with immediate effect.
Inspector Cueto
It is important to discuss Inspector Cueto’s character, because he was the one who found out about the buried dead bodies of sex workers in the casino/brothel. He, like everybody else, was a corrupt cop, and he took 10,000 pesos from the sisters to keep quiet. But when he found out about the dead bodies buried under the casino, he couldn’t ignore that crime. I still feel that if Arcangela had managed the situation better, then people like Cueto would not have gone against her. Maybe I am wrong, but I felt that if a man had been at the helm of affairs, then he would’ve gotten away with it. Misogyny was prevalent, and it was quite evident with the way women were treated and objectified and how acts of eve-teasing passed as casual flirting and how nobody cared.
Blanca
Blanca was an escort who worked for the sisters, and she was the most popular among the lot. In fact, there was a rich man who fell in love with her and became her regular customer. But then the poor girl got paralyzed, and after that she became a burden for the sisters. The paralysis could have been because of the abortion carried out by the doctor. The girls used to get pregnant many times, and they were given some herbal medicine to get rid of their pregnancy, which had a lot of side effects, I believe. Without proper medical care, these girls suffered. Blanca suffered the most painful death, as some shaman told Skeleton to put a hot iron on her body to make her well. That poor girl writhed in pain and passed away in the most horrific manner.
Jovita and Ticho
Joviat and Ticho were two people who really helped Arcangela and Serafina in their brothel business. Where Jovita was their supplier, who had an eye for girls who could work as escorts, Ticho was somebody who had sworn allegiance to them. I believe that after Skeleton, Ticho was the most loyal employee the sisters had. He had been working for them for a very long time and never once had entertained the thought of betraying their trust. I believe Ticho was secretly in love with Skeleton, and such was his loyalty that even when the police officers were not putting him behind bars, he chose to accompany his masters and get sentenced. Even after being released, Ticho made sure to pay the sisters a visit in prison and help them in whatever way he could.
Simon
Simon was Serafina’s lover and probably the first person who blabbed to the police and testified against the sisters. He loved Serafina, but unlike her, his feelings were never unconditional. The man tried to leave Serafina many times, but he couldn’t, because of her obsessive nature. I agree that Serafina was a bit too much at times, but the way he left her waiting in front of the bar, never to return again, was not justified. Even the worst people deserved to be told, in those circumstances, what the other person was going to do. Serafina kept waiting that day, and she realized later that he had run off with all her money. She didn’t care about the cash as much as for the fact that he didn’t love her. I believe, for Simon, love was merely a transaction, and he was with Serafina till the time it suited him. I mean, if he was such a proud man, then why did he run away with her money? He criticized her line of work and demanded her money, but he had no problems taking it. He was also sentenced for helping the sisters carry out their crimes, and then later opened his own bakery and in a way was rehabilitated.
