Despite my mediocre reviews on season 1 of ‘Selena the Series’, there was no way I wasn’t going to pass up watching the final series of the season. Unless there’s a season 3, life after Selena, don’t know.
Needless to say, as I watched each episode, I thought more and more how the character “Rosita” from The Walking Dead, is having some fantasy about playing Selena and this is what we are watching.
But the more I watched, the more intrigued I became. I felt what the movie didn’t depict, gave us a real inside look at the fame and success Selena was acquiring and still wanting to be the girl next door who was just a musician for a living.
In this world, fame today, has an entirely different meaning. While Selena was famed for her talent, there are many with far less talents who are famous just for having sex on a video tape. Yet, they still experience the same type of hate and stalking anyone else would.
In the case with Selena, her stalker, Yolanda Saldivar, hired by Suzette (according to the series), contacted the family to start a fan club, should have been a first red flag. Why would someone who apparently had a career in nursing want to start a fan club, instead of giving those tasks to a marketing team.
While I can understand the desires to keep expenses low, so some random person is hired to start a fan club and thinking, “I can keep an eye on her”, but the fact remained, as Selena was rising to the top in her music career, she also had her hand in other businesses, which included two boutiques that had a variety of services, in addition to selling clothes, plus working with her designer Martin to create the fashion lines she was looking to put together, among other things she wished to accomplish. There was only so much she can keep her eyes on as an owner to these businesses.
For Yolanda, her career criminal mentality, it became easy to embezzle money never realizing, Selena would be making the circuits and sooner or later fans would bring up they didn’t get shit from what they were promised. In addition, to be served at a restaurant in front of one of the music producers for lack of payment to build those boutiques, was also another red flag. As we saw in episode 7, I believe, if Selena questioned Yolanda and she passed the buck to Martin, her designer, that would have been grounds for firing, in my own personal opinion. Furthermore, if I’m writing checks that large, best believe I will be hand delivering that shit myself.
By then, Yolanda had embezzled thousands of dollars, coupled with running the boutique. As we saw in the earlier episodes, Selena was scouting for spaces to have her fashion brands made available to the public, she didn’t put much thought as to what was needed to run these businesses and since Yolanda knew this, of course she would offer herself to run the boutiques, making it easier for her to embezzle more money.
It was sad to watch as it seemed the family made it easy for Yolanda, not by their own fault, let’s make that clear.
The fact is anyone can fall prey to people out there, who claim to be fans, only jumping at the opportunity to make easy money without the hard work. You’re advised not to give jobs to family members or friends because they won’t care as much. And if you do hire your friends, that relationship changes. If a situation occurs, you have to deal with your friend on a professional level, having uncomfortable conversations of company matters that may need to be addressed. Hiring family members may work, but most times having a friend working for you, may not be the best choice.
In the episode, similar to what we saw in the movie, when Yolanda was confronted by Abraham about members not receiving anything, after she claimed to have built the club to 5,000 members, that should have been the point Abraham called the cops and have the bitch in custody for embezzlement. How is she going to claim pride on how many members were in the club, but no one was getting shit in exchange for their money.
Stealing is stealing and most of you know how I feel about that shit.
As Selena was building her empire, I felt no one really had control of her decision making, all the while trying to respect her desires to be free to make her own choices. It’s that case I have seen in social media time after time, when someone has a podcast and others see what you’re doing and then suddenly everyone wants to do the same, then people start a “TV” site and everyone wants to follow suit with no real direction as to why they are doing all of this in the first place. It becomes the “look at me” syndrome, I can do it all and no one can stop me.
I don’t believe Selena was in a place where she wanted her fans to “look at what I’m doing” but more of having her fans be a part of her success. I believe she wanted to do too much, in a short period of time where her lifestyle was changing quickly, and trying to adjust to those changes.
While the family insistent Yolanda was stealing from her, it seemed Selena didn’t feel she was a threat, asking for the bank statements needed for her to file her taxes, at the same time, tolerating her endless phone calls, crying and bantering on how she was not stealing from her. Selena wasn’t aware of the emotional drama Yolanda was inducing to make her feel sorry for her. Hence the fake rape story she told her that day she shot her.
This is disturbing to me. Because I understand Selena was building her own empire, she truly needed to have a real understanding of keeping professional people behind her helping her with her finances and not leaving it to one person. Yes, as young people, we are prone, not to listen to our parents once we get to a certain age. We get the “know it all syndrome” and “trust me”.
The “I know what I’m doing personality”, for most 23-year-old, are the life learning lessons of what direction you’re sailing and anyone at that age, needs to have a trusting mentor of some sort if it can’t be your parents, for whatever reason that is.
At the age of 23, I seriously didn’t know if I was coming or going and it wasn’t until I hit my thirties was when things started to make sense...STARTED, not that it did.
While I commend Selena’s aspirations, it was the “too trusting” factor of everyone around her that cost her life and it shouldn’t have.
The series depicted Selena had an urgency to complete these projects in order for her to build her empire, something also not depicted in the film.
Going back to the scene with the shrine Yolanda had, after inquiring with the family to begin the fan club, yes according to the periodical, Texas Monthly, claimed there was a shrine in her apartment. It’s sad how behaviors like Yolanda Saldivar go unnoticed until something tragic happens.
In my own rating for the second season, I highly recommend. While at times Christian Serratos captured the essence of Selena, I found more times, she less resembled her in comparison to Jennifer Lopez and missed the mark most times in the non performance scenes.
As for the Yolanda Saldivar actress, Natasha Perez, played her well. Keep in mind, the movie didn’t focus on Yolanda for the sole purpose to remember Selena’s life. The feelings of her death were still raw when the movie was made, so I can understand.
The series did well on the last episode, seeing Selena getting dressed in the clothes she would be last seen wearing when she was alive. It was hard to watch, because you think to yourself, you wish the ending was different. Why didn’t Chris go with her, why didn’t she tell anyone where she was going? Why didn’t she get a feeling something was wrong?
I guess these questions will go unanswered.
But one question is answered, the series reminds us what a piece of shit Yolanda Saldivar will always be and will be forever remembered as the scum of the earth.
Until then. Take care of you.
Pictures on poster are copyright of Netflix
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