This is the debut episode of BANGED UP ABROAD and shows some of the problems of the series . Don't get me wrong I often enjoy watching this show on television and get a nice warm of feeling of schandenfreude seeing young stupid greedy people ruin their lives but most episodes suffer from a formulaic nature as in
1 ) Someone tries to bring a bag of drugs through customs only to get caught
2 ) There's often a strong feeling of victim culture as in " Oh I didn't deserve to get several years in a third world prison "
And this is the series failings which quickly becomes painfully repetitive as would be drug smugglers tell the world how they're the real victim in all this in much the same way as the defendants at the Nuremberg war crimes trials whined that no one on the winning side was getting prosecuted for genocide .
This episode features two American young women Krista Barnes and Jennifer Davies from an educated middle class background who meet a young rich playboy in Mexico who asks them a favour of going down to Peru and take some bags containing cocaine through Lime airport which they agree to do
The problems of the show are already apparent with Krista and Jennifer telling of the good times they had in Mexico . You don't have to read between the lines too much to realise these girls are probably a pair of slappers who are terminally dumb . It says a lot about the education system of Western society that people can gain University degrees but have zero common sense . That said you can teach a dog to do tricks but you'll never be able to teach it what it means to be human and the reality is that there's no such thing as easy money and any fool proof plan featuring drug smuggling is only in the imagination of fools
True to form this episode features teeth gnashing ,and wailing that the drug mules have made an ass of themselves which means jail time in a South American jail . It's not spelt out in morse code but a couple of young pretty white American girls in a third world prison means they're going to be very popular for the wrong sort of reasons so when they find out there's no showers , only a bucket to wash in that might be something of a relief . Strangely enough Krista claims while in jail she wasn't given anything to eat or drink for 15 days ! You went 15 days without water . Wow that's flies in the face of all scientific knowledge . If you're going to lie just think up a convincing one
So facing many years in jail the two girls tell the authorities everything they know which will no doubt go down badly with the drugs cartel and get a ten year sentence where they do two years ten months inside and like most episodes the story ends with a dubious " happy ending " with blonde bimbo Krista completing her degree in international development ( It is America where an intellectual is defined as someone who can string a solecism free sentence together ) and visits Peru where she makes a goodwill visit to the Lima prison where she spent almost three years . Amazingly some of the inmates still remember her , but if you're a pretty Westerner I'm sure you'll be unforgettable to the fat , ugly middle aged sexually starved inmates of a Peruvian prison . You want money , drugs , warm weather and romance ? Be very careful what you wish for because you might just get it
